Today I got to plant a new cedar variety on a strata site! It’s always nice to get a little surprise like this. I’m used to planting cedars. We mainly plant Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’ that form so many of our landscape hedges in the Lower Mainland. They get sheared once a year and look good. However, many of these cedars died in nasty heat waves and companies are starting to plant yews (Taxus x media ‘Hicksii’) instead.
I planted lots of these Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’
Little Giants
One of my many tasks today was to install three Thuja occidentalis ‘Little Giant’ cedars. Excellent! Something new for me. So let’s meet the little giant just in case you have to plant it or decide to after reading this blog post.
This cedar is a slow growing, compact, globe shaped evergreen. It sports soft feathery bright green foliage. It works well as a small hedge or as foundation or border accent.
Its average size is 90-120cm tall and 90-120 wide.
Zone 3
It doesn’t flower.
Keep it moist in sunny locations. I planted them on a hot sunny day and watered them after planting. Then I encouraged the home owner to keep her little giants moist. Considering the condition of her begonias, I had my doubts. Cedars require water in their first year to establish well. Most companies are on site once a week and watering new installs isn’t very practical. Irrigated sites get watered twice a week in Metro Vancouver.
Little pruning is required but I’m sure I will eventually get to shear the little giants into globes.
This cedar needs acidic soils which is fine in the Vancouver area. It is suitable for containers.
Good companion plants are: Barberry, Dogwood, Potentilla, Spirea, Lilac, Sumac and Weigela.
Retail cost $39.99 plus tax in British Columbia. Nurseries will most likely give you a better deal, assuming they have stock.
Thuja occidentalis ‘Little Giant’
