Chamaecyparis - Growing Guide

GROWING CHAMAECYPARIS

False cypress

Chamaecyparis is a small genus of five species of tall evergreen trees native to coastal North America, Japan, China and Taiwan. They grow best in a moist well drained sandy loam soil with a pH of 5 to 6.5. From these species there have been developed literally hundreds of cultivars with an enormous range of variation in colour, size and shape.

Burncoose stocks only a very few of these cultivars at the current time:

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Ellwood’s Gold’ is a neat and compact growing columnar form which is slow growing. The tips of the branch sprays are yellow tinged giving the whole bush a warm glow. This is a wonderful feature plant in the garden perhaps offsetting a rockery or heather border or just providing a colour contrast on the overall landscape design.

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Stardust’ – this is an outstanding cultivar with a columnar and narrow conical shape. The yellow foliage is suffused bronze at the tips.

Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’ – this is a medium sized bush with a dense conical habit. The foliage is steel-blue and becomes purple tinged in winter. This is perhaps one of the bestselling and most popular conifers of all time.

Chamaecyparis thyoides ‘Rubicon’ is a dwarf upright bush with a compact habit. In winter the juvenile foliage turns plum purple and always catches the eye in the sales point at that time of the year.