- Striking Columnar Shape
- Accent Point
- Handsome Evergreen Trees Keep Dark Green Color All Year
- Classic Tree Used for Centuries
- Works Beautifully in Hot, Dry Climates
- Hardy and Easy to Grow
If you want to include a spectacular focal point in your landscape, go with the classic Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens). These Mediterranean Cypress trees instantly bring to mind the Tuscan landscape, and the romantic pace of gracious living.
These fast growing trees give your landscape serious Italian style. You’ve seen these trees in paintings and in photographs. They show up in travel brochures and architectural renderings. Now you can add them to your own dream landscape!
Like an exclamation point in your landscape, these add a strong, straight vertical element to your Zone 7 – 10 garden. The Italian Cypress tree naturally grows straight as arrows and need no pruning to maintain their shape.
In climates that they love, they will stay green all year. Give them full sun for best results. They handle drought well and don’t need much supplemental watering once established.
How to Use Italian Cypress Trees in the Landscape
People have been using these columnar trees to line the edge of their properties for centuries. Their tall spires bring instant height and drama. They’ll look fantastic lining your driveway, or serenely enhancing the perimeter of your yard.
Italian Cypress Trees make an incredible backdrop for almost any style. They’ll work everywhere from contemporary to rustic gardens. Even a cottage garden could use a rugged pair of them flanking either side of a little crooked garden gate. They’ll easily elevate the look and provide a wonderful sense of contrast, no matter what partner plants they are paired with.
Plant them where you want to highlight an architectural feature – by front doors, lined along a walk, in large containers on your patio corners.
Try these vertical accents behind a special piece of statuary, bench or garden fountain to really amp up the impact of your art investment.
Use them in an allée, or double row of individual trees for a magnificent experience at a point of transition in your garden. In this application, plant them 10 feet apart (measure from the trunk of one to the trunk of the next.)
This tree easily creates special moments or vignettes in the garden. Consider a single tree as a wonderful specimen near the entrance of a Meditation Garden.
Single trees can also provide visual punctuation at important points of transition in your garden. For instance, try one near the entrance doorway of a contemporary house as a specimen tree. It will anchor your property to its surroundings.
In today’s crowded world, Italian Cypress can also work hard to deliver privacy from neighbors. Plant them 5 feet apart for a privacy screen, measuring from the trunk of one to the trunk of the other.
They are quite comfortable being planted very close together to form a dense hedge to block an unwanted view. These trees are especially useful in a narrow side yard, as they won’t take up much space, but achieve impressive height.
You can also use a screen to provide shade on the south or west of your house. Plant them in zig-zag pattern to achieve a solid screen faster.
Italian Cypress are hardy, evergreen conifers. With their tall, narrow habit, they’ll bring structure to your landscape design all year long. They’ll dependably keep their lush foliage almost all the way to the ground.
Tips for Care
Italian Cypress Trees are fast growing and tremendously drought tolerant once established. For best results, you’ll want to baby them a bit when they are first introduced to your yard.
Watch the water that first year and use the “Finger Test” to check the soil conditions under the ground. Just poke your finger into the ground near the tree. If it feels dry, give your new trees a nice, long drink. If the soil feels moist, check again in a day or two.
Their root system is deep and rarely poses a surface root problem. Italian Cypress can safely be planted 15 feet from sidewalks and driveways, measuring from the trunk of one to the trunk of the next. They are perfect privacy screens in tight side yards.
Italian Cypress trees won’t grow out of bounds or cast unwanted shade. This is truly an easy plant to grow. They look impressive and will make you seem like a master gardener!
They’ll really take off for you once they get established in your soil. For a faster effect, be sure to purchase the largest, oldest trees we have in stock. You’ll always be pleased at the immediate impact a larger tree will have on your design.
They require very little maintenance and are adapted to a wide range of soil types, both acid and alkaline. They are particularly adapted to extremely dry and arid climates and are resistant to city contaminants.
A natural column, these trees never need pruning to keep its classic upright shape, although you can shear them if you want a very formal look. Otherwise, a simple clip will take care of any errant branch. Overall, this is a very low-maintenance tree.
