Swanes Golden Pencil Pine

Swanes Golden Pencil Pine (Cupressus sempervirens 'Swane's Gold') is the answer when you need height in a space with no width. It grows to about 6m tall and stays under 1m across, holding a strictly columnar shape with golden yellow new growth over green interior foliage. It needs no clipping to keep that form.

Why you'll love it

• Tall and genuinely narrow. About 6m tall and under 1m wide, so it fits a 1m strip beside a fence, a path or a driveway.
• Gold that holds all year. The golden tips keep their colour through the seasons, brightest on new growth in spring.
• The shape looks after itself. Naturally columnar, so it holds its form without shearing.
• Tough in exposed positions. Frost hardy, drought tolerant, heat tolerant and wind tolerant once established, and one of the few plants this tall that lives for years in a large pot.

Where it works best

Narrow screening. Plant 1m apart for a columnar screen. The plants touch without merging, giving a ribbed green and gold wall that takes up almost no ground.

Driveways and formal avenues. A repeated row gives a formal Mediterranean look. For a looser avenue, stretch the spacing to 2m so each column reads separately.

Pots and small gardens. A pot 500mm or wider suits it, and a matched pair flanking a doorway is a classic use. Potted plants settle nearer 3m to 4m than 6m.

Growing Swanes Golden Pencil Pine in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, which is what keeps the gold strong. In shade the colour dulls to green and the column loosens. It suits warm temperate, cool temperate, Mediterranean and arid gardens, and it is frost hardy, so cold inland and southern districts are fine. It is not suited to humid tropical gardens.

Soil. Free draining above all else. It tolerates poor, rocky and alkaline soils, but wet feet cause root rot and browning from the base up. On clay, plant on a raised mound with gravel through the bed.

Water and feed. Water deeply once or twice a week through the first two summers, after which it is drought tolerant. Avoid frequent shallow watering. A slow release fertiliser in early spring keeps the new growth golden.

Pruning. Almost none is required. Trim only the outer tips to tidy the outline, and never cut into bare inner wood, because conifers of this type do not reshoot from old brown growth.

What to expect when it arrives

Four sizes are grown: 200mm in packs of six, 250mm in packs of three, single 300mm pots, and a 400mm currently on backorder. The packs suit a run along a fence or a driveway, and arrive already columnar, usually knee to waist height. The 300mm and 400mm sizes give more immediate height for a feature position or a large pot.

Conifers are packed upright to protect the foliage, and some flattening of the column in transit is normal. It fills back out within a few weeks. Growth is steady rather than rapid, roughly 30 to 40cm a year. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, under our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Pencil pine characteristics and care
• Browse the conifer range
• Tall and narrow screening plants
• Plants for small gardens

Common questions

How wide does it actually get?

Under a metre across at maturity. This is a strictly columnar form, so it does not broaden with age the way a standard cypress does.

How far apart for a screen?

One metre apart. That gives a continuous columnar screen, though it will always read as a ribbed line of separate columns rather than a flat clipped hedge face.

Why has it gone brown at the base?

Nearly always wet feet or poor drainage. Brown inner growth will not reshoot, so the answer is prevention: raise the planting position and water deeply but infrequently.

Can it live in a pot long term?

Yes, in a pot 500mm or wider with free draining mix. It settles around 3m to 4m rather than 6m, and needs root pruning every three to four years.