....in case coniferjoy reads this....I think the current correct name is: Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium 'Nutans'

LOL Didn't want to get busted for the wrong name! :D

Yep, you're righ, for a while it was named Taxodium ascendens 'Nutans', which is now Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium 'Nutans'.

Your pics are showing this culivar.

Looks typical Taxodium ascendens, not necessarily the cultivar 'Nutans'.

As to species or variety - that's a matter of opinion, it isn't a "was then - is now" change. Both options have always (and still do) have their adherents.

Resin

Living among forests that contain both, I am prepared to defend the concept of them being separate species.

To me as a nurserymen was told to change the species name Taxodium ascendens to Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium.
It's not easy for us to rename these names and to make this familiar to our clients...
The best example is Chamaecyparis nootkatensis which is renamed 3 times since.

Imbricarium has something to do with rain, with a bit fantasy we can notice this in it's leaves.
The same we can see with Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Imbricata Pendula'.

I've never seen the the species Taxodium ascendens in cultivation in Europe but maybe it's done in the U.S.

'Nutans' is ascendens (or distichum var. imbricarium) isn't it...and if it was that cultivar wouldn't it have been a sickly looking grafted branch at a foot high? The few 'Nutans' cultivar I've seen all looked very odd, as they are grafted.

If it has grown like a tree from a foot high, it is very likely just a seedling... and there is nothing wrong with that at all.

This post was edited by noki on Fri, Sep 6, 13 at 21:09

It's definitely grafted. I see what look distichum branches that occasionally grow below the graft that I have to remove. It started out as a nappy little stick in 2007.

Would a pond cypress be grafted? Doesn't it have to be "something" if it's grafted?

I'm more confused now than I was when I started. LOL

It looks a lot like Taxodium ascendens 'Morris', as I'm looking at photos. When it was young, it had very upright needles...now they are LONG and fluffy and the whole tree is narrow and fluffy.

Fluffy is a botanical term. I'm sure of it.

This is what I thought I purchased. Clearly, I didn't.

Just found an old thread from when it was young - has pics. Looks VERY small-needled and upright. Odd. I'm puzzled.

Here is a link that might be useful: Old GW thread on Fluffers

Looks like a T. ascendens to me.

If my tree and the one in the photo w/ the women above are both supposed to be ascendens...why do they look so different?

ademink, the pondcypress you show just above looks odd -- chlorotic or some selection perhaps. Mine are standard green (from OIKOS) and much more upright.

So I still am unclear what mine is. lol

What a mystery. I think they can be somewhat pleomorphic or polymorphic, like certain Osmanthus. My 'Prairie Sentinel', which I stupidly killed this year, looks like your small plants, but I'm almost sure the bigger ones I've seen appear more plumey. Maybe when I'm down in the 301 I'll swing by Brookside Gardens to see their large one, which is what inspired me to get one in the first place. If, for example, you google pictures of 'Nutans', you see both the wirey leaves, and slightly fluffy ones. For lack of a more correct way to describe them.

Yes - I've seen both wiry and fluffy as well....that's why I'm so confused.

What the heck is this thing?

Found pics at Buchholz of nutans - they also seem confused. Their first pic looks like mine but then I see other pics w/ the erect needles.

Hmm...Wonder if those are photos of the needles in spring when they're first emerging? Never thought about that...

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics

ademink, should have looked at your first link earlier. Your ascendens looks exactly like mine (just a bit smaller). Mine are standard ascendens from OIKOS treecrops.

Mine, perhaps surprisingly, incur some cold-damage on the twig-ends by winter's end (regular baldcypress have no damage). My advice for these southern conifers that may be zone-challenged is to NOT water them after mid-summer, as the later growth has less time to winter-harden.

Edit: To add from reading your last comment, the needles grow straight upward at first, like lines of soldiers at attention. As they get longer, the longest bend sideways or even downward, and you get a mix of angles -- all directions.

This post was edited by beng on Fri, Sep 13, 13 at 10:05

Yes! This looks exactly like mine!

Yours is grafted...yes?

I think Beng is saying that the normal seedling trees start out with erect needles in the spring, but that the needles get more relaxed as the year goes on.
That pic posted above with the 3 ladies is probably what that tree looks like in the Spring.

No ademink, it's a standard, seed-grown pondcypress. Like Noki says, the foliage appearance changes as the season progresses.