Cheer Drops Arborvitae

Light Needs

Partial Sun to Full Sun

(At Least 5 Hours of Direct Sunlight)

Mature Height

10-18 Feet

Mature Spread

10-12 Feet

Growing Zones

3 to 7

Do you enjoy the evergreen color of cedar trees, but don’t want the height that these majestic trees can grow to? Want to provide a new shaped evergreen to your woodland edge, hedge or tree lined avenue? Consider Cheer Drops Arborvitae Thuja hybrid and say ‘move over Emerald Green, there’s a new kid on the block now.’ Cheer Drops brings a new, fresh shape to your landscape and allows you to create shorter and wider windbreaks and privacy rows. With it’s bright green fragrant foliage, it will brighten up your landscape and create a year round interest. Arborvitae are also known as Northern or Eastern White Cedar.

Developed by plant breeder Tim Woods of South Haven, MI, Cheer Drops is especially bred to give you more options in your large and small landscapes. Arborvitae literally means tree of life in Latin and you will find that songbirds of all shapes, color and sizes will appreciate its soft green boughs for their nests and as a place of refuge. They are tougher than the coveted Green Giant arborvitae, growing well into Zone 3 and extending to Zone 7 when Green Giant is only reliable to Zone 5 for winter hardiness. Northern gardeners, here is your new easy maintenance evergreen! Thuja is native to Eastern Canada and much of the Northcentral and Northeastern regions of the United States, with each cultivar having varying degrees of winter hardiness.

Cheer Drops Arborvitae Care

Arborvitae do best in well draining soil that is consistently moist and cool. It responds best in full sun but can grow in some light shade. If browning occurs during drought periods, water weekly for best performance. Although it tolerates a wide variety of soil pH, Cheer Drops will thrive best in a neutral soil with an average pH of 7.0 to 8.0, slightly alkaline. It will tolerate heat and drought conditions well once established. You typically will not need to fertilize arborvitae, an application of a well composted organic material is all that may be needed. Amend heavy clay soils to improve drainage.

Pruning your new arborvitae is not usually needed, but you can prune it by ¼ of the tree's height and up to â…“ of the side branches. These beautiful trees naturally maintain a pyramidal shape on their own. Winter protection is not needed in most cold winter areas although some bronzing can occur in the harshest winter temperatures. This is harmless and once the weather warms, it will return to its bright green color.

Cheer Drops Arborvitae Spacing

Space this wide and tall tree up 72 to 120 inches apart for optimal growth and aesthetic appearance. If making a windbreak use the shorter of the two distances. When either massed out as a beautiful evergreen windbreak or planted alone as a specimen tree in your landscape, you will enjoy the shape of this beautiful new arborvitae.