Cedar hedges are the go-to privacy screen across Nobleton, King City, and Kleinburg, and for good reason — they're evergreen, they grow densely, and a well-kept hedge does more for a property line than any fence. But cedars fail more often than people expect, usually for reasons that trace back to how they were planted or how they're being watered. Here's what actually matters.

Choose the right cedar

Eastern white cedar is the standard here and the right choice for most properties. It's native, handles our winters, and grows into a dense screen. You'll also see Emerald (Smaragd) cedar sold widely — it's narrower, slower-growing, and holds a tidier shape, which makes it good for tighter spaces, though it takes longer to fill in and costs more per foot of hedge.

Spacing decides how good the hedge looks in five years

This is where people go wrong most often. Too far apart and you get gaps that never close. Too close and the cedars compete for water and root space, and the inner branches die back. For eastern white cedar, plan on roughly two to three feet between plants. For narrower Emerald cedars, eighteen inches to two feet.

Also give the hedge room from the property line and from any fence or wall — a cedar needs air circulation on both sides, and planting tight against a solid fence leads to a permanently thin, brown back side.

Planting in clay soil

Much of our region is heavy clay, which holds water and drains poorly. Dig the trench or holes wider than you think you need, and work compost through the backfill to improve structure. Plant so the top of the root ball sits level with or very slightly above the surrounding grade — burying it deeper in clay is a common way to slowly drown a cedar.

Spring and early fall are the best planting windows. Fall planting works well here, as long as it's early enough that roots establish before the ground freezes.

Watering is the single biggest factor

Newly planted cedars need consistent, deep watering through their first two full seasons. Not a light daily sprinkle — a long, slow soak that drives water down into the root zone, once or twice a week, more in hot dry stretches. Shallow watering produces shallow roots, and shallow roots are what fail in the first hard winter or dry August.

Keep watering into late fall, right up until the ground freezes. Cedars are evergreen — they keep losing moisture through their foliage all winter, and going into freeze-up dry is one of the main causes of winter damage.

Why cedars turn brown

A few distinct causes, and they look different:

Winter burn shows up in late winter and early spring as browning on the sun-facing or wind-exposed side. It happens when foliage loses moisture on cold sunny days while the frozen ground can't resupply it. Deep fall watering is the best prevention; burlap screening helps for young, exposed hedges.

Deer damage is a real problem in the more rural parts of King Township. It looks like browsing damage on the lower three or four feet, often worst in late winter when other food is scarce. Fencing or repellent through winter is the practical answer for exposed properties.

Inner browning in fall is often normal. Cedars shed their oldest interior foliage each year — if the browning is inside the plant and the outer growth is healthy and green, that's just seasonal shedding.

Drought stress browns from the tips inward and shows up in the hottest part of summer or the year after planting, and it's usually a watering-depth problem rather than a watering-frequency one.

Trimming

Trim in early summer, after the spring flush of new growth has hardened off, with a lighter touch-up in late summer if needed. Avoid cutting back into old bare wood — cedars don't reliably regenerate from it, so a hedge cut too hard can stay bare in that spot permanently. Trim little and often rather than rarely and hard.

One shaping detail worth knowing: keep the hedge slightly wider at the base than at the top. It feels backwards, but it lets light reach the lower branches, which is what keeps a hedge full to the ground instead of thin at the bottom.

A cedar hedge planted properly and watered well for its first two years will screen a property for decades. If you're planning one — or trying to bring a struggling one back — get in touch and we'll take a look.

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Transform Your Landscape with Cedar Hedges

Cedar Hedges in King Township: Planting, Care, and Why They Go Brown

Benefits of Cedar Hedges

Ready to Enhance Your Property?

Contact JP Landscape Design Ltd. for professional cedar hedge installation and care today.