11/15/08
10/16/10
6/24/11
11/24/12
7/11/13
7/29/15
8/27/16
2/11/17
6/16/18
There are literally hundreds of cultivars of this tree, the Hinoki false cypress, but this is the original species from which all the others come. It’s supposed to be a slow growing tree, but in looking at these pictures it seems to me it’s grown moderately fast. Not like the ones that grow 3′ a year of course, but well over a foot, maybe a foot and 1/2 per year. That’s not bad. It’s one of the first trees I planted in this garden, before I actually moved in to live with Louie. I’m very pleased with how it’s grown. It’s almost up to the roof line now, and it’s going to get bigger.
Projections for heights of this tree are difficult to ascertain because there are so many different opinions, but it probably will get to around 40′ tall and 15-20 feet wide here in our garden, in 20 or 25 more years that is. The ones in the wild grow well over 100′ tall, with a trunk of over 3′ in diameter. It has beautiful reddish brown bark that you can see in the next to last of these photos. Its specific name is “obtusa” because the ends of the scale like leaves are blunt tipped (obtuse) which you can easily see when you look closely at them, especially on some of the cultivars.
It’s called the Fire Tree in Japan, where it’s native. Its lemony scented, light brown wood is used to build temples, palaces, shrines and even table tennis blades! It, along with Sugi (Cryptomeria), is a major cause of hay fever in Japan. It’s routinely planted in parks and gardens there and elsewhere in temperate climates, including the US and Europe, though the cultivars are planted far more often than this species tree. In fact I’ve seen very few of this one, tho I’ve seen dozens of the cultivars and have several here in our garden. The cultivars, and even the species tree, are often chosen for Bonsai, and some beautiful specimens exist that are hundreds of years old. I’m very fond of all of them that I’ve seen.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a bit about the tree that all the little ones come from,
Steve
Gardening in Greenwood 