Plant Finder

Description:

A compact, narrow columnar form featuring dense, deep blue-green foliage; very slow growing; makes a wonderful topiary or container specimen; highly tolerant of pruning, great as a hedge or screen; also a dramatic accent on the landscape

Ornamental Features

Dwarf Italian Cypress is primarily valued in the landscape for its rigidly columnar form. It has attractive dark green foliage with hints of blue. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Dwarf Italian Cypress is a dense evergreen tree with a strong central leader and a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. 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 tree, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. Deer don't particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Dwarf Italian Cypress is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• Hedges/Screening
• Windbreaks and Shelterbelts
• Topiary
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Dwarf Italian Cypress will grow to be about 30 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and should not be planted underneath power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 60 years or more.

This tree should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. This plant will benefit from an application of bonemeal and/or mycorrhizal fertilizer at the time of planting. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in sandy soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Dwarf Italian Cypress is a fine choice for the yard, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Its large size and upright habit of growth lend it for use as a solitary accent, or in a composition surrounded by smaller plants around the base and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.