The Green Giant
Arborvitae Story
The original Green Giant got its name not from ancient lore, but from
unusually extra large, hence "giant," green peas. These "Green Giant
Peas" were introduced by the Minnesota Valley Canning Company in 1925,
in contrast to their previously marketed LeSueur baby peas, early-picked
in June.
Founded in 1903, this pea company was located in the valley of
the Minnesota River, the Dakota Sioux name for "cloudy water," just
southwest of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the state capital.
This is where
there's a "confluence" with the even cloudier and muddier Mississippi
River giving the whole area, including the surrounding towns like LeSueur, the title of "the Minnesota Valley." Lesueur is the name of the
original explorer of the area, a Frenchmen of the early 1700's. By 1950,
the "Jolly Green Giant" was so popular, such an "icon" as we say today,
with a cartoon character created, etc., he became the basis of the
company's new name.
So that is where Green Giant comes from, modern
marketing, not ancient lore..
The Green Giant Arborvitae is more properly named by tree scientists the
"Thuja Plicata," with the other common historic names being, "giant
cedar," also "western cedar," and "red cedar." There's only one other
Arborvitae specie in all of North America, the "eastern cedar," or
"white cedar," with "Thuja Occidentalis," as the tree scientist's Latin
name, the
botanist's name. This short tree is actually what we usually think of
when the "genus" juniper is mentioned.
Funny that the eastern cedar was given the Latin name for "west" which
is "occidental." You see? As I have observed before, what's in a name?
Highland Hill Farm is not located in a town called Highland Hills, or,
on Highland Hill Road, etc. Scottish Highland Hills cows that we grazed
on our first property provided our company with a distinctive name when
we sold our first trees in 1978.
Green Giant Arborvitae ranges naturally all across the United States
from Massachusetts, south westerly to Texas and New Mexico, through
northern Arizona, up the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the state of
Washington, and British Columbia beyond.
What does arborvitae mean anyway? Now that we know about the
derivation of "Green Giant," here's how the Latin name Arborvitae, or
"tree of life," came about.
As the first explorers of Canada were
mapping the St. Lawrence River in 1536, the tree was used for medicine
which saved their leader and most of the men too. Jacques Cartier
explored the islands off eastern Canada, and then sailed westward where
he entered the St.
Lawrence River and found Quebec and a Royal Mountain (Mont Real, which
is now called "Montreal").
Cartier was searching for the passage to
China so many other explorers would also fail to find. Cartier and his
men had to spend a long winter inside a little fort, away from the any
sun, where they subsisted on meat, fish, and bread, eating no fruits or
vegetables.
As scurvy was killing most all of them, a friendly Huron
Indian gave Cartier's crew tea made from the needles and bark of a tree
which looked like the white cedars of Europe. So Cartier took some trees
back to France with him, these Thuja Occidentalis Eastern White Cedars,
naming them "Arborvitae," the tree of life. How about that?
Arborvitae are native to the pacific northwest where they grow to 200
feet tall, usually 50 to 70 feet is the common height, even including
here in Bucks county. Arborvitae do best in wet forests and swamps.
The
Green Giant appearance is due to this specie's wide 15-25 foot wide
base, the slightly tapering conical shape, and the dense branches and
leaves casting great dark shadows. The Arborvitae grows in zones 6 to 8,
environments with temperatures that get as low as 10 degrees below 0
Fahrenheit, such as in Missouri or Pennsylvania, to environments where
winter temperatures get only as low as 20 degrees above 0 Fahrenheit,
such as mid-Texas and northern Florida.
Green Giant Arborvitae have pretty, yet surprisingly tiny yellow
flowers. The "pine cones," the fruit actually, of the tree, follow the
budding of the flowers and are also surprisingly small compared to the
size of a mature tree, being no more than a half-inch in size.
There are
no problems with tree litter understandably, and so few animals are
attracted to the Green Giant Arborvitae, perhaps because of this
description.
The Green Giant Arborvitae is recommended for growing as a hedge or
privacy buffer along a property line, or driveway. Thuja Plicata,
Western Red Cedars are ideal "windrow" trees. In a row, they'll truly
diminish the wind.
The Green Giant Arborvitae is justifiably considered
wind resistant considering the windswept mountains of the Pacific
northwest. The wood itself is weak, but it is very light. Green Giant
Arborvitae trees are decay
resistant, too, but the "Achilles Heel," the one and only vulnerability,
is to being eaten by deer.
Any Arborvitae are a favorite "deer browse,"
or as we jokingly say, "deer candy." Especially, the Western Red Cedar,
the Green Giant Arborvitae. Do not plant arborvitae too far away from
structures, lights, roads, etc., where there's quietude and privacy for
the "browsing deer."
Now that you know all about 'em, Highland Hill Farm has at least 50 or
more Green Giant Arborvitae in our nursery ready for pickup at any time.
They will range from 1.5' to 12' and be balled and bur lapped or potted.
We also have field liners and seedling Green Giant available. There are
many more varieties of arborvitae available which we have in stock. If
we don't stock the variety you want we will find it for you if possible.
