Although outwardly coniferous plant cypress resembles its closest relative - cypress, - the requirements for the maintenance and care of these trees are different. If cypress trees are sufficiently stable, then when growing cypress, it is important to ensure that the crop has sufficient soil moisture and clean air. On this page you can familiarize yourself with the names of various types of cypress trees, their photos and descriptions.
All cypress varieties are evergreens native to North America with a beautiful cone-shaped crown and drooping ends of shoots. Scaly needles, monochromatic, green from the upper and lower sides of the branches (sometimes blue in the garden forms). Cones spherical to 1 cm in diameter, brown, with a thick bluish bloom. Seeds ripen in one to two years. At home, as well as in a subtropical climate, cypress can represent high - up to 30 m - trees.
Check out the most popular cypress species and varieties, their photos and descriptions.
Types and varieties of cypress: photos and description
Nutskansky cypress on the photo
Nutcan cypress - a tree of the first magnitude with a narrowly conical crown. Even in central Russia, it is possible to over-winter it, a light cover is enough. Valued by the fact that the needles contain essential oil and vitamin C and, of course, its decorative effect.
As can be seen in the photo, the cypress plant of this species is used for single and group plantings against the background of a lawn:
The most famous form of "Pen-Dula". It is only 2.5 m high, the crown is weeping, shoots flowing down.
Cypress pea fruit on the photo
Cypress pea fruit - Japanese look, very original with its crown. It is narrow pyramidal, the branches are directed upwards, and their ends hang down. The needles are brilliant, green, with whitish stripes. The tree is frost-resistant, likes moist soils and humid air.
This species is most in demand on rocky ridges, as it grows very slowly and has a squat crown.
Cypress form "Ballward" on the photo
Popular form "Ballward". This is a dwarf, very slowly growing plant up to 1 m in height. It has a conical crown and climbing shoots with silver-blue needles.
Pay attention to the photo - in winter, this cypress variety turns purple-blue:
This form also includes the form “Filifer Aurea” - dwarf tree up to 1 m in height. Crohn widecone. Bright yellow threadlike branches - annual shoots hang down from the ends of the branches. Used as a tub culture.
Cypress stupid in the photo
Stupid cypress at home in Japan, it is a large tree up to 35 m tall with a dense, wide, sharply rounded crown and characteristic hanging ends of branches. Twigs are flat. The bark is brown-reddish, smooth. The needles are thick, scaly, dark green above and gray-green below.
Look at the photo - in this species of cypress, the cones are solitary on short petioles, brown-orange, up to 1 cm in diameter, ripen in the first year:
Like other types of cypress, dull has many decorative forms. The most interesting of them are dwarf, slowly growing.
Cypress form "Nana" in the photo
Among the very small, dwarf cypress there is a form "Nana".
Its height is only 50 cm. Sprig-like shells, folded like shutters, move away from a compact bush in different directions. The needles are dark green, glossy.
The plant is very decorative, which allows it to be used in indoor or greenhouse conditions, as well as in open ground on alpine hills.
Lawson's cypress on phot
Cypress Lawson - very beautiful large tree. In North America, the forest reaches a height of 20-25 m. It is characterized by horizontally growing branches with hanging tips. The bark is reddish-brown with round scaly plates. The needles of adult plants are greenish-blue and blue-green below. Cones are numerous, small, 7-8 mm in diameter.
There is a wide variety of forms, which are distinguished by small scale-like paired needles and small rounded fruits-cones - flat, with outgrowths in the center.
The following are photos and descriptions of Cypress Lawson's most popular varieties.
Cypress form "Lumiy" on the photo
So, form "lumiy" - with blue needles, paws, looking up, is a decorative miracle. The height of a ten-year plant does not exceed 2 m. It is used for single plantings and original hedges.
Cypress form "Columnaris" in the photo
Form "Kolumnaris" - A columnar tree growing at a height of 2 m. It is used for single plantings and high borders.
Cypress form "Elwoodi" in the photo
Very popular dwarf Elwoodi form. Gray-green needles in winter acquire a blue, with a metallic sheen shade. The height of the tree is 1.5 m. It grows very slowly. Indispensable for alpine slides and in the tub culture.
But the record for short stature put a kind of cypress this type, as
Cypress "Minima Aurea" in the photo
"Minima Aurea" - at the age of ten, he is only 30 cm tall.
This is a good bonsai material. It grows very slowly. The form is very decorative because of the bright yellow scales, needles. Used in alpine slides and tub culture.
Cypress "Minima Glauka" in the photo
Dwarf forms "Minima Glauka"
Cypress "Lana" in the photo
and "Lana", same stunted, but inferior to the previous in decorative. “Lana” is also called “golden feathers” for year-round, yellow-colored needles. But the crown of a tree is often razlapistoy, although in nature it has a conical shape.
Care for cypress varieties in the garden (with photo)
Despite the diversity of types and forms of cypress trees, their biological requirements are generally similar, but differ significantly from those of a relative cypress. It is - in contrast to the cypress - slow-growing plants that do not tolerate the smoke of air and dry soil. For successful care for all varieties of cypress trees, the best soils are fresh, sandy.
Plants are able to tolerate light darkening, hardy, but not absolutely. Do not tolerate strong winds. They live much less cypress, whose trees may be centenary.
In the south, especially in the steppe zone, cypress is not very comfortable due to the dryness of the air and heavy soils. Therefore, it is better to focus on the tub culture.
When caring for cypress in the garden, remember that at a young age these plants are moisture-loving, but they are contraindicated for high-standing groundwater.
Adults, well-developed specimens in the summer show drought-resistance, they simply do not give a gain until the onset of a wet autumn.
Cypress trees give a southern flavor to homestead and dacha plots, even in central Russia.
In late winter - early spring, the apical shoots of the past year suffer from many species and decorative forms.
As shown in the photo, when caring for cypress trees, “burnt” and frozen shoots must be cut out:
During the spring awakening, it is good to spray one of the growth stimulants (Energen, Appin, Zircon, Albit, etc.) and water the soil abundantly, especially after frosty winters.
Growing cypress from seeds, propagation by cuttings and grafting
Reproduction cypress, like most conifers, produced by seed, cuttings and grafting.
For growing cypress, seeds are harvested when the boxes begin to open slightly. Seeds are dried in a ventilated area. Sowing is best done with fresh seeds in the late autumn, but it can be done in the spring, after having previously stratified them. Sow seeds in the spring nakluvshimisya, sprinkle the top with humus or peat chips. When sowing should be avoided heavy soils.
It is recommended to cover crops for winter with fallen leaves or lightly sprinkle with humus. In the spring shelter is removed gradually. Growing seedlings occurs in stages, that is, the emerged shoots in the 2nd year are planted, where they are given a large area of food - 20-30 cm, and they grow there for 3-4 years. When transplanting to a permanent place or to another bed, a lump of earth must be kept.
All garden forms propagate vegetatively, mostly cuttings. For reproduction cypress cuttings are cut with a "heel" the size of 5-8 cm and a thickness of 2.5 mm. "Heel" is a piece of wood at the place of attachment of the annual escape. Cuttings are best harvested from young, well-developed plants. You can cut them in the spring and summer. Spring - rooted better.
Rooting requires a warm substrate that is created in the greenhouse, where there is a layer of manure and earth. Above the ground, it is imperative to provide a layer of sand - 1-1.5 cm. Cuttings take root in 1-1.5 months.
If the root system develops well, then after a year they are planted in the ground, where they stay for 3-4 years. With slow growth and a weak root system, the cuttings are left for another 1-2 years in the greenhouse.
Vaccinating cypress requires special skills. It can be done at the end of summer and in winter in conditions of a greenhouse or room.
As a stock take two-three-year-old seedlings of cypress, cypress or thuja. Method of grafting - side splitting, if the cutting is much thinner than the rootstock, and laterally, if the cuttings are strong. Month of vaccination depends on the maturation of the shoot (August - September).
Winter vaccinations begin in February and end with the awakening of shoot growth - at the end of April. Immediately before vaccinations, the land under the rootstocks is watered abundantly.
Pyramid or Italian cypress
This species of coniferous plant came to us from the Eastern Mediterranean. Among the entire large family of cypress pyramid - the only "European". In many countries, especially in France, Greece, as well as Italy and Spain, its horizontal varieties are widely found in the wild. To cultivate a beautiful coniferous plant actively began in 1778.
The tree has a crown resembling a column, the height of which sometimes reaches 35 meters. However, for this cypress will need to grow about a hundred years. The shape of the tree was due to the active efforts of breeders. This long-liver also tolerates frosts, it is not afraid of indicators up to -20 °.
He likes pyramidal cypress to grow in hilly terrain, in the mountains, including on poor soils.
The needles of the pyramidal cypress species are small, rich emerald green, rather dark. Cones are formed on small branches, they are brown with a gray tinge. When a tree is young, it grows much faster. After 100 years in height, the Italian cypress is no longer increasing.
Pyramidal cypress - a real decoration for the alleys of parks and city squares. Excellent, he looks at the country house.
The most compact species of cypress:
Arizona Cypress
The Arizona variety of cypress trees (C. arizonica) lives, of course, in America: Mexico and Arizona. Wild representatives of the plant chose their own high mountain slopes and climbed up to 2.4 km in height. In 1882, beautiful trees began to grow in gardens and parks, as well as home conditions.
Arizona cypress became the basis for breeders of such conifer varieties:
- Ashersonian is a low variety.
- Compact - shrub species, its green needles have a blue outflow.
- Konika is shaped like a pin, a poorly wintering variety with characteristic bluish-gray needles.
- Pyramidalis - crown-cone and blue needles.
Representatives of this species of cypress family live to 500 years, growing at the same time by 20 meters. Differs in a bluish shade of needles. The color of the bark of these cypresses varies from the age of the tree. The bark of young twigs gray, with time it becomes brown.
Change the color and cones as they mature: first they are brown with a reddish tint, and then turn blue.
The Arizona cypress stands out against the background of its fellow wood. It is a bit like a nut, hard and weighs a lot. The tree prefers not too cold winters, but is able to withstand a brief cold up to -25 °, and can survive dry periods. In growth adds very quickly.
Nutkan cypress (yellow)
Growing nutkanskogo cypress is in no hurry and by the age of 10 it moves up only to the meter level. The crown is in the shape of a narrow pyramid. The brown bark has a gray tint and is crushed into large thin layers. Skeletal branches are directed slightly upwards or widely spread. At the same time, the other branches (they are both rounded and with four sides) are somewhat thick and slightly lowered.
The needles of dark green color (in the classic version), as a rule, lack glands. Small (10 mm in diameter) pointed cones on a brown-red background have a bluish raid. We have the most popular (mainly due to winter hardiness and non-burnability) yellow variety of the Nutkan cypress (about twenty in total), bred by the Dutch in the last quarter of the 19th century. 
After a decade and a half, it grows up to 2 m. The result of sagging upright branches of the second order and a bent top is a frankly weeping view of the whole habitus. The needles are not so much yellow, what it looks like in sunlight, but rather greenish-gray.
Thyme cypress
For a cypress-like cypress tree, as well as for its nutkan and pea-fruit fellows, there is a love for fertile soil and good watering. The more years this plant becomes, the more its red-brown bark divides into long strips. It seems that the thin twigs someone specifically flattened.
Pine needles smell like resin, especially if you grind flat needles with obligatory glands and keel. It differs from the side only in its location, but it has the same green color with a bluish tinge. Cultivated infrequently, because not everyone likes the look. About four dozen varieties are known, including forms that are rarely found in our latitudes, which change the color of the needles during the winter period. 
Stupid cypress
A stupid cypress (yet such a perfectly acceptable term sounds more pleasant than a stupid cypress) prefers to swim in air that is well saturated with moisture. On light sandy soil for this cypress almost guaranteed successful growth. This must be considered when choosing the appropriate variety.
This plant, due to actively branching flat twigs, has a very dense crown in the shape of a cone. Light brown bark almost does not feel the roughness of the surface. The dull shape of the leaves gave the name to this type of cypress, while the leaves themselves are very cute because of the shiny dark green surface and inconspicuous white stripes below. 
In planar needles, the length ranges from 1.5 to 1.8 mm. The traditional brown background of peaked small (1 cm) knobs has a bright orange tint. Rarely grown due to poor winter hardiness. The range of this species is quite wide - 130 varieties.
To understand what cypress is, you need to spend some time reviewing images of an impressive number of cypress varieties and carefully read the description of at least those that you liked and that can be grown near the house or cottage. And then, armed with the knowledge gained, you can get down to business, also taking into account that it is common practice to include a cypress tree in one plant group with other types of shrubs, and when building rock arias, you should not neglect the size of a cypress tree.
