Do you know for sure it's dead? If the rootball has not been allowed to dry out completely, it could be just fine. You can't keep the foliage "fresh" on an already dead tree - drying foliage is one of the first signs something is amiss. Since you already purchased it, give a good drink, don't let it dry out again (but don't overdo, either) and hope for the best. Lemon cypresses are not overly expensive items anywhere you find them - unless a large, mature specimen - so even if this one doesn't make it, you are not out major $$.

And if it is really dead, the two major big boxes in this area have plant guarantees you can follow up on :-)

Wouldn't have come with built-in failure unless allowed to dry out or subjected to severe temperatures before you got it. If it dried out after you got it and then died where you bought it or what kind of tree it was wasn't the problem.

Often being produced by greenhouse operations and sold as tender plants here these are actually more expensive in similar sizes than other cypresses. Although Monterey cypresses including golden ones have been grown in this country for a long time, and yellow forms are seen rather often in England and elsewhere specimens of any size are rare in the Northwest. Only the typical green plant is known here as a large tree. One of my neighbors had a widely spaced row of roughly head-high golden ones going only to have them all die this summer. Maybe you have to be diligent with the watering with these and he overlooked it. Or maybe they are unusually vulnerable to mites or soggy soil. Other small ones are all over the place these days but I have seen very few of any real size. When preparing the second edition of TREES OF SEATTLE A. Jacobson found one over 24' tall in southwest Seattle. He also noted in the book a 'Fine Gold' in east Seattle 20' tall, planted before or during 1999.

mine is really dried out, to the point where touching it pricks a bit, but it is still green. I paid less than five bucks, the pot is worth at least that, so if it dies, there is a pot. I misted and watered, the soil had a little moisture, but not enough to assume life was sustained in it's roots. It's a cypress, it might surprise me and bounce back, lol. It amuses me how these trees do, so now it can live in the bathroom and give low light a chance, for now. The branches are alive, the needles look like they were dried out bad, sticking like a cactus. Either way has that unique ambiance bonsai provides so it's a keeper.

The foliage is supposed to be like that...'Gold Crest' keeps producing juvenile foliage (prickly as described).

C. macrocarpa is apparently marginal in USDA 8, will definitely not be a long term planting 2 zones colder than that. A funny thing is that the yellow and green ones are all over in much of Britain as well as northern outer coastal California, yet up here we have a very few, widely scattered landmark height green ones (and numbers of small yellow ones of mostly recent vintage). How is it that a few green ones have grown to large size here, yet the tree is not otherwise represented (other than by the now common yellow ones, with these nearly always quite young)? If the tree is hardy here, why is it not common? And if it is tender, how have a tiny number managed to grow tall?

Once you get far enough down the coast highway to be in Californian climate conditions the tree is quite numerous around many inhabited sites.

'Goldcrest' at least has the reputation of being less hardy than the type here; whether true or not I don't know, but it doesn't persist in gardens despite being so commonly sold.

Conversely, the old yellow cultivar 'Lutea' is often reckoned to be as hardy as or marginally hardier than the type.

Resin

This one is called 'Wendy'. I've had it about 3 years. Seems to be doing fine in a relatively dry site with a shot of afternoon sun. I watered it some the first summer.
I haven't seen many of the old green or gold forms either bboy, just the young gold ones recently.
Mike
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Looking north. Acer circinatum in the background.

In addition to being browned by sharp cold these also seem to have a problem with splaying open in snow, as do some other conifer cultivars with up-swept branches - notice how the one in the last photo (above) is already getting a waviness to the foliage surface, due to branch-lets starting to bend out of position.

One I watched grow well above head height in a driveway island bed on Vashon Island soon fell completely open (and was subsequently removed) one winter when there was some substantial snow.

You mean it's 'built to fall apart' like an Alka-Seltzer tablet?
That oughta be fun to watch.
I have a Cryptomeria japonica, 'Sekkan' that grew too fast for it's own good and fell apart during an ice storm. At first I though about cutting it down, but then had second thoughts and decided to see what would happen if left alone. It's in an out of the way place so I'm not bothered that it doesn't look it's idyllic best. it's recovering in it's own interesting way. Given a few more years it just might develop some character,...... or continue to fall apart. We'll see.
I'll take a picture when it gets light.
Mike

Here's that Cryptomeria j., 'Sekkan' damaged by ice. it was a little foggy this morning.
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That's my lemon cypress...I know I know.....can I bring this back? Advice? Thanks in advance

Ya saved it!.............barely. :-)

Can mine be saved???

It probably doesn't get enough moisture unless you've maybe got it in the bathroom. Can you put it outside? We have many full size gold crest in large pots here in Japan in our yard. But we have rainy season twice a year and it is humid all summer so they tend to be popular and thrive here. We had three 10 feet tall trees in the ground at our old house and the one that was not sheltered by our across the street neighbor's house got the brunt of the salt air. We lost that one when we lived just a block closer to the beach. Since we built our new house just around the corner, our yard is now at right angles to the sea (rather than facing it directly) and we've had less damage to shrubs and trees. That is to say, I've learned that the micro climate of your neighborhood has a lot to do with success with particular plantings. Good luck and keep it going. I had some conifers come back after a few years to be surprisingly healthy despite shedding most of their needles at one point. I'd not worry over it and put it somewhere where it can recouperate at its own pace. Somewhere out of the way so you're not embarrassed by it or too focused on it.

It needs to be outside! Shade first, and then a more sunny spot.

Pay attention to it's water needs.