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Characteristics
 Family-
Cupressaceae--The Cypress Family
- Origin
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Native NC
- Plant Description
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Evergreen tree to 40-60 feet; leaves small, scale-like; no flowers (conifer); female cones blue, waxy, berry-like, male cones brownish, liberating yellow pollen. Differs from J. virginiana in habitat (occuring in coastal areas), form (short, flattened top), and smaller male and female cones.
- Ornamental Characteristics
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Interesting form; stately, gnarled trunks with gray bark; female trees ornamental with blue berry-like cones.
- Landscape Use
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Specimen tree, tall screen or hedge.
- Horticultural Cultivars
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No cultivars of J. virginiana var. silicicola are known, although there are many ornamental cultivars of J. virginiana. There is a need to select good trees adapted to coastal conditions.
- Availability/Propagation
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Although one can find eastern red cedar in nurseries, it is not common to find coastal adapted ecotypes grown from a coastal source of seed. Transplant local seedlings from the wild (with permission), propagate by planting the berry-like cones, cuttings taken from December to March.
- Culture
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Grow in full sun to light shade moist or dry soils. Never cut the top off of eastern red cedar, because it does not sprout back from old wood. Very tolerant of salt spray.
- Coastal Ecology
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On the coast, redcedars have a dense, spreading crown, unlike the narrow conical form found farther inland. Southern redcedar grows well in protected swales on the frontal dunes, in the dry maritime live oak and pine forests, in wetland sites on the barrier islands and along the sounds and tidal creeks.
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