Plant Database

Other Names:  Japanese Falsecypress, Sawara Falsecypress

Description:

A highly distinctive and attractive garden color accent shrub featuring bluish foliage flecked with white at the tips, particularly prominent in spring; somewhat sensitive to the hot summer sun and winds, plant in a sheltered location

Ornamental Features

Snow Falsecypress is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its ornamental globe-shaped form. It has attractive white-tipped bluish-green foliage. The threadlike sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain bluish-green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Snow Falsecypress is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a more or less rounded 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.

Snow Falsecypress is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• Hedges/Screening
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Snow Falsecypress will grow to be about 7 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 7 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This shrub should be grown in a location with partial shade or which is shaded from the hot afternoon sun. 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, but has a definite preference for acidic soils. 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.

Snow Falsecypress makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants 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.