Birders sometimes use the term “LGB.” It stands for “Little Gray Birds” and is a shorthand way to note sightings of birds that are too unremarkable in plumage to ID.

In the Pacific Northwest, we gardeners might adopt a similar lumping acronym: “BGC.” To the untrained eye, the bounty of evergreen trees here with soft sprays of foliage, like redcedars, Alaska-cedars, Port Orford cedars, arborvitaes, Hinoki cypresses, and leyland cypresses, seem like simply a bunch of “Big Green Conifers.” And that’s not even including the needled evergreen trees like firs, spruces, hemlocks, redwoods, and pines. I’m still learning how to sort them all out.

Upon closer inspection, though, each of these evergreen lookalikes reveals its charms—as I’m sure each little gray bird does, too, given the chance. One BGC that has long held a place in my heart is incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens).

It’s the branching habit that does it for me.

If you look up from underneath the tree, you’ll see that incense cedar has a funky, wavy branching pattern. Thin branches typically make J-shaped attachments to the stout trunk, undulating as they extend upward.