Russian Cypress Experiment: 2023 to Now

[Trigobontree]

I’m great at taking photos, not so great at making posts. So I’m retroactively starting this progression thread for my Russian Cypress. I’m going to start the thread with 2 posts - photos/lessons learned from before and then another post with photos taken today.

I got this guy in 2023 as a nursery bush and started hacking away. I didn’t touch the roots much, just worked down from the top a bit to uncover the trunk. I knew I wanted it to be a cascade/semi cascade but learned very quickly that this species can NOT be wired easily during the growing season. The branches split/pull off like butter. Save major wiring for when it’s dormant -which you can tell by the purple foliage.

 

[Trigobontree]

I decided to work the roots this year, opened up the canopy to start developing pads, and potted her into a funky shiny thrifted thing. She’s very hardy, but doesn’t back bud so I’ve been trying to chase back the foliage to get it more compact.

 

[NMbonsai]

What exactly is a "Russian Cypress"? Do you know the scientific name? The foliage looks kind of like a juniper; combined with the fact that it turns purple in the winter, which is something that many junipers do.

 

[Trigobontree]

What exactly is a "Russian Cypress"? Do you know the scientific name? The foliage looks kind of like a juniper; combined with the fact that it turns purple in the winter, which is something that many junipers do.

Microbiota decussata. It does look a little junipery, but it’s definitely a cypress. The foliage used to be a lot longer/more feathery, but I’ve been chasing it back to try and get it more compact. It’s been a fun species to experiment with.

 

[NMbonsai]

Thank you! I have never heard of this genus. I just went to Wikipedia and learned all about it. Judging from it's place of origin, it should survive your winters just fine. It looks like you are off to a great start. Hopefully, it will ramify using the pinching /nipping back method applied to junipers.