Native Plants

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Sunday - October 26, 2008

From: Branford, CT
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Planting, Watering, Shrubs
Title: Repotting of lemon cypress for drainage
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Hi, I bought a lemon cypress tree in a nice tin, It is in Plastic and the bottom has about 1.5" of water with no drainage in the plastic or tin. It will be kept inside. Does the plant need to be in a conventional planter with a hole on the bottom for drainage, or does this plant have water on the bottom that stays? Should I replant it? and is plant soil from the bag OK to use alone or with other mixture? Hope this question makes sense.

ANSWER:

Because we're really lazy, allow us to quote from an earlier answer on lemon cypress:

"The Lemon Cypress is a cultivar called Goldcrest, or Golden Crest, of Cupressus macrocarpa (Monterey cypress). You can read more about the tree from Plants for a Future, Floridata.com and from the Florida Cooperative Extension Service. Here are some intructions for outdoor care from ShootGardening and you can find care instructions for indoor Cupressus macrocarpa at indoor-plant-care.com and from the TopiaryShop. It is a native of California and tremendously susceptible to a canker that kills the tree, especially if it is planted away from cool, coastal breezes."

From the Plants for a Future website, above, we finally found the hardiness zone for this tree. It is only hardy to Zone 8, so it's doubtful it would have a chance outside in Zone 6a, where Branford is located, so it's good you're planning to keep it inside.

Now, that we've covered that, go quick, quick, and get those lemon cypress roots out of that water. Yes, it needs drainage, yes, it needs to go into another pot, and yes, plant soil from a bag is fine. Some of the websites mentioned above have more specific plant and watering needs. What it does NOT need is for its roots to drown.

Pictures of lemon cypress in pots.