CHAMAECYPARIS. False cypress. North America and Asia. Thanks to the horticulturist’s eye, this is now an extremely diverse group of coniferous trees and shrubs. We are growing a few personal favorites from Mitsch Nursery in Oregon, all of them plants we feel will be adaptable to most northern California climates (though they perform best near the coast and perhaps should have some shade in the hot interior). All require reasonably well drained soil and moderate watering. All are good plants for containers. Hardy to below 0oF.
obtusa. Japan. Hinoki cypress. This is an elegant forest tree of roughly conical form, growing over 100’ high in the wild. The horizontal branches create broad tiers densely set with nearly flat branchlets, both these and the tiny, closely pressed leaves colored a deep, rich green. Its small, round cones often go unnoticed. There are many cultivars, particularly in Japan, ranging from sizeable trees to small, congested shrubs. Here is a sampling.
‘Nana’. Dwarf Hinoki. Several separate clones are grown under this name. This one, from Mitsch Nursery, is the dwarfest I have seen thus far. It is a little squatter than round, with dense horizontal tiers of branches. The vertical growth rate is only a couple of inches a year. The rich, dark green foliage, bronze tinted in winter, is borne in short, flat sprays.
‘Nana Lutea’. Golden dwarf Hinoki. Much like ‘Nana’ itself in habit, this selection has new growth of bright golden-yellow. It needs part shade during the hot summer months, except along the coast.
‘Torulosa’ is a roundish shrub growing very slowly to 3-4’. Rather than the typical flat sprays, it has a twisted, coral-like structure of thickened branchlets (thus its alternate name ‘Coralliformis’). It gets quite bronzy in the winter.
‘Well’s Special’. Hinoki false cypress. A slowly growing tree, potentially 50’ or more but easily restrained. It is particularly desirable for its horizontal tiers of branches, rich green foliage and wispy new shoots. One of the easiest to grow.
pisifera. Sawara cypress. Japan. Like C. obtusa, this is a tree sometimes over 100’ in the wild. However, most of the many cultivars accumulated over the centuries here and abroad are dense, slow-growing shrubs of somewhat indeterminate size (they keep inching up and out, for many more years than we will live to see them). They have attractive reddish brown, peeling bark (which is often hidden) and sprays of soft, slender branchlets with narrow, pointed leaves. The latter are usual light green or grey-green in color.
‘Filifera Aurea’. Golden threadbranch cypress. An openly branched shrub, lacy in texture, growing slowly to 4-6’ with about equal spread. It has thread-like, slightly weeping branches and branchlets which turn golden yellow wherever they are exposed to the sun (the entire plant is chartreuse in the shade). Avoid overhead watering on hot summer days, as this can scorch the foliage.
’Minima’. Golf ball chamaecyparis. Like C. obtusa ‘Nana’, this is one of several selections sold under the given name. It is very slow in growth, nearly round but a little broader than tall. It has feathery grey-green leaves, shaded with yellow in new growth. ‘Plumosa Compressa’ is a similar but somewhat squatter growing selection.
‘Tea Garden Form’. This undoubtedly has a name in Japan, but its record is long gone here. Cuttings were brought to me from the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco by Erik Nagata, who has a relentless eye for such things. It is more upright than the previous selections, faster growing and broadly oval in form. The flattened, arching sprays of branchlets are tinged with yellow in new growth (less so if shaded), becoming blue-green when mature. This is an exceptionally attractive and undemanding shrub for smaller gardens, and of course for the pseudo-oriental plantings so many Californians cherish.
thyoides ‘Andelyensis’. White cypress. A sort of minitree, erect and often conical in form but growing very slowly to perhaps 10’ in a human lifetime. It has attractive, crowded bluish green foliage, tinged with purple in winter.