Bald cypress
This tree is native to southern swamps, bayous and rivers in coastal areas from Maryland to Texas and the lower Mississippi river valley. Despite its native range being mainly swamps and river beds the bald cypress is surprisingly drought hardy and is rated as one of the more drought tolerant trees you can plant once they get established. One of the unique features of this tree is that it is a deciduous conifer which means it loses its needles every year and regrows them in the spring which gives it the common name “bald” for its lack of needles in the winter. This tree can grow up to 150 feet tall and 30 feet wide with a trunk ranging in diameter from 3 to 6 feet at maturity. In a landscape setting they tend to be smaller as the trees are far younger than in its native range.
As a conifer this tree does have “cones” in the form of green balls as seen in the photo above. The bald cypress is easily grown in average medium to wet soils in full sun to part shade but will tolerate dry areas or upland soils as well. Bald cypress develop “knees” or “cypress knees” when grown in standing water or near water. These knees allow the roots to take in oxygen from the air when oxygen is not available due to the water in the soil. These knees are less common in dry areas however the care should be taken when mowing around the trees to avoid damaging the mower on these knees.
This tree is a wonderful option to use in areas that stay damp for extended periods of time, as a street tree or a shade tree in your yard. Because these trees are common in coastal areas they naturally have some salt tolerance for areas that struggle with that issue. This tree grows relatively quickly and can reach 40-50 feet in 15-25 years. These trees are relatively disease and insect free. The wood is naturally rot resistant and is commonly used in a variety of applications when the trees are harvested. One down side of this tree would be that the needles can be a pain to clean up in the fall much like any tree but in many cases the benefits far outweigh the issues.
