Elwoodi cypress has gained wide popularity among gardeners. It is used in landscape design for decorating private backyard territories and is grown at home. Introduced to Europe in the 19th century. Got the name from the surname of the English breeder.
Elwoodi cypress
Brief information about the variety
- Needle color: depends on the variety, it can be yellow, green, and gray-blue.
- Height: cultivated garden species - up to 3 m, when cultivated at home - no more than 1.5 m.
- Crown width: up to 0.6-1.2 m.
- Rgrowing regions: mainly in the south. As an indoor flower it can grow in the North.
- Landing features: choose sunny areas with acidified soils.
- Immunity: With proper prevention and proper care, resistance to diseases and pests is observed.
- Life span: under natural conditions - 500-600 years, with artificial breeding - up to 50 years.
Description of the plant
Elwoodi's ephedra is an evergreen garden variety of Lawson's cypress from the subclass of coniferous gymnosperms. Individual specimens of the generic tree grow up to 70 m in length with a trunk 5 m in diameter.
The crown is formed by flexible branches growing strictly upward, forming a cone in shape. Base size up to 1 m.
The color of uniformly colored needles is found in shades of green, gray and dove-blue, sometimes with a metallic sheen.
The foliage is acicular in structure, scaly, after a while it is collected in a rhomboid-shaped leaf plate with a blunt tip.
Varieties
To date, decorative varieties of the Elwoodi cypress have been bred, which for 9-10 years of growth gain a height of up to 1.5 m, and by the age of 30 - no more than 3 m.
Empire
It differs from the original characteristic by a more compactly folded crown with pressed needles. It is formed from short branches growing upward. Green needles have a blue tint.
Gold
The height reaches no more than 2.5 m. It is distinguished by golden needles, which are bright contrasting at the initial stages of growth, and fade over time.
When planting in the shade and violating the rules of care, it loses its characteristic yellow tint.
White
The height of the smallest decorative variety is no more than 1.0 m with a crown width of up to 0.8 m.
The plant is often kept as an indoor flower. The compactly folded crown is formed by erect dense shoots, but slightly less often than in the Empire species.
The color of the needles is gray-green, the ends are cream.
White grows well in a sunlit place, it is allowed to plant it in partial shade. In complete darkening, the cypress loses its variegation.
Pilar
By the age of 20, the Elwoodi Pilar variety grows up to 1.5 m in height. It has a narrow crown of straight shoots. The color of the needles in adult cypress trees is blue-green, in young ones - with a blue tint.
Geography of distribution
Shrub grows poorly in northern latitudes
Coniferous crops began to be grown in the subtropical latitudes of North America, on the island of Taiwan and in Japanese and Chinese gardens.
Later, Lawson's cypress took root in the warm regions of the Black Sea coast and in southern Ukraine.
It grows poorly in the harsh northern climate. Subject to the basic rules of agricultural technology, cultivation is possible in the Moscow region and the Leningrad region.
Landing technology
For a positive result, it is important to pick up a healthy seedling, transplant it to a suitable place and take proper care of it in the future.
Sapling selection
It is better to buy seedlings in nurseries. Already adapted to artificial growing conditions, they take root better.
Preference should be given to plants with a closed root system, stored in peat containers, where they do not dry out.
The price of grown conifers significantly exceeds the cost of small shoots, which in most cases are not able to adapt to a new place.
When buying, you should also pay attention to the turgor and condition of the coniferous plates.
Site preparation
Cypress Elwoodi grows poorly in areas where there is a low relief with stagnant air masses and the flow of groundwater, precipitation runoff.
A well-ventilated area with adequate drainage is best.
It is preferable to create circular lighting for the plant, but direct sunlight is not desirable. The most suitable place in the open air is west or east under diffused shadow near standing tall trees.
When grown as an indoor flower, you should avoid places near heating appliances.
It is better to put the pot on a windowsill in the western or eastern part of the room in winter, and move it to the north in spring.
- In an excessively shaded place, it will begin to stretch upward, losing its characteristic cone-shaped shape and contrasting color.
- When placed on the sunny side under bright rays, the coniferous green of the cypress will burn and begin to turn yellow.
The required duration of daylight hours is 6 hours. The need increases as the plant develops and matures.
The most in need of illumination are the varieties Gold and White.
Elwoodi grows well on light acidified loamy or sandy loam soils with a pH of 4.5-5.5.
The soil mixture is prepared from turf, leafy soil and river sand, mixed in proportions of 3: 1: 1.
When grown in a garden, a planting pit is organized in the fall, adding peat and humus, taken in equal parts, to the substrate.
For planting at home, mineral fertilizers are added.
Landing
The tree must be protected from direct sunlight
Seedlings are planted after the end of the frost, when the air warms up to 20 ° C.
In the planting pit, the depth and width of which should be 2 times the diameter of the root system, drainage is made from expanded clay, broken brick or crushed stone. Layer thickness - from 0.2 m. 2 weeks before planting, it is filled with water.
Pre-soaking in a rooting stimulator helps to shorten the adaptation period.
The seedling is placed in the center of the hole, freed from the cover that covers the lower part, and covered with soil mixture.
The root collar of the ephedra is not buried and do not fall asleep.
After planting, the plant is watered abundantly and for a while they create a shadow for it.
Care rules
Elwoodi cypress is looked after according to certain rules.
The pot is placed on the windowsill, near the open window. The optimal temperature regime in winter is 10 ° C - 15 ° C, in summer - up to 20 ° C.
The crown is periodically sprayed with water.
When cultivated in the open air, a shade protection is created with a covering material. The plant does not like transplanting.
Watering
For normal growth of coniferous crops, moderate watering is required, without drying out the land or excessive waterlogging of the soil.
In the hot summer season, spraying on needles is additionally arranged. It is preferable to water with previously settled boiled water.
Some gardeners lay ice cubes around the trunk. They moisturize the soil evenly and nourish the roots.
When growing an ephedra in the open air, it is watered 1-2 per week. Sprinkler irrigation is additionally carried out. Water consumption rate - 10 liters per 1 plant.
Sprinkling not only provides moisture, but also acts as a preventive measure against pests, thoroughly washing them out of the inner layers of the crown.
The need for watering is determined by the ambient temperature. In the absence of moisture, young plants quickly die from drying out. Adult conifers are resistant to drought, but with irregular watering, their needles begin to turn yellow.
Top dressing
Often the procedure is not recommended. It is enough to add a mineral complex intended for conifers once a season, for example, Kemir.
Additionally, foliar top dressing is done, spraying every 14 days, from May to August, with solutions of fertilizers, chelates and epin.
To maintain the contrasting color of the needles, magnesium sulfate is added to the mixture at the rate of 1 tsp. 10 liters.
In preparation for winter, moisture is charged and fertilizers are applied, which contain potassium and phosphorus.
Mulching and loosening
The cypress does not require crown formation
Mulch creates a protective layer to retain moisture. The trunk circle is usually mulched with peat, tree bark or needles.
Loosening of the space near the trunk is extremely rare, because roots located on the surface can be easily damaged.
Crown formation
The cypress is cut only for sanitary purposes, because crown formation is not required.
After winter, the frozen and dried parts are removed.
For sanitary purposes, the ephedra is pruned several times per season.
Internal branches, which do not receive sunlight, are removed, as a result of which they dry out and become a favorable environment for the dispersal of spider mites.
Slices are treated with garden pitch or copper sulfate to prevent the penetration of fungus.
The specimen is subject to formation, in which several tops differing from each other in height have formed.
To give the necessary shape, the plant is slightly pulled together in the fall with the help of a wire wrapped at several levels along the length of growth.
Simultaneously with a sanitary haircut, dried needles are cleaned, which acquires a yellow-brown color, violating the aesthetic appearance.
More often not the entire leaf plate dries up, therefore the branch is not completely cut off, but the dry part is removed manually or with a garden pruner.
Winter protection
Ephedra can survive freezing without shelter if the air temperature does not drop below -20 ° C and there are no strong winds.
Protection is especially needed for young cypress trees (up to 3 years old), the weakened root system of which freezes in the cold, and after that it is no longer possible to save it.
Winter hardiness of adult specimens is better.
The plants are wrapped in a heat-insulating cloth, the trunk circle is covered with snow and covered with spruce branches. The seedlings are opened in spring when the air heats up from 10 ° C and above.
Lutrastil, spandbond, white agrofibre that reflects the sun's rays are suitable as a covering material.
How to propagate Elwoody
Lawson's cypress is propagated by seeds, cuttings and layering. Wherein:
- before sowing, the seeds must be stratified in the cold;
- Layers are taken in the spring from the branches of the lower tier, attaching them with hairpins to the ground and sprinkling them on top with a layer of earth, cut off the rooted shoot and transplanted to a permanent place in the fall;
- cuttings are harvested in spring from shoots cut into pieces, their rooting is faster in well-moistened light soils, transplanting is carried out in the next season.
Disease and pest resistance
Good care will keep your plants healthy
The cypress species is quite resistant to diseases and pests, however, non-compliance with primary preventive measures and improper care can lead to the appearance of parasitic insects and plant diseases.
Pests
More often, the cypress family is susceptible to attack by scale insects and spider mites. Treatment with insecticidal preparations, for example, Aktara, Aktellik, Karbofos and the like, helps to cure the affected ephedra.
Diseases
With excessive watering, root rot appears. With a lack of moisture and dryness of the soil and air, cypress needles begin to turn yellow, dry and crumble.
Basic preventive measures:
- dosed watering for potted conifers;
- spraying;
- creating shade in a hot season.
Practical use
Cypress is popular with gardeners in the southern regions, where climatic conditions allow them to decorate winter gardens, parks, and personal plots.
Often, ephedra is used in landscape design as part of the decor for the formation of alpine hills. Residents of northern areas grow it at home, in pots.
Compact Elwoody is combined with other crops, used as a hedge or as a single focal plant.
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Gardeners reviews
Gardeners loved the Elwoodi cypress for its original look. Ephedra grows well in the southern regions outdoors.
Many successfully use it in the landscape design of garden plots and grow at home as a decorative indoor flower. Often planted in summer cottages, in a composition with juniper.