Other Names:  Japanese Falsecypress, Sawara Falsecypress

Description:

A distinctive and attractive dwarf accent shrub featuring gray-green foliage flecked with creamy white tips in spring; very slow growing; somewhat sensitive to hot summer sun and wind, plant in a sheltered location

Ornamental Features

Filip's Happy Day Falsecypress is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the garden for its ornamental globe-shaped form. It has attractive grayish green evergreen foliage which emerges creamy white in spring. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Filip's Happy Day Falsecypress is a multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a more or less rounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub. When pruning is necessary, it is recommended to only trim back the new growth of the current season, other than to remove any dieback. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Filip's Happy Day Falsecypress is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Hedges/Screening
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Filip's Happy Day Falsecypress will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant will benefit from an application of bonemeal and/or mycorrhizal fertilizer at the time of planting. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for acidic soils. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Filip's Happy Day Falsecypress makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.