Chamaecyparis Obtusa Filicoides

I just got one for very cheap at lunch today and was wondering what the growth rate might be here (guessing about 12" a year once established) and if it needs winter protection from the sun and or wind? Does the foliage change color in the winter also? Any other issues I might need to know with this variety before I figure out where to plant it?

Bill

Bill, I don't have that particular one, but some similar C. o. cultivars grow VERY slowly here for me (about 180 miles south of you). They do stay green in winter, except for damaged areas that turn brown. Mine are mostly in full sun, and I think that was a mistake here in the Midwest. The one I have in part shade is looking much happier.

Maybe someone who has experience with your cultivar here in Illinois will jump in now that the thread has been bumped up.

Guy S.

Bill, Did it come with your meal? I have this cultivar and really like it. It is not a dwarf. Offhand, I'd say the growth rate has been somewhere between 6"-12" per year, but I re-exam my tree tomorrow and report back. I will also take some photos, as the growth habit is quite unusual and striking.

Mine is in full-sun and does well. It is interesting with Chamaecyprus obtusa that it seems to tolerate, perhpas appreciate, shade as much as it does. Heronswood had multitudes of forms growing, many in a lot of shade, and that was in their very mild climate. All of my cultivars in the garden are in sun, and none of them seem to suffer from it. But I also have quite a few seedlings (some from "Filicoides", which interestingly show a very diverse variety of forms) in my little nursery area, which have all gotten overgrown by more robust deciduous material and they all seem equally happy.

Scott

This one was a 3.6 gal plant so I can get a decent guess what its growth rate is. It looks like around 7-9" of growth this year and I am guessing it will grow a little faster once in the ground and established. All of the obtusa I have seen are green in the winter except when I went to the Monrovia site they have a pic of this one showing some brownish color. They were the growers of the plant I bought but their site doesn't mention any color change. Looks like it was a busy afternoon on DG so thanks for Bumping my thread.

Bill

Over-typed ya Scott. Soup, salad, or Chamaecyparis? Any problem with winter sun? I have a choice of winter shade or exposed.

Bill

No, I've never noticed any winter burn whatsoever.

Scott

I have scorched a few C. pisifera over winter, and man does it make a nice plant into one fugly mess. That's the thing about those coniferous thingies, recovery from damage is tough. I'd opt for semi shade, especially in winter.

I am thinking shade in the winter just in case. That is where I have many of my Japanese Maples anyways and it should work well with those. This is the pic from Monrovia of the color that I am guessing it will get in winter. Scott, you don't happen to have a picture of yours do you? I am trying to guess what this thing might look like in 10 years. The web pics show ones that look like they have been pruned to shape them.


Bill

Ask and ye shall receive! Risked life and limb as a wild storm approached for these pics, but, for my DG buddies, anything!

Scott

This plant is a precocious and heavy cone producer.

Unfortunately, I do not have any winter pictures, but if I remember correctly the winter color is a bronze. Growth for this year ranges from 4-8".

Scott

We had that storm last night. My baby pool was flying across the deck but I let it go as the lightning was popping off all around. I thought about trying to retrieve it with a long metal hook but none handy. Maybe next time.

Thanks for the pic. It definitely helps. That is a little more open than I was picturing, but what the hey it still looks cool. Where to plant, where to plant...

Bill

Hey, I found a shot of winter foliage.

There is a bigger plant at the Rowe Arboretum, which is nearby. If I remember the next time I go there, I'll get a shot of it. But the form always remains open and architectural.

Scott

That open form is making me think about planting it where you can see through it to catch a glimpse of what is around the corner.

Filicoides is one of hardiest obtusa's for me up in MN. Grew it for many years to about 6 ft from cutting size under tall natural oak stand on a north side of a hill. A relatively fast grower, even in MN. Then it mysteriously died at 6 ft. Most obtusa's don't do well for me, either in clay or sandy soils. The pisifera sp. and cvs. are much hardier, and especially the threadleaf types. But like Kevin, I've had a few fuglies, if I don't site properly.

Rick

Here's the description from (Obrizok) 'A Garden of Conifers - Introduction and Selection Guides' (1999) - Compact, dense bush, elongated narrow flattened branches, deep green, somewhat open if not sheared.


And my favorite new book: (Jacobson) 'North American Landscape Trees' (1996) - FERNSPRAY HINOKI CYPRESS. Originated in Japan. Introduced to Western cultivation when Siebold sent it to Holland ca 1860, and Veitch to England in 1861. Uncommon in North America. The name filicoides means fernlike; from Latin filix, fern, and Greek - oides, resemblance. Varies from a broad bush to a narrow tree. Always slow growing, and usually gaunt and freakish in either case. Extenuated branches with densely congested short side sprays. Individual twigs fernlike. Records: 47' x 4' 9" Scorrier, Cornwall, England (1959; pl 1861); 40' x 6'9" Endsleigh, Devon, England (1977); 23 ' tall at Aurora, OR (1993; as 'Compact Filicoides').

That Jacobson gets to the nitty gritty - he'll tell you right out flat when he doesn't think a plant has merit and in other circumstances, he'll say "such and such" is so similar (and difficult to distinquish from) that he classifies them all under the first name registered. It's a great book though.

Dax

Conifers, please, puuulease don't list any more favorite books. You are busting my budget.

Mary

Gaunt and freakish??? Jacobsen is a dork!

scott

You're welcome!

lol,

Dax

Bill and Scott,

If you guys don't object, I'd like to use your photos for the American Conifer Society's Database. Please send me an email and I'll explain how this works.

You'll be doing the world a favor. I say to myself and others, 'every record that gets revised and has photos, is one less (we) have to research later.' That's also of course where (Jacobson) comes in very handy as the man has tracked the lineage of so many trees thus now helping solve current problems associated with nomenclature.

Many thanks gentlemen,

Dax

Only if you take back the gaunt comment. Freakish, yes, but gaunt I don't think so. I'll send ya an email. Looks like I'll have to see if the library system has that Jacobsen book. They had Guy's books, so maybe I'll get lucky.

Bill

I think your tree is nice Bill. It's not gaunt but evidently some can be (cultural practices, for example).

Regards,

Dax

How do you know my tree is nice Dax, you have never met her???

Bill

Because I'm nuts!

See ya around,

Dax