Eastern White Cedar (Arborvitae) vs Smooth Sumac - TreeTime.ca

Eastern White Cedar (Arborvitae) vs Smooth Sumac

Thuja occidentalis

Rhus glabra

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Eastern White Cedar (Arborvitae)
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Eastern White Cedar is a slender growing conifer often used as a decorative tree or a hedge. This tree is an effective privacy screen even in winter and a great long term solution to urban crowding or a drab yard.

Smooth Sumac is an excellent shrub for both its ornamental appeal and tolerance of difficult planting sites. You'll love the attractive pyramidal spikes of hairy, red berries that emerge on female plants and the fern-like foliage that covers both male and female varieties.

Ensure you give Smooth Sumac enough space to spread out due to its high suckering nature. While not ideal for small, urban yards, this shrub will make a stunning border along a woodland edge or roadside.

Note:These plants typically reach maturity and make their sex easily known (females producing fruit) in their 3rd or 4th year of growth. Our seedlings are too young to identify their sex.

Eastern White Cedar (Arborvitae) Quick Facts

Smooth Sumac Quick Facts

Zone: 2b
Zone: 3a
Height: 12 m (40 ft)
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Spread: 4 m (12 ft)
Spread: 2.1 m (7 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: any
Moisture: dry, normal
Growth rate: slow
Growth rate: fast
Life span: long
Life span: medium
Suckering: none
Suckering: high
Maintenance: medium


Foliage: long, thin
Fall colour: scarlet red
Bark: gray to reddish brown, flat connected ridges
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Other Names: american arborvitae, eastern arborvitae, northern white cedar