Thuja Species, American Arborvitae, Eastern White Cedar, Northern White Cedar

A very popular upright, broadly pyramidal evergreen tree. There are numerous cultivars, most chosen for having a narrower, more columnar ...Read Morehabit than the species, and some also for their foliage color.

It's tough, vigorous, adaptable, and fast-growing. In nature, it occurs in swamps and moist places, and once established, it will tolerate both drought and temporary flooding. It performs best in moist, well-drained, fertile soil in full sun. It's often said to be shade tolerant, but I don't find that it will tolerate more than light shade.

In the wild, this tree can reach 60', but in cultivation a mature height of 30' is more common.

In winter, the foliage often acquires sickly yellow-brown tones. Some cultivars (especially 'Techny', 'Nigra', and 'Emerald') have much greener winter color and are very popular for it.

This tree's two most important limitations in the landscape are its susceptibility to deer browse and its vulnerability to snow and ice damage. The columnar cultivars are more vulnerable to the latter than the species. In Montreal, only the species seemed to be available in the nurseries, and I never saw any damage. Here in Boston, I only see the cultivars, and snow damage is very common. Tying the trunks together for the winter can help prevent damage.

Personally, I think Chamaecyparis obtusa is a better specimen tree for my climate. If I want something columnar, I'll use Thuja occidentalis 'DeGroot's Spire'.

In pruning, I've never seen a branch regenerate once it's been cut back so hard it has no foliage.

Thuja occidentalis does not grow well in the hot summers of the eastern US south of Z7. The broader trees mentioned below as growing in Florida are the more heat-tolerant Asian species, Platycladus (Thuja) orientalis.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned any problems with deer and these beautiful shrubs. Here, they are winter salad for deer who defo...Read Moreliate the plants right to the stubs.

Lovely plants, but not workable here in rural Maine.

Here in northern NY state, along the St Lawrence river, this cedar is an important native species. In the 1970's we would clear small tr...Read Moreees from farmer's fields and gather them in large amounts, then trim the small limbs off with machetes and home-made "cedar knives". These trimmings were then taken to cedar oil rigs (which consisted of a boiler that sent steam up through a sealed tank of cedar brush) where the oil was gathered in a cooling vat. It floated on top of a tank of water and was skimmed off, weighed and then sold by the pound. Top prices were around $20/lb. Deer were less plentiful, so young trees grew rapidly and gave us a way to keep farmers happy clearing what they considered "brush" to get spending money. The wood is excellent to work with- arromatic, light yet strong and very rot resistant. The most popular choice here for fence posts. One of the few evergreens that will regenerate branches if they are pruned off.

It just goes to show... Don't put too much weight on the zone range because these are planted all over my area. And are fairly easy to fi...Read Morend in garden centers. As already mentioned, they appear much more wide here than up north. These are almost always planted in a row along a fence or beside a driveway but they just don't look the same as back north. I would probably try out a cultivar that is supposed to grow narrow and I generally like these but there are alternatives for sure.