Weeping bald cypress ‘Cascade Falls’

* Common name: Weeping bald cypress ‘Cascade Falls’

* Botanical name: Taxodium distichum ‘Cascade Falls’

* What it is: A fine-needled, light-green conifer with a dramatic, weeping habit. ‘Cascade Falls’ is a variety that grafts a weeping bald cypress found in New Zealand onto the roots of our native southern bald cypress, creating a compact beauty that’s perfect for anyone looking for something different.

Needles turn a bright rust color in fall before dropping for winter. New needles grow each spring.

* Size: Grows about 12 to 15 feet tall with an 8- to 10-foot spread in 15 to 20 years. Will gradually continue up to 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide unless pruned.

* Where to use: All bald cypress does well in damp to wet soil, so a rain garden would be a perfect spot for ‘Cascade Falls.’ Also can be used at a house corner, can be trained up and over a pergola or similar support, or can be used in a conifer garden or front-yard island bed.

Although damp soil is ideal, bald cypress is versatile enough to grow in any sunny or lightly shaded spot.

* Care: Water deeply once a week in lieu of rain for the first two years to establish, then soak every few weeks in drought conditions. Usually doesn’t need fertilizer, especially if the tree is growing in a lawn that’s being fertilized. Don’t panic when the needles drop in fall… it’s supposed to do that.

* Great partner: Creeping golden St. Johnswort, such as ‘Brigadoon,’ makes a nice shrubby underplanting. Cardinal flower and orange butterfly weed are good perennial-flower partners.