Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress

Dwarf evergreens are an endless source of pleasure and beauty in the garden, bringing year-round charm and asking almost nothing in return. Yellow or gold is always popular, and no wonder, since it is especially useful in winter to lift the gloom from a sleeping garden. While most gardens seem to be havens for spruce and arborvitae, the Hinoki cypress, also called ‘false cypress’ is a refreshing change, and a most elegant and graceful plant. No wonder it is especially favored by the Japanese, who are universally admired for their good taste. The wild Hinoki is a large tree, and rarely seen in gardens, but it is available in many forms, varying in size, proportions and color. The Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress is notable for its very slender, columnar form, making a tree about 3 feet tall and just a foot wide after 10 years, and likely maturing around 5 feet an just 2 feet wide. Just the thing to fill those awkward spaces that often develop in beds, and a great way to bring a vertical accent anywhere in the garden. Using the Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress in Your Garden Some smaller evergreens are lessons in neatness, with crisp, clean lines, often enhanced by keen gardeners with shears. The Hinoki cypress is certainly neat, but it has a more relaxed elegance, and is best left untrimmed. The Japanese people delight in the beauty of small imperfections, and the more open, fan-like structure of the Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress is exactly that – neat, but not meeting military standards. As a narrow column of gold it makes a perfect accent among the more rounded forms of most shrubs, while its coloring, still strong in winter, brightens the garden and lifts the winter blues from your beds. Use it anywhere you want some year-round color, to brighten and lift the ubiquitous greens of most plants. Place it in the angle of two low walls, or tuck it between larger clipped evergreens around your home. Use it in a rock-garden to bring height, or on a slope. Combine it will other dwarf evergreens for a harmonious arrangement of blues, grays, silvers and golds that will satisfy the eye every day of the year. Use it too in planters, perhaps as a pair flanking a door, or to add color and interest to a small terrace or a city courtyard. Growing the Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress Size and Appearance The Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress is a small evergreen conifer, growing 3 or 4 inches a year, or rarely up to 6 inches. Within 10 years it will be 3 to 4 feet tall, but just a foot wide. Over time it will continue to add those inches, so it will mature around 5 feet tall, but still no more than 2 feet wide. One day it will be even larger, but never take over. Only faintly pyramidal, and almost perfectly columnar, the branches are arranged in layers from the ground to the tip, each one covered in many fan-shaped sprays of neat foliage, giving a distinctive and elegant shell-like look. Unless it is crowded among other plants the foliage will continue to the ground for many, many years. The leaves are short scales, clinging completely to the smaller branches, giving a soft, smooth look. New growth in spring is bright yellow, maturing in summer to a more golden-yellow. The gold coloring is held well into winter, but interior leaves turn more lime-green at that time, giving depth to the coloring without taking it away. This means that although it is not as gold as it will be in spring, it still gives plenty of winter brightness. The foliage and the wood have a pleasant scent, mixing hints of lemon with cedar. A very old tree could produce some rounded cones, but this is rather unlikely, and not a feature of this plant. Hardiness The Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress can be relied on to stay healthy in zone 5, and will grow into zone 8, but not so well in hotter places. It favors areas with good rain, including during summer, and isn’t so happy in arid, hot, and dry regions. Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions You will see the brightest colors on your Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress if you plant it in full sun. It will tolerate a little shade, but too much and it will weaken,, and become more greenish. However, in zones 7 and 8 it is beneficial to provide some shade in the hottest part of the day to prevent scorching. It will grow in almost any well-drained soil, but does prefer acidic or neutral soils, and is not so happy in very alkaline soils. It benefits from richer soil, so be sure to add plenty of rich compost when planting, and use more for mulch – in preference to bark chips, which tend to smother the roots and add no nutrients. Avoid wet areas, but some moisture is valuable, and some summer watering is often needed, especially when young. Maintenance and Pruning This plant isn’t normally bothered by deer, and it doesn’t have any notable pest or disease issues. Overall it is easy to grow, and generally free of problems. Water new plants regularly, especially through the summer of the first couple of years. Avoid trimming, as this will destroy the unique look of the fan-shaped foliage sprays, and reduce the beauty of this plant, which will grow and deepen as the years go by. History and Origin of the Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress The Hinoki Cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa, is often called ‘false cypress’ because it isn’t a true cypress (Cupressus) but has some resemblance to it. by botanists. It is native to Japan, where it forms large forests of trees often exceeding 100 feet in height. It is an important lumber tree, used for palaces, temples, bath tubs and boxes, and favored for the wonderful aroma it has, as well as being rot-resistant and long-lasting. The wild-type tree is rarely seen outside Japan, except in large parks and botanic gardens, but there are a large number of special forms, most of them collected over hundreds of years by Japanese gardeners. Variations in foliage color – the natural color is green – and shape are common, as well as growth-rate and size. Check out our catalog for other varieties of this charming tree. From early introductions in the 19th century European and American nurseries have selected newer varieties, and that would seem to be the origin of the variety called ‘Golden Pillar’, although we have no hard information on where it came from, or when, despite it being popular and fairly widely available. Buying the Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress at the Tree Center The lovely, vigorous and well-grown plants of the Golden Pillar Hinoki Cypress that we have in stock are utterly charming. Well-grown and well-structured, they are all set to bring color and interest to any garden, but especially to yours. Order your tree now, and enjoy this lovely plant for many years to come, as it becomes better and better in your care.