Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Other Names:  Eastern White Cedar

Description:

A wonderful evergreen shrub for color, with cheerful yellow foliage throughout the season; takes on orange-gold tones as cold weather arrives; maintains a narrow, upright form without pruning; best with adequate sun, protect from drying winds

Ornamental Features

Golden Emerald Arborvitae is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its distinctively pyramidal habit of growth. It has attractive green-variegated yellow foliage. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and turn harvest gold in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Golden Emerald Arborvitae is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a distinctive and refined pyramidal form. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub. When pruning is necessary, it is recommended to only trim back the new growth of the current season, other than to remove any dieback. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Golden Emerald Arborvitae is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Golden Emerald Arborvitae will grow to be about 7 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant does not require much in the way of fertilizing once established. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selection of a native North American species.