Plant: Italian Cypress
Italian Cypress · Cupressus sempervirens
Size: 15 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
A narrow columnar evergreen conifer from the east Mediterranean that reaches 40 to 70 feet tall on a 3 to 6 foot spread, giving it a pencil like silhouette. The blue green foliage is scale like and fragrant when crushed, green pollen cones appear in early spring, and brown seed cones follow in fall. It wants full sun and grows in loam or sand at any pH from acid through alkaline as long as drainage is good, tolerating drought, dry soil, heat, humidity, salt and wind once established. Use it for vertical accent, a barrier or screen, or in mass plantings. Watch for mites, bagworms, root rot and canker.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 70 ft tall and 6 ft wide
- Blooms in spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 7-10
- Evergreen foliage
Plant description
A narrow columnar evergreen conifer from the east Mediterranean that reaches 40 to 70 feet tall on a 3 to 6 foot spread, giving it a pencil like silhouette. The blue green foliage is scale like and fragrant when crushed, green pollen cones appear in early spring, and brown seed cones follow in fall. It wants full sun and grows in loam or sand at any pH from acid through alkaline as long as drainage is good, tolerating drought, dry soil, heat, humidity, salt and wind once established. Use it for vertical accent, a barrier or screen, or in mass plantings. Watch for mites, bagworms, root rot and canker.
- Flowers
- No true flowers; inconspicuous pollen cones appear in early spring.
- Foliage
- Blue green, scale like needled evergreen foliage borne in whorls, fragrant when crushed.
- Fruit
- Dry, hard, glossy, rounded cones that persist, opening with heat and staying on the tree for several years.
- Bark & stems
- Dark brown to gray furrowed bark that ages from gray to gray brown, on slender upright columns that spread more horizontally with age.
- Pruning
- Should not be pruned, which keeps the columnar habit.
- Native range
- East Mediterranean to Iran
