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| Needles; Photo: MNR | Bark; Photo: USDA Plant Database |
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| Buds; Photo: Daniel Tigner, Canadian Forest Tree Essences |
Young tree; Photo: University of Southern Maine |
Eastern white cedar trees more than 700 years old have been found in Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment!
The eastern white cedar is a small, hardy, slow-growing tree. It usually lives for about 200 years, but can occasionally live much longer. It grows throughout Ontario and is usually found in swampy areas where the rock underneath is limestone.
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.
Size: 15 metres tall, trunk 30 centimetres in diameter
Moisture: Prefers moist soil
Shade: Tolerates some shade
Soil: Grows in a variety of soils, but does not tolerate road salt
Planting tip: Because of its small size, the eastern white cedar is a great tree for landscaping, especially as a hedge tree. More tips...
