Start growing
Prefers partial to full shade. Needs cool, moist, well-drained soil.
GROW SOMETHING WONDERFUL
Eastern Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis
Your guide to planting, growing, and getting to know this plant.
THE PLANT NOTEBOOK
Eastern Hemlock care, from seed onward.
- Botanical name
- Tsuga canadensis
- Common names
- Canada Hemlock
- Family
- Pinaceae
- Genus
- Tsuga
- Species
- T. canadensis
Growing with your kit
The Seeds In A Cup® kit keeps the high moisture levels hemlock seedlings require to survive their first summer.
Propagation
By seed or cuttings.
Seasonal growth & harvest
Slow-growing and extremely shade-tolerant (can survive for a century in the understory).
Growing conditions
Cool, moist valleys and north-facing slopes.
Weather & tolerances
Highly shade tolerant; very sensitive to drought and heat.
Pests & plant health
Heavy threat from Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (invasive insect).
Plant safety
Safe; unlike the poisonous herb, this tree is non-toxic.
Botanical features
A graceful evergreen conifer with feathery foliage and a characteristically drooping leader (top).
Varieties
‘Sargent’s Weeping’, ‘Gentsch White’.
Garden & everyday uses
timber once used for tanning leather (high tannin bark). highly valued ornamental for hedges
Native range & distribution
Eastern North America, from Canada to Georgia.
Conservation
Threatened in many areas by HWA; breeding programs for resistance are active.
Name origins
Named 'Hemlock' because its crushed needles smell like the unrelated poisonous herb (Conium).
History
State tree of Pennsylvania; the wood was famously used for build the early railway bridges in the NE.