I'm not sure where to recommend locally, but if you decide to mail order, I know of a good source. Bloom River Gardens will send you an extremely healthy plant. I have ordered from them and been amazed at the quality. The root balls of the little trees I ordered were HUGE! I will include a link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Crippsii' at Bloom River Gardens

Thanks for your reply, I have read a little about this tree and seen one in person and it was beautiful. I think that they have been discovered to be hardy in the south and may become more common as they are relatively new to the area (i think).

BTW, I made the assumption you are refering to Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Crippsii'.There are other Crippsii's, but this is the most common. If this is the species you are considering, there is no doubt it would be hardy in this area. Just plant it in full sun to light shade in preferably moist, well drained soil and it should do fine.

In your e-mail to me, you asked about my experience with Bloom River. I'm not sure where I first saw their ad, probably a gardening magazine a long time ago. I do remember ordering their catalog long before I saw them online. I usually check them anytime I buy a conifer (except for those spur-of-the-moment deals). So far, I have only bought conifers from them, but with my experience with them, I wouldn't hesitate to order anything else they sold. Their conifers were the healthiest I've seen offered, including what i've seen from local sources. I did manage to finally kill one of them, but it was definitely not Bloom River's fault.

Yes, it is the Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Crippsii'. I have seen one in person that was about 15' to 20' tall. It was speckled with gold coloration and in a border of a Nursery. They had some for sale from cuttings taken from the specimen but they were expensive and starting to brown in the containers. I was hoping I could find some healthier smaller or at least same size healthy and cheaper somewhere else. I was going to plant one or three of them with some dark evergreen plants or small trees behind it. I have done an image search on yahoo for Crippsii and found several pictures that all look incredible. It will just be a matter of trying to place it in a sheltered but sunny area so that it colors up well. I have a small sunny sloped field behind my house that is well drained that I hope that it will thrive in. As far as Bloom River, I will probably end up ordering from them. I guess that it will be cutting grown (maybe they all are I'm not familiar with conifers) and if the root balls are large (which I hope they are) the shipping may add up to a lot if I get three. I may try my luck with one first.

We found ours in Huntsville, but I expect the garden center bought them from one of the zillion middle Tennesee nurseries! I don't think that this is that unusual of a plant, especially in nursery territory. I would keep trying your better, locally owned garden centers.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1274340}}

My mom has one of these in her yard in Madison, AL. She got it at a garden shop called Catbird Seat.

Here some pretty neat links... I'm not sure if all of the Crippsii have the golden tips or not. They shape up much better if they are trimmed to form. Plus one link reports that they sometimes do not transplant easily.

http://www.groundtradesxchange.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1657
http://msucares.com/news/print/sgnews/sg04/sg041216.html
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/c/chaobt/chaobt1.html

All Crippsii will have bright yellow new foliage. That's what makes it a Crippsii rather than a plain Chamaecyparis obtusa! They shouldn't need pruning at all, as their natural form is exquisite. As a matter of fact, too much pruning would ruin one. You should be able to find this plant VERY READILY as a container grown plant. I wouldn't be surprised if the big box stores didn't carry them.

Does anyone know how far apart to space them if planted in a group?

About 10-12 years ago while in Lebanon I spotted some bright yellow from the road at a small garden center so I drove in to investigate. Turned out to be C.o.Crippsii in gallon cans really cheap so I picked 5. Four were planted on the east side of a forest wall where they receive sun till about 3 p.m. and one was planted in the woods on a west facing slope under high deciduous shade. All have grown well- the one in the woods is probably 12 feet tall and somewhat open but gracefull,its yellow color is somewhat muted but very atractive. The ones in sun are a little smaller but more compact and very bright yellow. They can be seen from my road which is 300 feet away. They grow easily and remain atractive all year, unlike some yellow foliaged conifers. In '93 the dropped to -21F here and the trees in the open suffered some bark split on the main trunks, as did other C.o. cultivars. They recovered without any permanent damage and look fine today. As for availability locally in mid-Tenn. I can't remember seeing them offered in the big box stores or even the nurseries in McMinnville/Warren County.

I have had no luck finding them even in Warren County, I haven't looked everywhere there but I live 30 minutes away. Many of the nurseries there don't have them or maybe do but aren't open to the public. I've heard that Nashville has them at the home depot in the conifer forum. I found a place in Cookeville that has them near Burgess Falls. I will either wait until that place reopens or order off the internet to get a few. I am trying to figure out a place around a border of my property or out in the open. I don't want to stick them out in the middle of somewhere I think they would do best on the edge of some border. But who knows? I have a habit of sticking color out in the middle of places to be seen. I'm glad to hear that you've had a good experience with them.