Highland Hill FarmSeedlingsrus and Highland Hill Farm Can-Can Arborvitae... Grown By Mike Hirst
THUJA plicata 'Can Can' A Western Red Cedar CultivarThis arborvitae has white tips on a dark green background foliage, is broadly conical, and extremely dense. This arborvitae is deer resistant and makes a beautiful specimen, screen or trimmed hedge. 7' tall x 6' wide in its first 10 years. We have some available that are app. 28-30" tall. My son Mike who is a senior at Delaware Valley College has grown a number of them. He is running a special on these plants. He will deliver and plant them for you. We recommend that you plant them 4-5 feet apart and 4-5 feet from a property line. I know many of you are waiting for these important details........Yes... The Can Can has very good deer resistance and can tolerate some shade... not deep heavy shade.
This is a Western Red Cedar that is sure to please you but disappoint the deer. They report that it is sour and thus inedible. Not a fast growing cedar probably reaching 10-15 foot if you live long enough!!! This arborvitae fits a special niche.....It is a dwarf growing less than 10feet. Besides...it's more heat tolerant, has glossier foliage, tolerates a wider range of soils, and unlike the emerald green counterpart, is deer resistant.
This plant will not get out of control. It should reach 3ft in 5 to 10 years. So, put away your pruning shears.
This plant is great for hedges or as small specimen plantings. It performs best in moist soils, but it will still perform admirably in regular clay.
One last thing --I have not seen bagworms attack this plant.... But that is not a guarantee.
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Do you need help in planning or selecting a tree or shrub? Why not email us a picture of the site and let us give you choices for your landscape? We can also have John Murray our in house designer give you a free landscape plan based on the photo. Just let us know
what kind of plants you prefer...Evergreen...Natives...Flowering and he will do the rest.
Information about our Locations
Green Giant Sale This Month...Nov 2006
Arborvitae - Were Ready To Load Your Truck! We May Also Be Able To Deliver and or Plant For You!!!
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We have thousands of arbs and always have hundreds ready for you to pickup. From 2' to 15' we have inventory balled and burlapped. Don't worry about driving long distances to get to us. We are easy to get to near Phila., on a major road, Rt. 313 in Fountainville Pa.. We want to move our stock and will make sure that you go home a happy camper. If you are coming from a long distance, we will give away free inventory that is surplus to our needs. One of our fields is being converted into ball and soccer fields and work will begin June 1, 2006. Stock in this field will go cheap. We will stay open til the last dog dies or we sell out. I think we have more stock than what we possibly can sell.
Arborvitae are commonly used evergreen shrubs or trees useful in urban areas where low maintenance and durability is needed. Many cultivars with forms such as being globed in shape, columnar, or narrow pyramidal, tend to be near buildings, doors, and walkways. Other forms which are larger are used for screens and buffers that are planted in rows.
The form of arborvitae is small, medium, or large depending on the cultivar. Some reach 50', others only 3'. Most prefer full sun to partial sun. Planting in dense shade conditions should be avoided. A moist , well drained, loamy soil in full sunlight are ideal conditions for growing healthy arborvitae. These plants will tolerate rocky, clay, urban conditions of heat drought and pollution. The most important pest we have is bagworms which must be controlled to prevent complete defoliation. Some cultivars have multiple leaders which also prove to be a detraction for the plant. Pruning out multiple leaders in some cultivars is a simple remedy.
We Grow Green Giant Arborvitae
The Green Giant Arborvitae is more properly named by tree scientists the "Thuja Plicata," with the other common historic names being, "giant cedar," also "western cedar," and "red cedar." There's only one other Arborvitae specie in all of North America, the "eastern cedar," or "white cedar," with "Thuja Occidentalis," as the tree scientist's Latin name, the botanist's name. This short tree is actually what we usually think of when the "genus" juniper is mentioned.
Funny that the eastern cedar was given the Latin name for "west" which is "occidental." You see? As I have observed before, what's in a name? Highland Hill Farm is not located in a town called Highland Hills, or, on Highland Hill Road, etc. Scottish Highland Hills cows that we grazed on our first property provided our company with a distinctive name when we sold our first trees in 1978.
Green Giant Arborvitae ranges naturally all across the United States from Massachusetts, southwesterly to Texas and New Mexico, through northern Arizona, up the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the state of Washington, and British Columbia beyond.
What does arborvitae mean anyway? Now that we know about the derivation of "Green Giant," here's how the Latin name Arborvitae, or "tree of life," came about. As the first explorers of Canada were mapping the St. Lawrence River in 1536, the tree was used for medicine which saved their leader and most of the men too. Jacques Cartier explored the islands off eastern Canada, and then sailed westward where he entered the St. Lawrence River and found Quebec and a Royal Mountain (Mont Real, which is now called "Montreal"). Cartier was searching for the passage to China so many other explorers would also fail to find. Cartier and his men had to spend a long winter inside a little fort, away from the any sun, where they subsisted on meat, fish, and bread, eating no fruits or vegetables. As scurvy was killing most all of them, a friendly Huron Indian gave Cartier's crew tea made from the needles and bark of a tree which looked like the white cedars of Europe. So Cartier took some trees back to France with him, these Thuja Occidentalis Eastern White Cedars, naming them "Arborvitae," the tree of life. How about that?
Arborvitae are native to the pacific northwest where they grow to 200 feet tall, usually 50 to 70 feet is the common height, even including here in Bucks county. Arborvitae do best in wet forests and swamps. The Green Giant appearance is due to this specie's wide 15-25 foot wide base, the slightly tapering conical shape, and the dense branches and leaves casting great dark shadows. The Arborvitae grows in zones 6 to 8, environments with temperatures that get as low as 10 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit, such as in Missouri or Pennsylvania, to environments where winter temperatures get only as low as 20 degrees above 0 Fahrenheit, such as mid-Texas and northern Florida.
Green Giant Arborvitae have pretty, yet surprisingly tiny yellow flowers. The "pine cones," the fruit actually, of the tree, follow the budding of the flowers and are also surprisingly small compared to the size of a mature tree, being no more than a half-inch in size. There are no problems with tree litter understandably, and so few animals are attracted to the Green Giant Arborvitae, perhaps because of this description.
The Green Giant Arborvitae is recommended for growing as a hedge or privacy buffer along a property line, or driveway. Thuja Plicata, Western Red Cedars are ideal "windrow" trees. In a row, they'll truly diminish the wind. The Green Giant Arborvitae is justifiably considered wind resistant considering the windswept mountains of the Pacific northwest. The wood itself is weak, but it is very light. Green Giant Arborvitae trees are decay resistant, too, but the "Achilles Heel," the one and only vulnerability, is to being eaten by deer. Any Arborvitae are a favorite "deer browse," or as we jokingly say, "deer candy." The Western Red Cedar, the Green Giant Arborvitae do have better deer resistance than most arborvitae. Do not plant arborvitae too far away from structures, lights, roads, etc., where there's quietude and privacy for the "browsing deer."
Now that you know all about 'em, Highland Hill Farm has at least 50 or more Green Giant Arborvitae in our nursery ready for pickup at any time. They will range from 1.5' to 12' and be balled and burlapped or potted. We also have field liners and seedling Green Giant available. There are many more varieties of arborvitae available which we have in stock. If we don't stock the variety you want we will find it for you if possible. We also sell Arborvitae that are very similar to the Green Giants. One variety is called the Excelsa. It has bright green foliage, pyramidal in form, is fast growing. I believe it will reach 30-35'. The best exposure for this plant is full sun. It is cold hardy to -20F. This plant responds well to pruning and shearing. Its foliage color is retained throughout the year. For a hedge or a screen the plants should be spaced 4-5' stem to stem. A 10' screen needs only 2 plants. A 50' screen needs only 12 plants.
We Deliver and Plant...Call 215 651 8329 For a Quote
If you have any comments, please Email Us
If you have any comments, please Email Us Highland Hill Farm
Po. Box 517
Fountainville, PA 18923
Call in an order at 215-651-8329
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We deliver to the following counties in Pa:
Adams County, Clinton County, Lackawanna County, Pike County Allegheny County, Columbia County, Lancaster County, Potter County Armstrong County, Crawford County, Lawrence County, Schuylkill County Beaver County, Cumberland County, Lebanon County, Snyder County Bedford County, Dauphin County, Lehigh County, Somerset County Berks County, Delaware County, Luzerne County, Sullivan County Blair County, Elk County, Lycoming County, Susquehanna County Bradford County, Erie County, McKean County, Tioga County Bucks County, We grow and sell a number of viburnums. We can supply you one viburnum or supply them by the thousands. We are in process of setting up a wholesale viburnum operation for cut flowers as well as viburnums for the landscape trade and retail users. We can supply rooted cuttings , seedlings, transplants, or large balled and burlaped specimens.We will deliver and we will plant them for you if needed. We currently have 10,000 viburnums growing in the fields at our Milan Pa. farms and 2500 at our Doylestown Pa. farms. If we do not grow the variety that you want, we may be able to locate it for you.
We raise over 10 types of Viburnums on our farms from seedlings to 5' shrubs. We propagate many from cuttings. If you have poor soils due to compacting from construction, try viburnums. Being rugged and hardy, they perform where other plants fail. We have many types of Arborvitae.
Do you need help in planning or selecting a type of Arborvitae? Why not email us a picture of the site and let us give you choices for your landscape? We can also have John Murray our in house designer give you a free landscape plan based on the photo. Just let us know
what kind of plants you prefer...Evergreen...Natives...Flowering and he will do the rest.
See Our Video LibraryDo you need help in planning or selecting a tree or shrub? Why not email us a picture of the site and let us give you choices for your landscape? We can also have Marge Hirst our in house designer give you a free landscape plan based on the photo. Just let us know what kind of plants you prefer...Evergreen...Natives...Flowering and he will do the rest. |