"Any truth to that?"

None at all :-) If hardy for your zone - which I seriously doubt - this guy plays nice with others. In fact, it is frequently sold here as a container plant and mixed container plantings with this as the star are very common. It is also used as a gold exclamation mark in area gardens, where it also has no ill effect on any nearby plantings.

I've killed it in USDA Zone 8. There are no root toxicity issues.

I have six little ones in my winter window boxes right now. They're frequently used in containers here too. Perhaps you could grow it in a large pot which you can take into a porch or greenhouse in cold weather?

welcome sue ...

is this one of those small bigboxstore disposable holiday plants ... if so ... just enjoy the heck out of it .... as a houseplant.. for as long as you can ... perhaps repotting it in late spring ... into a better potting media more conducive to conifers/trees ...

if you treat it perfectly ...especially in regard to watering.. and try not to love it to death .... you might get a year or two out of it ... conifers mostly prefer a sip of water.. and then near drying.. and often these holiday plants are not in media conducive to such ... and.. its hard to convert these plant to outdoor soil ...

if you are talking about a large potted or ball and burlap specimen plant ... its a whole different world ...

i have failed spectacularly ... zone pushing one zone .... and you are talking at lest 2.. and maybe 3 zones ... and i just dont think it can be done .... even by the most experienced gardeners ...

its not that you might get a year or two... but sooner or later.. you will have a bad winter. and that will be the end ...

all that said ... i never learned anything.. without trying ... so.. there is no downside to trying ...

good luck

ken

Like most conifers, this will not survive long as a houseplant. So I'd forget that approach :-) But if the tree is small enough - and here these are sold in sizes ranging from a quart sized pot with a 6" tree to 6'+ trees - you can certainly grow it as a container specimen, providing it the winter protection Floral suggested: a cool location with bright light.

The commercially prevalent one here is actually the small growing, often less yellow 'Wilma'. Which originated as a sport of 'Goldcrest', has been offered therefore under the synonym 'Wilma Goldcrest'.

All evergreen conifers are rooty and dry underneath, and the typical wild Monterey cypress grows quite large. But Sue is never going to see a Cupressus macrocarpa persist outdoors and grow big in USDA 6.

Thanks to everyone that gave advice to me. Pittsburgh has been down to around 19 degrees the past few nights. Still looks green but I suppose it is doomed in the ground, but it was dying on the window sill inside slowly. Such a shame these are sold in zones they cannot survive in.

In this context florist pot crop sold for short term use like Italian stone pines that appear during holidays, to be used as tabletop Christmas trees.

Embothrium, I sadly suppose you are right, but I'm successfully growing Aucuba Japonica, Variegata, which is a zone 7 plant, so I hopefully thought "just maybe"...since Pittsburgh has now gone from Zone 6 to Zone 6b and the Lemon Cypress is hardy to zone 7. Don't you think there is at least more hope outside than being warm and dry inside in the winter?

Embothrium- your the greatest! Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the Lemon Cypress, and the zones. Great info!

Yup, Embothrium its already dead. Seems cruel to sell them in a zone they will not survive in...inside or out.

Do they not sell annuals where you reside? Is it cruel to sell them as well......plants that are guaranteed to die in cold weather? The Goldcrest should be treated in the same manner if not hardy in your zone.

Yeah, you got a point there..but all those years growing from seed to a cute little bush and if it had been marketed in the right zone it could have lived for decades, right?

They are not grown from seed - it is typically mass marketed from cuttings, which are often accelerated into more rapid growth via hormones and fertilizers. What you are most likely finding for sale - quart or 1G sized plants - are probably not even a year old.

Some are even offered these days in 4 in. pots. In later years I've seen (and bought) the 'Goldcrest' once - in a 4 in. pot. (And I think I may have seen one small block of 5 gallon at one outlet within the past few years). At the time there was less than one flat of that cultivar in stock. Otherwise the vast majority of what is presented here is 'Wilma'. This is the kind that is prevalent in season at flower shops, grocery stores and so on, and included in offerings of "temperennials" like cordylines and coprosmas at garden centers. With less usual (for us) yellow cultivars of the species being limited usually to outdoor plant sections in this area.

I was just given one of these as a gift, by a non gardener, who picked it up because the tag said 'smell me'. [g] It's supposed to have a lemon scent, that I'm not really getting. It smells like a conifer to me. It clearly said zone 7 on the label, and I am in zone 6. But my gift giver, doesn't really know about zones. And I looked up the info on it and it looks like the only thing I can do with it is try growing it in a container outside.

I do have a pot I'm planning to use for annuals, but for a part sun area, and it is supposed to want full sun. So, I'm just going to stick it in there and if it works great and if not, I tried.

It would actually make a cute little addition to a full sun container. A nice accent color, with some texture and maybe a bit of fragrance. But definitely, in my zone, you'd have to grow it as an annual. Not sure how much it cost, but if it's in line with what you pay for annuals for pots, than that's fine. I definitely would not attempt to overwinter it in the house. I don't have enough sun, nor do I adjust for humidity in the winter beyond a bowl of water near the radiator. [g]

My gift giver often gives me garden gifts and 9/10 times it's great. I have some great pots around the yard and a fuschia azalea in bloom at the moment. So, if this works for the summer, I'll still consider it a success. :-)

I appreciate all the great info in this thread, that helped me make that determination.

Mine did have a very fragrant lemony scent. That scent did fade as it suffered through the dry winter air in my house. I hope you have success with yours!

Thanks, it's in a pot full of fuschia, sun tolerant variegated impatiens, a dark coleus and a six pack of torenia. Very pretty. I think it should at least give us a nice display for the summer. Not sure if I'll be able to winter it over.

Looks very pretty, such a nice arrangement!