Georgia Wildlife Federation

Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Native Plants < Native Plant Database < Juniperus virginiana

Eastern Red Cedar
Red Cedar, Pencil Cedar, Red Juniper, Savin
Juniperus virginiana

Eastern red cedar makes a wonderful ornamental. An evergreen conifer, it has delicate aromatic foliage that changes from blue-green in summer to bronze or purple in winter and remains an asset all year round. The trunk is beautiful, too—fluted and buttressed and covered with reddish shredding bark. The dainty berry-like cones carried by female trees in fall and winter are a lovely frosted blue.

But eastern red cedar isn’t just easy on the eyes; it’s also one of Georgia’s best wildlife trees. Its fragrant blue fruit is a primary food source for over 40 wild species, including cedar waxwings, bluebirds, purple finches, gray squirrels, and opossums. In addition, its shredding bark is a very popular nest-building material, and its dense evergreen foliage is a favorite roosting site for juncos, myrtle warblers, and sparrows. As if that weren’t enough, eastern red cedar is also a host plant for great purple hairstreak and juniper hairstreak butterflies.

You can plant eastern red cedar as a hedge, background plant, windbreak, visual screen, or specimen. Just remember that female trees need a male pollinator in order to produce fruit. This bird-friendly native makes a terrific substitute for the overused Leyland cypress, a sterile hybrid that offers little benefit to wildlife. Both trees provide dense screening and are adaptable and easy to grow. The big difference is, while eastern red cedar bustles with the business of birds and butterflies, Leyland cypress just stands there, relatively still and quiet.

Family: Cupressaceae (Cypress Family)

Description: Medium-sized evergreen coniferous tree. Foliage comes in two forms—juvenile, which is awl-shaped, and mature, which is scale-like. Trees bloom in late spring, but the flowers are not conspicuous. Female plants bear small, blue, berry-like cones in fall and winter.

Size: 40 to 60’ tall and 10 to 20’ wide.

Habit: Medium-sized tree with a conical to pyramidal habit.

Growth Rate: Medium.

Planting and Care: Plant in deep, fertile, well-drained soil. Tolerates a wide variety of soil conditions, including acid, alkaline, moist, and dry.

Ornamental Value: Assets include evergreen foliage, fluted trunks, exfoliating bark, and blue fruits (on female plants) in fall and winter.

Landscape Usage: Use as a single specimen or plant in groups to create a dense screen.

Wildlife Benefits: Host plant for great purple, juniper, and olive hairstreak butterflies. Fruits are eaten by over 40 wildlife species.

Native Habitat: Found throughout Georgia both in dry, rocky upland soils and in moist floodplains. This species cannot tolerate shade and is often found in abandoned fields and other open places.