One would wonder if the characteristic of the foliage itself is a climate issue, or if it is really the origins of the selection?

david, is it only the cultivar 'Elegans' (or the Elegans Group) you are asking about? I know there have been various discussions about Cryptomerias in general, with 'Black Dragon' featuring in many.

Cryps are very popular here, with most better nurseries selling a variety of cultivars - the dwarfs with their wide range of foliage textures are very popular, as is 'Sekkan'. I also pass by a number of larger established Elegans in local gardens, now sporting their reddish-maroon winter coloration. They are very striking!

Yes, I'm asking about the cultivar, not the group; the group presumably includes those dwarfs which do grow here.

Beng - since any other cultivar of Cryptomeria does grow here, I have to assume it's something about the so-called 'juvenile' trait that causes the problem. As gardengal notes, they turn reddish early in winter, and even in very mild areas. I wonder if this sensitivity to weather conditions is related to the fact they seem to die off here.

Oh well. Since nobody seems to know of one of the east coast - anyone who lurks here anyhow - it's safe to assume I'm more or less correct.

for reference btw

https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cryptomeria/cryptomeria-japonica/

This page from the JC Raulston Arboretum - Cryptomeria japonica - says,

"Like other Japanese cedars, 'Elegans' and 'Elegans Aurea' are well adapted to the heavy wet clays of the southeast. They are tolerant of most soils as long as they are not subject to long periods of drought. Most Japanese cedars are completely hardy throughout the Piedmont and Coastal Plain with a few forms being reliably hardy in the mountains (like 'Yoshino'), however, 'Elegans' and 'Elegans Aurea' are subject to foliar die back in the mountains when temperatures dip below the twenties."

"At [the JCRA] Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans', and 'Elegans Aurea', glow from the Winter Garden with vibrant hues. They are among the most beautiful trees that light up the collections in winter."

Thanks for finding that article, but if you look at their current plantings database, they have neither cultivar. https://jcra.ncsu.edu/horticulture/our-plants/results.php?search=elegans

That's interesting, both must have been removed at some point after that article was written, perhaps due to their relative susceptibility to disease. This page from Virginia Cooperative Extension says, ‘Elegans’ is a beautiful dwarf cultivar with long (juvenile) awl-like needles that turn a purplish-brown in the winter; however, this cultivar has been especially disease-prone in southwestern Virginia.

Dawes Arb (central OH) has ONE.

https://dawesarb.arboretumexplorer.org/taxon-21562.aspx

They have a couple Yoshinos that look pretty good.

https://dawesarb.arboretumexplorer.org/taxon-21593.aspx

This will undoubtedly get us into the weeds of cultivar naming. However, I have a cultivar named 'Elegans Nana' which is doing great. The RHS, however, only recognizes the cultivar named 'Elegans,' and their encyclopedia notes considerable confusion surrounding the name.

I'll take a picture of my plant later today and post it here.

For what it's worth, I do seem to remember 'Elegans' being sold by local nurseries, but that's not always a great indication of how well a plant will do long term here (for example, nurseries here also love to sell P. pungens).

IMHO the fact there's one in Connecticut is an important clue. I don't think it's cold sensitivity on the east coast that's a problem, I think something makes them languish in our heat and humidity. The slow decline of mine reminded me of the decline of say, rhododendrons that are susceptible to root rot. And so, maybe, the solution is to graft unto another slow growing cultivar of Cryptomeria.

It seems to me 'Elegans Nana' must be a different cultivar that is less root rot prone. There was nothing 'Nana' about the 20 ft. tall ones I saw in Rye!

FWIW I just remembered now to check Jacobson's NALT. He lists 'Elegans', 'Elegans Aurea' and 'Elegans Viridis' as separate cultivars, but nothing about 'Elegans Nana'. But then he doesn't list any other super dwarf cultivars, so is likely reasonably excluding them from his book about North American Landscape Trees. He also reports that ones up to 80' tall are known. Largest in the US is 55' in chilly summer Berkeley, CA.

Nice pictures from the UK here: https://tortwortharboretum.org/trees/japanese-red-cedar/

Yeah, mine is definitely a 'Nana' - it grows a handle of inches a year. I just made it out there now, so the picture is a nighttime photo. But it's clearly very different from 'Elegans', and, in fact, most of the foliage doesn't look all that juvenile.