I continue a series of articles about beautiful garden plants with an unusual exterior.

Meet the Nutkan cypress. This is real must have for garden! And now aboutbexplain why…

Whatever your ornamental garden, most of the plants in it necessarily merge into a single mass when viewed from a far point (conditionally, this is a house window or an entrance gate).

Looking from this angle, you understand that some expressive detail is missing, which can be seen from afar.

Of course, a small architectural form of impressive size can become such an accent…

However, it costs money and requires a certain amount of space.

And an evergreen tree with dark foliage and a beautiful silhouette will cope with this task much better and easier (for the wallet — that’s for sure).

Such a plant will stand out against the general background at any time of the year and day (if highlighted).

Nutkan cypress is perfect in this regard. The view is represented by several varieties and silhouettes to choose from. I recommend Pendula, which grows no more than 8 meters. With this form of growth, height will not be a problem in a small garden…

And now more…

Cypress is an evergreen plant first plus and there is nothing to add here.

Cypress nutkansky — a fast growing plant. For a young garden, this is not just a plus, it is bold exclamation mark.

I argue: I bought my cypress tree in the spring of 2016. Its height at that time was 50 cm, and its age was 2 years.

In the very first season, he gave an increase of 30 cm, and this is taking into account that he spent his strength on rooting.

Now the year is 2022, spring and its height is 2.5 m. Consider that this is the growth of last year, and we get that in 5 years this handsome man has grown 2 meters on my site. Only species pines grow faster …

And the final point: I have this cypress planted in an open area with strong winds (our area 5b).

Frost resistance zone Nutkan cypress Pendula four.

Last winter was very severe (by the standards of our climatic zone), but the plant survived it and only burned on the tips of the branches in the sun.

Pictured above: February 2021, below, November 2021

At this point, the praises break off, and the prose of life begins, and she is so …

In order for everything to turn out great in the end, you need to listen a little to this plant and take into account all its wishes. I list it point by point.

Paragraph 1. This cypress tree cannot stand stagnant water, but at the same time it loves water procedures very much, here it behaves like all coniferous plants.

Point 2. At a young age, all cypress trees are very vulnerable in winter. Therefore, up to 5 years they should be grown in a school and wrapped up for the winter.

Point 3. Transplantation to a permanent place should be done upon reaching 5 years of age and in early spring, as soon as the ground thaws. When transplanting in the autumn, the plant will not have time to take root. And if you tighten it with movement, then rooting will occur painfully and not always successfully.

My five-year-old cypress after transplanting stopped growing until next spring, and despite the fact that I wrapped it with geotextile for the winter, the top still froze and dried up.

From the reviews of experienced gardeners, I know that when transplanting this plant at a later age, the result can be unpleasantly upsetting …

Item 4. It is very important to choose the right landing site and soil. Cypress trees love the sun, and also nutritious, moisture-intensive and, at the same time, drained soils. As for acidity, the soil should be neutral or slightly acidic, but not alkaline.

That is, if there is sand in the area, the soil must be enriched with humus, and the clay area should be provided with drainage.

I have clay, and at the level of the roots — the purest.

There is a mass of minerals, but little humus, and in summer it is too dry (the earth is like a stone) due to the lack of rain. Therefore, before landing, I dug a hole “meter by meter” and of the same depth and filled it with podzol-soddy soil mixed with clay.

After landing, she left a pit (a small hole) and mulched it with a thick layer of bark.

In regions with a humid climate or high groundwater, digging a hole in clay is not worth it, because water will accumulate at its bottom and the roots will rot, no drainage will save the situation. It is enough to plant this coniferous plant on a hillock and mulch the trunk circle.

Clay is a good soil for cypress trees and at depth it is not so dense. I already know))) (Video: How I wanted to make a slide and got a little carried away )

For the performance of its “rider”, the Nutkan cypress will thank with its powerful growth and beautiful exterior all 365 days a year.

P.S. A year after the transplant, I stopped «dancing with a tambourine» and allowed the plant to develop on its own.

Yes, after a hard winter, its needles lose their color juiciness a little, in some places they even turn yellow and dry out. But the Nutkan cypress recovers quickly and completely independently.

IMPORTANT: in the first 10 years, this plant needs vertical support (photo above) in order to form a straight trunk. After it is removed and the plant itself will take care of «its figure» …

What else to read on the site:

Amazing spruce with an unusual exterior

Alpine relief in the garden

A win-win option to give the landscape individuality is to build a rocky composition on it. Lack of experience and ignorance of the rules has already led many gardeners to disappointment, but this is from excessive efforts to make everything beautiful …

Geoplastics — the art of changing the relief

If you decide to equip a decorative garden on the site, then the best way to make it more expressive is to create a unique relief. This technique can transform the territory of any size. It’s called geoplastics is a landscape design method that allows…