This evergreen requires very little pruning. The branch may fall off before you finish this cut. If you notice you've created a shape that's too straight top-to-bottom, trim a bit more off the top branches. in height. Lauren has worked for Aurora, Colorado managing the Water-Wise Garden at Aurora Municipal Center for the Water Conservation Department. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. Unlike Shape these trees to your liking, though grooming them to their natural shape usually works best. Unlike other arborvitae, Whipcord western red cedars grow as a compact, rounded shrub. She earned a BA in Environmental and Sustainability Studies from Western Michigan University in 2014. This is dwarf-like in comparison to the 50- to 70-foot (15 to 21 m.) mature height of the giant arborvitae. % of people told us that this article helped them. Whipcord Arborvitae is recommended for the following landscape applications; Mass Planting; Hedges/Screening; Rock/Alpine Gardens It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It has no significant negative characteristics. Barbara Hupp, co-owner of Drake Cross Nursery in Silverton No major pest or disease issues are reported for Whipcord cedar. Depending on its cultivar, your arborvitae's natural shape is likely pyramidal, globular, or columnar. Cut the stub off at the trunk. Thuja occidentalis, commonly known as arborvitae, is familiar in many landscapes. Whipcord Arborvitae is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a shapely form and gracefully arching branches. To shear the plant, go over the whole plant with your pruning shears. A lateral branch is a main branch that grows off the trunk. It has no significant negative characteristics. However, you should also prune any time of year when you come across dead, diseased, or damaged branches. One common disease for this group of trees is needle blight, which results in yellowed or brown needle tips that progresses further down the foliage. The Whipcord cedar also lacks the fern-like limbs found on You can trim diseased, broken, or dead branches away if you need to, as well as any branches that rub on each other. This article has been viewed 25,482 times. Instead, it has graceful, weeping branches with ‘Whipcord’ arborvitae (Thuja plicata ‘Whipcord’) is a cool, quirky dwarf conifer that has been on my wishlist for quite some time.Instead of the usual flattened sprays of foliage, this lovable mutant form of our native western arborvitae, or western red cedar, sports a mop top of long, skinny, green rat tails. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. the soil damp. Please check your email for further instructions. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/c\/cb\/Prune-Arborvitae-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Prune-Arborvitae-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/c\/cb\/Prune-Arborvitae-Step-1.jpg\/aid9899932-v4-728px-Prune-Arborvitae-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"