Silver Smoke Arizona Cypress

Cupressus arizonica glabra ‘Silver Smoke’

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 7a-9b Find Your Zone

Plant Type: Coniferous Evergreen Tree

Height at Maturity: 20-30′

Width at Maturity: 8-10′
Spacing: 8′ apart for hedges or screens; 16’+ apart for space between

Growth Habit / Form: Conical, Upright

Growth Rate: Fast

Foliage Color: Smoky Light Silver-Grey

Fragrant Foliage: Yes, pine scented

Sun Needs: Full Sun or Mostly Sun

Water Needs: Average, low when established

Soil Type: Clay, Loam, Sand, Silt

Soil Drainage: Well Drained

Soil pH: 6.0 – 7.0

Maintenance / Care: Very Low

Attracts: Visual Attention, Birds

Resistances: Deer – more info, Disease, Drought, Dry Soil, Insect

Description

This unique clone of the Carolina Sapphire Cypress is a total winner! ‘Silver Smoke’ has the brightest, smokey grey foliage we’ve ever seen on a Cupressus glabra, also known as the Arizona Cypress. The foliage produces the illusion of smoke against its reddish brown, peeling bark. The habit and form is similar to others in the genus but the color of Silver Smoke leaves all others in the smoke! A fine selection for use in privacy screen plantings, as a specimen anywhere in the sunny landscape, or as a corner plant to frame tall homes or other structures.

Landscape & Garden Uses

Growing in an upright conical form 20 to 30 feet tall and 8 to 12 feet wide, the Silver Smoke Cypress is ideal for use in evergreen privacy screen plantings. It is also useful to frame the corners of tall homes and other buildings or as a specimen or background plant anywhere in sunny landscape borders. A fine addition to conifer gardens, white or grey theme gardens, bird gardens, wildlife gardens and Xeriscape gardens (low water needs). Perfect for an outdoor Christmas tree!

Suggested Spacing: 8 to 10 feet apart for privacy screen plantings; 16 feet or more apart for space between trees

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 7a, where this Cypress tree is not reliably winter hardy, you’ll be happy to know it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring. That said, it will need a well-lit indoor location and will need to be transplanted to the landscape when it becomes to large to grow in a container.

Growing Preferences

The Silver Smoke Cypress is tolerant of a wide range of soils, even clay. It prefers a moist but well-drained soil of average fertility and plenty of sunshine. Will tolerate light shade, but plants in full to mostly sun are much fuller. Exceptionally drought tolerant and low maintenance with no pruning necessary to keep its dense, naturally conical form.

Helpful Articles

Click on a link below to find helpful advice from our experts on how to plant, prune, fertilize and water Cypress trees.

How To Plant & Care For Cypress Trees

Privacy Screen Design And Planting Tips

Plant Long & Prosper!

Meet The Wilson Brothers & Staff

Questions? Contact Us!

The six-pack of one-gallon’s was excellently packaged for shipping. Cannot wait to watch them grow.——————————————————We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the awesome review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG

Wilson Bros is my new favorite place to buy plants online. This tree along with several others I have ordered from them was packaged and shipped beautifully and very quickly. The tree arrived in excellent condition and is doing very well. I also appreciate the free shipping which means there are no surprises at checkout. I’ve told friends about Wilson Bros too and at least one has already purchased from them as well!———————————Awesome!! Thanks for the kind words and wonderful review! We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG

These Silver Smoke Cypress trees are just the most beautiful color. I have made a privacy screen on a lakefront property and they compliment colors of the water and other trees. Just can’t wait to see them mature. Very healthy trees shipped. Would definitely recommend.———————————————————————-We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG

Really cool tree. I got one to put near my moon garden so the silvery foliage will shine in the moonlight. It arrived healthy and in good condition and is doing great in the ground. Would highly recommend Wilson Bros for great selection of unique varieties, great service, and healthy plants.———————————————————We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG

The Silver Smoke Cypresss is beautiful! I can’t wait to see it grow to be a focal point in our garden. The trees came very well protected and excellent condition! I look forward to many more purchaes!——————————————————We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG

Nice healthy looking plants. Came packed in a way that even the UPS gorillas couldn’t hurt them.————————————We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy them for years to come! Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG

Wilson Bros. always delivered great healthy trees. Packaged very nicely. It is always a pleasure doing business with them.———————————————We are so glad you are pleased with your purchase! Thanks for the kind words and great review! Beth | WBG 🙂

I’ve been waiting for the silver smoke cypress to come back in stock for almost a year. I wanted the 3 gallon size but it’s still out of stock so I took a chance on the smaller 1 gallon. Tree is tiny but very healthy looking and already showing signs of growth. Once again, Wilson Brothers has not disappointed in quality of plants.—————————————-They are pretty fast growers, it will grow up before you know it……we are so glad you are pleased with your purchase! Thanks for the kind words and great review! Beth | WBG 🙂

I’m pretty rural & don’t have a lot of options for different varieties of trees & plants where I live. I’ve ordered trees, berry bushes, & plants online for a few years now & have ordered twice from Wilson Bros. Both times I’ve been pleased with the packaging & the health of the trees. My husband and I will always look for trees from Wilson Bros first.————————–We are so glad you are pleased! Beth | WBG

Such a lovely contrasting Cypress.——————————WBG Reply: Hi Tina, Thanks so much for taking the time to provide your review of the Silver Smoke Arizona Cypress. We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come!
Beth Steele | Wilson Bros Gardens

Gorgeous and smells so good! Ordered the 1 gallon and it came in fairly quickly and extremely well packaged. The tree is in excellent shape, very healthy and perfectly pruned. I hope it will survive here in South East Texas. I have grown Bald Cypress, so I am hoping this Arizona Cypress will do well here. The prices at Wilson Bros are comparable to the local nurseries for this size pot; but online there is a larger variety to choose from. Here in my neck of the woods all the nurseries tend to carry the same handful of species. I like trying something different. Whether the ‘different’ species survives is 50/50; but it is fun trying. I have not been disappointed by Wilson Bros and will definitely keep coming here to shop. Thank you.————————–WBG Reply: Hi Anna, Thanks so much for taking the time to provide your review of the Silver Smoke Arizona Cypress. We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! Thanks for the great compliments!!
Beth Steele | Wilson Bros Gardens

The tree arrived in excellent condition and in good health, love the silver-green foliage, can’t wait to see the full potential of the trees appearance once it reaches it’s mature size. —————————— WBG Reply: Hi Jermaine – Thanks so much for your review of the Silver Smoke Cypress and we hope you enjoy it for years to come. We have several Silver Smoke planted in our own gardens and the almost-white foliage color is truly remarkable. Don’t hesitate to let us know whenever we can help you with anything else. We’re at your service! – Brent | Wilson Bros Gardens

It arrived healthy and well packaged. My only slight disappointment is that it wasn’t a bit bigger for the cost. Anyway, I look forward to watching it become a feature of my yard. ——————– WBG Reply: Hi Susan – Thanks for your review of the Silver Smoke Cypress and we hope you enjoy it for years to come. We’ve been out of this one for over two years and had so many folks who put their name on the Waiting List, and saw that no other nursery had it available, that we decide to make the plants available as soon as they rooted in well in their pots and landscape-ready. Though it grows very fast in the ground, Silver Smoke is a very slow grower in pots, hence the higher price than for it’s cousin the Carolina Sapphire, which grows more rapidly (twice the growth rate) in pots. If planted right and in the right spot you should see a very fast growth rate. Let us know if there’s ever anything else we can help you with. We’re at your service! – Brent | Wilson Bros Gardens