Cryptomeria ‘Little Champion’

So unlike its towering cousins: more than you could imagine but still a conqueror nonetheless. Cryptomeria ‘Little Champion’s branches have a peculiar whip-cord effect which is created by tiny overlapping needles that wrap its multitudinous slender stems. This one is a slow growing dwarf conifer, and over 20 years or so will naturally form a dense mound of neat evergreen shoots to a height and spread of around 1m x 1m

A compact and spreading bubble or blob: we love to plant them in small herds to roam among a collection of similar forms. They look tremendous, huddled beneath some lofty clipped Niwaki in a Japanese-inspired garden design, and make architectural companions for globular, cloudlike clumps of grasses, too. They look equally at home in happy-family gatherings as well, dotted about among similarly rotund conifers in a rockery or gravel garden.

Bear in mind how good a pair (or more) of these would look on your terrace or roof garden, too, for it makes a winning candidate in a nice substantial pot.

This little champion is a very hardy tree. Location wise it is happiest in a position that is sheltered from the north in any deep, moist but well drained soil.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.

As with all woody plants, plant high, exposing as much of the taper at the base of the trunk as possible. Allowing soil to accumulate round the base of a tree can be fatal. Keep very well watered when first planted.