| Name |
Topiary
- Thuja
Orient - Aurea Nana (Half Standard) |
| Cultivation |
This
cultivar is also known as Oriental arborvitae and does well on poor, excessively
drained soils, even those with high pH. Oriental arborvitae is a little
less cold hardy than the American arborvitae, and the slender branches have
a tendency to break under the weight of snow and ice. Most cultivars do
very well in Britain and Ireland. |
| Family |
Cupressaceae |
| Genus |
|
| Synonyms |
Oriental
arborvitae, oriental thuja, biota Platycladus orientalis |
| Known
Hazards |
|
| Range |
Oriental
arborvitae occurs naturally in western China and North Korea, with an isolated
population in northeastern Iran. |
| Height |
Oriental
arborvitae is a densely branched evergreen conifer that can get as much
as 50 ft (15.2 m) tall with a spread of 20 ft (6.1 m), but in cultivation
usually grows as a smaller, bushier shrub. |
| Habitat |
It usually grows on steep, rocky hillsides and cliffs. Oriental arborvitae
is widely cultivated in gardens around the world.
Light: Full sun is best; oriental arborvitae also does okay in partial shade.
Moisture: Oriental arborvitae is drought tolerant once established, but
new plantings should be watered regularly for the first year. |
| Characteristics |
Oriental arborvitae is one of the best evergreen shrubs for low maintenance
xeriscape gardens, especially in areas with low annual rainfall.. Old
specimens sometimes can be found still persisting at abandoned stately
home sites. It tends to have several to many stems, but can be trimmed
to a single leader stem creating a treelike form. The overall shape is
conical, with the crown becoming more irregular and spreading with age.
The bark is rusty-brown and fibrous. The numerous slender ascending branches
support shoots that spread out in flat, vertical planes. The leaves are
like little scales overlapping and tightly packed on the shoots. The oblong
cones are about 1 in (2.5 cm) long, held upright, and blue-green with
a grayish waxy bloom. The cones are fleshy at first, becoming woody as
they mature, and each of the 6-8 scales that cover the cone has a recurved,
fleshy hook. Under the scales are wingless seeds. |
| Edible
Uses |
None
Known |
| Medicinal
Uses |
None
Known |
| Other
Uses |
None
Known |
| Propagation |
Propagate
by seed which is produced abundantly and germinates readily. |
| Cultivars |
Hortus
lists 44 cultivars of this popular evergreen. 'Elegantissima' is perhaps
the most common variety in cultivation; it is a cone-shaped shrub to 15
ft tall with dense golden yellow foliage that changes to yellow-green in
summer and bronze in winter. 'Aurea' gets 12-18 ft tall and has yellowish
foliage. 'Aurea Nana' is smaller, to 5 ft , with yellowish foliage. 'Filiformis
Erecta' has drooping sprays of foliage and gets 5-6 ft tall. 'Sunkist' is
a tiny shrub to 24 in tall and wide. |