Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' / Thread-leaf Sawara cypress

Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera,' the ubiquitous Thread-leaf Sawara cypress has been a mainstay of garden centers and home-improvement centers for decades. It is distinctive with with upright, conical structure and pendulous, thread-like, gray-green foliage. After 10 years of growth, a mature specimen will measure 4.5 - 6 feet (1.5 - 2 m) tall with older specimens known to grow to 15 feet (5 m) tall or more. Annual expected growth rate is 6 to 8 inches (15 - 20 cm).

This cultivar originated long ago in Japan. Renowned collector, Robert Fortune imported the first plants and introduced them to western gardens in the 1860s via the Royal Nursery, United Kingdom.

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Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' — a young plant in a garden setting.
Photo by Rich's Foxwillow Pines Nursery, Inc
Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' — Thread-branch cypress has long, thin, thread-like foliage and an irregular, mounding habit. It will become a small tree with time; a useful garden accent.
Photo by Iseli Nursery, Inc.
Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' in The Gotelli Collection at the U.S. National Arboretum, Washington, D.C., May 2006.
Photo by Dax Herbst
Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' Green Industry Images — Copyrighted Photograph.
Photo by Ernie Wiegand
Photo taken in my garden September 2013; Eleven years old and about eight feet tall.
Photo by Don Levesque
Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' at Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, Boothbay, Maine, 2013. When it gets full sun, as here, the tree shows its best.
Photo by Sean Callahan
Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' — a closeup of foliage detail, at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, Boothbay, Maine, 2013
Photo by Sean Callahan

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