you can also go to your library & order it

2 weeks wasn't enough time to read about 615 species

ron

visit a arboretum or labeled collection .... see if you can find the name of what you want ...

but even if you can.. i would wonder what market there would be for such.. meaning it might be near impossible to find a place to buy it...

ken

If you’re looking for a Hinoki with loose foliage that is a dwarf then it doesn’t exist ( by definition). The closest I can think of to what your seeking is a plant I bought as C. o. Prostrata. It would probably be considered a semi dwarf.

they grew to 8 ft over 15 years.

Although called Prostrata they were a loose upright form.

Sorry for late response. I was looking through some cultivars and it seems like 'fernspray gold' look the most similar to the wild species in terms of form and foliage shape. It looks like it's conical growing in habit with a single leader and the foliage does not have that whirled fan shape. It's golden yes.. But I feel like this is the closest one I can find. Anyone agree?

Prostrata is not available in my area and there are alot of fern spray golds.

I have one that is multiple-leadered (I think three, maybe four). It's also very yellow.

The 'Fernspray'/'Filicoides'/'Tetragona' types have aberrant foliage not like the species. The typical species produces thin foliage with the same comparatively unsatisfying appearance as that of wild Sawara plants. This will be one of the reasons Hinoki cultivars dominate horticultural production and plantings. If the fern-like appearance is what you want then just buy one of the cultivars of that style. Otherwise you will probably have to raise your own seedlings. You can pick cones off a cultivar and get a percentage of seedlings resembling the parental species. Maybe even most of them will come up looking the same as wild plants.

Well nevermind that too then! I guess I gotta stick with 'gracilis'. It looks like an already niwaki pruned hinoki so if my relatives from Japan ask me how in earth is that a hinoki!? then I will tell them they have been niwaki pruned. I don't think anyone from Japan will recognize any of the cultivated chamaecyparis obtusas here in America will realize it actually is one.

LOL!! The cultivar 'Gracilis' originated in Japan ages ago to begin with (imported from there to Europe around 1860) so no reason on earth why it should be considered an oddity in Japan. And by no means would I consider that an example of niwaki pruning!! In fact, your Japanese relatives may take more offense with that description than by just leaving the tree to speak for itself.

Just an FYI, but a good many cultivars of Hinoki originated from Japan..........

Ah.... you are right. I just saw that info on conifersociety. I always thought all hinokis with that fan like foliage was something that Americans first found. I guess I will go with 'gracilis'. Have 7 more species conifers (and one existing weeping cherry and one existing mature prunus mume) to fit all in my 50x40 ft frontyard so I will go for the most narrow growing chamaecyparis obtusa