The Time to Plant an Italian Cypress

Planting Italian Cypress

• Make sure plants are cool and their roots moist. To plant multiple bare-root trees, keep them in a bucket with their roots underwater and remove them one by one to plant, as each hole is prepared. Well-dug planting holes are crucial. Trees should be established at about the same depth they grew in the nursery, but the prepared planting area for each tree should be deeper and wider than the roots’ reach. Form a cone-shaped mound in the bottom of planting holes for bare-root trees, to support trees at the proper height. Backfill the hole with moist, loose soil, tamp it down gently and then water the entire root area thoroughly. Several inches of pine bark mulch will conserve soil moisture.

Fall Planting

• In many areas, autumn is an ideal time to plant Italian cypress, which doesn’t survive in seriously cold winter climates where this practice presents problems. Bare-root plants are already dormant when dug and shipped, especially by late autumn, and they are less stressed when they arrive for planting. For potted trees, early fall planting allows roots to get established in moist soils during cooler weather, without the stress of summer heat that soon follows for spring-planted trees. In both cases, the grace period of dormancy gives fall-planted Italian cypress a head start, because they are ready to grow as soon as temperatures rise in spring.

Spring Planting

• Another good time to plant Italian cypress is in early spring, as soon as the ground can be worked. Evergreens emerging from dormancy aren’t vulnerable to damage from typical spring frosts. In spring the weather is cool, the ground is still moist and rain showers could be all the early irrigation plants will need. In fact, make a point of planting before “April showers,” whatever month they actually arrive, because spring rain is so beneficial – providing light but steady moisture that keeps soil moist yet loose and encourages roots to spread and grow. In drier climates, spring planting also gives you plenty of time to install a drip irrigation system before summer.

Summer Planting

• Summer planting of bare-root Italian cypress trees is not a viable option; they would fare poorly, if you can even find any. But you can plant potted young trees in summer if this is the best – or only – time possible for you. Although Italian cypress will thrive under hot, dry summer conditions once established, planting young trees in the heat of summer can cause transplant shock. Transplant trees in the cooler evening hours to minimize root heat exposure and to allow trees time to acclimate before the sun comes up. Thoroughly saturate the soil around the root ball, and keep soil evenly moist all summer during the first year. Gradually acclimate trees to drier conditions.