Description
The eastern white cedar is a small, hardy, slow-growing tree. It usually lives for about 200 years, but can occasionally live much longer.
Cones from the eastern white cedar are 7 to 12 millimetres long and grow in clumps of 5 or 6 pairs. Small scaly leaves cover the tree’s fan-shaped twigs and are a yellowish-green colour.
The bark of the eastern white cedar is thin and shiny when the tree is young, but separates into flat narrow strips as the tree gets older. White-tailed deer eat the twigs of the eastern white cedar during the winter.
If you want to create a cedar hedge, plant our small versions about 12 inches apart. They eventually will fill in and grow in height. Once they’ve reached the proportions you desire, trim them to square off the shape of the tree and to maintain the size you want.
Eastern white cedar trees more than 700 years old have been found in Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment!
| White Cedar Facts and Features | |
| Mature Size | 15 m. (50 ft.) |
| Sun/Shade | Tolerates some shade |
| Moisture | Prefers moist soil |
| Soil | Grows in a variety of soils, but does not tolerate road salt |
| Flowers | No |
| Fruit | No |
| Special Features | The white cedar is a small, hardy, slow-growing tree. It usually lives for about 200 years, but can occasionally live much longer. Great for hedges. |
