Cupressus is a lovely, dense, pencil-thin conifer with gold foliage. It is ideal as a dramatic focal plant and also attractive in a large pot. It is a slow grower with a mature size of approximately 6 m x 70 cm.
Plants in the genus Cupressus make wonderful subjects for topiary too, and are pruned and trimmed to create balls, lollipop trees, poodle trees and the most beautiful spirals. In gardens in the coldest parts of the Free State there are cupressus topiaries created with such expertise that they would impress even the old French masters who perfected this art hundreds of years ago.
It has needle-like lemon-scented, lime-green leaves that change to an intense yellow green in winter, the time of year when it is at its prettiest and growing actively. It has a conical form and grows to a mature height of about 5 m and a width of 2 m.