Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  Japanese Falsecypress, Sawara Falsecypress

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

This beauty features interesting bright green foliage with silvery blue undersides; slow growing and densely pyramidal in habit; excellent for borders and screening

Ornamental Features

Soft Serve® Falsecypress is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its distinctively pyramidal habit of growth. It has attractive green foliage with steel blue undersides. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain green throughout the winter. The shaggy antique red bark adds an interesting dimension to the landscape.

Landscape Attributes

Soft Serve® Falsecypress is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a distinctive and refined pyramidal 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.

Soft Serve® Falsecypress is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Soft Serve® Falsecypress will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 6 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 medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 60 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. 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. 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.