How tall does a Goldcrest cedar grow?

 
Hi,

Last summer, among the beetroot and other veggies in my back garden in
Oxford UK, I planted a 'Goldcrest cedar' (not sure what this is
exactly).  It's grown maybe an inch or two and is currently about 18
inches high.  

Someone asked me whether it will one day shoot up and become too big.  I
couldn't say for sure, so I thought I'd seek help.  Attached is a
picture.  The soil is at least a couple feet deep (who knows exactly, I
can dig and dig), between a concrete shed foundation (foreground) and an
asphalt drive behind the fence (background).  The water table is fine --
though the garden was flooded in Summer 2007 by about 8 inches when we
had a lot of rain.

Any help appreciated -- the question is, "how many metres tall can a
Goldcrest cedar grow?"

Thank you,

Mark


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mebden

 
mebden;916907 Wrote:

Goldcrest is a variety of Cupressus macrocarpa, Monterey cypress.
Commonly used as a hedging or topiary variety.  In the wild in perfect
growing conditions they grow to 40m, but in a garden, away from its
ideal habitat in coastal California, untrimmed, more likely to end up
something like 5m after 10 years and 10-15m eventually.


I have seen alternate green and yellow in macrocarpa hedges etc so I
don't think the yellow one is necessarily much less vigorous than the
green.


It is one of the parents of Leyland cypress, and its general properties
are similar (ie, if you cut back into brown stuff, it doesn't grow back,
so you have to trim regularly). It isn't quite such a monster as leyland
cypress, but it is a substantial and fairly rapidly growing tree, not a
dwarf. If you think that this is some dinky little miniature plant, and
have no desire to trim it to size every year, pull it out now, because
they are much harder to get rid of later.


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echinosum

 
echinosum;916909 Wrote:

=================

Thank you for your reply, I may well take your advice, because I can see
some small berries growing, so I may have to wait until about June until
they have gone.  Thanks again




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beeble

 
beeble;916950 Wrote:

The berries on Arbutus unedo mature in the autumn.  The flowers also
occur in the autumn.  Sometimes they can both be there at the same time.
Arbutus berries can be eaten when ripe, but most people don't find them
tasty enough to bother.  It is more or less impossible to prune the tree
without removing some flower buds/flowers/berries, as there is always at
least one of these on the tree.  Though I won't have any berries on mine
this year as they were all killed by frost over the winter.

There are other kinds of Arbutus commonly grown, such as Arbutus x
menziesii which have somewhat different timing.




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echinosum

 
echinosum;916999 Wrote:

I meant Arbutus x andrachnoides.




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echinosum