Cypress, Bald

Taxodium distichum

Height: 50-70ft
Spread: 20-45ft
Zone: 4-9
Exposure: Full sun
Growth Rate: Moderate
Bloom Time/Color: N/A
Fall Color: Pink/brown
Uses: Specimen, rain gardens, ponds
Maintenance: Low
Tree Shape: Pyramidal
Other: Native, attractive bark, deer resistant

Bald cypress is a U.S. native that is often found in low-lying, swampy, wet areas. The trees do best in acidic, water-retentive soils in full sun, but are less picky about site conditions (even tolerating some drought, pollution, and alkalinity) provided the moisture is there. Bald cypress are characterized by their flaky, furrowed cinnamon colored bark and soft fan-like array of bright green needles. Even though they are considered a conifer, their needles will change to a brownish-pink color in autumn and abscise like their deciduous cousins. The broad, pyramidal branching and bark make great texture in the winter landscape and even sometimes carry globular purple-brown cones as well. Bald cypress are also relatively disease and insect free and as such are long lived trees in the landscape. Deer resistant.