Cryptomeria Evergreen Trees

Growth Characteristics

• A mature Japanese cedar displays a stout trunk with papery, peeling rusty orange-brown bark. The lowermost branches occur within 3 to 6 feet of the soil line. Expect the evergreen tree to reach a height anywhere from 50 to 60 feet and about 20 to 30 feet wide. When young, the needled tufts on branch ends look more dense and blocky, but with age, the branches become more tiered with billowy foliage and tapering silhouette. Needles persist for four to five years before dropping.

Features

• Dark blue-green needles, which look like awls, line the long twigs that grow each year. In winter's cold, the needles blush bronze-brown but green up once spring's warmth returns. American woody plant expert Michael Dirr of the University of Georgia describes the look of the foliage as horizontal tufts of fox tails, while the University of Connecticut lists a key feature as its "graceful habit." Male and female cones occur on branch tips in spring, with only the female cones ripening to golden brown and releasing seeds.

Insight

• One of the benefits of growing Japanese cedar -- compared to other evergreens like the Leyland cypress or any pine, hemlock or fir -- is the tree's ability to rejuvenate. If you cut off the top leader branch of a Japanese cedar, buds grow and sprout new leaders that continue the vertical growth. This allows gardeners to "top off" (cut the tip off) a Japanese cedar tree to maintain a certain hedge or screen height. The plant's height may change depending on if and where any future pruning of the tree-top occurs.

Growing Japanese Cedar

• The ideal growing site for a Japanese cedar provides an acidic, moist but well-drained soil that is light in texture and rich in organic matter. It succeeds in loam and clay soils if appropriately sited on berms to ensure good water drainage and soil aeration. Avoid cold, windy sites. Grow this evergreen in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 6 through 9a. The fullest tree form occurs in full sun, but it also grows nicely in partial shade.

Types

• Numerous cultivars of Japanese cedar exist for use in gardens, depending on desired mature plant height or color of foliage. Yoshino is among the fastest-growing. Ben Franklin and Tarhell Blue develop especially silvery blue-green foliage. Lobbii matures with a narrower, column-like silhouette. Dwarf selections useful in rockeries or building foundation plants include Vilmoriniana, Elegans Nana and Globosa Nana. Black Dragon displays dark green to black-green needles.