Perhaps in the past you've been "burned" by arborvitae that have discolored during the winter months, become gangly, open, and unattractive in old age, or grown so slowly that you've simply decided to remove them from the landscape. But 'Hetz Wintergreen' arborvitae is different. Its handsome medium to dark green foliage stays that way even during the most severe winter. It grows fast (12"/year) and tall (8' x 3' after 10 years), and develops a strong central leader and sturdy, evenly spaced branches, earning it the reputation for being a good "snow-bearing" plant. 'Hetz Wintergreen' isn't as dense or rigid-looking as say, 'Emerald' or 'Degroot's Spire' but its slightly more open, relaxed appearance is perfect if you're trying to create an informal screen or backdrop for a spring bulb display, white-flowering crabapple, or that special lilac.

You might be interested to know the famous French explorer Jacques Cartier, along with many of his men, owe their lives to the arborvitae trees they encountered during the winter of 1535-36 as they traversed up the St. Lawrence River looking for the fabled Northwest Passage to China. As the story goes, Cartier and his men became snow and ice bound near a small fort (later to become Quebec City). Without sufficient quantities of fruits and vegetables in their diet, scurvy (an affliction caused by a vitamin C deficiency), befell this band of ill-prepared explorers. Fortunately for Cartier and his men, the native Huron Indians showed them how to prepare a curative tea made from the bark and foliage of arborvitae trees. And the result was immediate and miraculous. Wishing to share this plant and its amazing properties with the folks back home, Cartier brought live specimens back to France at which time the King proclaimed it "l'arbor de vie" or "tree of life."

Getting back to 'Hetz Wintergreen' I actually plan on using it in the landscape of a home my wife and I are building. Yes, we will have a fence (we have two unruly dogs) but the plan is to plant 'Hetz Wintergreen' in an irregularly spaced, and irregularly alternating line (on each side of the fence) to disguise at least a portion of the fence. It might look a little odd at first, but our hope is that when the entire planting is corralled into the same irregularly outlined mulched bed, a sense of unity will come over the landscape. I'll let you know how it turns out.