Taxodium in home landscapes

Why don’t we use more bald and pond cypresses (Taxodium spp.) in residential landscapes? I took the photograph above of a house landscaped with Taxodium on a recent house tour in New Orleans. Limbed up, these tall narrow trees fits the space by the driveway and by the street. Here in New Hampshire, I group two bald cypresses (T. distichum) with dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Ogon’) and giant Petasites for a dramatic, primeval effect. In leaf, these deciduous conifers have fine-textured foliage and cast light shade.  Pond cypress grows fast–up to 80 feet tall in the wild with a crown 20-30 feet wide, but it takes longer to achieve this height in a typical home landscape. In poor soils it grows slowly indeed. Both species prefer rich, moist, acid, well-drained soil. Taxodium tolerates compacted soils, wind, and some drought. In wet soils the trees develop “knees,” or woody protrusions from the roots that can be a tripping hazard. The trunk, wide and buttressed at the base, appears to soar, narrowing to a small point at the top. Native to the southeastern US, these trees are hardy in Zones 5-10. A bald cypress cultivar, Shawnee Brave (‘Mickelson’), is shorter, skinnier, and hardier (to Zone 4) than the species.

2 Responses to “Taxodium in home landscapes”

1. Bob Scherer says:

   April 4, 2011 at 10:05 am

   In the 1970s when I lived in Queens (New York City – zone 6b) I made the acquaintance of a Bald Cypress tree a block away from my apartment. I could see it from my window. There it was, surrounded by asphalt streets and concrete sidewalks. It is still flourishing along with six more in front of Flushing High School. Despite the heavy automobile traffic with its attendant pollution they are doing well as street trees. They got a good start as part of the sprawling nurseries of Samuel Bowne Parsons, one of America’s great 19th century plantsmen.
   I don’t know about any in southern Maine or New Hampshire. If there are any, I would like to make their acquaintance as well.

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2. Penny O'Sullivan says:

   April 4, 2011 at 10:20 am

   I’ve seen lines of closely spaced dawn redwoods used along a path at Swarthmore College’s arboretum in Pennsylvania and a similar planting along a posh suburban street in Oklahoma City. Gorgeous.

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