Eastern Red Cedar Burkii

It’s moderately fast-growing, averaging 12-24 inches per year under good conditions.

It's not considered highly poisonous, but its berries and other parts shouldn't be ingested in large quantities due to some compounds that can be mildly to moderately toxic.

Yes - one of its biggest advantages! The aromatic foliage naturally repels deer and many browsing animals.

Anytime between fall and spring is best, giving roots time to settle before heat or frost. Avoid planting in frozen or waterlogged soil.

Young trees can be kept in large containers for a few years, but they prefer to be planted in the ground long-term due to their strong taproot system.

Water deeply every 1-2 weeks during hot, dry periods. Otherwise, natural rainfall is typically enough.

Absolutely. Its dense, and broad growth makes it an excellent choice for evergreen hedges or windbreaks, especially in open or exposed areas.

Yes, it’s cold-hardy down to USDA Zone 3 and handles freezing temperatures without issue.

Full sun exposure and occasional deep watering during extreme drought will help maintain its signature blue-gray tones.

It tolerates many soil types, including clay, as long as drainage is good. If your soil tends to hold water, plant slightly elevated or amended with sand and organic matter.

When it comes to spacing there is no right or wrong answer. We prefer to give trees the most amount of separation possible and aesthetically this leads to a prettier looking tree at maturity because they develop naturally wider, fuller and more symmetrical canopies. As far as the tree's health is concerned it will not be affected by how closely it is planted to another tree but the shape of the canopy will become taller and thinner and begin to overlap, which will create a continuous hedge. If privacy is not of immediate concern and we are just looking to diffuse the view, then we could plant the trees where they barely touch at maturity.

For example, we could plant Burkii Eastern Red Cedars 20' apart (their mature width is 20') and at maturity their canopies would barely touch or we could space them even further apart than 20' which would leave a gap between the trees. Most of us don't have the luxury of planting trees this far apart and waiting 10-15 years for them to grow together and get privacy. For people that need more immediate privacy then the question to answer is "how long do you want to wait before you have a solid privacy screen?" Most answers that we get to this question will either be immediate or they are willing to wait between 2-4 years before they get solid coverage. Again, there is no right or wrong answer to this question, and it is solely dependent upon how quickly privacy is needed. For example, if a customer is looking for immediate coverage and they are planting Burkii Eastern Red Cedars, then we need to find out how wide the trees that are being planted are and then plant them that far apart. If we find Burkii Eastern Red Cedars that are 3' wide, then we would need to plant them 3' apart from trunk to trunk which allows for the branches to touch immediately at the time of planting. If we are looking for coverage in 3-4 years, then the spacing would be dependent upon how quickly the trees grow per year in width and what size tree the customer decides to start with. Let's look at the previous example of Burkii Eastern Red Cedars that are currently 3' wide. We know that they grow about 1’ per year in terms of width so over 3 years they will be about 6’ wide and therefore we would space them 6’ apart (trunk to trunk) so that the trees would be touching in 3 years.