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Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Wisselii’

March

I never thought I should choose a Lawson cypress as a Tree of the Month. The bog-standard Lawson is the most dismal of conifers, drooping dejectedly with a grey complexion and eventually occupying too much of the horizon of far too many old-fashioned gardens. At best it is the climbing-frame for a wisteria, but the abject droop of its flat grey fronds can’t be disguised.

And then there is its perky sport, ‘Wisselii’. There was little action among the trees as April began, besides the winter-flowering cherries and a general buzz of catkins. Then the sun lit up the improbably red ‘flowers’ of this oddly angular cypress. Its jutting branches form bright red platforms as its male strobili (flowers to you and me, but a botanist might hear) open.

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