Cryptomeria

Cryptomeria 'Yoshino' at Scott Arboretum, Swarthmore.

* Common name: Cryptomeria ‘Yoshino’ or ‘Kityama’

* Botanical name: Cryptomeria japonica

* What it is: Tall, upright and narrow soft-needled evergreens with slender needles of light green.

* Size: 20 feet tall, 10 feet wide in about 15 years.

* Where to use: Nice enough as a specimen at a low house corner or in a border or front-yard planting, but also can be lined up as a screen planting instead of arborvitae. Full sun to light shade.

* Care: Improve soil with compost before planting and keep soil consistently damp (never soggy) for first full year. An annual spring scattering of Holly-tone or similar acidifying organic fertilizer is helpful. Pruning not needed if you give it proper space.

* Great partner: Front with black-eyed susans or red daylilies and for spring color, golden daffodils.

Closeup of soft, light-green cryptomeria 'Yoshino' needles.