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cal_00

Murray Cypress (Cupressocyparis Leylandii 'Murray' X) in zone 5B.

Cal_00
10 years ago

Hi, I'm back again...I feel like I should make the conifer forum page my home page...lol.

**Please bare with me, this year is my first time I decided to landscape and I've made many mistakes but I had fun in the process and have learned a lot from the Gardenweb community.**

I bought a few 6' Murray Cypress potted trees from a nursery in Kentucky around July and planted them right away when I got home. They are doing just fine and actually have grown 2' since. I did little research (remember, first time doing this) and seen that my location was in USDA zone 6 from a map I quickly googled and thought sweet, I'll buy them since they are for zone 6-10A. I apparently was looking at a outdated or "generic" zoning map and the location that I'm in is really zone 5B. My question is should I expect these trees to die or is zone 6 to 5B not a big problem? They are planted on a berm with heavy mulch around them. Mulch is 6" radius away from the trunk.

EDIT: I am now aware that the Thuja Green Giants are a overall better choice for my zone and have actually bought some but I'd like to save my Murray's.

This post was edited by Cal_00 on Thu, Nov 7, 13 at 22:26

Comments (3)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    .I feel like I should make the conifer forum page my home page

    ==>> way ahead of you .. lol ...

    zone info is so shotgun ...

    its all about your micro climate ... and frankly.. no one but you can figure out what your garden is.. zone-wise ..

    variables include.. winter sun ... mulch ... prevailing winter winds [this one is real important.. the bigger the plant] ... how bad winter is ... snow cover,if any [keeps soil temps constant] .... altitude ... depressions [i swear hidden lakes.. in a glacial kettle.. 10 miles from me.. is a z6b ... rather than my 5b .... because.. my theory.. the winter winds howl over the hole they are in .. and i lost a lot of money buying things that thrive 10 miles away ... that failed in my former flat.. horse pasture ] ..... etc ...

    peeps swore i should be able to do Pinus wallichiana [sp?] in my garden ... i lost about 4 of them.. when i was at your spot on the learning curve ...

    what will grow in your little slice of heaven.. is up to you to find out.. and you do it.. by killing plants.. lol ...

    i suggest you do your research in advance... [surely like i do religiously .. NOT!!!! .. lol]....

    and i suggest.. that the ones you want to try pushing zone.. you start smaller.. so that you can protect them the first few years ... by wrapping some burlap around them .. or something or another .... which you could still do on this one ... but it wont be easy at that size ....

    on top of a zone challenge.. you have an extremely large transplant ... which may be stressed on that alone [though that growth rate would not indicate such] .... insure.. that the soil in the root mass does NOT dry out in winter.. IF you can water w/o freezing the roots into an ice cube.. that is a soil issue and ground freeze issue.. if any [not that qualification repeating.. i dont know YOUR SOIL ] .... one way to water .. is to use ice cubes.. which melt when the soil warms.. and gently add moisture.... as compared to you dumping a 5 gallon buckets on the wrong day ....

    a smaller challenge plant .... might get better adjusted ... established.. and be able to make it thru a questionable winter .... because all said and done.. you are at the whim of ma nature ... and she can be a real witch .... like when a z4 winter rolls thru for you one year ....

    sooooo .... its all part of the excitement of learning.. i hope for the best.. for you ;...

    keep up the questions.. we get bored talking to ourselves all the time.. new blood makes it much more interesting ....

    ken

    ps: most nurseries.. good ones.. should let you TAG a plant... giving you the opportunity to insure you get it ... and then go do your research ... and have the tag removed.... if you opt away from the decision ...

    pps: you dodged a bullet planting in july ... i hope you know that now.. especially on a 6 foot plant .... never forget.. just because you buy it.. does NOT mean its the proper planting time.... though apparently .. this one is a beast .. lol ... other conifers may not be so forgiving ..... God will this ever end ... and i dont understand how a july transplant.. grew 2 feet in the interim ... was there any fertilizing.. ???? i hope it gets the clue.. and starts slowing down.. hardening off.. for winter ...

  • salicaceae
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The plant is actually C. x ovensii, so the parentage is different from leylandii. One of the parents is hardier, so there may be a better shot at success than for typical leylandii. Just a guess.

  • pineresin
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "The plant is actually C. x ovensii, so the parentage is different from leylandii. One of the parents is hardier, so there may be a better shot at success than for typical leylandii. Just a guess"

    Sorry, other way round - C. × ovensii is the hybrid between Cupressus nootkatensis and Cupressus lusitanica, while C. × leylandii is hybrid between Cupressus nootkatensis and Cupressus macrocarpa. As C. lusitanica is less hardy than C. macrocarpa, it's likely that C. × ovensii will be less hardy than C. × leylandii.

    The hardiest cypress hybrid is C. × notabilis (C. nootkatensis / C. glabra hybrid)

    Resin