Plant Image Data Base                                         

Tsuga canadensis

Canadian Hemlock or Eastern Hemlock

• Form
  • large evergreen tree
  • to 70' tall by 35' wide in its cooler native habitat, but much smaller under urban conditions
  • upright pyramidal growth habit
  • medium growth rate
• Culture
  • prefers a moist, cool, well-drained, rich acidic soil in partial sun to partial shade for best performance
  • tolerates full sun to full shade, acid to alkaline soils, but will not tolerate dry sites, poorly drained sites, or windy and exposed conditions
  • if allowed to grow naturally, it has quite an open growth habit in youth, but it is often sheared at the nursery or Christmas tree farm to promote repeated branching for a dense effect
• Foliage
  • evergreen, medium to dark green, needles are to 0.5" long, flattened within the stem plane, and almost a white color underneath

• Function
  • specimen, screen, windbreak, group or mass plantings, or foundation tree
  • alternatively, small trees can be sheared over time into a formal evergreen hedge
• Assets
  • evergreen, fine-textured miniature foliage
  • pyramidal growth habit
  • slightly drooping branch tips
  • branches and foliages to the ground
  • grows in full shade to full sun conditions
  • can be repeatedly sheared for a dense tree or hedge effect
• Purpose
  • Canadian Hemlock is a very fine-textured specimen evergreen tree, branching naturally to the ground and one of the two evergreen large shrubs or trees ideally suited for shady sites (the other being larger forms of False Cypress [Chamaecyparis]).
• Summary
  • Tsuga canadensis is a graceful, fine-textured, shade-tolerant evergreen tree that performs best in cool and moist northern climates, effective in groups or as a specimen tree.

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