Meet the Eastern Redcedar
Eastern Redcedar | Juniperus virginiana
How do you know it’s me?:
I have shaggy, peely, rough-textured, reddish-brown bark that becomes more fine, fibrous, and grey with age.
I take on a fairly regular, pyramidal shape when young, but can become more irregularly-shaped when mature.
I am evergreen and my needles are smooth and scale-like (though newer growth can be more pointy and spiny).
Female specimens produce blue “cones” that turn into berry-like fruit, while male specimens have smaller yellow pollen-producing cones.
How big do I grow?: 30’ - 40’ height and 10’ - 20’ spread.
Sun-seeker or shade-lover: Full sun
Where I prefer to put my roots: I am tolerant of a variety of soil conditions - from dry, rocky soil to moist soil. I am extremely drought-resistant and salt-tolerant.
Hardiness: Zone 2-9
Original home: I am a plant native to eastern and central North America.
Colors: I am evergreen, with dark blue-green foliage that may turn brown-green in winter.
When I bloom: Female plants produce frosty blue cones and “juniper berries,” on display from fall through mid-winter.
Wildlife friends: My fruit is enjoyed by many small mammals and bird species, such as the aptly-named Cedar Waxwing. I am also the larval host for a few butterfly and moth species.
Flora Fun Facts: I have long been valued not just for my ecological services to native landscapes and wildlife, but as a critical component of construction. I am commonly used for cabinetry, siding, fencing, and furniture making. My aromatic wood repels insects, is lightweight, durable, and rot resistant, and warps less than many other options.
More Info: The Eastern Redcedar is the most widely distributed eastern conifer. One might recognize it from its cloud of fine blue-green needles, or from its earthy-citrusy scent that occasionally rides the forest air. Tolerant of poor, dry soils that few other plants can withstand, it is an early successional tree that quickly occupies disturbed areas, woodland edges, and open pastures / meadows. Despite its name, Juniperus virginiana is not a true cedar, but a member of the Cypress family (Cupressaceae).
Many wild animal and insect species rely on the Eastern Redcedar for habitat or a source of a winter meal.
The blueberry-like fruits and fine needles are valued as a treatment for coughs and colds in Native American and traditional medicine.
Nearly all parts of the plant are useful, especially the wood, which has qualities that make it a prime construction material. Cedar oil, commonly used in many perfumes, is obtained from both the wood and leaves.
This tree also excels in the planted landscape, where it can serve as a windbreak (when planted in groups), an evergreen specimen plant, or harvested as a Christmas tree.
Gardeners should note that planting this tree within a few hundred yards of apple trees (and some other members of the Rosaceae family (like crabapple, hawthorn, serviceberry, etc.) can be injurious to both players because the pairing of the two provides the ideal host for the fungal cedar-apple rust.
