Last week autumn concluded with a generous rain storm, punctuating a remarkably dry season. Winter has made quite an impact, despite being a new arrival. The weather has been cloudy and chilly, with temperatures dipping down into the 20s just before sunrise. The local meteorologists are forecasting an extremely cold New Year's Day: they say we might have temperatures in the teens! Brrrrrrr.....
With winter officially here, most of the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves, opening up the vistas in the arboretum; there aren't as many leaves blocking the view of our undulating landscape. Now is a good time to appreciate the overall form of the tree as its bones are laid bare. Some trees have a uniform shape: an erect trunk, symmetrical branches, and a rounded top. Other trees have branches that go every-which-way, lacking apparent order. And with the leaves out of the way, now is also a good time to appreciate the great variety of tree bark: smooth, rough, spiked, checkered, shredded, and still others.
But there are also a number of evergreen species adding interest to the bare landscape. Our tree of the week is one of those beauties. The eastern red cedar (
Juniperus virginiana) is a handsome tree all-year-round, but in the wintry months it shines. These trees have a pleasant Christmas-tree-shape and can also be seen decorated with elegant blue 'berries' and tiny golden cones.
There are five eastern red cedars in the arboretum collection. All are volunteers, owing to the widespread and frequent occurrence of the species in our area. The photos below are of two older individuals aged about twenty years.
 |
| These two eastern red cedars are approximately 20 years of age. The male tree is pictured on the left; the female to the right. They are growing in the middle of the slope on the west side of Hamilton Hall. The red brick building barely visible in the photo is the Student Union Building. |
 |
| Female Tree: This is the northern-most of the two trees. It has a characteristic straight trunk and a conical shape. Behind and to the left, a medium-sized hydrangea bush has few leaves remaining. Mickle Hall is pictured in the background. |
 |
| Male Tree: the southern-most of the two trees blends in with its surroundings. The trunk isn't as straight, with a slight curve towards the middle, but it possesses the conical form. |
 |
| The pale blue 'berries' add a subtle beauty. The berries are actually female cones. |
 |
| Eastern red cedars have very small leaves. |
 |
| Under magnification we can see the small, flat scalelike leaves. These are leaves from one of our 20-year-old individuals. Young eastern red cedars have pointy (surprisingly painful!) leaves rather than these smooth scalelike leaves. |
 |
| Very small golden cones. |
 |
| Zooming in on the young male cones |
 |
| Looking up the trunk we see the reddish shreddy bark and numerous straight branches. |
 |
| Eastern red cedars have rough, shreddy bark, and typically the bark has a reddish hue. |
You can find additional pictures of the arboretum's eastern red cedars
here. The older photos were taken on a bright, sunny day.
Please consult the following sources for more information about this species:
NC State University
United States Department of Agriculture
Virginia Tech Dendrology
