Dwarf Golden Hinoki Cypress – Tree Form

Colorful evergreens are perfect additions to the garden, and they bring that color without the time and effort needed to grow flowers. There has been a big shift in interest towards plants with colored foliage, and a revival of these easy to grow and very attractive plants. They give extended periods of color, and create attractive and stable garden pictures.

One problem with some of these plants is that they are relatively slow-growing, so a small plant may take several years to become big enough to make an impact. To solve this problem, our growers have mounted one of the most colorful and popular plants, the Dwarf Golden Hinoki Cypress, on a short trunk, lifting it up into the air. This not only makes it immediately more visible, it also creates something totally new – a beautiful small tree, that can be allowed to grow naturally, or clipped into round or conical shapes, to bring wonderful form to your planting arrangements.

The Dwarf Golden Hinoki Cypress is a small, rounded shrub that has unique foliage, cupped and formed like shells, or perhaps it looks like an exotic kind of coral from a tropical reef. This gives even small plants a very interesting appearance, and the attractive overlapping sprays of foliage are colorful too – not just plain green. Instead, the foliage is a rich golden yellow, with lime-green tones deeper inside the bush, creating a marvelous splash of richness in your garden. Left to develop naturally, it will become a broad conical shrub, but it can easily be trimmed into a ball, an upright column, or a narrower cone too. It grows at a moderate pace, so young plants mature quite rapidly, and the plant itself is so easy to grow that it needs nothing special at all to become an excellent specimen in any garden.

Growing Dwarf Golden Hinoki Cypress Trees

Once turned into a tree-form by our skilled growers, this tree literally enters a whole new dimension of garden interest. Now it can become the center-piece of a bed, with smaller shrubs and flowers beneath it. It can be planted in a container or planter box as an instant way to get more height, and give permanent structure too. Left to develop naturally, it will soon form a large rounded cone on a sturdy trunk – with excellent garden visibility. Over time the trunk will of course thicken and broaden, supporting the upper plant as it grows larger. Many gardeners will probably want to clip it for a more formal look, and this is very easy to do. It also fits well among other colorful evergreens, adding height and interest to a collection that will always be attractive and unique, and overall it will make a wonderful addition to your yard.

This plant is cold hardy – right down to minus 30 degrees – so it will grow even in zone 4, yet it also grows in much warmer places, all the way into the southern states and much of the west coast too. It also grows well in most soils, which simply need to be well-drained. It will grow quicker and to its maximum potential in richer soils, so add plenty of organic material when you are planting, and mulch each spring with a fresh layer. This is all the care it needs to thrive for you in almost any garden. It will grow best in a sunny spot, as plenty of sun develops the richest coloring. It will also grow in partial shade, and the plant will be a still-interesting lime-green to yellow, if not the rich golden tones seen in full sun.

History and Origins of Dwarf Golden Hinoki Cypress Trees

The Hinoki Cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa, grows naturally in Japan. It is a large forest evergreen, growing over 100 feet tall. In this natural form, it is not-surprisingly rarely seen in gardens, but over the years, both in Japan and the West, enthusiastic gardeners have collected small, attractive forms found as seedlings, or sometimes as novel branches on ordinary trees. The Dwarf Golden Hinoki Cypress was found in 1966 by Jan Spek, who founded Jan Spek Rosen in the town of Boskoop, in the Netherlands. This area is a center for new plant production in Europe, and Spek distributed his new plant to other nurseries. It quickly became a very popular garden plant. A special plant of this type can never be grown from seed, and the first step in the slow process of producing our tree-form plants was to take pieces from mother plants known to be correctly identified. These are then attached to sturdy, well-rooted stems of larger Hinoki Cypress, and carefully protected until the two halves become one united tree. Obviously cheaper seed-grown trees will not be, and could not possibly be, anything like this unique and very special plant.

We have made a special purchase of these unique plants, and we already know how popular the basic form of this handsome tree is. We are confident that these very special tree-form plants will not be with us long, so to enjoy them in your own garden, order now or face disappointment, as they soon will become ‘sold out’.