I don't think that's what is meant by "undulating". At any rate, undulate is not a verb (nor an adverb), and does not describe action. It's an adjective http://www.merriam-webster.com... . I can see how the prof might think of false cypress from the first pic, but did you send her a pic of the seed cones (the brown things)? Seed cones of False Cypress Chamaecyparis[]/i]) and Arborvitae ([i]Thuja) are unmistakably different. If she saw a pic of the cones, then she didn't really look, or she just doesn't know. (No one can know everything.) I know a few of the professors at the U of Minn, especially the Arboretum, and have helped them choose conifers for their display gardens.

False Cypress cones
Arborvitae cones

Leftwood,
I did send the professor both photos, but she may not have noticed the seed cones. Attaching some photos I just took, sorry if they are a bit dark.
Undulate does have a verb form, which is exactly what I meant by it, although the person describing the False Cypress may not have meant that. Same link you sent, but farther down the page:
verb un·du·late \-ˌlāt\
Simple Definition of undulate
: to move or be shaped like waves
Source: Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary
Full Definition of undulate
undulatedundulating
intransitive verb
1
: to form or move in waves : fluctuate
2
: to rise and fall in volume, pitch, or cadence
3
: to present a wavy appearance
transitive verb
: to cause to move in a wavy, sinuous, or flowing manner
See undulate defined for English-language learners

They look like Western Red Cedar - Thuja plicata. Does that grow in Minnesota?

Hi Daisyl,
The plicata seems like it could be right except Wiki says it's a very large tree (and shows it growing in Pacific Northwest). My bush remains about 6 feet tall. But the part that seems correct to me is: "the species name plicata derives from the Latin word plicare, meaning "folded in plaits" or "braided." That IS what the foliage looks like to me, but I have the worst plant eye ever, I think, because looking at the seed pod links Leftwood sent, I didn't see any that looked exactly like mine.
Dani

My mistake about "undulating" then. It must have seemed very nit-picky, and I regretted that avenue of thought soon after I wrote it, but could not get back to delete it. Sorry, that was not my intent, and I applaud your logical, unemotional response. Others would have reacted quite angrily. Thank you for your restraint.

Thuja plicata is like a Thuja occidentalis on steroids. Everything about it is larger. Not sure about the cones, though. I have never seen them. Foliage is much coarser looking because the size of the leaves (each green "scale" is a leaf) are bigger, too. There are a few dwarf forms of T. plicata, also, and they would be the only ones to have a prayer of surviving Minnesota. If there are any alive for more than a few years, they would have to be in a protected spot and out of winter sun. But to me, there is nothing in your pics that point to a T. plicata identity.

OK. I went back and found a photo of the arborvitae that was at our previous house. The deck was a raised deck, about 4' above ground. As you can see, it's very big- it was second floor height; the roof in the photo was at first floor ceiling level. My husband pruned this every year because it would reach over the railing. But I am 100% positive this was arborvitae because my husband planted it himself. Your ID photo shows the arborvitae is near the house, so it wouldn't be as round as this one, which received good light on all sides.



Edit: This would be Thuja Occidentalist. I believe Minneapolis is zone 4a

It was the cones that suggested to me Western Red Cedar - they are dead on. I am on the West coast and my expertise is in west coast plants. That's why I asked if that particular plant would live in Minnesota.

Plants grow differently in different places. In California, Tree of Heaven - Ailanthus altissima - Grows into a monster tree with trunks 3 feet through. In Idaho and Nevada, Tree of Heaven is a shrub.

Perhaps, in Minnesota, Western Red Cedar would grow but would be stunted. At this point, I'm sticking with the cedar because of those seed pods.

Daisy

The seed pods look like Thuja occidentalis to me but I can't be sure.

http://www.illinoiswildflowers...

I've cropped one of the pics and enlarged it, along with the pic from the above site to place side by side. Can you compare a pod with the photo from the site Dani?

Thuja occidentalist - Northern White Cedar. Alyssa (and maybe others) said that and I didn't listen. The east coast version of Western Red Cedar.

Daisy

AlyssaBlue: I have an Arborvitae that looks exactly like that - planted it 3 years ago and every year it grows taller and wider. The bush in question, however, has a different look to it, esp. in that it's more triangular, seems to have different roots where one part of the plant goes off to the side so that it starts to look like it's separate (or two growing together as someone mentioned earlier). The color is also a little darker and it seems like the plaits/braiding seem more tightly woven. And as previously mentioned, the appealing swaying it does when pushed is unlike the movement of the tall, straight growing Arborvitae I planted.

JRsbugs: Gosh, that photo looks really close, foliage as well. My seed pods may not have that center beam quite as much as your photo shows, though.

Daisyl: Good point about the different sizes in different parts of the country.

Daisyl: Greene was the first to mention Thuja Occ. and Leftwood further narrowed it down to possibly Holmstrup, so since people seem to be agreeing, I guess now it comes down to deciding which Thuja Occ. it is. It amazes me, though, that these plants go by so many different names. I mean, in the past I never would have thought Cedar actually could mean Thuja. :)
Dani

Oh my gosh- there are NINE different common names for Thuja Occidentalis, explains a lot. Well I'm not sure I can help narrowing it any further. I have always just lumped them together and call them arborvitae! But there is a lot of interesting information on wikipedia on the background of Thuja...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

I apologize to all who mentioned Thuja Occidentalis before Alyssa. If the thread goes to a new page, you can't go back and look at previous posts without erasing what you have written. My bad.

Daisy

Daisy- this has been an interesting thread because arbovitae are being sold across the US, and I bet many people (including me) haven't thought about how many variations exist!

Edit: Oops. Didn't mean to edit. Click happy apparently.

DaisyI said:...If the thread goes to a new page, you can't go back and look at previous posts without erasing what you have written.
Daisy

Helpful suggestion: I used to have that problem until someone suggested changing my settings to something like 400 per page.

Greene, good suggestion. But off topic.

Greene, I'm teasing.

The thing I love about this website is the random directions that threads take. I realize you want to stay on track and get the job done but some of us are going to wander no matter what. Please be patient with the random wanderings - you may even enjoy some of the directions they take.

And thank you for letting me know that there is a way to view more posts on a page. Would you mind sharing where I might find that?

Daisy

This is getting farther and farther away from an identification for a shrub.

Okay, I will answer your question although it may have been better placed in a TreeMail.

Teasing? Why? And why wander? I realize that you are fairly new here but as I learned when I joined, people here are more serious than on other gardening sites. Not everyone will "get" the joke or realize that you (or others) are teasing. When I was new I had to learn to tone down my posts so they would be acceptable - I was told to be nice/kind/helpful, etc. and I comply.

Trish has some stickies to help newer folks; this can be found in the Welcome and Help Center Forum
http://garden.org/forums/view/...
The thread "Help changing profile, preferences, and settings" in Welcome forum
The thread "Help with site navigation" in Welcome forum

Look on the left blue area, click on the 'person' icon to access your profile page.
Go to:
Site preferences
Near the bottom you will see:
How many items to show per page
Select a value (I use 400)
Don't forget to click on Save your changes.

Setting the value to 400 is very helpful when combined with the Control-F feature when searching for an answer.
Hope this helps.

Okay, let's get back to the shrub and see how it's doing.

I have dwarf globe arborvitaes, they are only about 2' by 2' after 10 or so years. They are great little bushes with soft leaves, although they do get flattened down a little every winter from the snow, they pop back into shape in the spring and summer. I should probably wrap them for the winter months!