Tree · Cupressaceae
Eastern Red Cedar
Juniperus virginiana
A rugged native conifer that powers through drought, poor soil, and bitter cold and keeps going for centuries.
Full sun
Every 10–21 days
USDA 2–9
30–39 ft · 9–12 m
Overview
Eastern red cedar charges through conditions that flatten other evergreens. It is a juniper, not a true cedar, and it has spread wild across much of the eastern United States on ground tougher trees avoid. Hand it some sun and it digs into clay, sand, rock, or dry alkaline soil and just keeps growing.
It pulls real weight as a screen, windbreak, or wildlife tree. Female plants load up with frosty blue berry-like cones that carry waxwings, robins, and other birds clean through winter, while the dense foliage hands them shelter and nesting cover. That reddish, aromatic wood is the very cedar that lines closets and stands up as fence posts.
This slow, long-lived tree can power on for centuries, though two habits deserve a heads-up. It surges into open grassland once fire stops holding it back, and it works as the alternate host for cedar-apple rust, so it belongs nowhere near apples or hawthorns.
Care
The short version: plant it in full sun, give it any well-drained soil, and water it only while it gets going. It skips feeding on most sites, needs barely any pruning, and thrives best kept well clear of apple and hawthorn trees.
Light
Plant it in full sun and it rewards you with the densest, healthiest growth. It will take some light shade, but a shaded tree stretches thin and open and drops the tight form that makes it shine as a screen.
Water
Once it roots in, this ranks as one of the most drought-tolerant conifers of the eastern U.S. and barely ever needs a drink. Keep new plantings watered through their first season to launch them, then let the soil dry between waterings and let the tree take over.
Soil
Hardly any tree shrugs off soil like this one. It powers ahead in average, dry to medium, well-drained ground and digs into clay, sand, shallow rock, and poor or dry alkaline sites, grabbing a pH anywhere from 4.7 to 8.0. The single deal-breaker is ground that stays wet.
Temperature
This tree is built tough, running strong from -40°F to 104°F (-40°C to 40°C). Cold barely registers, and it powers through heat and exposed, windy sites with the same ease.
Humidity
Outdoor humidity does nothing to slow an established tree. Good airflow counts for far more than moisture in the air, since crowded, damp foliage is exactly what the tip blights pounce on.
Feeding
On most sites it cruises along with no feeding at all. If growth genuinely drags, a balanced slow-release fertilizer in spring gives it a nudge, but an established tree on ordinary ground keeps right on without help.
Pruning
Pruning stays light, yet it takes shearing like a champ for screens and hedges. Go in during late winter to early spring, and clip out any brown galls and dying tips while you work to drive back cedar-apple rust.
Repotting
Not applicable; grown as a landscape tree, not a houseplant
Size & spacing
A mature tree climbs to about 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 m) tall and spreads 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m) wide, so hand it plenty of room to fill out. Expect a steady, moderate pace rather than a sprint to that size.
When to plant
Skip the sowing-window scramble with a tree this hardy. Drop new plants in the ground in spring or fall so the roots dig in before summer heat or winter cold hits, and enjoy the payoff on female trees as the blue cones ripen from fall into winter.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring or fall
- Harvest: Non-flowering; female trees bear frosty blue-green berry-like cones that ripen fall to winter (Sep-Feb)
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 2–9
Temperature: down to -46°C
Troubleshooting
A thriving eastern red cedar throws very little your way, but a few pests and fungi do turn up on the foliage and twigs. The encouraging part is that most of the trouble looks far worse than it is. Match what you spot below and jump on it before it spreads.
Bright orange gelatinous horns bursting from woody galls after rain
Meet cedar-apple rust and its relatives, fungi that ping-pong between the cedar and nearby apples, crabapples, or hawthorns. On the cedar the hit is light, just galls and a touch of twig dieback. Snip out the brown galls in late winter before the horns erupt, and keep the tree well clear of any rose-family plants nearby.
Fix:
- Prune out and destroy galls and infected branch tips in late winter to early spring before horns form
- Do not plant near apples, crabapples, hawthorns, quince, or serviceberry
- Apply a myclobutanil fungicide in early spring on high-value plants before infection (copper and sulfur are less effective)
Silk bags disguised with foliage swinging from the limbs
Those camouflaged bags belong to bagworm caterpillars, which strip needles and thin the crown as they chew. Each bag comes stitched from bits of the tree's own foliage, so they hide right out in the open. Pluck them off by hand from fall through early spring to wipe out the overwintering eggs, then hit the larvae with Bt while they are still small in late spring.
Fix:
- Handpick and destroy bags in fall through early spring to remove overwintering eggs
- Apply Bacillus thuringiensis or an approved insecticide while larvae are small in late spring to early summer
Stippled foliage going yellow with crusty specks clinging to stems
Those fixed specks are juniper scale, and the fine stippling can also flag spider mites moving in. Both drain the foliage and leave it dull and discolored, sometimes topped with sticky honeydew or sooty mold. Smother overwintering scale with horticultural oil, nail the crawlers as they emerge in late spring, and cut out any branch that is badly infested.
Fix:
- Apply horticultural oil to smother overwintering scale
- Treat crawlers with horticultural oil or an approved insecticide at the crawler stage
- Prune out and destroy heavily infested branches
Branch tips browning back with black pinprick specks on the dead wood
Dead tips peppered with tiny black specks call out Phomopsis or Kabatina tip blight, fungi that slip in after wet weather. On a healthy tree the damage stays mostly cosmetic. Prune out the dead twigs during a dry stretch, drop the overhead watering, and open up the branches so air dries the foliage fast.
Fix:
- Prune out dead and dying twigs during dry weather
- Avoid overhead watering and improve air circulation
- Apply an approved fungicide to new growth on high-value plants if needed
Toxicity
Great news for anyone growing it around animals: eastern red cedar brings no poisoning risk. It stays off the ASPCA toxic lists, and people, pets, and livestock all take it in stride. The only things to watch are minor, a mild stomach upset when an animal eats a lot of the oily foliage or berries, and skin that the prickly young growth and aromatic sap can irritate.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats Mild
Cats stay off the ASPCA poison lists, so a nibble brings no real danger. One that chews a lot of the foliage or berries might run a loose stomach for a day, and the aromatic oils tend to send most cats elsewhere anyway.
Dogs Mild
Dogs handle it fine in passing, though one that wolfs down a pile of the blue berries or foliage may end up with mild diarrhea. Nothing alarming, but keep watch if a big amount goes down.
Horses Mild
Horses graze around it without trouble. Pack away a real quantity of the oily foliage or cones, though, and it can stir up a passing stomach upset, so it is no feed to lean on, even with zero poisoning risk.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits browse juniper foliage out in the wild and take it in stride. No toxin here to worry about.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, sheep, and goats browse eastern red cedar with no poisoning risk. Heavy grazing of the foliage is more likely to rile the rumen than to harm the animal.
Birds Safe
The berry-like cones turn into a winter staple for cedar waxwings, robins, and loads of other birds, which fling the seed far and wide as they feed.
People Safe
No poisoning hazard for people. The prickly young foliage and aromatic sap can irritate skin, so pull on gloves when you prune, and do not treat the berries as food.
Not a poisoning hazard, but foliage and the blue berry-like cones can cause mild gastrointestinal upset (such as diarrhea) if eaten in quantity, and the aromatic volatile oils are mildly irritating. Sap and prickly young foliage may irritate skin; wear gloves when pruning.
Varieties
Half the fun is the lineup of shapes, from a tight upright column to a low spreading shrub. A handful of standout selections keep winning spots in gardens.
'Canaertii'
A standout ornamental pick that packs a dense, narrow pyramid of rich dark green foliage studded with frosty blue cones.
'Brodie'
An upright columnar tree whose soft blue-green foliage shoots up into a clean, narrow screen or accent.
'Taylor'
A tightly fastigiate column that rockets to about 20 to 25 feet tall while holding to just 3 to 4 feet wide, perfect for a slim upright accent.
'Grey Owl'
A low, spreading shrub dressed in silvery gray foliage instead of the usual upright tree.
How to propagate
Multiply it from seed, cuttings, or grafts, and lean into a bit of patience for all three. Seed crawls along and tests your resolve, while cuttings and grafting keep a named cultivar coming back true.
SeedDemanding
Sow stratified seed in fall or spring · Months to over a year; seed has dormancy requiring cold stratification and can be slow and erratic to germinate
Out in the wild it self-seeds like wildfire, but starting it on purpose really puts your patience to the test. Gather cones from a female tree in fall or winter, strip off the flesh, and hand the seed a long cold stratification to crack its dormancy. Even then it sprouts slow and uneven, often anywhere from a few months to more than a year.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Take semi-hardwood cuttings in late summer to fall · Several months to root
Cuttings are the go-to move for copying a named cultivar and locking in its form and foliage color. Take semi-hardwood cuttings in late summer to fall and give them several months to root. It runs slower than rooting a houseplant, but it beats seed hands down for getting the exact plant you want.
GraftingDemanding
Dormant season · One season
Grafting is mostly a nursery play, joining a selected cultivar onto seedling rootstock. The work happens in the dormant season, and a clean union settles in over a single growing season. It demands real skill, so most gardeners happily hand this one off to the growers.
Myths
Eastern red cedar is a true cedar.
Look past the name, because this is a juniper in the cypress family, not a cedar at all. True cedars belong to the genus Cedrus in the pine family. The everyday name is just a misnomer that has stuck around for ages.
Cedar-apple rust devastates the tree it colonizes.
On the cedar the rust barely does more than raise a few galls and kill back the odd twig. The serious harm lands on nearby apples, crabapples, and hawthorns, while the cedar just plays the alternate host that lets the fungus finish its life cycle.