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Plant of the Week
Deodara Cedar
Latin: Cedrus deodara
We gardeners always want to push the envelope -- to grow things where they
just don’t want to or won’t grow. Of the three species of true cedars, native
from north Africa to the Middle East and east to the Himalayan region, we
naturally want to grow the least hardy of these, the Deodara Cedar. This lovely
conical evergreen tree grows to 60 feet tall in about 50 years. But with great
age, its lowest limbs will develop into upward growing branches that can make
the plant wider than it is tall.
The Deodara, a native Indian name for the tree, is indigenous from northern
India, into Afghanistan and east to Nepal. The true cedars do not make it over
the Himalayan Mountains or across the deserts of central Asia into China. In
this country we call the Juniperus virginiana the "cedar" tree, no doubt in
reverence for the cedar of the Bible which is Cedrus libani, the Cedar of
Lebanon. Deodara cedar was introduced into cultivation in England in 1831,
probably arriving in the US by 1850 during the new plant frenzy that occurred
about that time. Unlike the stiff branches and short, stout needles of the other
cedars, the Deodara Cedar has more delicate branches, the tips of which are
usually drooping downward. The needles are a light green to gray-green in color
to an inch and a half long and needle-like.
Seed-grown Deodara cedars are only hardy as far north as zone 7, which means the
tree will grow in all of Arkansas except the Ozark Plateau region and the
highest parts of the Ouachita Mountains. Winter hardy forms of the tree have
been collected with ‘Shalimar’--a selection made in the Kashmiri region of India
in 1963--probably the most cold resistant. A similar selection called ‘Kashmir’
is also said to be cold hardy but is probably not as hardy as the
first-mentioned selection. Though I have not grown these selections, they should
be hardy to -5 to -10%F, making them suitable for planting in the coldest parts
of the state.
Deodara cedar is a finicky tree to grow. Like most conifers it requires
excellent drainage to prosper. But unlike many other members of the pine family,
to which the true cedars belong, Deodara cedar should have a good, fertile soil.
In a good soil it will be fast growing while young, often making two feet of
growth a year. Be careful when locating a planting site for this tree. Give it
room. It is best used as a specimen tree where the attributes of such a big tree
can be shown to its full potential. This is definitely not a plant for the
foundation planting, as you sometimes see it used.
The tree is not without its problems. Sometimes it just dies. Usually the cause
of outright death can be traced back to root rot caused by planting in an
insufficiently drained soil. The other cause for sudden loss of the plant is
often cold winters. Young trees are more susceptible to cold than more
established trees, but a very sudden temperature drop such as we had in the
Halloween freeze of 1994, can cause severe damage to even older trees. The death
of the tops of trees can usually be traced back to freeze injury.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
November 5, 1999
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