Hetz Midget Arborvitae

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Feed with a general purpose fertilizer before new growth begins in spring. For a tidy, neat appearance, shear annually to shape.

This bright small arborvitae is exceptional in limited city gardens and courtyards with trying conditions as small hedge or spherical semiformal accents. This form is exceptional for spare modern design gently clipped to geometric perfection. Use in beds and borders to add interest for the winter months, particularly under snow, when all else is bare. Adapts beautifully to wild and rock gardens where they are exceptional. A problem solver for formal gardens in dry climates of the Southwest where boxwood and other conifers suffer. Makes a fine container foliage plant for porch, patio and terrace.

Use this plant with cold hardy shrubs and perennials such as Scarlet Pearl Snowberry, (Symphoricarpos 'Scarlet Pearl'), Nearly Wild Rose, (Rosa x 'Nearly Wild'), Harlequin Garden Phlox, (Phlox paniculata 'Harlequin'), Eric The Red Siberian Iris, (Iris sibirica 'Eric The Red') and Variegated Japanese Silver Grass, (Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegatus').

These shrubs are members of the cypress family with characteristically scented wood and foliage. The genus was so named from the Greek for resin bearing tree. There are five species native to North American and eastern Asia with only two in cultivation. T. occidentalis is native to the eastern half of North America and was brought into cultivation early on in the 16th century. Hetz Midget was discovered as a seedling in 1928 at Fairview Nurseries, Fairview, PA, but not introduced until 1942.

Cypress wood is valued for its resistance to decomposition and as such is used for fence posts and other examples of earth-to-wood contact. Leaves and twigs produce a camphor-like essential oil.