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Dragon Knight™ Japanese Cedar foliage

Dragon Knight™ Japanese Cedar foliage

(Photo courtesy of NetPS Plant Finder)

Other Names:  Dwarf Japanese Cedar

Description:

A compact garden detail plant that forms a dense globe of blue-green foliage; a versatile addition to the garden or containers; can be shaped into a low hedge, or bonsai

Ornamental Features

Dragon Knight™ Japanese Cedar is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the garden for its ornamental globe-shaped form. It has attractive bluish-green foliage with hints of silvery blue. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain bluish-green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Dragon Knight™ Japanese Cedar is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a more or less rounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should not require much pruning, except when necessary, such as to remove dieback. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Dragon Knight™ Japanese Cedar is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Dragon Knight™ Japanese Cedar will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant should be periodically fertilized throughout the active growing season with a specially-formulated acidic fertilizer. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for rich, acidic soils, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Dragon Knight™ Japanese Cedar makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.