Japanese cryptomeria is also known as Japanese cedar. It is native to Japan and China.

This resembles a fir. It was introduced to America in 1861. Cryptomerias are rather long lived trees with the average life span being 300 to 700 years.

In Japan, this is widely grown in temple gardens and for ornamental avenue. The bark is preferred for roof shingles.

In the wild in Japan, this can reach 150 feet in height or more. These are remarkable, stately, graceful trees. When cultivated in America, it is typically fifty to sixty feet tall with a spread of twenty to thirty feet.

Within fifty years, it can reach fifty feet in height, However, if given good growing conditions this can eventually reach a hundred feet in height. Japanese cryptomeria tends to be slightly smaller in the lower Midwest.

The conical to pyramidal plant has a stout trunk. The young tree is dense and symmetrical. The wide spreading branches are whip-like.

The trunk is covered with branches all the way to the ground. As the tree ages, it can lose some of the older branches. These branches have lots of branchlets, which can spread and droop as they get older.

The brownish-red bark tends to peel in strips. The small evergreen awl-like needles are wedge-like to dagger-like. These are angled and twisted or curled inwards like an animal’s tail.

These form spirals and are blue-green to vivid green. The small, evergreen needles are ¼ to ¾ inch long.

These needles can last for four to five years. In some cold windy locations, the needles tend to turn bronze during the winter. At the beginning of the growing season, the new needles will be slightly smaller than the ones that emerge later in the season.

The deep brown cones are terminal and mature in the fall. These are globose and ¾ to an inch long.

These contain about five seeds. This tree doesn’t bear a good crop of cones every year.

Growing Cryptomeria

Easy to grow, Japanese cedar prefers full sun. It is a good choice for seaside gardens as this is tolerant of salt. This plant loves high humidity and abhors summer heat.

The plant prefers a light, moist, deep, rich permeable, acid soil. This definitely needs watering during dry periods and drought. It needs protection from the wind.

Japanese cryptomeria has few pest or disease problems other than occasional cases of leaf spot and leaf blight. This is recommended for zones five through eight. It is hardy to Boston, Massachusetts.

The plant can be propagated from cuttings and seed. Those grown from seed can vary slightly. This is relatively fast growing with the exception being the lower Midwest.

This plant makes a good screen and is ideal for mixed borders and perennial borders.

When planted in groups, this can create beautiful groves. Specimen plants can be used for avenues. The varieties are sometimes preferred because these tend to be more compact than the species.

Five or so varieties of this plant are available. Lobbi cryptomeria is usually somewhat smaller than the species, around fifty to sixty feet in height.

Elegans cryptomeria is compact. It can reach fifteen to twenty feet in height. This is a bushy, densely branched plant. With a growth rate that is faster than that of the species, this tends to be somewhat shorter lived than the species.

Sometimes called plume cryptomeria, it has longer needles that give the plant a soft textured look.

Elegans Nova differs by being smaller and compact. With a flat top, it is very slow growing.

Compacta cryptomeria is forty to forty-five feet in height. The conical plant features blue-green needles.

Globosa cryptomeria is quite dwarf, only three feet or so in height but much wider than tall.