How to Trim a Blue Cypress
The are many cultivars of cypress shrubs with the label "blue" in the name. Among these are "Baby Blue" cypress, "Naylor's Blue" Leyland cypress, and "Blue Moss" cypress. All these refer to the striking, blue-hued, coniferous evergreen foliage that can range from blue-green to dusty gray-blue. All cypress and false cypress shrubs are narrow-leaf evergreens and should therefore be trimmed sparingly and with care, because they do not rejuvenate as easily as broad-leaved evergreens. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Trim your blue cypress shrubs in the late winter or early spring, just before new tender shoots emerge. Light trimming can also be done to shape new growth in very late July or early August, if needed.
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Remove brown needles and dead and broken branches with secateurs first. Cut back to the point of healthy wood and down to a parent branch. If a branch is clearly dead and defoliated down to the trunk, you can remove it, but it will not grow back, so you may have a hole until the surrounding foliage can grow to camouflage it.
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Reduce the spread of errant or outsized branches by trimming back the individual terminal branch tips with sharp secateurs. Cut back the branch to a healthy bud to encourage new branching and fullness.
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Shear the very tips of the branches to create a more tailored and formal appearance. Use long-bladed pruning shears, and follow the natural lines of the shrub. Generally, keep the shrub tapering gently toward the top, so the lower branches receive sun and will not drop their foliage and become permanently bare.
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References
- University of Florida IFAS Extension; x Cupressocyparis leylandii "Naylor's Blue": "Naylor's Blue" Leyland Cypress; Edward F. Gilman, et al.; November 1993
- North Carolina State University; Trees: Cupressus arizonica "Blue Ice"; Erv Evans; 2000
- Washington State University Extension: Baby Blue Cypress
- Cornell University Cooperative Extension; Pruning Evergreens; Fred K. Buscher
- North Carolina State University; Boulevard False Cypress; Blue Moss Cypress; Erv Evans
