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About Eastern Redcedar
Eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a native evergreen conifer with dense green foliage, reddish-brown peeling bark, and small blue berry-like cones on female trees. Despite the common name, it is not a true cedar. It is a juniper in the cypress family, and it is one of the most widespread native conifers in eastern North America.
The foliage can look different depending on the age of the growth. Young shoots may have sharp, prickly needles, while mature branches often have tight, scale-like leaves pressed close to the twigs. Female trees produce waxy blue cones that look like berries, while male trees produce small pollen cones. The bark is reddish to gray-brown and peels in thin strips, adding texture to the trunk and larger branches.
Eastern redcedar is a tough, adaptable tree with major wildlife value. It provides year-round cover, nesting shelter, winter color, and food for birds. In a coloring page, it offers evergreen sprays, blue “berries,” peeling bark, and plenty of opportunities to add birds, butterflies, moths, and winter habitat details.
Where Eastern Redcedar Grows
Eastern redcedar is native across a wide area of eastern and central North America. It grows in old fields, pastures, prairies, rocky glades, woodland edges, dry slopes, limestone outcrops, fencerows, roadsides, and open disturbed areas. It is especially common in sunny places where fields are reverting back to woodland.
This tree prefers full sun and well-drained soil, but it is highly adaptable. It can tolerate drought, poor soil, rocky soil, heat, cold, wind, and many difficult growing conditions. It does not do well in constantly wet soil, but in dry open sites it can be remarkably persistent.
In gardens and natural landscapes, eastern redcedar can be used as a screen, windbreak, wildlife tree, evergreen accent, or restoration plant. It pairs well with native grasses, goldenrods, asters, sumacs, oaks, serviceberries, redbuds, and meadow wildflowers. Because it can spread readily into open fields, it is best used where its natural colonizing habit is welcome.
Pollinators It Supports
Eastern redcedar is wind-pollinated, so it does not have showy nectar flowers for bees and butterflies. Male trees release pollen from small cones, while female trees produce the berry-like cones after pollination. Its wildlife value comes from its leaves, cones, bark, dense branching, and role as a host plant.
Eastern redcedar is the host plant for the juniper hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus), a small green butterfly whose caterpillars feed on juniper foliage. It is also listed as a host for the imperial moth (Eacles imperialis), a large yellow-and-brown moth whose caterpillars use several kinds of trees. These insects make eastern redcedar important even though its flowers are not designed for nectar visitors.
Birds are some of the biggest beneficiaries of eastern redcedar. The blue berry-like cones are eaten by cedar waxwings, American robins, eastern bluebirds, yellow-rumped warblers, northern mockingbirds, wild turkeys, and other birds. The dense evergreen branches also provide winter shelter and nesting cover for songbirds. For a coloring page, eastern redcedar pairs beautifully with a cedar waxwing, juniper hairstreak, imperial moth caterpillar, bluebird, or flock of winter birds tucked into the branches.
Coloring Tips
Color the foliage deep green, blue-green, gray-green, or dark olive. Young prickly growth can be a brighter green, while older scale-like sprays can be darker and more muted. Use short, layered strokes to make the foliage look dense and evergreen.
The berry-like cones on female trees are usually pale blue, powdery blue, or bluish-purple with a whitish waxy coating. The bark can be reddish-brown, cinnamon, gray-brown, or rusty tan, with thin peeling strips. Add darker shadows in the grooves and lighter coppery highlights on curled bark edges.
For the background, place eastern redcedar in an old field, sunny woodland edge, rocky glade, prairie opening, fencerow, or winter wildlife scene. Add grasses, goldenrods, asters, sumacs, snow, or bare branches nearby. To show wildlife value, include a cedar waxwing eating blue cones, a juniper hairstreak resting on the foliage, or an imperial moth caterpillar hidden among the evergreen sprays.