Eastern red cedar

Sun

Full sun; tolerates light shade but becomes thinner and less compact.

Water

Water regularly while establishing; drought-tolerant once established. Avoid persistently wet ground.

Soil

Well-drained sandy, loamy, rocky or clay soil; tolerates poor fertility and a broad pH range, including alkaline soils.

Height

40-50 ft (12-15 m)

Spread

8-20 ft (2.4-6 m)

Flowers

Late winter to early spring: small yellowish pollen cones on male trees and inconspicuous green seed cones on female trees.

Foliage

Evergreen. Aromatic, mostly scale-like green to blue-green foliage, often bronzing or turning purplish in cold weather. Young growth can have sharp, needle-like leaves.

Growth

Moderate, commonly 1-2 ft (0.3-0.6 m) a year while young in suitable conditions.

Care needed

Low

• Water deeply during dry spells for the first two growing seasons, allowing the soil surface to dry between waterings.
• Spread 2-3 in (5-8 cm) of mulch over the root area, keeping it clear of the trunk.
• Do not routinely fertilise; feed only if a soil test identifies a deficiency.
• Stake only if the root ball moves in the wind, and remove supports after the first growing season.
• Pull unwanted seedlings while small, particularly beside grassland or open native planting.

Pruning. Prune lightly in late winter or early spring, removing dead, damaged or competing branches. Keep shaping cuts within green foliage: bare old wood generally does not produce replacement growth.

Late winter

Remove damaged branches and inspect for rust galls before spring growth.

Spring

Plant when the ground is workable, water thoroughly and mulch without covering the trunk flare.

Late spring

Inspect branch tips for young bagworms; hand-pick small infestations.

Summer

Water recently planted trees deeply during prolonged dry weather; check stressed foliage for mites.

Autumn

Remove unwanted seedlings and check that mulch has not accumulated against the trunk.

Early winter

In cold climates, water young trees before the ground freezes if autumn has been dry.

• Plant a staggered screen along a sunny boundary, allowing enough space for mature branch spread.
• Use as a windbreak on an exposed rural property, mixed with other locally suitable trees for resilience.
• Place a single tree among grasses and coneflowers to give a meadow-style garden evergreen structure.
• Use at the sunny edge of a wildlife planting with serviceberry and other fruiting native shrubs.

Garden styles it suits: Wildlife garden, Native meadow, Modern rustic, Low-maintenance, Winter interest and Homestead.

Plant it with: Little bluestem, Switchgrass, Purple coneflower, Black-eyed Susan, Butterfly weed and Serviceberry.

Wildlife: Female cones feed cedar waxwings, bluebirds and many other birds, which disperse the seeds. Dense foliage provides nesting sites and winter shelter. It is wind-pollinated, and male trees can produce substantial allergenic pollen.

• Cedar-apple rust: orange, jelly-like growths appear on galls during wet spring weather. Remove reachable galls before they release spores; avoid planting near susceptible apples and crabapples, though spores can travel considerable distances.
• Bagworms: hanging cases and stripped foliage can develop, especially in North America. Hand-pick cases before eggs hatch; treat young feeding larvae with a locally approved product if needed.
• Spider mites: fine stippling, bronzing and webbing are most likely during dry weather. Check affected shoots and use a labelled horticultural oil if necessary, following temperature restrictions.
• Root decline in wet soil: yellowing and dieback can follow prolonged waterlogging. Improve drainage or replant on a better-drained site rather than adding more water.

Do not treat this as an edible juniper. Foliage, berry-like cones and especially concentrated oils can cause stomach upset if swallowed by people, cats or dogs; sap and foliage may irritate sensitive skin. Serious poisoning from ordinary garden contact is unlikely. Toxicity to horses is not well established; do not feed them foliage or prunings. Keep extracted cedarwood oil out of reach of children and animals.

Where it spreads. Spreads aggressively into unburned grassland within its native range, particularly in the central United States and Great Plains, including Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Bird-sown seedlings can replace prairie vegetation and pasture; this is native woody encroachment rather than an introduced invasion.

• Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum)

  Often has bluer foliage and occurs naturally farther west. Its seed cones usually mature in their second year, whereas eastern red cedar cones mature in one season;

• Northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis)

  Has distinctly flattened, fan-shaped foliage sprays and small brown woody cones rather than blue, berry-like cones.

• Southern red cedar (Juniperus silicicola)

  Usually has finer, more drooping branchlets and smaller cones, and is native to the southeastern coastal plain. It is closely related and is sometimes treated as a variety of eastern red cedar.

Juniperus is the Latin name for juniper, virginiana means 'of Virginia', and red cedar refers to the reddish, aromatic heartwood rather than a relationship to true cedars.

Propagation. Grow from cleaned seed given appropriate warm and cold stratification; germination can be slow and irregular. Named cultivars are usually propagated from semi-ripe cuttings, sometimes with grafting, to retain their characteristics.

Accepted botanical name

Juniperus virginiana

In the US and Canada

Native in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Kansas.

Measured

Soil pH 4.7 to 8. Average height 820 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.