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Slender Hinoki Cypress
Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Gracilis'
Also called slender hinoki false cypress, slender hinoki falsecypress and graceful hinoki cypress
Slender Hinoki Cypress is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.
Growing Slender Hinoki Cypress
Plant it in full sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 4–8. Expect it to reach about 6 ft tall and 2.5 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 10 years (checked).
No toxicity note is on file for Slender Hinoki Cypress. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.
What was checked
Mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and the trait tags were checked against named botanical sources for this plant, with what the sources could not settle written down; years to mature size rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one, and is marked so; its common name and alternate names have not been checked yet. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.
When to plant Slender Hinoki Cypress
Plant Slender Hinoki Cypress in spring once the soil is workable, or by very early fall at the latest: an evergreen needs its roots down well before the ground freezes. In zone 6, the middle of its hardy zones 4 to 8, that is March to May, or August on the fall side.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 6, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 6 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Slender Hinoki Cypress get?
6 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult2.5 ftwideSee Slender Hinoki Cypress in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.
How far apart to plant Slender Hinoki Cypress
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Space Slender Hinoki Cypress about 2.5 ft apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.
Add Slender Hinoki Cypress to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
Where these facts come from
Slender Hinoki Cypress' height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, years to mature size, trait tags, soil, diseases, pests and toxicity were checked against 10 published sources on September 26, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources. Bloom was checked as well: Slender Hinoki Cypress bears no flowers, so there is no bloom window for a source to carry.
- NC State ExtensionChamaecyparis obtusa 'Gracilis', the cultivar pageheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, years to mature size, trait tags, soil, diseases and pests
- Plant Addictsthe affiliate store; sold as Compact Hinoki Cypress, Scientific Name C...height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, years to mature size, trait tags, soil, diseases and pests
- The Tree Centernursery that sells the plantheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, years to mature size, soil, diseases and pests
- Internet Archive (archived page)Monrovia (grower; Wayback Machine capture of 2026-01-14; the live page...height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, trait tags and soil
- Missouri Botanical GardenChamaecyparis obtusa, the SPECIES entryhardiness zones, sun, water, trait tags, soil, diseases and pests
- Internet Archive (archived page)American Conifer Society Conifer Database (Wayback Machine capture of...height, spread, hardiness zones, years to mature size and trait tags
- NC State ExtensionChamaecyparis obtusa, the SPECIES pagehardiness zones, diseases and toxicity
- Oregon State UniversityDepartment of Horticultureheight and hardiness zones
- Internet Archive (archived page)American Conifer Society Conifer Database (Chamaecyparis obtusa, the S...hardiness zones
- Oregon State UniversityDepartment of Horticulture; Chamaecyparis obtusa, the SPECIES pagehardiness zones
How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.
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Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.