Other Names:  Giant Arborvitae, Western Red Cedar

Description:

A narrowly upright shrub with bright yellow new foliage that fades to a soft yellow-green; a worthy new selection because of its naturally compact habit and dynamic color, takes pruning very well, excellent for hedging or as a natural screen

Ornamental Features

Jan Arborvitae is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its rigidly columnar form. It has attractive lime green evergreen foliage which emerges yellow in spring. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding coppery-bronze in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Jan Arborvitae is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

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.

Jan Arborvitae is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Jan Arborvitae will grow to be about 8 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 40 years or more.

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. 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.