Eastern Hemlock- Tsuga canadensis
Description
General: A pyramidal evergreen with a tapering trunk growing 40 to 70’ in height on the landscape, but can grow upwards of 100’ in the wild.
Leaves: Short dark green needles with two white bands underneath, in opposite rows. Lacy and flat sprays of foliage give this tree a graceful appeal. New growth is yellow green and matures to a dark green color.
Bark: When trees are young, bark is brown, flaky and scaly. Turns deeply furrowed with age and develops purplish streaks.
Fruit: Slender brown cones up to 1” long, hang from the branches like small ornaments.
Attributes: Useful as an evergreen hedge, for screening or grouping. Can also be used as an accent or foundation plant.
Culture
Hardiness: Zones 3-7.
Growing Conditions: Prefers moist, well drained acid soils. Part to full shade. Not tolerant of wind, pollution or excessive drought
Maintenance: Susceptible to leaf blight, rusts, borer, scale, mites, bagworm and woolly adelgid. Drought and sunscorch can also easily kill trees.
Transplanting: Transplants easily to sheltered moist locations.
Our Experience
Experience at Great Hill
Our woods and landscape are lined with a number of hemlocks and hemlock cultivars. They are soft and graceful in form, especially the weeping cultivars. Great care must be taken in placement and insect/disease control once established to keep trees heathy and thriving.
Northern Japanese Hemlock- Tsuga diversifolia
Description
General: A pyramidal evergreen tree with a conical crown and graceful branches. This hemlock is native to Japan and grows 30 to 40’ in height and up to 20′ in width.
Leaves: Short, glossy green, densely arranged needles 1/4 to 5/8″ long.
Bark: Orange brown developing fissures with age. Twigs are reddish brown and hairy.
Fruit: Cones are oval shaped, scaled and small, growing up to 1″.
Attributes: Due to its arching, pyramidal and graceful habit, tsuga diversifolia is often used as a landscape specimen tree.
Culture
Hardiness: Zones 4-7.
Growing Conditions: Prefers moist, well drained soils in woodland settings (part to full shade). Intolerant of drought and strong winds.
Maintenance: A relatively healthy tree that can, when stressed, succomb to needle blight, sun scorch canker, rusts, borer and leaf miner. Resistant to woolly adelgid.
Transplanting: Transplants easily to sheltered moist locations.
Our Experience
Experience at Great Hill
We have two specimen Japanese hemlock in our Japanese garden on Great Hill. They beautify the evergreen wooded landscape adding form, size and color to the pathway that leads to a large pavilion.