Here
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/namegal/msg0918021525052.html

or here
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/conif/msg0917574220490.html

This post was edited by smivies on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 7:58

We have a bunch of those around similar size in the northern Westchester County area in NY. A group of them was planted next to a school when the school was built in 1950. So doing the math those are 60 plus year old trees in the pictures if they grow at the same rate in zone 7B as they do in 6B.

Habit and vigor varies with cultivar, of which there are many.

Yep, it's known as: 侧æ (Arborvitae) in Asia.

Scientific name: Platycladus orientalis
Common English name: Oriental Arborvitae

It's one of my favorite conifers.

Most planted variations of Platycladus orientalis or cultivars are not fast growing (few inches to 1 foot per year). The one in your picture would likely be over 50 years old.

The plain species from the wild can grow faster (1.5 to 2 feet per year), but the plain species may not have the multi-branch structure common in the cultivars that are slow growing, thick, and bushy.

Here is an ancient Platycladus orientalis that was planted or known from around 3000 years ago during the Zhou dynasty. It's located in the Songshan Mountains of Henan province China. They are a long lived species with many easily living over 1000 years.

{{gwi:2124221}}

{{gwi:2124222}}

{{gwi:2124223}}

This post was edited by treeguy123 on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 0:30

I'd like to see some validation like counting of rings in core samples before that 3000 years is taken as established fact. There are authentic documents from the time referring to the tree being present 3000 years ago? Are there any documents about anything in China going back that far?

Preposterous ages are claimed for big old cherry trees in Japan also.

Ages of some cultivated trees in the Beijing (China) area are said to exceed 1000 years (Silba 1996)

Here is a link that might be useful: Platycladus orientalis (Chinese arborvitae) description

I agree, I was thinking someone might say that that. lol The info came from the picture.

Most likely, the one pictured I would bet is at least over 1000 years old. Maybe even around 2000. But a guess of 3000 years is really stretching it and not that likely.

The Platycladus orientalis tree above, you can clearly see it is very old. It has the look of a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, except the tree is not stunted by dryness, but by slow growth plus old age. See the small strips of living wood running up the sides of the weathered dead wood just like a Bristlecone Pine. This to me is a sign of great age.

To me it's very likely Platycladus orientalis can easily reach over 1000 years because they are in the Cupressaceae family which includes Giant sequoia and Coast Redwood 2000 to 3000+ years of rings have been counted in some of these trees. It also includes Bald cypress core dated to be over 1700 years old. They could very likely reach sequoia and Redwood ages also.

The ages on most or all Platycladus orientalis trees may have never been documented, or researched, but some do claim ages of family planted trees of 1000 years. Being in the Cupressaceae family, I see no reason to doubt 1000 year old family planted tree claims if the tree is large and very old looking.

This post was edited by treeguy123 on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 18:41

Or it could have grown like a weed for a time and then gotten abused. No core sampling or other reliable data source, no real way to know for sure.

I worked in a forest plot once where the "bonsai" trees making little groves in the shade of the forest canopy were often about as old as the their full-sized brethren towering overhead. Different circumstances resulting in vastly differing fortunes without a great difference in ages.

Yep this is true, soil and environment all make a big differences in size and age. And you can only estimate of course unless you have real data such as a core sample. And of course many ancient trees are hollow, so one can ever know the accurate age of these. One example is the oldest known tree dated by rings in the eastern US: a Bald Cypress in NC that was crossdated to be 1622 years old from wood that is left of the hollow tree. Christopher J. Earle visited this tree and said: "It would be hard to estimate a total age for the tree, but it must certainly exceed 2,000 years and possibly 3,000." I guess he saw it was largely hollow and huge overall, so the core sample must have only penetrated a small distance compared to the over all diameter of the tree.

My main point would be that trees in Cupressaceae family I believe all have a decent chance of making it to at least around the 1000 year mark in a protected setting.

This post was edited by treeguy123 on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 22:03