January 2016
Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a common tree in North Florida; not common enough for me so when I find one in my woods I tend to keep an extra eye on it. It’s not unusual for a young cedar to die off for whatever reason - wrong soil, competition, or drought.
A few years ago I spotted 2 cedars in my side yard. I think the one on the left is older but the other seems to be growing faster. BTW -- the Water Oak in-between is my Woodduck tree, the one with a hole about 30' up that I watched ducks fly into one winter to nest. That hole is also the one the Pileated Woodpecker has been excavating recently.
As you can see in these photos the one cedar is loosely leafed with spreading branches.
Looking closer you can see the attributes of a mature cedar as pictured in my guide books or this link to USDA fact sheet.
More of this Tale of Two Cedars below...
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Here's the other cedar. Notice how the branches are erect, not spreading,
and the leaves are bristly. I've seen knee-high cedars like this before and in my speculative head figured that was a design feature to keep whitetail deer from browsing. I sure wouldn't want to chomp down on one of these. But then, I really don't know.
I asked a forestry friend about my 2 cedars but he didn't know, or more likely didn't understand my amateur descriptions. So it remains a mystery to me altho I do think the anti-deer reason is valid. My excuse for the other cedar is maybe it was cut down years ago and this is sucker growth.
So there is my Tale of Two Cedars. If you have any ideas, have at it in the comments. As always, local observations of the natural world around are strongly encouraged.
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