Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Other Names:  Giant Arborvitae, Western Red Cedar

Description:

A beautiful upright tree with sprays of soft yellow foliage throughout summer and interesting shaggy reddish bark; makes a great color accent choice for the home landscape, performs best in moist, humid environments but adaptable

Ornamental Features

Golden Western Arborvitae is primarily valued in the landscape for its distinctively pyramidal habit of growth. It has attractive yellow evergreen 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 Western Arborvitae is an evergreen tree with a strong central leader and 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 tree. 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 Western Arborvitae is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent

Planting & Growing

Golden Western Arborvitae will grow to be about 40 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and should not be planted underneath power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 80 years or more.

This tree 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. 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.

This plant is not reliably hardy in our region, and certain restrictions may apply; contact the store for more information.