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Will the real Weeping Alaskan Cedar please stand up!

eonibm
10 years ago

Hi. I am looking for a cedar that looks like the one in the picture on the left and right (not middle). It is apparently called a Weeping Alaskan Cedar or Weeping Alaskan Yello Cedar and it's botanical name is Chamaecyparis Nootkatensis 'Pendula'. However, when searching online I find such cedars with the same botanical name that look like the picture on the right, left and middle, yet the one in the middle is clearly different. I find the ones on the left and right preferable as I want something very full, wide and with a cascading effect rather than the one in the middle that is more narrow, spindly and pendulous.

Can they both actually have exactly the same name? I don't want to order a small tree and then find out it grows into the one in the middle instead of the right or left one. Does anyone know how to properly refer to it or is it just a subspecies with no identifiable name and you just have to find 'the look'?

Comments (26)

  • whaas_5a
    10 years ago

    The one is the middle is more representative of the cultivar you mentioned above. Very classy specimen.

    I have a Jubilee and Green Arrow.

  • eonibm
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    But, what are the ones on the left and right called?

  • Embothrium
    10 years ago

    More than one clone is grown as 'Pendula'.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    they are conifers .. there is a conifer forum .. i dont care where you post ...

    they are all pendula ....

    you are comparing.. first.. a 10 year old plant.. with a 40 year old plant.. one is obviously more mature than the other ...

    from the middle pic.. you can tell the plant on the right is at least 20 feet too close to the house.. dont you think???

    also ... and most importantly ... you are comparing a single leader plant in the center.. with plants that have multiple leaders hidden inside ...

    bottom line.. if you are intrigued by these.. just buy one.. and enjoy it.. and if in 10 or 20 years.. it fails to make you happy.. get rid of it ...

    how old are you ... and how long will you live in this garden.. to really care what its going to look like in 20 years????

    plant something that makes your toes curl... and get rid of it.. when it makes your feet stink .. OK,.. there is a new twist on that cliche.. lol ...

    its pic season at the conifer forum.. we can name about 1000 plants better than this one... especially if you are mail ordering .... dax... is that whistler guy still in biz in canada ... darren whats his name.. lol ...

    good luck

    ken

  • Sara Malone Zone 9b
    10 years ago

    Also just to confuse things more, the Alaskan cedar is now Cupressus not Chamaecyparis. Too hard for me to see from the photos (lame excuse, I'm lousy at ID anyway) but the ones on the right and the left look more like Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, say.

    I can hear the OP tearing his hair out...

    Sara

  • eonibm
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    ken_adrian - The right and middle trees are about the same age, not 10 and 40 years old. Multiple leaders or no multiple leaders I've seen ones exactly the same height in my area and they are totally different, yet seem to have the same name. It's not the leaders that are making the tree look different. And, with respect to the one I like, no matter what age or how big I see them they always have the same look, so age is irrelevant. As for the tree being too close to the house, that wasn't my question, neither is the issue of how long I'll have the tree. And, yes I'd buy one if I knew what it was called. That was the whole reason for my post! But, since I don't know what it is called I can't (yet).

    formandfoliage - Thanks and yes I am tearing my hair out as no one seems to be able to answer my question and is bringing up irrelevant issues. I think I'll post in the conifer forum, which I didn't know existed.

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    10 years ago

    Your question was answered - :-)) The form of this tree is quite variable and as bboy stated, more than one clone is grown as 'Pendula' and depending on the grower, the habit and form can vary rather widely. Just do a Google image search if you doubt that. I will say that the photo on the far left looks much more like Thuja plicata than it does a nootka cypress but not close enough detail to determine for sure.

    If you like the fuller look, then you need to search out and select one that displays that characteristic. That may preclude mail order unless you know that grower sells stock propagated from a very full plant or you specify that in your order.

    FWIW, the vast majority of these sold are cultivars that emphasize the more narrow growth habit, like 'Jubilee', 'Green Arrow', 'Strict Weeping', 'Van den Akker'.

    And I believe the official name for this tree is now Xanthocyparis nootkatensis, although it has gone through a number of semi-official name changes over the years, including Callitropsis and Cupressus.

  • Sara Malone Zone 9b
    10 years ago

    gardengal I think (but am not positive) that so many people howled when it went to Xanthocyparis that the taxonomy gurus backed off and left it at Cupressus. But of course different people/arboreta/universities follow different conventions. But the ones that I belong to around here switched from Chamaecyparis to Cupressus and are holding firm. For now....

    Sara

  • Sara Malone Zone 9b
    10 years ago

    duplicate post

    This post was edited by formandfoliage on Sun, May 19, 13 at 17:59

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    10 years ago

    fandf - to me it is still Chamaecyparis nootkatensis....and likely to stay that way :-)

    FWIW, I've been in the nursery business for a good many years now and have yet to see a grower label it anything other than chamaecyparis. Some things just don't change very easily.!!

    And although I would be hesitant to state so on the Conifer forum, those guys get a little overly obsessive about that stuff. As long as everyone knows what plant you are referring to, all that taxonomic wrangling and argument is pretty much just for the textbooks.

  • Sara Malone Zone 9b
    10 years ago

    Yeah, exactly! I hang out with a lot of botanical garden people who have to label their collections so it it a bit of a different perspective. Whatever they decide someone will complain! And of course the different arboreta don't always agree either. At some point I just go outside and enjoy the plants!

  • cjmjr
    10 years ago

    I would like to know about the root system of the weeping Alaskan Cedar. The landscaper planted the tree about 3 feet from the house and after 9 years, it is 15 ft. high. I am worried about the root system destroying the concrete slab of the house and the hot water tubes in the slab. I wanted to move it and the nursery said there should be no problem with the tree. I do not believe him. Anyone know about the root system??

  • scotjute Z8
    10 years ago

    There are several fairly large Arizona Cypress close to houses with no apparent damage on-going down here. I never actually stopped to talk to the home-owners, but assumed if it was causing problems they would have had it removed. (these trees used to be cousins, assuming similar root characteristics ran in the family)

  • Sara Malone Zone 9b
    10 years ago

    Cupressus macrocarpa (a different animal, as it were) has the reputation of having 'lazy roots' that don't venture far from the trunk. They blow over all the time, especially when people maintain irrigation too close to the trunk. Not sure if this helps answer your question...maybe someone else with more knowledge can opine about whether C. macrocarpa and C. (or C.) nootkatensis share this characteristic.

  • Boom48439
    9 years ago

    You may already have your answer, but incase you have not, your are looking for "Glauca" (the ones on the left and right). The one in the center is "Glauca Pendulata".
    The real names are Chamaecyparis Nootkatensis Glauca Pendula and Chamaecyparis Nootkatensis Glauca.
    I found this info. at www.russellsnursery.com. Check it out.
    Don't you just hate it when everybody has to chim in and they don't even have the answer to your question? Then bring up stuff you didn't even ask about. Why don't they just keep quiet.
    I love this tree as well, and was looking for one after seeing a beautiful specimen at a new friends house - the "full" variety. The non weeping variety.
    Hope you see this.

  • Embothrium
    9 years ago

    I see nothing in the three photos that I would say was 'Glauca' as usually seen. Stock under the name - which embraces any seedlings that pop up more blue than usual but are not weeping - is usually more dense and fine textured than any of the three examples asked about here.

    The one in the middle is too green to be 'Glauca Pendula'.

  • mikebotann
    9 years ago

    Here is the species I collected in the Cascade Mountains here in Washington State.
    Mike
    {{gwi:364322}}

  • eonibm
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    @Boom48439 - You did not provide a link to the exact tree on that website but I went there and found no trees that look like what I want.

    @mikebotann - Yes that is the tree I am looking for. Too bad I live in Toronto, Canada and nowhere close to Washington State. Did you collect that as a small tree and replant it on your property? You seem to have clipped a lot of the lower branches unfortunately.

    I must say I am still confused as to where I can get this tree in Toronto and what the real name is. I am going to be visiting a bunch of nurseries with the picture soon. There aren't many around here in Toronto but here's a pic of another one I found in Etobicoke, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:364321}}

  • mikebotann
    9 years ago

    It was a seedling growing in a logging road ditch. One of thousands.
    I didn't have room to keep the lower branches unfortunately. Most trees can't be grown as arboretum specimens in the middle of a sweeping lawn in my garden because of space limitations. I also have very little lawn. I can mow it in about 5 minutes. Not bad for ten acres. (2 hectares)
    Mike

  • Eneida Ferreira
    5 years ago

    I am having the same issue (looking for a full weeping cedar, which I plan on placing in the middle of two baby blue spruces). This is an old post, so am wondering if you found what you were looking for and had any luck with it.

  • eonibm
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I did after 4 years of searching. The commercial grower, who do not sell to the public, is http://www.langendoennurseries.com/ and I got mine last year at Terra 11800 Keele St, Maple, ON L6A 1S1, whom they sold them to. You could call the grower and see who they have sold them to this year. The stock sells out fast.

  • PRO
    White Pine Farm LLC
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Good for you, your perseverance paid off! Ha ha! We thought this thread was dead but lucky for us it's still alive! We have been looking for a full one here in SE Michigan for 7 years. We have a six footer that someone gave us as a gift when it was foot tall and it's a "full" beauty, nothing like a pendula which we also have - completely different. Any idea where we could find one in the U.S. and what name you purchased it as? All of the nurseries and landscapers do not know, they just guess. Help! We are in our sixties and cannot wait until we propagate our full one in a mist system.

  • eonibm
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I dug up the tag for the tree, attached. The part you cannot see reads

    Weeping Nootkatensis

    Chamaecyparis nootkatensis 'Select'

    I have also seen this variously referred to as Weeping Alaskan Cedar, Weeping Nootkatensis only, Weeping Nootkatensis with every suffix imaginable and then Weeping Nootkatensis 'Pendula' but the latter 3 are definitely not correct but I believe the first is the correct common name. If you google the latter you will see trees that look totally different from each other. I was specifically looking for the variant that was very full like in the picture below and the ones above. Unfortunately there is no standard to which growers adhere to so the proof is really only in the pudding. I've called growers and they say yes we have it then when I go to look at it it is not what I was looking for.

    I have no clue where you would find it in the USA as I live in Canada. How about you call the nursery I referenced above and ask them if they can ship you one or if they sell to any nurseries in the USA. Also you could call Terra too.

    This is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful evergreens there is.

    I hope this helps you.

  • Eneida Ferreira
    5 years ago

    Thank you for all your help! I will follow your steps. How far into the summer can I still plant it, assuming I can get one this year? I live in Wisconsin.

  • eonibm
    5 years ago

    I have no idea.

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