Thuja occidentalis
Northern white cedar
Common names: Eastern arborvitae, Thuja
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy
- Pruning
- Aug–Sep
- Flowering
- Apr–May
Photo: Daniel Dumais · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
Description
The northern white cedar, botanically Thuja occidentalis, is a evergreen coniferous shrub in the cypress family. It grows densely and rapidly, forming scaly, moss-like branches, making it well suited as a dense hedge or screen in the garden.
Care instructions
The northern white cedar prefers a sunny to partially shaded location with well‑drained, moist soil. Water newly planted hedges regularly during the first two years, especially in dry summer weeks; mature plants usually cope well with rainfall alone. Prune twice a year, around early May (week 18‑20) and late August (week 34‑36), cutting only into the green, current year growth. Avoid cutting into old, brown wood, as the plant will not regrow from that point; prune carefully in several stages if needed. A loose mulch layer around the root zone helps retain soil moisture and suppresses competing vegetation.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
FloweringApr–May
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
well-drained, loamy, nutrient-rich, moist
The white cedar likes to be evenly moist, but not wet. A free-draining, humus-rich soil with a little loam holds moisture without waterlogging. It tolerates calcareous to slightly acidic soils well, but extremely acidic or very dry, sandy sites will tend to turn it brown.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar, May
One dose of mature compost in spring is usually enough for the hedge. If you like, mulch in addition with bark mulch or horn shavings, which feeds the plant slowly and is gentle on the shallow roots. Do not feed any more from July in summer, otherwise the new growth will not ripen in time before winter.
Pruning
Trim the hedge once or twice a year, ideally in late spring and again in late summer between week 32 and 36. This keeps the shape stable over the season and the cuts heal before winter. Always cut only into green, needled wood, because the white cedar does not shoot again from bare old wood.
Overwintering
The white cedar is hardy in Central Europe and needs no special protection. The winter drought matters more than the frost itself, because in dry, mild, sunny weather in February the plant can dry out. So water on frost-free days in winter when the soil is dry, especially young or freshly planted specimens.
Propagation
Methods
- Cuttings
- From seed
The most reliable way to propagate the white cedar is by semi-ripe cuttings in late summer, around August. Cut 10 to 15 cm long shoot tips, remove the lower twigs and insert them in a mix of sand and soil. In a bright, shady place roots form over the winter. Growing from seed is possible, but takes much longer and the cultivars do not necessarily come true to type.
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