Common Name: red cedar
Type: Needled evergreen
Family: Cupressaceae
Zone: 4 to 9
Height: 15.00 to 20.00 feet
Spread: 3.00 to 4.00 feet
Bloom Time: Non-flowering
Bloom Description: Non-flowering
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Leaf: Evergreen
Other: Winter Interest
Tolerate: Deer, Drought, Erosion, Dry Soil, Shallow-Rocky Soil, Black Walnut, Air Pollution
Culture
Easily grown in average, dry to moist, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerates a wide range of soils and growing conditions, from swamps to dry rocky glades. Prefers moist soils but is intolerant of constantly wet soils. It has the best drought resistance of any conifer native to the eastern U.S.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Juniperus virginiana, commonly called Eastern red cedar, is native to Missouri where it typically occurs on limestone bluffs and glades, wood margins, fields, pastures and fence rows throughout the state except for the southeastern lowlands (Steyermark). It is a broadly conical, sometimes columnar, dense, evergreen conifer with horizontal branching that typically grows to 30-65’ tall. Gray to reddish-brown bark exfoliates in thin shreddy strips on mature trees. Trunks are often fluted at the base. Heartwood is reddish-brown and aromatic, and is commonly used for cedar chests. Dark blue green scale-like foliage. Foliage may turn brown-green in winter. Cultivars of this species often retain better foliage color in winter. This is a dioecious species (separate male and female trees). Female trees produce round, gray to blackish-green berry-like cones (1/4” diameter) that ripen in fall the first year. Berry-like cones are attractive to many birds.
Genus name comes from the Latin name for the juniper.
Specific epithet means of Virginia.
‘Taylor’ is an upright narrow columnar eastern red cedar that typically grows to 15-20' tall but to only 3-4' feet wide. Silvery blue-green foliage is attractive throughout the growing season. Foliage may take on some bronze tones in winter. 'Taylor' was reportedly discovered in Taylor, Nebraska as a chance seedling and was released in 1992 to the nursery trade by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. Release information does not list a sex for this cultivar but it is believed to be male.
Problems
Cedar apple rust is a common problem for many different junipers. Susceptible to twig blight and scale. Watch for bagworms. Mites may occur.
Uses
Narrow landscape accent/specimen. Flank entrances. Large screen. Windbreak.