Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana): is native to eastern and central North America east of the Rockies, and is the only native conifer found throughout Iowa. It is the most widespread conifer of eastern North America, and was called "baton rouge" by the early French colonists in Canada because of the reddish-brown sapwood. The name of the capital of Louisiana originated because plants of this species were found in the area.

Hardy from zone 2 to 9, the Eastern Red Cedar is an adaptable, hardy, drought resistant plant, thriving in all but swampy soils. It is found on poor, gravelly soils in which few other plants will grow, but prefers a deep, moist loam on well-drained subsoil. Although the Eastern Red Cedar can withstand shade when it is young, mature plants require a sunny, airy position, and they are often most abundant on recently-cleared lands and abandoned fields.

Although the growth habit of this dense conifer is variable in the wild, it usually has a pyramidal shape when young, becoming slightly pendulous in old age. The Eastern Red Cedar is slow-growing and long-lived-to 350 years or more. A very versatile, tenacious plant, it is valuable for landscaping, soil conservation, windbreaks and wildlife plantings. Deep lateral roots and the ability to grow on thin, dry, calcareous soil make this species suitable for soil conservation plantings. Responding well to pruning, this plant is used for a variety of landscape purposes-hedges, topiary works screening and foundation planting. This species reaches a height of 40 to 60 feet, with a spread of 8 to 20 feet, with the trunk often buttressed and irregular in cross-section, and has a thin fibrous bark is grayish to reddish-brown, exfoliating into long, narrow, longitudinal strips.

 The evergreen foliage has a dark green or blue-green cast, often turning reddish-green in winter. The leaves are of two kinds. Needle-like leaves are 0.25 to 0.5 inches long and arranged in opposite pairs or in whorls of 3. They are sharp-pointed and diverge from the twig. Scale-like leaves are blunt-tipped, overlapping, opposite and closely appressed to the 4-sided twig. Male and female cones occur at the tips of the branches on separate plants. The male cone is small and cylinder-shaped, with 8 to 12 pollen sacs that release pollen in February and March. Female plants bear the characteristic blue, fleshy, berry-like cones that ripen in one year and contain 1 to 2 small, ovoid, shiny seeds. Large seed crops are produced every 3 years, and seeds require 2 to 3 years to germinate. Plants are freely self-seeding and the seeds germinate in any soil. The buds are tiny, naked and hidden by the foliage.

                                                                   

This species is the alternate host of the cedar-apple rust. In wet spring weather, galls on cedars formed by this fungus extrude yellow, gelatinous processes and the spores infect the leaves of apple trees. New spores from the apple then re-infect the cedar trees. Resistant Malus cultivars and fungicidal sprays generally combat this problem. Red cedars are reportedly the most susceptible of all ornamentals to bagworm attack. Twig blight and red cedar bark beetle can also be problematic.

             Due to its natural durability it is used for shingles and fence posts. Oil of cedar is extracted from the wood and used as perfume.

Cedars are important to wildlife throughout the country. The cedar waxwing is a principal user of the berry-like cones, but other songbirds and some game birds (like grouse, quail and turkey), as well as small rodents, also feed on the cones. The twigs and evergreen foliage are browsed by hoofed animals, and the foliage is important to birds and mammals for winter cover.

Cultivars include 'Hillspire,' a bright green, symmetrically conical male; 'Glauca,' a columnar form with silver-blue spring foliage; and 'Silver Spreader,' a low-growing, silver-gray form.