Italian Cypress Trees

Question from Kate:

Do you know where I can purchase Italian Cypress Trees in the Pasadena area? Also, I see these trees and some seem smooth and others seem a bit rougher – does this have to do with age or are there different varieties?

Answer from Pat:

I was recently faced with the same problem you have: I needed 2 Italian cypress trees for flanking my granddaughter’s front picture window in the garden of their Hollywood home. I had a terrible time finding them. It turns out that Cupresses sempervirens ‘Glauca’ was a patented variety belonging to Monrovia Nurseries. The patent ran out and Monrovia stopped growing them. Meanwhile it seems no one else is growing them so I don’t know why Monrovia stopped.

You are exactly correct about the shape. There is now a much smoother-looking variety. It looks clipped and it’s also a Monrovia Nursery variety. It’s a compact variety called C. sempervirens ‘Monshel’ (also sold as’Tiny Tower’ or ‘Compacta’). One can find large boxed specimens but these are very expensive. There is also a gold variety called ‘Swaine’s Gold’.

After a hunt I was not able to find the regular dark green C.s. ‘Stricta’ (sometimes called ‘Fastigiata’ that I wanted in the beginning, nor was I able to find C.s. ‘Glauca’ anywhere. So I went to Rogers Gardens in Costa Mesa and bought two 5-gallon size C. s. ‘Compacta’ grown by Monrovia. I took these to Hollywood and planted them flanking the window. We all like the smooth, clipped look of the foliage and we hope they will grow faster than we were originally led to believe.

Some sources say ‘Monshel’ is very slow growing but the folks at Rogers said it’s not really as slow-growing as most folks think. Also Sunset Western Garden Book claims it never grows larger than 8 feet but other sources say there is no such thing as a dwarf cypress and that once it reaches 8-feet in height it will continue growing but simply grow more slowly.

Armstrong Garden Centers can order the trees you want. Also phone Bellefontaine (626-796-0747.) See if they can find what you want.