This is from a previous question a few rows down:
sandih wrote:
According to the Wasowski "Native Texas Plant" book, it's cousing the "bald" cypress can definitely be planted in limestone soil. It did say that the Montezuma is found mostly in Mexico and Texas is its nothermost limit of its range. I wonder how well it would do in a really cold texas winter? - Anyone know first hand?
By the way, don't be fooled that Montezuma's are "evergreen" cause they do shed like Magnolias and Live Oaks.
Stephen F Austin state university where I graduated from years ago has this tree...
"The Montezuma cypress is one of the big surprises in the South. Taxodium mucronatum, the most under-exploited Taxodium for the South, has few varieties available and is not often grown. Montezuma cypress is native to Mexico and a sliver at the south tip of Texas, which, of course, qualifies it as a native plant of Texas. While generally considered a Z9-10 plant, the species has done well in Zone 8 in the South. There is a new weeping form found by Paul Cox of the San Antonio Botanical Garden, which he named ‘Sentido’ (Spanish for crying). Cedar Lodge Nursery in New Zealand has a form they have named ‘McClaren Falls,’ a mounding weeper of unknown proportions at maturity. At the SFA Mast Arboretum, we have several Montezuma cypress, the biggest along the Wilson Drive sidewalk. This Montezuma cypress, planted in 1988, easily survived the hard December freeze of 1989 (0o F). A specimen exists in the Zone 7 JC Raulston Arboretum at Raleigh, North Carolina. Michael Melendrez has been doing some pioneering work in New Mexico and reports the presence of an old stand that appears to be much hardier than what is normally available. The Montezuma cypress is a faster grower than the bald cypress or the pond cypress, partly due to foliage drop later in the fall and earlier foliage development in the spring. In one planting on the Shelby county courthouse square in Center, Texas, the Montezuma cypress outgrew bald and pond cypress by almost double in ten years. We have tested all three at several locations and have always found the Montezuma to outgrow the others. This is a landscape tree certainly worthy of planting in Zone 8 and 9 across the South."
Also Howard said it's cold hardy up to Zone 7.
_________________ Sandi Texas Certified Nursery Professional Texas Master Naturalist Organic gardener Tree-Hugger Native Texan
|