10181 Slow growing Cypress Trees

I think that you are looking for "Cupressus Sempervirens Pyramidalis", check with your local nursery, but you can have a look at:

[url=http://www.botanicgroup.com/product_info.php/language/en/info/p184_Cupressus-sempervirens-Pyramidalis---Italienische-Zypresse.html]Cupressus sempervirens Pyramidalis - Italian Cypress - Pflanzenhandel und Pflanzenversand - Pflanzen bei BotanicGroup[/url]

Cypresses thrive on neglect. The trick is really to plant the trees in a small hole, give them a minimum of water, only in their first year, and never, ever, feed them.

We bought 3 trees, each 2-3 metres high, when we moved into ur house and the [i]vivaiao[/i] came and planted them, digging big holes and putting in lots of fertiliser. The result; the trees are now tall and fat, with some of those dangly branches that you can see on the link above.

A couple of years later I bought some 60cm-high baby cypresses and planted them on a rocky hillside and forgot them. They're now (4 years later) 3 metres tall, pencil-thin and very elegant. I much prefer them and they only cost €8 each, as opposed to €80.

Thks Mark and Gala - I will check out this type when i meet the local gardner next week.

Good advice from Mark but if there are cows where you live, think about their future growth/width, and plant them well out of "munching" reach or you'll lose them.

no cows near to us - just wild Boar!

We fancy an avenue of cyprus trees (are the ones that seem to be having a bad hair day a particular species?) but unlike Ianthy we need something that will pop up out of the ground like magic & grow & grow to create that classic architectural & defining avenue......... yesterday. What variety? Have been told they are shallow rooted & prone to blowing over. Is this a real problem?
Umbrella Pines would be even better but I wont live long enough.
Pilch

Pilch, here you have a good Italian link on cypress trees:

[url=http://www.racine.ra.it/orione39/attivita/ipertesti/alberi/cipresso.htm]cipresso[/url]

It deals mainly with the Italian variety, which is the one I would prefer for your lovely tower. There is a fast growing variety, called the Leyland cypress, an American variety.
Go to your local nursery and try to ask as many questions as you can.

YIKEES!!!! Gala do you really know what you are saying...Leylandii cypress..........a nightmare tree if ever there was one!!! But you live in Spain not in the UK where, in the main, gardeners despise them.

Leylandii are actually quite attractive trees if they're planted as specimens (rather than as a massive boundary hedge to foment a neighbour dispute!). And they're certainly fast-growing. But they're not pencil-thin - they produce a fairly thick column, tapering towards the top, and with a looser growth than the Italian cypress.

Yes,Noble, but they are fast-growing, and this was the main concern.
Personally,I do not like Leylandii... give me the traditional Italian cypress anytime.

And how to Leylandii cope in the drier climes of Italy and Spain? Is it just in soggy old Blighty that a single tree is capable of shading half an acre within two years of planting?

Al

We cannot say that the whole of Italy is dry, take the "Toscana Verde" (mainly Lucca Province) and it is quite wet. Same thing with the North of Spain. In dryer areas the growth may be slower. It all depends on climatic conditions and particularly microclimates which seem to rule what we can and cannot grow. The best thing is to talk to the local nursery person. They should know.

I've just found out in my gardening encyclopaedia I have that the Mediterranean cypress "Cupressus sempervirens" grows about 60 cm annually. Then, the height after 5 years will be some 3m and at maturity it can reach between 9 and 15 m.

[quote=pilchard;94998]We fancy an avenue of cyprus trees (are the ones that seem to be having a bad hair day a particular species?) but unlike Ianthy we need something that will pop up out of the ground like magic & grow & grow to create that classic architectural & defining avenue......... yesterday. What variety? Have been told they are shallow rooted & prone to blowing over. Is this a real problem?
Umbrella Pines would be even better but I wont live long enough.
Pilch[/quote]
we live at 500 metres above sea level,one of the many mistakes i made and since regret was planting an avenue of cypress trees on the embankment.As we get always snow in the winter this damages them considerably and the pruning because of their position is not easy even though after 13 years they are still little more than 3 metres high.The umbrella pine however grew very quickly and was soon over 5 metres until a heavy snowfall ripped it out of the ground as it did also with three cypresses.if where you live is fairly high,distant from the coast and you get regular snow falls in winter i suggest you go for other more robust trees like walnuts for example which although deciduous make a lovely avenue in summer , grow straight and can easily take heavy snow as well as being relatively simple to prune.