Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens syn. Libocedrus decurrens) is one of the few trees native to the West Coast that will cheerfully take all of the many zones. climates and exposures of the Pacific states.
It is an evergreen mountain, wild from Baja California, north into the Cascades.
Incense-cedar is hardy in Massachusetts; in the West, it can go through a rainless summer as easily as it accustoms itself to a watered lawn.
In the Coastland garden and the hot Central Valley, it is tall and sedately content and yet on exposed mountain ranges above 7000’ feet, I have seen it a picturesque dwarf, stunted and gnarled by storms and winds, writhing low among foot-high, old tamarack pines, and junipers.
Incense Cedar Characteristics
A mature incense cedar may reach 155’ feet.
The crown is open and irregular. The handsome bark may be several inches thick with a rich cinnamon-brown color.
It is shaggy and broken into longitudinal plates. The juvenile tree is nearly columnar, wearing a spire.
Unless trimmed high, the lower branches of incense cedar will sweep the ground. The tiny scale-like leaves are arranged in four rows and the general effect is that of flat, ferny sprays. dark and glossy on both sides and slightly drooping.
The delightful little cone is one of this tree’s most attractive features, as well as the foliage. is popular for decorative purposes.
The cone matures early in the first autumn. is about an inch long and three-quarters of an inch through with the side scales spread like flower petals.
In the fateful summer, the tree drips with the rich golden brown of these extended cone scales releasing their seeds.
Incense Cedar Satisfactory
Even when it is an old tree, incense cedar is satisfactory for the small garden as it does not have much limb spread.
It is hard to find exposures or garden conditions that are not suitable, for it will take sun or shade, drought or moderate moisture, shelter, or wind.
Little pruning is necessary unless you want high clearance, and then grass or wild evergreen beach strawberries are good as ground covers beneath this tree.
Though usually planted alone, the incense cedar is also a good background for shrubs.
Propagation of this quick-growing native is by cuttings or seeds started outdoors or under glass.
Do this in the fall or spring. Move young plants to containers when they are 6” or 8” inches tall.
Most West Coast nurseries carry incense cedar in 1- and 5-gallon pots.
44659 by Lester Rowntree