Why We Like the Green Giant Arborvita(e) So Much
Our farm, Highland Hill Farm, is located in solid clay. We
therefore like plants that grow well in dense, heavy, rather
impermeable, NOT well-drained soils. One of the arborvitae, the
Green Giant, the Western Redcedar Tree, or botanically, the
Thuja Plicata, is our favorite. Here is why:
The hardiness zone the Green Giant Arborvita tolerates is from
zone 5 to zone 8. That's where extreme cold temperatures get
down to a temperate level of about 15 or 20 degrees in the
winter (Zone 8), but also as low as a frigid level of 15 or 20
degrees BELOW zero (zone 5). Green giants are evergreens, being
cedars. Their rapid growth rates can in ideal conditions reach 3
feet per year. Site requirements for the Green Giant Arborvita
are sun to partial shade, moist well drained soil preferred (but
still does well in clay), and protection from wind, at lest when
young.
The Green Giant is a beautiful tree. It has an aesthetically
fine form. It's conical, being narrow to broadly pyramidal,
reaching from 50 feet to 80 feet in height in southeastyern
Pennsylvania. The width at the base of the cone is usually about
15 feet to 20 feet. The leaves are rich green making graceful
foliage.
Green Giants make a superb privacy screen. They keep their
foliage color year 'round, great for brightening bleak gray
winter days with snow on the ground. The cinnamon bright red
bark when young turn rich russet brown with time crating a
strong contrast with the needle leaves.
Green Giants' flowers, their fruit are pretty little light brown
half-inch female cones. (Just so you know, Green giants are
females, so its okay to call the cones pretty.) The Green Giant
is also a wonderful shade tree, casting a dark, dense shade. The
wood is strong too, once the tree is beyond its youth.
This is an arborvita that should outlive even your
grandchildren. There are Green Giants out west documented to be
over 300 years old. Just don't plant these too close to the
ocean, or roads in areas where there's a lot of salt used for
snow removal. If you get over 100 inches of snowfall and more
per year, no roadside Arborvita planting where salt is used,
PLEASE. The greatest soldier of ancient Greece in the Trojan war
had his one little weak spot, what proved to be a fatal flaw,
and the "Achilles Heel" for Green Giant Arborvitae is
hypersensitivity to salt.
http://www.zone5trees.com,
http://www.highlandhillfarm and
http://www.seedlingsrus.com
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