#incense cedar

[malliestop]

[alleghenyfeverdreams]

Cupressaceae, anyone? Here are three representatives of the cypress family to adorn your Winter decor: eastern red cedar, common juniper, incense cedar. You might recognize some of them from wreaths, gin, roadside limestone outcrops, or the slagheap.

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Friday 23 February 2024

Introduced to the UK from the west of America in the 1850s Calocedrus decurrens (incense cedar) creates a narrow evergreen tree. When mature the bark cracks to produce an attractive brown trunk.

Jill Raggett

[emperornorton47]

Incense Cedar

[gemwel]

How to make cedar flavored sugar:

If you have access to incense cedar saplings, this is a great way to extract their unique flavor (like a minty vanilla). It will also work with other edible trees (be sure to do a small batch first to check flavor).

Step 1: Add a layer of sugar to the bottom of your container (this is a commercial 20L storage container).

Step 2: Press small pieces of the saplings (which you washed & dried) into the sugar. Try to do this as soon after cutting the saplings as possible so they don't dry out. Ideally they should be a little sticky. Fall is the best time of year as the trees should be at the peak of dryness and flavor.

Continue adding pieces of the tree, cut so they lay flat, until you have a shallow layer. Don't go too thick as you want to maximize contact between the trees and the sugar.

This is about as thick as you want to make the layers. You should still be able to see some of the sugar underneath. Now add more sugar to cover as shown below.

Keep layering branches and sugar until you have filled the container. Add a bit more sugar to the top & poke down any stray bits of branch into the sugar with a clean spoon. Then let it sit for several months to a year to infuse (a year is good because then you can reuse the container for the next batch). If you have a basement/cool spot, that would be a good place to store this while infusing. When it attains a nice flavor, remove the branches (they can now be composted) and store the sugar dry until needed. This is lovely to sprinkle on baked goods or make holiday sugar cookies.

[gemwel]

How to break down a tree (or just really big branches) for firewood.

We had a big ice storm that knocked alot of branches off our incense cedar timber trees. So of course it is time to turn them into renewable fire wood.

This is a branch that fell off the main tree (probably 100-200 ft tall & 3-4 ft diameter trunk). To start, break off the small side branches (or use handheld clippers if they don't break easily for you). Sort the trim into not firewood (leaves, very small twigs better suited for kindling or mulch) and small branches.

Discards are shown above. I used them to fill in a gully created by rainwater. They would also be good mulch, or dry & use as kindling.

This is the bag of small twigs broken off by hand or with handheld pruners depicted above. I store my firewood in paper grocery bags as it makes it easy to carry, store, & stack, plus you can burn the empty bag.

The picture above shows the same branch after the twigs were removed. The next step is to cut as much as possible with bypass lopers.

Photo above shows bypass lopers (this is a really nice one that can cut branches up to three inches/8 centimeters). Again I cut pieces to fit into paper bags.

Once you have the small and medium branches removed, you are left with the bigger pieces that can be cut for woodworking, large fire logs (with hand or power saw), or stacked for fencing. If I cut these for firewood, I stack them as is because they don't fit easily into paper bags.

If you plan to heat with wood, it is best to have a Franklin stove (basically the whole firebox is inside, so most of the heat goes into surrounding air). If you want to heat & cook, a potbelly or similar stove is the best choice. Wood heat is great for backup heating, but can be a pain as the primary heat source due to the amount of wood needed, especially in cold climates.

[conifersgarden]

Conifers Garden: Calocedrus description. Conifers of the World - buy rare conifers online, shipping worldwide. Conifer grafts, seedlings and cuttings.

[conifersgarden]

Conifers Garden: Calocedrus formosana - Taiwan incense-cedar description. Conifers of the World - buy rare conifers online, shipping worldwide.