{"product_id":"cupressus-blue-ice-cupressus-glabra-blue-ice","title":"Cupressus Blue Ice - Cupressus glabra Blue Ice","description":"\u003cp\u003eCupressus Blue Ice is an Arizona cypress grown for its colour first. The foliage is a pale, frosted silver blue, carried on twigs tinged plum red, so the tree seems to glow on a grey winter day. It forms a dense, upright cone, much broader at the base than an Italian cypress, with foliage held in thick, irregular tufts that give off a sharp resinous scent when brushed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe species comes from hot, dry mountain slopes in the American south west, and that tells you how to grow it. Once its roots are down it shrugs off heat, hard frost, wind and drought, but it has little tolerance for humid summers or soil that stays wet. In the right climate it asks for almost nothing; in the wrong one it browns from the inside and slowly declines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDry inland gardens, not the humid coast\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eChoose full sun and free draining soil. Sandy or gravelly ground is ideal, and on clay, build the bed up so winter rain runs away from the root zone. The blue is strongest in hard sun, while a tree in part shade turns greener and loosens. It suits the tablelands and the inland slopes and plains of New South Wales. On the humid Queensland and northern New South Wales coast it tends to suffer fungal browning, which is not a risk worth taking on an advanced tree. Plant it where the scent can be enjoyed, beside a path or a gate, but set it far enough back that the broad base will not crowd the path as it fills out. Give it regular deep water only until it has a summer in the ground; after that an occasional soak in a long drought is all it wants, and summer watering on heavy soil does it more harm than good. On an exposed site, stake the larger trees until the roots take hold, because a dense cone catches the wind like a sail.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003ePruning and the problems to expect\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlue Ice holds its cone shape with very little help. Trim lightly in spring for a tighter outline, keeping every cut within the foliage. Leave the lower branches on: they are part of the look, and they shade the root zone. Keep a clear circle of gravel or coarse mulch around the base, wide enough for those low skirts, so the mower and the line trimmer stay off them and grass does not compete for the little water the tree gets. Apart from humidity and wet roots, the pest to expect arrives in a dry inland summer: spider mite, which leaves the frosted foliage looking dusty and dull. A hard hose through the canopy every week or two keeps it down. Cut out any dead branch promptly, back into healthy growth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBlue Ice beside the pencil pines\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor a narrow vertical in a cooler tone, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/cypress-cupressus-sempervirens-glauca\"\u003eCupressus sempervirens Glauca\u003c\/a\u003e gives a slim blue grey column; Blue Ice is bluer and broader, and it works better as a single specimen or a widely spaced screen than as a tight row. Paired with \u003ca href=\"\/products\/swanes-golden-pencil-pine-cupressus-sempervirens-swanes-gold\"\u003eSwanes Golden Pencil Pine\u003c\/a\u003e, the silver and gold make a strong contrast in a dry garden or a gravel courtyard. As a screen, allow about 2m to 3m between plants so the cones meet without crowding; for narrow columns that fit closer, see \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/conifers\"\u003eConifers and Cypress\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 4 sizes, from 300mm up to 400L, priced from $169.00 to $4699.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/fast-growing-privacy-screen-plants-australia\"\u003efast growing screening plants\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":67670733357425,"sku":null,"price":169.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"45L","offer_id":67670733422961,"sku":null,"price":429.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"100L","offer_id":67670733455729,"sku":null,"price":839.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400L","offer_id":67670733488497,"sku":null,"price":4699.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/cupressus-blue-ice-cupressus-glabra-blue-ice.jpg?v=1791515042","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/products\/cupressus-blue-ice-cupressus-glabra-blue-ice","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}