Plant Guide

Other Names:  Japanese Falsecypress, Sawara Falsecypress

Description:

One of the smallest varieties of this popular species, featuring bluish softly-textured mossy foliage; forms a fine, dense mound, ideal as an accent in a rock garden or in bonsai

Ornamental Features

Dwarf Moss Falsecypress is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its ornamental globe-shaped form. It has attractive silvery blue evergreen foliage. The tiny scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain silvery blue throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Dwarf Moss Falsecypress is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a more or less rounded 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, and should not require much pruning, except when necessary, such as to remove dieback. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Dwarf Moss Falsecypress is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Dwarf Moss Falsecypress will grow to be about 4 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 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.

Dwarf Moss Falsecypress makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.