Arborvitae
Thuja occidentalis
A dense, low-care native evergreen with aromatic, flat sprays of foliage, the classic hedge, screen or windbreak, and it takes clay, wet sites and city air. Keep it out of dry, windy spots that winter-burn it and full shade that thins it. Heavy snow and ice can break its stems, and deer browsing is a serious problem.
- Mature size
- 11 × 3.5 ft
- 3.5 × 1.1 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–7b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Dry to moist
Arborvitae at its mature size
A mature Arborvitae grows 7 to 15 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: Missouri Botanical Garden, Monrovia.
Through the year
What Arborvitae looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Winter · Dec–Mar
Foliage turned yellow-brown to bronze, dull.
In leaf · Apr–Nov
Bright yellow-green flat sprays of scale foliage.
Photos
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Growing Arborvitae
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Midwest, the Plains and Mountain West, and the Pacific Northwest.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Privacy screen, hedge, small space, specimen, and drought tolerant
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Eastern and Central Canada and North-Central and Eastern United States
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Arborvitae, that’s about 3.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Arborvitae in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other arborvitaes
Arborvitae
Emerald Green Arborvitae
Green Giant ArborvitaeAll drawn to the same scale.