Description
PNW evergreen tree. The towering western red cedar is an icon of the Pacific Northwest. First Nations referred it as the “Tree of Life” for all the necessary and cultural things that could be made from its wood and bark such as the beautiful Haida made cedar bark hat I won in a Legion raffle in Masset located on Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands.
But I digress. Red Cedar can grow up to 70 metres tall and live up to 1,000 years old. It doesn’t have needles but scales arranged in a plait like pattern. With its lightweight, straight grained and rot-resistant wood it entered commerce as fencing, finishing lumber, ship building and much more. Dwarf cultivars adorn landscapes with its graceful narrow, pyramidal form.
- Seed Count: 12-15
- Collection Date: Nov 2023
- Hardiness Zone: 5-8
- Preferred conditions: Full to semi sun; humus rich deep acidic soils
- Height and Width: 70m x 10m
- Germination test type: hand sort
- Family: Cupressaceae
How to germinate Thuja plicata seeds:
Soak seed 24 hours. Requires 30 days of cold stratification. I suggest using coarse silica sand as the stratification medium as it will be easier to spread the seeds out on a prepared medium and mist well for optimum medium-seed contact. Seeds require light to germinate so do not over. Mist daily. I like using 15cm (6 inch) square pots and sitting them in clear plastic bags. A simple bag clip to close the bag helps maintain humidity and necessary moisture to keep germinating seed happy and viable. If any tender emerging roots dry out, this is fatal to any germinating seedling. Give strong indirect light. Time to transplant seedlings into a deeper pot or separate pots when roots start poking through the pot drainage holes.
