Alligator Juniper

Planted this tree seed by mistake in with some Arizona Cypress seed. Three of them did well enough to transplant. One of them is doing ...Read Morevery well, at 7 yo it is at 10' tall and very pretty blue foliage and checkered bark on trunk is visible. One is doing ok at 6' tall and the other is struggling at 2.5'. Growing these near Waco, Tx. on well-drained land on blackland clay soil with caliche/limestone sub-soil.

Also known as Western Juniper, Checkered-bark Juniper & Cedro Chino.
This evergreen is the largest juniper species in Arizona and ...Read Morereach 50 ft high with a trunk up to 4 ft thick.
The bark on older trees are separated into fissures that create 1-2 inch squares that look like an alligator's hide.
The hard, 4 seeded cones are reddish brown underneath a waxy coating and are about 1/2 inch wide. They take two years to mature and are eaten by wildlife.
The dense, scalelike & pointed needles are blueish green and are about 1/16th inch long.
It occurs in oak and pinyon-juniper woodlands also lower elevation ponderosa pine areas in the range of 4500 to 8000 ft elevation.
The crown of this slow growing tree is pyramidal or rounded. They have a life expectancy of about 500 to 800 years with records of 1100 and 1400 years old.
It is native to AZ, NM & TX in the USA.

Grows natively with pinyon and ponderosa pine in my area; extreme drought tolerance and it endures the cold, as well as heavy wind just a...Read Mores well. Bears many, many little "nut" like seed cones in spring and has very beautiful bark.

Grows wild here in zone 6b, 6300 ft.