Yes, I Talk to Plants: Fun Fact of the Week

Monday, December 5, 2011

Fun Fact of the Week - Arborvitae

Now that winter is officially here and my reality will be covered in snow and frozen until April, it will be somewhat difficult to blog about my garden, my clients' gardens, or much gardening in general.

Therefore, I have decided to take on a new project for my winter blogging: the Fun Fact of the Week. I receive a weekly e-newsletter from Dave's Garden, an online gardening community. (check it out - there is all sorts of plant info, photos, and forums for all things gardening).

Anyway, this newsletter has some pretty neat random and lesser-known facts about plants that we tend to take little notice of, as well as plants that we may otherwise have never heard of.

This week's Fun Fact is about everyone's favorite evergreen - the arborvitae.
(the following text is quoted from the newsletter, the photos are from Google Images).

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"White Cedar
Thuja occidentalis

This is one tree whose botanical and common names have an interesting history. For starters, it is not a true member of the Cedar family. The term Thuja is Greek, referring to a tree with aromatic wood. The species name refers to its western location in the world, relative to eastern Asia.

Arborvitae means 'tree of life' and was names by Frenchman Jacques Cartier who, along with over 100 men, was sailing the St. Lawrence River in the winter of 1535 when scurvy began to ravage the crew. The Huron Indians taught Cartier's crew to make a tea rich in Vitamin C from the bark and leaves (it's reportedly very foul-tasting, for those who are considering re-creating this scene), and it saved most of the crew from the dread disease.