Cupressus cashmeriana
25th June 2015
A gorgeous and rather tender conifer with long, blue, drooping branchlets. A mature tree grown under cover is an astonishing sight. I first grew it in the 1980's
and had it for a few years in a cold greenhouse but there was a string of cold winters around 1987 - I had the plant before than and I didn't have it afterwards.
I have always wanted to have another go, but it is not an easy thing to propagate. Cuttings have a very low strike rate and seedlings do not reproduce the drooping
blue habit of the poarent, which is now thought to be a single clone llied to C. tortulosa - the exact situation is unresolved.
I saw this on a chance visit to Ashford Nurseries and dropped it in my trolley so fast I was worried that it might shed all its leaves.
8th August 2020
Obviously it can't stay in the greenhouse forever. It is a moderately sized conifer but still too large for any of my buildings (maximum height 8ft). Emboldened by a large specimen
growing under trees at the Hillier Arboretum in Hampshire, and a number of smaller plants prospering at Wildside in Devon, I have planted it in the garden, sheltered by some established
Alders (which I won't mind losing it it requires the space). It has been surprisingly vigorous, though it has lost the exquisite pendulous branches seen in greenhouses
- the plants at Wildside did the same thing. I am hoping that its form will be restored as it matures, the tree at Hilliers is quite droopy.