I can't speak for this particular cultivar but I have found that Chamaecyparis obtusa and pisifera in general are certainly tolerant of a fair amount of shade. Although I can't say they perfer it. Maybe afternoon shade as a lot of conifer do prefer that even here in zone 5.

tj

I say "variety", you say "cultivar". Can you give me a quick education on what is what?

I know "species"...that far I can get on my own. LOL

Back to the topic at hand, this is a cool tree/shrub/whatever. Love the way that it fasciates into little fans. Looks like eastern side of the house will be its new home!

"I say "variety", you say "cultivar". Can you give me a quick education on what is what?"

A variety, properly, is a botanical designation for natural variation occuring in genetically diverse populations of plants in the wild, e.g. Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis (all populations of Abies balsamea where the cones have exserted bracts).

A cultivar is an individual plant selected for a particular character, clonally propagated and named in cultivation. Cultivars do not occur in natural populations (though the original plant may have been found in the wild), and are of no botanical significance. All individuals of a particular named cultivar are thus genetically identical. A cultivar name is cited in normal type (not italics), with a capital, and in single quotes, e.g. Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Rashamiba'. In recent times all new cultivars have to be given names in a language other than Latin ('Rashamiba' is a Japanese name), but older cultivars may have Latin names (e.g. Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Aurea').

Plant naming is regulated by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. Many nurseries however fail to follow these regulations, and call cultivars "varieties", use wrong typography, etc, etc, resulting in much confusion.

Resin

Back to the shade question. I've seen wonderful larger specimens in full sun zone 5 at Hidden Lake Gardens in Michigan, however, this collection has a very special microclimate. It wouldn't surprise me at all if these were grown on with shading initially but to be removed when the plants had some bulk. And, on all general terms for the midwest, these plants perform much better in part sun (such as for rhododendrons, etc -) it's been learned.

I read others comments all the time and there must have been a dozen of these over the time I've been on this forum.

Too much shade - junky plant.

Dax

Welch & Haddow spell it 'Rashahiba'. If it's Japanese "hiba" might be a more likely ending than "miba", since "hiba" is supposed to have been used there for Thujopsis.

I have the particular cultivar you mentioned and it's been growing in full sun for a couple of years now. It just put on a new flush of growth, started about 3 weeks ago. It seems to be doing well unlike my Chamaecyparis pisiferaÂPlumosa Albopicta which protested horribly at being moved into the sun and let me know by browing about a third of the foliage. Back into the shade it went, the wimpy whiner.

Lainey