Full name Thuja occidentalis 'Filiformis'.

The ones I've seen have only been a metre or so tall, and very untidy; Krüssmann states "to about 1.5m high". "A loose, dwarf, globose bush with recurving threadlike branches"  Welch, Checklist of Conifers.

Resin

hey!!! slummin in the conifer forum???

hit the link

find the American conifer society webpage and use the database for more info and perhaps pix..
ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link link link

Hey Ken - I did go to the ACS and could not find the info I needed. Am I slummin' here. If that's what you call hanging out here then I am! lol

Andrea thinks my thuja is the same as her Thuja Plicata - Plicta? I don't know - the info I got said her tree was much better than the type I bought.

It's supposed to be slow growing. It's about a foot tall and in a two gallon pot. I suppose I could put it in the ground and worry about it next year.

Is this the same as the grafted high on a stick 'Filiformis' I've seen... looks just freaky odd and seems to have "Oriental Arborvitae" cones also.

I suppose that it might be too cold in Minn. for C. pisifera "False Cypress" threadleaf types, which grow very well in Ohio.

"and seems to have "Oriental Arborvitae" cones also"

There is a Platycladus orientalis cultivar also called 'Filiformis', though - like Chamaecyparis pisifera - it probably wouldn't be very hardy in Minnesota.

Resin

It wasn't sold as orientalis. It was sold as Thuja occidentalis. That is why I noticed it, the prominent cones. There does seem to be a lot of confusion... maybe growers are not sure what they have.

"maybe growers are not sure what they have"

Sounds like it! Nothing new there, unfortunately.

Resin

you have pix capability in the hosta forum.. how about some conifer pix... would really help.. ken

A threadleaf Platycladus I have seen on the market here, with telltale cones present is offered under Thuja occidentalis.

Here is a link that might be useful: WEEPING THREADLEAF ARBORVITAE

I remember this plicata vs. occidentalis debate when in Indiana an old friend of ours bought one and then one for her mother (or was going to). She had cones and seeds and everyone including myself was telling/advising her to grow the seeds or asking for some. (She's a new mother or is still pregnant, I think her name is "ademink" here) and I'm groggy from a nap right now.

It occurs to me that Thuja plica 'Whipcord' and Thuja occidentalis 'Filiformis' are one in the same. I do only feel 50% conifident that the plant was deemed to be a Thuja plicata at the end of all the talking.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

I do have a photo to share:
Thuja occidentalis 'Filiformis' at Bickelhaupt Arboretum, Clinton, IA.

I'd put my money on it actually being a plicata now after a minute of thought.

Dax

More than one threadleaf form of Platycladus alone has been known over the years. Don't assume there is only one or two introductions with multiple synonyms, accounting for all the plants seen. The Monrovia plant probably just got the wrong species name on it at some point because of occidentalis and orientalis both starting (as well as ending) with the same letters.

Platycladus never came up to my recollection.

I'll fly with ya. I have no disconcernment here, only a very good memory of that conversation. In fact Ron, I do recall you being a participant in that thread. Right now it's my bedtime however and earlier as I posted, I was going to tell all the details, but that would have been boring. Now I've forgotten what role you had in it.

I'm just telling it like it is and was.

I like ya fella, but I 'ainta' assuming nothing. If it were to come to Platycladus, then the cones on this woman's shrub would have been so identified.

I'll email her and see what she may recall.

Have a good one though.

Dax

Hi teresa,
I have Thuja occidentalis 'Filiformis' and my plant is about 3.5' tall by about 2.5' wide. My plant is very similar to the photo of the plant that Dax posted, but my plant is not that wide. I purchased my plant via mail order. I would say this plant is fairly slow growing, but not as slow as many of the miniature/dwarf conifers that are sold.

I purchased my T. o. 'Filiformis' from Glasshouse Works in OH and my plant is true-to-name because it produces T. o. cones.

The plants that are grafted on a standard and produced by Monrovia are Platycladus orientalis, and not Thuja occidentalis, even though Monrovia has them labeled as T. o.

The Monrovia grafted standards at a local nursery are listed as being hardy to USDA zone3, which surprises me since Platycladus is usually listed as hardy to USDA zone 5. If people in the colder zones are having success with this plant then maybe Monrovia has a clone that was collected from a source that is much more cold hardy than the other clones in the trade.

Resin,
I have several cultivars of Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' in my garden and none has ever had any winter injury. I even have a non-thread-leaf Chamaecyparis pisifera that is doing quite well.
Mike

... Thanks Mike.

You were right Ron!

Now I'll probably find out that 'Whipcord' is a Thuja occidentalis or Thuja orientalis! lol

Oh I give up, fare and square. I saw a big hole in my theory, but I tried.

See ya folks!

Dax

As I remember it 'Whipcord' is supposed to have appeared among Thuja plicata seedlings in a nursery. I believe this is taken to verify that it belongs to that species, but of course it actually doesn't. For all we know there was a batch of seed or seedlings of another species being grown at the same time and one of these got in among the T. plicata, or there was a labeling mixup at some point...these things happen. What I have thought is that 'Whipcord' appears to have the comparative coarseness (large leaves), vivid green coloring and less pleasant aroma of T. occidentalis. Or maybe it's even a Platycladus! However, last time I pinched and smelled an example of the cultivar I wasn't so sure it had such a different odor from typical T. plicata. It can be hard to tell with extreme variants like these, even a much more normal-looking plant like what came to be called 'Green Giant' ended up being tested using laboratory methods to figure out what it was.

Ron, you got game man.

Thanks!

Dax

Thanks for the responses. I will try to get a pic tonite to post.

Conifers - ademink is not pregnant - or if she is it's news to her! She does however, think the tree I bought is the same as her Thuja whipcord.

bboy - I hope mine turns out to be the one you posted a link for. It's wonderful. I'm hoping it does not get more than 3' wide and 5' tall.

"It can be hard to tell with extreme variants like these"

Like 'Ericoides', which went through five different genera (including one all its own) before finally coming to rest in Platycladus after someone did a chemical analysis

Resin

Ooops - misremembered; it was 'Sanderi', not 'Ericoides'.

Resin

Right on Teresa, - I know the person's real name. Thanks for letting me know! lol

Um, Clement sent a few photos to me. This is a nice-looking cultivar. A lot greener than the others, 'Whipcord', occ. 'Filiformis' - etc. This is a nice looking plant, indeed.

This goes along with this thread to some degree.

Thanks Clement -

Dax

Platycladus orientalis 'Filiformis Erecta'
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Foliage:
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