Someone asked me about the name,”Green Giant Arborvita”. Here is
its 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, southwesterly 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 do
have better deer resistance than most arborvitae. These trees
have been planted in high deer population areas. On our farm in
Doylestown we have lots of deer and do have damage the Emerald
Green Arborvitae. The Green Giants are eaten by deer only an
occasionally, a nibble here and there. Based on our own
observations over the years we feel that the Green Giants will
only be eaten by deer if there is no other feed available.
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 burlapped 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. See
Bills other web sites at http://www.seedlingsrus.com and
http:www.zone5trees.com
