What is this conifer?

[BooseysMom]

Please can anyone tell me what this is and can I plant it near to a fence? Is it likely to get massive? It was in a tiny pot previously and the roots went through the bottom and started rooting deep under the ground where it was stood!
Thanks

Looks like a juniper. But if a juniper should have berries not cones - I can’t quite see what the round things are.

Just pop it in near the fence, as the branches look fairly horizontal to me, then trim it slightly (don't cut into old wood), to make it a nicer shape and keep doing that every year, as it grows.

Once it reaches the height you want, trim the main trunk to stop it getting taller.

Mere & Hallmark1234
Thank-you both. It does smell lovely and it looks like the branches have glitter on them. It def has tiny cones. I can't believe it's been in this tiny pot for 15 years! See pics. I want to plant it in a shady corner but it will be close to a pear tree as well as the fence.

This tiny one was also in the same pot..

The tiny one is a spruce, probably self sown from a nearby tree, or the seed was in the compost.

The bigger one has me stumped. The foliage looks entirely consistent with it being a variety of juniper, but the cones do not, so it can't be.

Yes, what @Yamadori says.

unless the cones are what is left of the berries once the outer covering is off

Don't think so - juniper berries are pea-sized and either green or go black when ripe.

That cone rings a bell with me though and I will keep digging. It resembles cypress cones.

I wasn’t thinking of ripe berries I was thinking of well past ripe!

as cones they look like Chamaecyparis but the foliage is completely wrong

I was also wondering whether a juniper “berry” was a cone covered by a fruit like outer layer (our native juniper has pea sized berries but it’s not inconceivable that another species might have larger ones) but it seems the ‘berry’ is the fused scales of a cone whose scales are of a berry-like texture.

@MereDintofPandiculation & @Yamadori
Thanks for your input! I can confirm it has never had berries but could that be because it was so pot bound? It was in that tiny 20cm pot for 15 years! I want to plant it out in the garden but if it is juniper, I'm reluctant to do so as they need good drainage and the garden is horrendous..solid clay in the summer and boggy in the winter so it will get root rot. I noticed the soil was mostly sand that it was planted in in the pot. (I didn't put it in there) so it obviously likes poor sandy soil like rosemary and other Mediterranean plants.

That cone rings a bell with me though and I will keep digging. It resembles cypress cones.
Arizona Cypress Blue Ice ?

I think you've got it! Thank you! I think I will be best replanting into a big pot in a sandy ericaceous compost. It will never survive our ground!

In the end i decided to repot it in a bigger pot with ericacacious compost.So here is my Arizona Cypress Blue Ice..

That looks good against those cool tones on the patio, rather than against the yellowy fence.

Ah thanks! 😊

I think it Iooks awful actually as the patio needs cleaning. It's a cold damp north corner that gets no sun in the winter.