PL ANT OF TH E M ON TH
JIM FUNAI, LIC Cuyahoga Community College
SHELLEY FUNAI, LIC Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens Mr. Bowling Ball Arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis ‘Bobazam’, is a hardy evergreen and makes a lovely, low hedge or foundation planting for the yard. They’re especially useful in areas where space is limited!
THUJA OCCIDENTALIS EASTERN ARBORVITAE
The Tree (arbor) of Life (vitae) is a genus consisting of five species, two from North America and three from Japan, Korea, and China. Anytime we are researching evergreens such as this, we consult the American Conifer Society literature to be sure we keep our ducks in a row. This society is hardcore about their research and record keeping and is viewed as an authority on cultivar origins. In the February 2017 issue of The Growing Concern, we discussed the Western Arborvitae (T. plicata) which is the other North American native hailing from the western states. As the common name implies, Eastern Arborvitae hails from the east – starting in Nova Scotia – and forming dense stands through the Northern States, thinning out as it travels south along the Alleghany Mountains. The botanical name, given by Carl Linnaeus, actually means “thuja of the western world,” referring to North America. The opposite name, Thuja orrientalis, was given to a similar species from China (now changed to Platycladus orrientalis).
22 | Official Publication of The Ohio Landscape Association
There’s no doubt you are quite familiar with this Eastern Arborvitae of the western world. It is impossible to be in the horticulture field in Ohio and not have planted an uncountable amount of ‘Emerald Green’, ‘Techny’, or ‘Nigra’ Arbs. While these are landscape staples, with good right, we won’t speak much about these cultivars today, due to such high familiarity. What we want to discuss with you is a story of weird mutations and name changes. Witch’s Broom is a term for a phenomenon in plants that results in an explosion of growth in a small area of a plant