Cupressus sempervirens
Evergreen cypress, Provence cypress, Florentine cypress: its Latin epithet sempervirens expresses its fidelity to green throughout every season. Its flame-like silhouette has shaped the landscapes of Tuscany and Provence since antiquity, and some specimens live for more than a millennium—planting a cypress means looking far beyond a gardener's lifetime.
Characteristics:
-
Fastigiate habit: the stricta variety forms a narrow, upright column with a highly graphic appearance and requires no pruning.
-
Evergreen: its dark green, scale-like foliage remains dense all year round.
-
Exceptional longevity: several centuries, or even longer, with steady growth.
Sowing advice:
-
Exposure: full sun, in a warm location sheltered from cold winds.
-
Soil: poor, stony, alkaline and, above all, perfectly drained. This is crucial: it does not tolerate heavy, wet soil, where its roots suffocate. It needs no fertilization and is more sensitive to excess water than to drought.
-
Method: soak the seeds for 24 hours in cold water, let them drain without allowing them to dry, then apply cold stratification for 30 to 60 days for more even germination. Then sow in a deep pot, as the taproot develops quickly.
Planting advice:
- Transplant while young, as cypress does not tolerate being moved once established. Allow enough space: for a hedge, plan for 80 cm to 1 m between plants.
Care advice:
- Water only during the first two years, while the plant is establishing its roots. After that, it needs no water at all.
- No pruning is necessary for the fastigiate variety, which naturally maintains its columnar habit.
Beneficial companions:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its dense, evergreen foliage provides winter shelter and nesting sites highly valued by birds, especially small songbirds.
- As a windbreak, it creates a sheltered microclimate that protects garden crops and wildlife.
Uses:
- Windbreak hedge, specimen tree, structured avenue or reforestation in Mediterranean areas. Its wood, impregnated with aromatic oils, is renowned for its resistance to rot and was once sought after for chests and roof structures.
Symbolism:
As a tree of Mediterranean cemeteries, the cypress has symbolized immortality and remembrance since antiquity, thanks to its evergreen foliage and extraordinary longevity.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Harvest the still-closed woody cones from the tree, then let them dry in a warm place: they will open on their own within a few days and release the winged seeds. See how to store your seeds.
Our Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, test them for germination rates, and carefully sort and package them without any chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Plant the iconic silhouette of the South with these Italian cypress seeds.
