Green-thread falsecypress

* Common name: Green-thread falsecypress

* Botanical name: Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera’

* What it is: An oldie-but-goodie evergreen that, despite being easy to grow and interesting with its shaggy habit and soft, narrow, thready needles, is seldom used in home landscapes anymore.

This original green-needled version has been eclipsed by its more compact and gold-needled cousin, the dwarf gold-thread falsecypress (sometimes just called gold-thread cypress). Both versions are heat- and drought-tough and not a favorite of deer.

* Size: Grows in a loose pyramid of about 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide in 15-20 years, although it can be kept smaller by annual shearing or pruning.

* Where to use: Excellent evergreen specimen for a house corner or conifer garden. Green-thread falsecypress also makes a nice, textural border or screening plant, where it can be used singularly with other evergreens or as a tall hedge. Grows best in full sun but also does reasonably well in part shade.

* Care: Keep damp the first season, then water is needed only in extended hot, dry spells.

Scatter an acidifying organic granular fertilizer formulated for evergreens around the base of the plant in March.

Pruning not needed unless it outgrows the allotted space or if you want to keep it smaller. Plants shear well. Best time to prune/shear is spring through early summer.

* Great partner: Ring the front with any red- or gold-blooming perennial, such as black-eyed susans, daylilies, mums, or coreopsis. Golden creeping sedum ‘Angelina’ is a colorful groundcover underneath. Pair with golden daffodils for early-spring color.