Buying a cedar tree

FaceTurnedAway

I've been meaning to do this for far too long. It's very hard to get straight answers about these trees from garden centers, and I want to be sure before I buy. I'm aware of two varieties; the cedar deodara and the cedar of lebanon, which seem to be the most majestic.

I think it's mainly the deodara that you'd see planted at roundabouts and the like. If I'm right, the deodara seems nearer to blue in colour than green. They are both quite nice, but it seems as if the lebanon is a bit more unique. I know of one planted in protestant's house near where I'm living, and it seems more of a dark green.

This one looks fantastic -




This one's also a deodara, yet its got weeping branches which I don't like -



I assume growth of such a tree would be hindered to a greater or lesser extent in this country, but does anyone know which grows faster, which would be better suited to Ireland, which is more expensive?

They're probably expensive, but since they're slow growing I think I'm going to buy a very big root balled one, so I can get the most out of it in my lifetime. I think the flat topped look to the old cedars looks beautiful against a setting sun.

Thanks

accidental forester

We have an Atlas Blue that went in about 20 years ago and has struggled. It's now about 12' tall and quite twisted. Although stunted and covered in lichen and I love it for it's character. It would have been 2' or less when it went in.

I see on the Future Forest website that they do a 5' deodar in a 7.5 ltr container for €40.00. Their 6' Lebanon is in a 25 ltr. container and goes for €80.00. We don't recollect if ours was pot-grown, it's very likely it was, and this might be part of its poor performance. We've since learned that container grown conifers don't generally do very well. We've had several that have failed/struggled. When dug up, the roots had never expanded much beyond the original container dimensions. The roots seem to train to the container and never get out of the tight bundle. If you can find a ground-grown example that's rootballed it might do better.

FaceTurnedAway

That's interesting about how the rooted are effected if grown in a pot. Never would have thought that.

Cedars apparently live shorter, but yet grow faster in the British Isles, due to the different weather.

Oldtree

Have a deodar. Came from SAP through a local garden center and was about 4 foot high. Was a perfect specimen. Was a hessian wrapped root ball placed into a tub for transport.

Used an oblique stake and it's not doing too bad. Aftercare was given for the first 2 years esp in dry weather and it seems to be getting on fine now. Stake removed after 2 years and only a sparce bit of liquid fertiliser including a bit of liquid seaweed in first 2 years. Alien post watering.

Pelleted Chicken mamure in planting hole.

Didn't Dig a massive planting hole trying to retain as much structure and texture of the surrounding ground for the tree to root into.