Urban Landscape, Native Landscape: Cupressaceae: The Cypress Family

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Cupressaceae: The Cypress Family

Cupressus sempervirens illustration by Maxfield Parrish 1903

Chamaecyparis pisifera August 2008

Juniperus chinensis December 2009

Cupressaceae (the Cypress family) is exceptionally useful in Pacific Northwest gardens. Many members of the family grow here as native plants. The Cypress family includes species of Chamaecyparis & Thuja such as Alaskan Cedar, Port Orford Cedar, & Western Red Cedar. Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Pendula’ has a very graceful, open form. Chamaecyparis lawsoniana has many attractive dwarf forms such as ‘Blue Surprise,’ ‘Lutea Nana’ & ‘Somerset.’ A smaller, narrower form of Thuja plicata (Western Red Cedar) is ‘Fastigiata.’ Other widely used genera of the family Cupressaceae are Cupressus, Juniperus, Thujopsis & exotic members of the genus Chamaecyparis such as Hinoki Cypress & Sawara Cypress. There are so many Junipers, I wouldn’t know where to begin. Don’t make the mistake of hating all Junipers because of the ubiquitous, sprawling Juniperus chinensis ‘Pfitzeriana.’ The Hillier Gardener’s Guide to Trees & Shrubs says Cupressus sempervirens ‘Swane’s Golden’ is 1 of the best medium-sized golden conifers for the small garden. Various forms of Chamaecyparis obtusa are popular here for their exceptional beauty. Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’ is a nice small tree with fluffy, blue foliage.

Familiar Members of Cupressaceae

Chamaecyparis (False Cypress)

Cupressus (Cypress)

Juniperus (Juniper)

Metasequoia (Dawn Redwood)

Sequoia (Coast Redwood)

Sequoiadendron (Sierra Redwood)

Thuja (Arborvitae)

Thujopsis (False Arborvitae)

Cupressaceae for Pacific Northwest Gardens

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Blue Surprise’ (Port Orford Cedar)

Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Gracilis’ (Slender Hinoki Cypress)

Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’ (Dwarf Hinoki Cypress)

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Pendula’ (Weeping Alaskan Cedar)

Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Boulevard’ (Boulevard Cypress)

Cupressus sempervirens (Italian Cypress)

Juniperus chinensis ‘Torulosa’ (Hollywood Juniper)

Juniperus communis ‘Compressa’ (Dwarf Irish Juniper)

Juniperus conferta (Shore Juniper)

Thuja koraiensis (Korean Arborvitae)

Thuja occidentalis ‘Yellow Ribbon’ (Arborvitae)

Thuja plicata ‘Fastigiata’ (Hogan Cedar)

Thujopsis dolabrata ‘Nana’ (Dwarf False Arborvitae)

No comments:

Post a Comment

About This Blog

This blog began in 2008 as Metropolitan Gardens to provide information on gardening in Seattle & places like it. Click on Gardening in Cascadia. The blog expanded to include Parks P-Patches Public Gardens in the US, Canada & Europe. Then Nature was added. (The difference between nature & gardens is intent. Nature happens. Gardens are planned.) Many recent posts are not about Seattle, or even Cascadia. They are Urban Landscape: streetscape & architecture. Cascadia is the region including the Cascade Mountains of Washington & Oregon. If you want to contact the blogger, leave a message in comments. Comments are moderated & private messages will not be posted.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.