Serbian Spruce are very nice Spruce trees.

Lemon Twist False Cypress are rather weird, might be more interesting than the typical yellow threadleaf.

Those would be unusual for my Lowe's and Home Depot. I did see the Pinus Parviflora at HD last year and the Vanderwolf at Menards this year. I do love the Pinus Parvs. I would take that over the standard white pine.

Out of the three you mentioned, I would only go with the the Spruce. And that's only if you are looking for an evergreen that eventually gets large. The other two don't excite me much. The Cypress is an unusual cultivar, but it is so similiar to all the other yellow cypress'.

Not sure how well the Chamaecyparis will do for you, but that would be one I'd grab. I'd argue that it is NOT all that similar to other yellow cypresses in that it is crested (or the growing tips congested/fasciated), hence the "twist" portion of the cultivar name, and the yellow coloring is only on the new growth so it provides a rather two-toned appearance. A very handsome and unique smaller Hinoki -- I have an excellent specimen myself :-)

Often the issue with buying these plants from somewhere like Lowes or Home Depot is that they may be rootbound and do not receive adequate attention. If you can buy fresh off the truck and ensure a proper rootball, they can be a good deal. My 'Lemon Twist' was not an inexpensive plant, even with my nursery discount.

Also... one problem is that plants may be mislabeled before they even get to Lowe's!

Thanks for the insight, everyone!

I wish I had room for the Serbian Spruce, but unfortunately I do not.

Gardengal, all the plants are container grown, and are most likely pot bound, but I can slice the root ball apart prior to planting. Lowes has racks full of the lemon twist false cypress. I like the look of them. I think I will pick a few up. They are only like 7 bucks.

for 7 bucks.. get them ...kill them when you get tired of them.. though i doubt you will ...

but unless you have a few acres.. skip the serbian ... way to aggressive for most of suburbia ... in other words.. you were right in that conclusion ...

ken

I have looked for something interesting at my local Home Depots without really finding anything. I guess I better go to Lowes! (Almost went there yesterday for their Earth Day tree give away, but didn't make it.)

I would love to get one of those 'Lemon Twist' specimens, though I don't know that they would be offering it here. For $7 I would be more than happy to see if I could get it to survive here in Colorado!

Cool find for you, anyway, johnplace!

Holly

Hey, they also have some "lemon thread false cypress." Any comments on that one?

Just a yellow threadleaf cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ctv.) and not all that exciting, at least in my opinion :-) For $7 bucks, I'd pick up the Lemon Twists for sure and enjoy them for however long they lasted - that's a great deal!! That's less than the wholesale price we have to pay our regular vendor. I have to travel a ways to find a Lowes but it may be worth it for that :-)

Well, here's the deal. I saw the "lemon twist" last week at one of the many lunchtime excursions I made to the big box stores. Then, this weekend, up at Lowes, I saw "lemon thread" and just assumed it was the same plant, mistaking the word thread for twist because I wasn't paying attention. I went back up to Lowes this morning and all they had were the lemon thread. So, now I have to figure out which of the 3 stores I visited last week has the lemon twist. It could be another Lowes or one of two different Home Depots. So it looks like I'll be spending my lunch hour tomorrow running around on a plant hunt!