Chamaecyparis obtusa / Hinoki cypress "Sekka Miyabi"

[ShimpakuBonsai]

A month ago I posted this topic with a Youtube video of a rare Japanese Cypress.

It should be a cultivar of Sekka Hinoki but it is different from the 'standard" Sekka Hinoki like we know.

On my search for more info about Sekka Hinoki and the possible different cultivars I probably found the cultivar mentioned in the Youtube video.

On the website fromjapan-kt.com I found a Chamaecyparis obtusa / Hinoki cypress "Sekka Miyabi".

Has anybody ever seen this cultivar of Sekka Hinoki?

 

[Forsoothe!]

'Miyabi' probably translates as 'Fatboy'

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

That is a very uncommon cultivar of Hinoki in the USA. Please use this thread to document what you learn about it and its progress as bonsai. It will help any of us who come across this cultivar.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Sekkas are pretty new to this country and I have never heard of that var. I remember asking a local dealer in rare dwarf conifers about them several years ago and he had never heard of them. However over the weekend I scored 10 rooted cuttings at our club sale so they are starting to make inroads. Your var may just be lagging behind a few years getting introduced here. It will be interesting to see what you do with it.

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

Thanks for the replies so far.

It seems that there is not that much info about Sekka Hinoki and it's cultivars (info which I can read as I can't read Japanese).
I've watched about every Youtube video about Sekka Hinoki and I really want to start working on these the coming years.

Last year I bought a few Chirimen (they look are very similar to Sekka) because I couldn't find any "real" Sekka at that moment.
A few months ago I was able to buy a few Sekka cuttings from a bonsai seller in Italy.

It looks like the Miyabi cultivar has a little bit more needle like foliage.
If I find more info about this cultivar I will post it in this topic.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I did a search for the cultivar, and could only find a couple of mentions on Japanese e-commerce sites. I only saw a single other tree (other than the OP's):



It doesn't look (to me) anything like a hinoki cypress. More like a dwarf cryptomeria. I don't see any foliage on either tree that isn't needle. Hinoki cypresses don't have needle growth. Maybe they are referring to Cryptomeria japonica 'Sekkan'? I get a little suspicious when the only mention I can find of a 'rare' cultivar is on e-commerce sites... and you don't find it at a single nursery.

A month ago I posted this topic with a Youtube video of a rare Japanese Cypress.

In your video did they call the tree a "Japanese cypress"? (ie cryptomeria?) Or did they call it a Hinoki cypress?

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

The video popped up searching for Sekka Hinoki and in the first few seconds of the video you see a Sekka Hinoki.
But after those few seconds you see another tree and that is probably a (rare) Japanese cypress and not a Sekka Hinoki.
I can't read the Japanese title and text of the video and that's why I asked about this tree on this forum (in my first topic about the video).

The growing habits look a bit like Sekka Hinoki does but the needle like voilage is completly different

I watched the video again and there are some English subtitles during the video and it says:
"I bought this Japanes Cypress at the Syuga exhibition last week"

So I think you are right about this species, it looks more like some kind of Cryptomeria than it looks like some kind of Hinoki.

But nevertheless why would a Cryptomeria variety be called Sekka Hinoki Miyabi on an e-commerce site?

 

[Forsoothe!]

I have a couple of these. One is very small, maybe 6" and looks like it's growing, but only barely and I've had it for I'm guessing 5 years. I bought it at a Hosta growers conclave. The other one is in my landscape for maybe 3 years. It was a foot then and now is maybe 24" tall. I put it in the yard as an oddity, or actually a regret that I paid for it and it doesn't have any chance of becoming something because it has all the bad habits of Chamaecyparis and none of the good (whatever that is). I think I Thought I'd give it a chance to grow so I could do something with it. Alas and alack...


It may not be the dumbest thing I've ever bought, but must be a close second.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I have a couple of these. One is very small, maybe 6" and looks like it's growing, but only barely and I've had it for I'm guessing 5 years. I bought it at a Hosta growers conclave. The other one is in my landscape for maybe 3 years. It was a foot then and now is maybe 24" tall. I put it in the yard as an oddity, or actually a regret that I paid for it and it doesn't have any chance of becoming something because it has all the bad habits of Chamaecyparis and none of the good (whatever that is). I think I Thought I'd give it a chance to grow so I could do something with it. Alas and alack...

Can you post a closeup of the foliage? Your tree and the OP's do not look the same(?)

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

The tree in the picture of Forsoothe! looks like a regular Sekka Hinoki to me.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

But nevertheless why would a Cryptomeria variety be called Sekka Hinoki Miyabi on an e-commerce site?

I have seen tons of mistakes in labeling over the years - particularly if foreign languages and translations are involved. It would be an easy enough thing for someone to confuse "Japanese cypress" with "Hinoki cypress from Japan".

Check out this video of Bjorn working on a Sekka Hinoki. The tree he is working on, and the original tree in this post, have nothing in common.

 

[Forsoothe!]

 

[Forsoothe!]

I watched but didn't listen to the video. I wonder how many years it will be until we have have stock like that available here?

 

[Forsoothe!]

Actually, my other one is probably an Elm. Close, but no cigar?

 

[Fidur]

Too much obtusa cultivars, and difficult to identify, but I think yours is the "draht" cultivar. Look at this photos of mine Click click

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Hinoki False Cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa - has a juvenile form of foliage, that we seldom see, because normally seedlings revert to adult foliage fairly rapidly, within a couple years of sprouting from seed. The juvenile foliage does look like the photos in post #1, the OP's photos. By the way, juvenile foliage of Hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa) does look a lot like the foliage of a Cryptomeria and or a soft version of needle juniper foliage. It is often quite difficult to tell seedlings of Chamaecyparis, Cryptomeria and Juniper apart. As young seedlings they all look alike.

There are a small handful of Hinoki cultivars that retain juvenile foliage, for example Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Ericoides' aand C. obtusa 'Chabo Yoderi'

attached is a photo of foliage of 'Chabo Yoderi'

 

[WNC Bonsai]

I watched but didn't listen to the video. I wonder how many years it will be until we have have stock like that available here?

You should have listened. He got it from Brussel’s so they are readily available now from them, and he said that it is a fast grower. I hope so as I now have 11 rooted cuttings to play with. I love Hinoki and find them easy to grow. I have 2 in pots and at least a dozen in the yard. Bjorn’s video is full of tips on pruning and developing them.

 

[Lutonian]

Sekka hinoki and sekka hinoki next to gracilis nana hinoki

 

[Lutonian]

cryptomeria japonica compressa and cryptomeria japonica compressa next to seed grown cryptomeria japonica

 

[Forsoothe!]

Stumbling around today I found some goodies...

I might even get stupider. I'm kinda thinking of making a miniature forest made with a few more T.o. P Expensive, but then it's late in my career and this may be my only possibility for one. The BB will be a loner shohin.