131. Lady Dixon’s Cedar

A tree climber’s dream in Belfast.

Many towns and cities have at least one renowned climbing tree, a tree that has nurtured generations of adventurous kids who will pass on knowledge of its clamber-worthy attributes to succeeding generations. Belfast has one of the best in Lady Dixon Park’s western red cedar – a great layering example of this splendid North American conifer, that will only become bigger and better for climbing as the years go by.

Species details

Western red cedar
Thuja plicata

Where to find it

Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park, Belfast BT17 9LA
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Western red cedar notes

Many Irish and British dendrophiles (myself included), struggle with their conifer identifications, perhaps because, outside plantations, they are far less frequently planted than broadleaves. Or maybe it is because they are fairly similar… of course, I can tell the difference between a pine and a cedar, or a fir and a spruce (as long as there are some cones to see). But the Cupressaceae, that is the cypresses and their allies, including the Thujas are tricky. Western red cedars are not infrequent, but often appear similar to a Lawson’s cypress, a Nootka cypress, or an incense cedar. They all have similar scaly, flattened sprays and some are fragrant (the western red cedar can have a lovely pineapple-y scent on a hot day), and they hang down in luxurious drapes.

So, a sure fire way to tell if your conifer is a western red cedar, is if it is enormous and multi stemmed, possibly even layering itself. Not all western red cedars do this, but there are some incredible specimens out there in parks and gardens that do. They can reach truly mind-boggling dimensions and cover large areas. This, despite the species only arriving in the mid-nineteenth century shows that they are fast growing and the climate of these adopted islands must be to their liking – they’re native range is the Pacific NorthWest from southern Alaska, through British Columbia south to northern California. Sound familiar?