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Thuja
Also called Cedar, Red Cedar, Red Cedars, Thuya, Thujas, Arborvitaes, Whitecedars
Thuja, or arborvitae, is a genus of five conifer trees and shrubs in the cypress family, two native to North America and three to eastern Asia. Widely grown as hedges and privacy trees in gardens and landscapes; growing requirements below apply to the commonly planted species.
Thuja ( THEW-yə) is a genus of coniferous trees or shrubs in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. There are five species, two native to North America and three native to eastern Asia. The genus is most closely related to Thujopsis. Members are commonly known as arborvitaes (from the Latin term for 'tree of life'), thujas, or New World cedars.
Thuja species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including autumnal moth, the engrailed and juniper pug. The foliage is also readily eaten by deer, and where deer population density is high, can adversely affect the growth of young trees and the establishment of seedlings.
They are widely grown as ornamental trees, and extensively used for hedges. A number of cultivars are grown and used in landscapes. Homeowners will sometimes plant them as privacy trees. The cultivar 'Green Giant' is popular as a very vigorous hedging plant, growing up to 80 cm/year when young.
Northern Whitecedar · Western Redcedar · Japanese Arbor-vitae
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Thuja by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
