What is this beautiful tree and how big will it grow?
John Voller, Tardebigge, Worcestershire
Stefan says: You were given the tree as a present, and what a lovely thing it is. This is Cryptomeria japonica, the Japanese cedar, one of the most important forest and timber trees in Japan and now planted all over the world.
It’s not actually a true cedar and is unrelated to the well-known Cedar of Lebanon. It will eventually become a seriously tall specimen, so do give it plenty of room. I had one that reached about 7.5m (25ft) in 10 years before I had to take it out because it was being crowded by other things. And my experience was that, when it does become crowded in this way, the lower branches tend to turn brown.
By the way, one of my very earliest Gardeners' Question Time programmes was in your lovely village of Tardebigge back in the early 1980s!
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