The title “arborvitae” derives from Latin for “tree of life” and refers to several conifers of the cypress family indigenous to North America and Asia. The two American species, the eastern and large arborvitae, are, in their wild type, additionally referred to as northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) and western red cedar (Thuja plicata), respectively. Both are well-known landscaping shrubs and trees, usually used as dense- hedges or backyard landmarks that are conical.

Northern White Cedar

Here is the tree most frequently called arborvitae in the U.S., especially American or eastern arborvitae. Typically 50-feet or less high, it might reach 130 feet roughly, and is described by fibrous, gray- bark and branches that are up-swept. Northern white cedar’s indigenous array focuses on the Great Lakes, New England, and south-eastern Canada, although it also extends southward along the very front of the Appalachians. In the in the open it flourishes in bottomlands that are badly drained, forming distinctive and crucial white-cedar swamps; but it grows to spectacular impact, and famously scrawls out of Lake Superior cliffs in uplands. In cultivation in California, it grows in Sunset’s Environment Zones 1 to 9, 1 5 to 17 and 21 to 24.

Varieties

Numerous types of white cedar provide alternatives for the gardener and landscaper. They contain Sunkist, which grows right into a a tight, conical type up to 6 feet tall and flourishes leaves. This tree is ideal for bonsai. Similarly ideal for space that is limited is Rheingold, still another -leaved and slow-growing range that gets taller than 6 feet. Lutea is a greater type using a comparable hue that reaches 30 to 35-feet high and spans.

Western Red Cedar

A suitable alternate title because of this conifer is a reflection of the dimensions that old-growth, large arborvitae specimens attain in indigenous temperate rainforests of the north-western coastline. In ideal habitat in western Oregon, Washington or British Columbia, veteran red cedars – which might be higher than a millennium-old – can grow taller than 200 feet using a trunk 20-feet thick. Like their relative that is eastern red cedars are well-suited to riparian woods and swamps, swales, but could also develop in drier conditions. While they obviously peter out among the redwoods of Northern California, these conifers that are adaptable can develop through 9 and 14.

Varieties

Cultivated types of large arborvitae don’t generally approach the massive dimension of wild specimens. Indeed, an amount of dwarf varieties exist, including Stoneham Gold and Collyer’s Gold, each of which max out around 6 toes tall. Others, such as the Green Large, a cross between western red cedar along with a Japanese thuja, can grow to a T least 50-feet tall and, as the “Sun Set Western Backyard Book” notes, is of use as a screening hedge.

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