Slender Golden Falsecypress
Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Gracilis Aurea'
Height: 15 feet
Spread: 10 feet
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 5a
Description:
A truly graceful garden evergreen, featuring delicate sprays of soft golden foliage held in horizontal layers along a pyramidal form; a special shrub for both color and texture in the garden, best used as an accent; prefers humid conditions
Ornamental Features
Slender Golden Falsecypress is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape for its distinctively pyramidal habit of growth. It has attractive yellow evergreen foliage which emerges gold in spring. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and turn coppery-bronze in the fall, which persists throughout the winter.
Landscape Attributes
Slender Golden Falsecypress is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a distinctive and refined pyramidal form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.
This is a relatively low maintenance shrub. When pruning is necessary, it is recommended to only trim back the new growth of the current season, other than to remove any dieback. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Slender Golden Falsecypress is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Accent
- Vertical Accent
- Mass Planting
- Hedges/Screening
- General Garden Use
Planting & Growing
Slender Golden Falsecypress will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 70 years or more.
This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.