{"id":2991,"date":"2019-10-02T00:08:39","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T07:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-618\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T15:26:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T22:26:19","slug":"on-the-lifespan-of-arborvitae-trees","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/on-the-lifespan-of-arborvitae-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"On the lifespan of arborvitae trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the typical life of an arborvitae tree?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arborvitae is the common name of Thuja<\/em>, usually Thuja occidentalis<\/em>. As
\nwith human beings, lifespan can only be an estimate, due to various
\ncircumstances which affect health and longevity. Urban growing conditions
\ndiffer from those experienced by plants growing in the wild, for example.
\nAn article in The International Journal of Plant Sciences<\/em>, Vol. 153, No. 1 (March 1992) by P. E. Kelly, et al. suggests that T. occidentalis<\/em> growing
\non cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada could be over 1,000 years old.<\/p>\n

The record<\/a> for this tree in the Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute
\ndatabase, SelecTree, indicates that its lifespan ranges from 40 to 150
\nyears. Columnar arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis<\/em> ‘fastigiata,’ is listed as having
\na lifespan of 50 to 150 years.<\/p>\n

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center provides more information on Thuja occidentalis<\/a>, too. Here is an excerpt:<\/p>\n

“In a crowded environment, this tree is slender and not well-branched. In
\nthe open, it improves in form and density. The evergreen can be single-
\nor multi-trunked and columnar or conical in shape. Eastern arborvitae can
\ngrow 40-60 ft. tall, but under cultivation will probably be no taller
\nthan 30 ft. Branches end in flat, spreading, horizontal sprays of
\nfragrant, dark-green foliage which turns yellow-green or slight brown in
\nwinter. Resinous and aromatic evergreen tree with angled, buttressed,
\noften branched trunk and a narrow, conical crown of short, spreading
\nbranches.<\/p>\n

Probably the first North American tree introduced into Europe, it was
\ndiscovered by French explorers and grown in Paris about 1536. The year
\nbefore, tea prepared from the foliage and bark, now known to be high in
\nvitamin C, saved the crew of Jacques Cartier from scurvy. It was named
\narborvitae , Latin for tree-of-life, in 1558. The trees grow slowly and
\nreach an age of 400 years or more.”<\/p>\n

An article from the May 2002 issue of the Journal of
\nArboriculture<\/em> lists Thuja occidentalis<\/em> as a long-lived tree with a medium
\ngrowth rate. They define “long” as over 200 years. However, most
\narborvitae one sees in urban landscapes would be unlikely to survive that
\nlong, due to many variables (poor planting methods, overcrowding,
\npollution, exposure to lawn chemicals, etc.).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the typical life of an arborvitae tree? Arborvitae is the common name of Thuja, usually Thuja occidentalis. As with human beings, lifespan can only be an estimate, due to various circumstances which affect health and longevity. Urban growing conditions differ from those experienced by plants growing in the wild, for example. An article in The International Journal of Plant Sciences, Vol. 153, No. 1 (March 1992) by P. E. Kelly, et al. suggests that T. occidentalis growing on…<\/p>\n

Continue reading On the lifespan of arborvitae trees<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[733,528,816],"class_list":["post-2991","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-plant-longevity","keyword-thuja","keyword-thuja-occidentalis"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}