The Atlantic White Cedar Mystery

Most gardeners know the genus, Chamaecyparis (false cypress) only through the Asian members other genus. Chamaecyparis obtusa (Hinoki Cypress), and Chamaecyparis pisifera (Sawara Cypress), both of which are commonly grown landscape staples. All the time, our native Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic White Cedar) remains in horticultural obscurity. Boat enthusiasts, and cedar shingle makers both value these 60′ trees, because in addition to their wood being lightly fragrant, they are also very immune to decay, warping, and shrinking…all important traits if you’re in either occupation. Other common uses for dead plants include as pier pilings and telephone poles.

In the wild, Atlantic white cedar is a wetland plant, growing naturally only in freshwater bogs on acidic sandy soils, and only within 130 miles of the ocean. Because so much of the coastal lands were drained for farming over the past century, Atlantic white cedar has become quite rare in many parts of its range. In the garden, we’ve found them to perform okay in all but the driest conditions.

Over the years, we’ve tried several selections of Altantic White Cedar in the garden, and most performed fairly well for several years, before experiencing a good bit of foliar blight and dieback. As it turns out, Chamaecyparis thyoides has a wide native range from the coasts of Maine south to Florida. For us in the southeast US, the forms from colder regions are usually not be good long term choices. I was always drawn to the juvenile foliage types, whose soft foliage gives them a unique texture in the landscape. The two commercially available clones with this foliage are Chamaecyparis thyoides ‘Red Star’ and ‘Meth Dwarf’. Despite being easy to propagate, my long time success with both was limited by the foliar problems, which led me to remove them as they became unsightly.

In 2019, I was visiting the now deceased Georgia conifer expert, Tom Cox, when, to my delight, I spied a very healthy juvenile form in his garden. Tom explained that this selection, Chamaecyparis ‘Red Velvet’, was the one clone that had thrived for him in the south. I was both puzzled and skeptical after failing with two similar looking clones, but was persuaded to give it a try, so I returned home with cuttings. As you can see in the photo below, our resulting plant is thriving in the garden. Several years later, I got my answer why, from plantsman, Patrick McMillan, who explained that this clone is a selection of the formerly recognized deep south form, Chamaecyparis thyoides var. henryae, which hails only from Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Although this difference isn’t recognized by some modern taxonomists, it certainly makes a difference to gardeners and supports the importance of provenance. It’s our hope to get Chamaecyparis ‘Red Velvet’ propagated and shared with nurseryman who can help to get it more widespread in the trade.