# Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides)

> The only false cypress native to the eastern states, a narrow blue-green evergreen of coastal bogs that makes a year-round screen on wet, acid ground.

Also called southern white cedar, swamp cedar, white cypress. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/atlantic-white-cedar/

![Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) sprays of scale-like foliage with small, open brown cones](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/atlantic-white-cedar-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: John B., CC BY 2.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAtlantic_White_Cypress_Chatsworth_NJ_1.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Medium tree
- Mature height: 40 to 60 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 9
- Grows wild in: The coast, stream banks, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: 17 states, north to Maine, south to Florida and west to Mississippi (Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia)
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Evergreen, Tolerates wet soil, Hedge or screen, Winter interest
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Atlantic white cedar is a columnar evergreen that grows in dense stands in the freshwater swamps and bogs of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Colonists used it for shingles and small boats, and logs buried for centuries in New Jersey swamps have come up sound. It has declined since European settlement through drainage, farming and logging. New York lists it as threatened and Georgia as rare, and it is presumed gone from Pennsylvania. In gardens it is the hardiest false cypress in the North. Plant a group to screen a wet corner, a pond edge or a rain garden.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Atlantic white cedar grows at a medium pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. On good sites it adds a foot to a foot and a half a year until it is 40 to 50 years old. Expect 40 to 60 feet tall and 10 to 20 feet wide. Trees in the open bear cones at 3 to 5 years.

Pollen is shed in March and April. The round cones, about a quarter inch across, ripen from bluish purple to brown in September and October. The tiny winged seed drifts down from October through winter. The foliage feeds the caterpillars of Hessel's hairstreak, a butterfly.

It grows wild in a belt 50 to 130 miles wide along the coast from southern Maine to northern Florida and west to southern Mississippi. Some trees have lived 1,000 years, though stands seldom pass 200.

## How to grow Atlantic White Cedar

Atlantic white cedar wants full sun or light shade and an acid soil that stays moist to wet. It prefers sandy or peaty ground. It does not stand drought. Its roots are shallow, so give it shelter from strong wind. Plant it 15 feet from a wall, and set trees 10 feet apart for a screen. Keep it more than 50 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant in early spring or fall, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. On soggy ground set it on a low mound, since in the wild it grows on hummocks above the water. Put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stem. Seed needs one to three months of cold, damp storage in the refrigerator. Sow it in spring on the surface of wet peat or sand, where it gets light. Keep the mix wet until the seedlings are up.

Water weekly through the first two summers, and in dry spells after that. Deer browse it hard in winter and can kill young trees, so fence or cage them until they are well above browse height. Meadow mice girdle young stems, so pull the mulch back from the trunk in winter. It seldom needs pruning.

Atlantic white cedar carries male and female cones on the same tree and the wind pollinates it, so one tree bears alone. It usually bears a fair to excellent seed crop every year. No insect or disease is a serious threat, though bagworms, juniper blight and root rot turn up. Heavy ice and snow can break or topple young trees.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Atlantic White-Cedar, Little and Garrett 1990](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/atlantic-white-cedar)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Chamaecyparis thyoides, Tirmenstein 1991](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/chathy/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual: Chamaecyparis chapter, Bonner](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Chamaecyparis.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 2: Chamaecyparis thyoides](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=210000241)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Chamaecyparis thyoides](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/chamaecyparis-thyoides/)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Atlantic white-cedar](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/atlantic-white-cedar/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Chamaecyparis thyoides](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=279609)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Chamaecyparis thyoides](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CHTH2)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: Atlantic white cedar, Nesom](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_chth2.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet: Atlantic white cedar, Dickerson](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_chth2.pdf)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (Bean): Chamaecyparis thyoides](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/chamaecyparis/chamaecyparis-thyoides/)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: Atlantic white-cedar](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=96)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Chamaecyparis thyoides](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.139336/Chamaecyparis_thyoides)
- [New York Natural Heritage Program: Atlantic White Cedar guide](https://guides.nynhp.org/atlantic-white-cedar/)
- [Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Biodiversity Portal: state protected species table](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/table/ga_protected/)
- [Maine Natural Areas Program: Atlantic White Cedar fact sheet](https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/chathy.htm)
- [Maryland Natural Heritage Program: List of Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants of Maryland, March 2021](https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Documents/rte_Plant_List.pdf)
- [Virginia Division of Natural Heritage: Rare Plants, June 2026](https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Tree roots run shallow and wide, not deep: what that means for watering, mulch and the house](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/tree-roots-run-shallow-and-wide/index.html.md)
- [Native hedges, screens and windbreaks: which trees to use and how far apart to set them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-hedges-screens-and-windbreaks/index.html.md)
- [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Atlantic White Cedar, add ?species=atlantic-white-cedar with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=atlantic-white-cedar&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Atlantic White Cedar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=atlantic-white-cedar): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=atlantic-white-cedar
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Atlantic White Cedar is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=atlantic-white-cedar
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Atlantic White Cedar needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=atlantic-white-cedar:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Atlantic White Cedar flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.