Image - Wikimedia / Thierry Caro
La cryptomeria It is a perennial conifer with a very slow growth but of great beauty that we can find in the wild in Japan, where it is endemic, and cultivated in any temperate or cold temperate region of the world.
It is not a plant that can be had in small gardens; not for nothing, it needs a lot of room to grow, but it's worth knowing .
Origin and characteristics
Our protagonist is an evergreen conifer endemic to Japan that can reach a height of up to 70 meters with a trunk thickness of up to 4m in diameter. The bark is brownish red in color. The leaves are needle-like, growing in a spiral, and are 0,5-1cm long. These do not fall every year, but remain in the plant for a long time until their life is exhausted, and thus give way to new ones. The fruit is a globular cone, 1 to 2cm in diameter.
It belongs to the genus Cryptomeria, which is composed of a single species: japonica cryptomeria, popularly known as Japanese cryptocurrency or sugi.
Uses
It has all of these:
- Is national tree of japan.
- Used to reforest the Japanese and Chinese forests.
- How to Live Aligned with ornamental plant in extensive and botanical gardens in temperate regions, including Europe and North America.
- A specimen located on the island of Yakushima, in Japan, called Jomon Sugi has been declared a World Heritage Site as it has been discovered that he is twinned with the great Tane Mahuta (a giant kauri) from the North Island of New Zealand.
What are their cares?
Image - Wikimedia / Crusier
If you want and can have a copy, we recommend providing the following care:
- Location: outdoors, in full sun or in semi-shade.
- Earth:
- Garden: grows in slightly acidic soils, rich in organic matter.
- Pot: it is not a plant to grow in a pot, although as its growth rate is very slow, it can have a few years with substrate for acidic plants (you can get it here).
- Irrigation: about 3 or 4 times a week in summer, and somewhat less the rest of the year. Use rainwater or lime-free.
- Subscriber: from early spring to late summer, with Organic fertilizers.
- Multiplication: by seeds in winter (it needs to be cold before germinating).
- Rusticity: it resists frosts down to -20ºC, but does not tolerate heat (from 30ºC onwards).
What did you think of Cryptomeria?