Falsecypress Amaize n' Blue™

You are going to have so much fun with this little Falsecypress! Amaize n' Blue™ is a sheer delight, easy to grow, the perfect size for a wide variety of uses, and so, so beautiful. The foliage changes from blue-green when young to rich blue with silvery undersides to deep amber-gold for autumn and winter. There's nothing else in the garden quite like it!

First, let's talk about its size, because that's going to dictate where you want to put it. It's just 1 to 4 feet high and 1 to 3 feet wide. The variance in size has a lot to do with whether or not you put it in a container (it's quite happy there). It makes the perfect foreground planting for the foundation, along the driveway, in the front of the border, or even edging a garden path! And of course it's splendid for accent use, its texture and colors unlike most nearby plants'. So consider a pair of Amaize n' Blues™ in elegant pots at the top of the front steps or flanking the garden entrance, plus a whole line in a formal part of the landscape. They look great year-round, and change color with the seasons -- perfect for prominent placement in your garden!

Now let's look at that texture. It's quite pronounced, not floppy, yet it's soft where you'd expect it to be rigid. This makes Amaize n' Blue™ quite a good choice in heavily trafficked areas, where it may be brushed as people pass. It's a shrub you want to reach out and touch -- and it repays this touch with softness instead of the usual rough "needle" texture!

The colors speak for themselves: rich blue-green in spring mingling with the last of the previous year's gold, then turning pure blue with silvery undersides that glint in the summer sun. At the first seriously cold weather of autumn, amber-gold highlights begin to appear, and one day you'll notice that the entire shrub is blazing golden. It will keep this tone all winter -- and it's hardy to -10 degrees F, so brush off that snow and enjoy it right through the worst February storms!

Amaize n' Blue™ is quite low maintenance, standing up to many stresses once it makes itself at home in your garden or container. A seedling of Falsecypress Ellwood's Gold, it forms a pyramidal shape as it matures. Give it lots of attention the first year, selecting a site with good soil drainage and keeping it well watered and shaded during bouts of unseasonable heat. (If you plant it in autumn, it won't need protection, and should be "established" and growing well by spring.) After that, it's virtually maintenance-free, left alone by deer and attractive year-round. Few other plants in the garden hold up as beautifully as this dwarf conifer.

There are any number of suitable companions to Amaize n' Blue™, such as tall, skinny Ilex Sky Pencil and shade-loving Japanese Yew in the evergreen garden. Elsewhere, consider it facing down evergreen Azalea or hiding the bare legs of Viburnum. It's a great friend to perennials, too! Enjoy this versatile, showstoppingly beautiful little Falsecypress! Zones 6-9.