Italian Cypress

Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens 'Stricta') is the answer when you need serious height and have almost no width to give. It grows to around 10m tall while holding a column just 1.5m wide, so it screens a two storey neighbour from a bed barely wider than a footpath. Once established it is drought tolerant, wind tolerant and content in poor soil.

Why you'll love it

• Height without width. About 10m tall and 1.5m across. Nothing else gives that ratio in an evergreen, which is why it works in narrow side passages.
• Genuinely tough. Drought, heat and wind tolerant, and untroubled by poor or rocky soil, so it performs where irrigation is limited.
• Fast to useful height. A quick grower once the roots are away, so a screen starts doing its job within a few seasons.
• Formal without the work. The columnar habit is natural, not clipped. A light tidy every year or two keeps it crisp.
• Frost hardy. It takes real southern winters, making it one of the few tall narrow evergreens for cool temperate and inland gardens.

Where it works best

Narrow screening. Plant 1m apart in a single row for a tall green wall. This is the standard fix for an overlooking window when the bed is only a metre deep.

Driveways and avenues. A matched row either side of a drive is the Mediterranean look, and the narrow form keeps car doors clear. Space 2m to 3m apart for separate columns rather than a solid mass.

Windbreaks and features. A row at 1m spacing filters wind on an exposed rural block, and a matched pair either side of an entrance is the most reliable formal statement in garden design.

Growing Italian Cypress in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, always. This is a Mediterranean plant suited to Mediterranean, warm temperate, cool temperate and arid gardens: Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, inland New South Wales and Victoria. It dislikes humid tropical conditions, so choose something else for Darwin and the wet subtropics.

Soil and water. Drainage matters more than fertility. It copes with poor, stony and shallow soils, but wet clay will kill it, so plant on a raised mound on heavy ground. Deep soak weekly through the first summer, then taper right off.

Feeding. A light slow release fertiliser in early spring for the first two or three years. After that it rarely needs feeding.

Pruning. Trim only into green growth. Like most conifers it will not reshoot from bare old wood, so cutting into the brown interior leaves a permanent hole.

What to expect when it arrives

It is supplied in 200mm pots in packs of six, in 500mm pots, and in 45L. The 200mm packs are the value option for a long screen or an avenue, arriving as young columns that establish quickly and catch up faster than most people expect. The 500mm and 45L plants give an immediate line.

Stock travels upright and is delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95 and a minimum order of $300 before delivery. Advanced and large stock is freighted at cost. Expect little visible movement in the first few months while it puts roots down, then steady height each season. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• How to grow and care for conifers
• Compare the full conifer range
• Other hedging and screening options
• Trees suited to lining a driveway

Common questions

How far apart should I plant them?

One metre apart for a solid screen or windbreak. For a formal avenue where each column should read separately, space them 2m to 3m apart.

Can I cut the top off to keep it shorter?

You can, but it blunts the shape and the plant will not repair a heavy cut into old wood. To hold it under 5m, trim the leader lightly each year from an early age.

Will it grow in Brisbane or the tropics?

It dislikes high humidity and is far happier in dry heat. In humid subtropical and tropical gardens it tends to thin and brown off, so a lilly pilly is the better choice there.