One of the problems with East Asian plants in US climates is the lack of consistency of rainfall. Over there, once the summer monsoon starts, the soil stays pretty moist until late autumn. There isn't going to be a mid-summer drought that turns it into terracotta. Another adaptability issue is the soil itself; Japan's are often volcanic and very well aerated, instead of mucky clay. Though I don't know whether hinoki cypress are common in your part of TX or not...I assume you at least have seen a few...armed with those two observations you can probably have some insight into what went wrong. It could be that you were running your sprinklers and a few hours later had a huge thunderstorm, so already moist soil became wet, anoxic soil where root rot could thrive. OTOH, in Japan, English Ironclad rhododendrons like 'Mars' can be grown as far south as zn 9b Fukuoka, because their soil never has that problem. Here that variety would be hard to keep alive south of 7b Richmond, VA. There can be typhoons in the autumn but generally the distribution of rainfall during the growing season is more consistent and like I said, the soil is very well draining as well.

btw dwarf and golden plants are often somewhat weakened by these traits. could make a difference. I'd hazard a guess that anywhere in TX, the straight species would be easier to establish; although established specimens of either the species or the dwarf clones could be roughly similar in terms likelihood of survival.

For example Cupressus arizonica (generic 'Blue' form, I think it was Carolina Ice or something) has grown OK here, although the plant has some issues, but a smaller Cupressus arizonica 'Golden Pyramid' struggled with the cold winters and was killed by the second.

David, thanks so much. You do see regular hinoki cypress in Houston area. I thought I'd push my luck and go with a dwarf golden. I loved your description of clay soil as summer terracotta, couldn't be more accurate. I amended the planting spot but perhaps not enough. I'm going to try again.

What do you think is the lightest soil amendment I could use for planting inground? How about perlite and compost?

The other one is long gone and I failed to examine roots at the time. I had it for a whole year b4 it died.

I was going to plant in April as soon as I got plant, but we are past bud break here. Ken, I read your link and will reread, interesting about no amendments, of course, even the local garden gurus in houston are moving away from amending planting hole--maybe just mixing a little bit with dug out soil.

In addition to what Ken said, all correct, I reiterate his point: a lot of people are afraid to aggressively break up the root mass, which is increasingly important w/today's pot-bound container plants. I've heard it happens to the best of nurseries...haha.

Cupressus arizonica 'Golden Pyramid' struggled with the cold winters and was killed by the second

Plants seen here under this name belong to C. macrocarpa.

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that possibility. Thing is, I would have expected the Monterrey Cypress to be killed even sooner by our hot, wet summers. OTOH it could have lasted a few years I suppose. I can't even remember how long it had been in the ground, never grew very fast and was only about 4' when it died.

The specimen was pot bound and I probably never pulled them apart sufficiently so that's another issue.