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As you may have noticed from other questions of mine, I am in a process of transforming my yard into a bird garden. (This is a long-term multi-year enterprise).

One of the most attractive plants for birds ever is Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar), I found that from numerous internet sources. For example a web site says:

Eastern Red Cedar is great for birds. The berry-like cones provide food from late summer through much of the winter for many bird species. The social Cedar Waxwings, for whom fruit is a larger part of their diet than it is for most birds, were named for their love of these cones. Eastern Red Cedar’s dense foliage provides good coverage for small to medium sized birds who are looking for a place to perch safely out of view and reach from larger predators.

The base species is a large tree (30 m), but its cultivars (that are much smaller) are usually sold by nurseries, and then planted in gardens. In my area, cultivars 'Spartan' and 'Heitzii' are available.

My questions regarding Juniperus virginiana are following:

1) Are both female and male plants needed for producing berries?

2) If yes, do male and female plants need to be of the same cultivar?

3) Do some of you have berry-producing Juniperus virginiana? What is your experience regarding male/female relations?

VividD
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Juniperus virginiana are largely dioecious, but occasionally monoecious, so it's safest to select male and female plants if you want to be sure of fruits/seedcases http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=97

If you decide on a particular variety or cultivar, it's probably best to look up whichever one it is to check its status from a reproductive point of view.

Bamboo
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  • What if male and female plants are of different cultivar? – VividD Dec 04 '17 at 20:02
  • Pass - that's why I said check whichever cultivar you're interested in. The female needs to flower at the same the male is producing... – Bamboo Dec 04 '17 at 20:03
  • How can I check if a male Heitzii can successfully polinate a female Spartan? Is possible different flowering time the only obstacle? – VividD Dec 04 '17 at 20:05
  • I never thought that flowering time would be a problem, it seems to me that flowering season is long for juniperuses - their flowers are tiny, but abundant, and can be seen almost always.... But maybe I am mistaken. – VividD Dec 04 '17 at 20:10
  • Just did a quick bit of research - it seems the chances are, any male juniper will wind pollinate any female juniper in range, and most flower at the same time - but I don't know for sure – Bamboo Dec 04 '17 at 20:13
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    I've lived with wild J. virginiana for seven years. There were a few wild non-virginiana plants about, but the vast majority of junipers were virginiana. They seemed to pollinate one another with no problems. According Michael Dirr (US "woodies" expert), virginiana is always dioecious and ripens its seeds in the first year. J. scopularum is NOT a synonym but is closely related, so my guess would be if you limit your cultivars to members of those genera you'd be okay. – Jurp Dec 05 '17 at 01:34
  • Also according to Dirr (this goes back awhile, though, and taxonomies change), J. Hetzii is a hybrid of J. chinensis and J. virginana; there's a good possibility that it would flower the same time as J. virginiana cultivars. – Jurp Dec 05 '17 at 01:36
  • @Jurp - as far as I know, Juniperus scopularum 'Skyrocket' has been reclassified as that with all the DNA testing going on - but is still often sold as J. virginiana 'skyrocket' - hence the latter being listed as a synonym. But there is, of course, an actual Juniper virginiana which has not been reclassified as scopularum... – Bamboo Dec 05 '17 at 01:39
  • Hi Bamboo - I have no problem believing that. So, "virginiana" and "scopulorum" aren't synonyms at the specific level, but the hybrid was (one hopes) correctly reclassified. Good to know - thanks! – Jurp Dec 05 '17 at 01:45