Taxodium

Taxodiaceae
Deciduous, Evergreen, Trees

Very tough, tolerant conifersof great size, with shaggy,cinnamon-colored bark andgraceful sprays of short, narrow,flat, needlelike leaves. Small,roundish cones.

Taxodium distichum

From southeasternU.S. Can grow into 100-ft.-tall, broad-topped tree in thewild, but young and middle-agedgarden trees are pyramidal to50–70 ft. tall, 20–30 ft. wide.Feathery, delicate foliage sprayswith narrow leaves in a pale,delicate, yellow-tinged green.Foliage turns orange-tonedbrown before dropping. Interestingwinter silhouette. Takes any soil except strongly alkaline.Tolerates extremely wet conditions(even grows in swamps)but also takes rather dry soil.Trunk is buttressed near thebase. When growing in waterloggedsoil, develops knobbygrowths called knees. No particularpests or diseases bother it.Requires only corrective pruningto remove dead wood andunwanted branches. Outstandingtree for stream bank oredge of lake or pond. ‘CascadeFalls’ is a weeping form; growsquickly to 20 ft. tall and wide.‘Shawnee Brave’ grows into anarrow pyramid just 15–20 ft.wide. ‘Green Whisper’ has verysoft-textured, bright green foliage.‘Peve Minaret’ is a dwarfto 5 ft. tall forming a compactspire with tiered branches.