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Eastern Red Cedar

Eastern red cedar is actually a juniper.

One of the less common and certainly least familiar of junipers happens to be the most culturally and environmental significant juniper in North America, even though it is not even known as a juniper. Juniperus virginiana is instead known as the Eastern red cedar. It has a vast range, including every state east of Colorado, as well as Quebec, Ontario and even Oregon to the west. In some areas within and near the natural range, fire suppression has allowed Eastern red cedar to become invasive.

Mature trees are mostly less than fifty feet tall, but are the biggest evergreen trees in Kansas nonetheless. The largest Eastern red cedars can get almost ninety feet tall. Most are well branched from top to bottom unless pruned for clearance. The fibrous bark is ruddy brown, but not often seed from the outside.

Foliage and fruit are rather variable. The prickly juvenile leaves of young plants and interior stems of mature plants can be rather annoying. The scale-like adult leaves are more typical of junipers. Male trees produce pollen that can be a significant allergen. Female trees produce sporadic, small berries in blue or purplish black, that are quite popular with certain birds through winter.

Prior to the discovery of the incense cedar in the west, Eastern red cedar was the common aromatic cedar that was used to make pencils and to laminate cedar chests and closets to protect woolens and natural fibers from moths. Since it is so repellent to insects and decay, it is commonly used as fence posts. Native American Indians also used posts of Eastern red cedar, painted red with blood of the animals they hunted, to mark the boundaries of their hunting ranges. The name of Baton Rouge, which means ‘red stick’, was actually derived from such marking posts.

During the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s, and before becoming known as a potentially invasive species, Eastern red cedar was promoted by the Prairie States Forest Project as a resilient wind break. They tolerate drought, harsh exposure and inferior soil. They can be planted close together to fill out and gain height more efficiently. More information about Eastern red cedar can be found where I got much of this information, at the Great Plains Nature Center.

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Hedging Produces Foliar Green Fences

Proper hedging technique is not complicated.

Motorized hedge shears are the most overused home garden power tools. They are very useful for hedging evergreen shrubbery into hedges and privacy screens. However, they too often shear vegetation that requires different types of pruning. They are fast and easy but not appropriate for all pruning applications. Even hedging is a specialized technique.

Unfortunately, the rules of hedging are too often ignored. Hedges are utilitarian features. Many provide privacy. Many obscure unwanted scenery. Some divide large gardens into smaller and cozier spaces. Most continue to function as they should even without proper maintenance. Consequently, problems associated with maintenance may not be evident.

Unshorn informal hedges are mostly simpler to maintain, but only if they remain unshorn. Ideally, they use species or varieties that mature to a desirable size and form. Therefore, they should not become too large or Obtrusive. Only a few wayward stems need pruning. Of course, species or varieties that grow too large for such application will need hedging.

Shorn or formal hedges are more likely to develop problems. They need regular hedging to maintain their size and strict form. Yet, even with the most diligent maintenance, many become overgrown. Many gain depth from front to back, to become obtrusive. Many gain more height than they should. Most become distended up high while subdued down low.

This happens because pruning cuts can be slightly farther out than they were previously. They are a bit farther out higher up because that is where most growth is. Hedging within former cuts can renovate overgrowth, but damages hedge facades. Fortunately, damage should be temporary. Severely overgrown hedges might require severe pruning, though.

As mentioned, hedges are utilitarian. They should perform their primary purpose without encroachment into usable spaces. Their typically evergreen foliage is generally external. Their interiors are generally bare stems and empty space. Therefore, a hedge can be as effective whether two or four feet from front to back. Four feet is merely a waste of space.

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Foliage Surpasses Flowers For Christmas

Hollies contribute more foliage than berries.

Winter bloom might be limited. Wintry berries, dried flowers and the remains of summery bloom can be more abundant. Evergreen foliage is as abundant as it always is. After all, it is evergreen. That is most likely why it is so popular for home decor through Christmas. It is the primary component of wreaths and garlands, and, technically, of Christmas trees.

Flowers are more scarce where winters are cooler. They are also more desirable indoors while the weather is too cool to be outdoors. Evergreen foliage effectively compensates. While flowers are less scarce here, the most traditional evergreen foliage is more scarce. It is simply less popular within home gardens locally. Also, less of it grows wild in forests.

Most cut evergreen foliage consequently grows on farms like certain popular cut flowers. Many of such farms are in the Pacific Northwest, where such foliage grows most readily. Many types of fir, spruce and pine that are popular for wreaths are naturally happy there. Western red cedar, which is the primary component of garland, is a native species there.

However, locally available cut evergreen foliage can be as delightful as traditional types. A few types are native species that grow wild beyond cultivated home gardens. More are exotic species within refined landscapes. Douglas fir is both traditional as well as native to many regions of California. A few native pines can substitute for more traditional types.

Redwood, cypress and juniper are likewise alternatives for traditional evergreen foliage. Some are natives or relatives of native species. Deodar and Atlas cedars resemble blue spruce. Arborvitae may substitute for Western red cedar, and is actually the same genus. English holly, although rare, and more rarely produces berries, is occasionally available.

Christmas trees are the ultimate form of cut foliage. Unlike other foliar decor, they almost exclusively grow on farms. Their cultivation is very impractical for refined home gardens. Collection of other cut foliage should not damage its source. Some may be from pruning scraps. Christmas trees, though, are much more than a few stems. They are entire trees, containing all their stems.

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Western Red Cedar

Western red cedar makes nice garland.

This coniferous evergreen is more appealing as seasonal foliar decor than it is practical. Western red cedar, Thuja plicata, is the most common component of Christmas garlands. Also, it is very popular for wreaths of mixed evergreens. It is the same genus as common arborvitaes. However, this particular species is notably rare among local home gardens.

Western red cedar is native to the Pacific Northwest. Its range extends south to the north coast of California, and east to western Montana. It therefore does not adapt efficiently to the arid warmth of local chaparral climates. Even with generous irrigation, its foliage can be vulnerable to desiccation. The healthiest specimens here are within coastal climates.

Like some other trees within its native range, western red cedar typically grows very big. It can easily reach a hundred and fifty feet tall, and can grow taller than two hundred feet. Although it does not grow as fast as redwood, it eventually needs about as much space. Western red cedar, here, is appropriate only for large landscapes within coastal climates. It is too obtrusive for compact home gardens.

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Dwarf Alberta Spruce

Dwarf Alberta spruce is more like a strictly conical shrub than a small tree.

Unlike other related white spruce, which get more than fifty feet tall, dwarf Alberta spruce, Picea glauca albertiana ‘Conica’, stays smaller than its Latin name, rarely getting more than seven feet tall. It is so dense and conical that it should never need to be pruned. Shearing only damages its short light green to grayish green needles. Dwarf Alberta spruce is compact enough to live in large tubs or urns, as long as its sensitive roots are well insulated. (Concrete or wooden planters are well insulated, so do not transfer too much heat to the roots within. Ivy or ground cover cascading over and shading planters also helps.) Foliage should be sheltered from harsh exposure, since it can be desiccated by warm breezes or reflected glare, like from large windows or light colored south facing walls.

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Myrtle

Myrtle is more foliar than floral.

Old landscapes of the Victorian Era may still include myrtle, Myrtus communis. It is quite a survivor. It had been popular for centuries because of its resiliency. It is very conducive to the sort of formal hedging that was popular during that time. As formal hedges became old fashioned, so did myrtle. Yet, it is still more sustainable than more popular shrubbery.

Besides, myrtle is not limited to refined shorn hedges. It can just as efficiently become an unshorn and informal hedge or screen. It can grow as tall as fifteen feet, but rarely grows higher than first floor eaves. Without pruning, it typically grows about half as wide as it is high. Selective pruning rather than shearing limits its size without ruining its natural form.

Myrtle foliage is densely evergreen and pungently aromatic. Individual leaves are merely an inch or two long. Small white flowers with prominent stamens may not be very showy. Small and darkly bluish black berries are sparse. ‘Compacta’ grows only about three feet high and wide. ‘Compacta Variegata’ is slightly more compact and variegated with white.

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Shore Juniper

Shore juniper is a ground cover that can cascade splendidly.

Like so many other junipers, the old fashioned shore juniper, Juniperus conferta, is recovering from decades of a bad reputation. Through the 1950’s and 60’s, junipers had been so overly common and were so commonly planted where space was insufficient for their mature size that just about anyone who enjoys gardening now likely knows how irritating prickly juniper foliage can be, or how to remove overgrown junipers. I prefer to blame the icky tam junipers for this.

Now that they are actually regaining popularity, junipers seem to be commanding more respect; perhaps with the exception of tam junipers, which are just as useless now as they ever were. Junipers that grow into small trees are getting planted where they can be appreciated for their sculptural forms. Shrubby junipers are being employed as informal barriers where they do not need to be pruned for confinement. The shore juniper, like other low growing or creeping junipers, is a practical ground cover. Mature shore junipers spread about six feet wide without getting deeper than a foot. The finely textured bluish green foliage is actually a bit more bristly than it first appears, with small pine needle shaped leaves. The soft berries are lighter grayish blue to purplish black. ‘Emerald Sea’ has greener foliage that seems to be a bit more lax. ‘Blue Pacific’ has denser and more bluish foliage.  

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Tam

The juniper that gives other junipers a bad name.

As much as I like junipers, even I have my limits. The tamarix juniper or tam, Juniperus sabina ‘Tamariscifolia’, is the juniper that gave junipers a bad name decades ago by being too common in too many of the wrong situations, and remains one of the most commonly planted junipers. What I do not like about it is that it is classified as a ‘ground cover’ juniper and can sprawl more than eight feet wide, but actually piles up more than two feet deep! However, I have noticed that it can be practical for certain situations as a ‘sprawling shrub’ instead.

Even without the foliar color or sculptural branch structure of other shrubby junipers, the dense dark green foliage and compact branch structure give the tam its own appeal and practicality. It can be shorn into low informal hedges as frequently as annually. It readily recovers its feathery texture if shorn as the weather starts to get warm in spring. All it wants is sunlight and infrequent but deep watering in summer. 

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Holly-Leaf Osmanthus

Holly-leaf osmanthus resembles both English holly and Euonymus.

English holly happens to be one of my all time favorite plants, even though it rarely produces the abundant berries that are expected of hollies. Its deep rich green foliage is so glossy and distinctively textured. Because English holly does not mind partial shade, the variegated varieties can add a bit of color where it is too dark for most other plants to bloom. I really do not mind that it is so prickly.

For those who do mind, the holly-leaf osmanthus, Osmanthus heterophyllus (or ilicifolius) is a worthy substitute for English holly that is just as happy with partial shade. The foliage is very similar in appearance, but a bit less glossy, and much less irritating. Holly-leaf osmanthus is sometimes mistaken for English holly, but can be distinguished by its opposite leaves. English holly has alternate leaf arrangement.

Mature holly-leaf osmanthus can get as large as English holly, but rarely does. It is more often less than 10 feet tall and wide, and is somewhat more adaptable to shearing into hedges. ‘Variegatus’, the most popular variety with pale white leaf margins, grows a bit slower and stays more compact, and actually looks better in partial shade than out where it is too exposed. Holly-leaf osmanthus flowers that bloom about now are not much to look at, but produce a delicate fragrance if the weather gets warm.

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Cut Foliage For Christmas Decor

Coniferous evergreens are popular Christmas decor.

Christmas trees are extreme cut foliage. They grow on farms like cut foliage that florists use, but are entire trees! Although most fit under household ceilings, some within public venues are famously grand. Nonetheless, they are ultimately as disposable as any other cut foliage. Eventually, after their Christmas season, they become common greenwaste.

Other cut foliage is also popular as home decor through the Christmas season. Much of it is from the same sorts of coniferous trees that become Christmas trees. Almost all of it is evergreen, since deciduous vegetation is already defoliating. A few deciduous stems with colorful bark, such as red twig dogwood, are nice too. So are colorful winter berries.

Cut foliage is more practical as wintry decor within climates with cooler winter weather. Not much blooms during such weather. However, because of this same wintry weather, people prefer to be inside. While inside, they appreciate the color, texture, and perhaps aroma of cut foliage. Locally, such foliar decor for winter is more traditional than practical.

Actually, the most traditional cut foliage of Christmas is uncommon within local gardens. Scraps from the lowest branches of Christmas trees are a good source of minor bits of it. Premade wreaths and garland include a few types that are otherwise unobtainable here. Improvisation is necessary to create wreaths and garlands from locally available foliage.

Only a few of the few blue spruce that live here grow large enough to share many stems. Their best foliar growth is also their most important structural growth. Removal of it might cause minor disfigurement. Other spruce, as well as various fir, are very rare within home gardens. So is Eastern white pine, although a few other pines are notably common here.

Atlas cedar, Deodar cedar, various cypress and various juniper are also rather common. A few sorts of holly are uncommon but not rare, but they produce only a few berries here. Holly olive may be more common, and resembles English holly, but produces no berries. Southern magnolia is a strikingly untraditional cut foliage, but becomes fragile as it dries.