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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-1006
Eastern Red Cedar
Juniperus virginiana
Eastern red cedar is a slow-growing, densely conical evergreen conifer with aromatic, insect-repelling wood used in cabinetry, pencils and fencing, and blue, resin-scented berries that flavor gin and are eaten fresh by a wide range of birds through winter. It tolerates poor, rocky, alkaline soil, drought, wind and both hard cold and summer heat, making it one of the toughest conifers for exposed or difficult ground. Male and female flowers grow on separate trees, so only female trees bear the blue, berry-like cones that feed wildlife.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 2–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Moist · Well-Drained
Vertical layer
Canopy- Soil pH
- 4.7–7.8
- Plant type
- Evergreen Tree
- Mature height
- 30–40 ft
- Mature spread
- 10–20 ft
- Plant spacing
- 12–24 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Alligator Juniper
Juniperus deppeana
Alligator juniper is a slow-growing, long-lived evergreen conifer named for its thick, deeply furrowed, plated bark that resembles reptile…
Canopy · USDA 6–9
Almond
Prunus amygdalus
Almond flowers earlier than almost any other cultivated tree, which is its biggest weakness as much as its gift to early pollinators - a warm…
Canopy · USDA 7–9
American Basswood
Tilia americana
American Basswood is famous for the bees - mature trees hum audibly for several feet around when they bloom in early summer, giving one of…
Canopy · USDA 3–8
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia
American Beech is a slow, long-lived shade tree that can establish and eventually fruit even under an existing forest canopy, unlike almost…
Canopy · USDA 3–9
American Chestnut
Castanea dentata
American chestnut once carried the sweetest nut of any chestnut species and covered more than 200 million acres of eastern forest, but an…
Canopy · USDA 5–8
American Elm
Ulmus americana
American Elm is a native stream-bank tree that grows into a 60 to 80 foot vase-shaped shade crown and, once mature, becomes one of the…
Canopy · USDA 3–9
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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