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Botanical Name: Cupressus arizonica var. glabra ‘Blue Ice’
Common Name: Arizona Cypress
Origin: Southwestern USA
Location: KN
Notable Feature: This conifer offers exceptional all season color interest in the landscape. When grown in sun it has a fine texture and showy, lacy, silvery grey-blue foliage in dense sprays. Reddish bark adds interest as well.
Habit: Columnar growth habit, more tightly pyramidal in youth. Reaches a mature height of 40 to 50 feet and width of 15 to 20 feet.
Flower: Male and female flowers occur on the same tree (monoecious) in spring. Male flowers appear as small oblong “cones”, quickly dropping off, and the female flowers appear as small, rounded “cones” which mature into the fruiting cones in fall.
Fruit: A small, rounded, brown cone, about 1” in diameter which persists.
Foliage: Evergreen, waxy, scale-like needles are spirally arranged. The glaucous blue-gray needles are flecked with white resin and are soft-textured to the touch. This cultivar, ‘Blue Ice’, was selected for its icy blue foliage color.
Interesting fact: A bonus of this southwestern U.S. native is its drought tolerance and deer resistance.