Its pyramidal habit, loose open branching and scale-like, dark green foliage make the sawara-cypress a notable option for specimen plantings or in groups in a large landscape. Besides its remarkable foliage, this evergreen has handsome reddish-brown bark that peels off in strips and tiny, reddish-brown cones on short stalks.
Size and Form:
Sawara-cypress grows 50 to 60 feet high and 10 to 20 feet wide with a pyramidal form. Cultivars vary in size, color, and form.
Native geographic location and habitat:
Native to Japan.
Bark color and texture:
Handsome, reddish-brown bark peels off into thin strips.
Leaf or needle arrangement, size, shape, and texture:
Alternate, flattened, scale-like needles grow on horizontal branchlets.
Flower arrangement, shape, and size:
Flowers are inconspicuous.
Fruit, cone, nut, and seed descriptions:
Tiny, 5/16 inch reddish-brown cones appear on short stalks.
Plant care:
Best grown in full sun to part shade in average, moist, fertile soils. Avoid wet, poorly drained soil. Site out of direct wind. Prefers a humid climate. This plant rarely needs pruning
List of pests, diseases, and tolerances:
No serious pests or diseases. Sawara-cypress does not tolerate high pH.
Many of these cultivars are smaller, dwarf forms.
Boulevard Sawara-cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’):
Growing 12 to 15 feet high and 8 to 10 feet wide, this narrow dwarf form has silver-blue foliage.
Cream Ball Sawara-cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Cream Ball’):
Only 2 to 3 feet high and wide, this rounded, compact, evergreen shrub has dense, soft, light green foliage that occurs as flattened sprays tipped in creamy white.
Soft Serve® Sawara-cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Don Whiting’):
A narrow, columnar, upright habit reaching 10 feet high and 6 feet wide, this graceful cultivar boasts needles that are green with steel blue undersides.
Golden Mop Sawara-cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Golden Mop’):
This cultivar is slow growing and only 2 to 3 feet high and wide at maturity. It is a low, mounded evergreen shrub with dense, soft, yellow scale-like foliage in thread-like sprays.
Golden Thread-leaved Sawara-cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera Aurea’):
This densely mounded, golden yellow, and finely textured cultivar grows15 to 20 feet high and 8 to 12 feet wide.
Plume Sawara-cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Plumosa’):
At 30 to 50 feet high and 10 to 20 feet wide, this pyramidal plant has a soft, airy texture.
Thread-leaved Sarawa-cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera’):
An upright to mounded form growing 8 to 15 feet high and 8 to 12 feet wide, this cultivar has narrow, pendulous, threadlike foliage.
