Plant of the Month

Plant of the Month: June 2025

Dwarf Bald Cypress

Taxodium distichum 'Pévé Minaret'

CUPRESSACEÆ; Cypress Family

As with last month, here is another one of 50 trees included in a brand new self-guided Montlake Tree Tour. It is not in my book Trees of Seattle, 2nd edition 2005.

Regular Bald Cypress trees, also called Deciduous Cypress, Louisiana Cypress, Gulf Cypress, Southern Cypress, Marsh Cypress and Swamp Cypress . . . can grow enormous. They are remarkable for rot-resistant wood, and can live well over 1,000 years. In Seattle, they are rare, but around 100 of them are at Green Lake, and every November when their foliage turns rusty-brown, some newbies think they are dying. The value of smaller cultivars of this species is that ordinary folks can fit them into small gardens.

'Pévé Minaret' was raised in the Netherlands in 1990 by Piet Vergeldt. A street-tree in Seattle's Montlake neighborhood is as large as any I have encountered. It measured 20 feet tall in April. It is on 26th Avenue E, just north of E McGraw Street. Nearby, another is 14.5 feet tall in Washington Park Arboretum, planted in 2016, sourced from Iseli Nursery of Boring, Oregon. Also, Seattle University has a specimen, by the sidewalk on 12th Avenue, south of E Columbia Street.

Other small-growing Bald Cypress cultivars exist. 'Skyward' originated in Oklahoma in 1990, and was patented in 2012. It is similar to 'Pévé Minaret' but narrower. 'Cascade Falls' is weeping like a mop-head. Still others exist but are either extremely rare in Seattle --or still non-existant here.

The Montlake Community Club has printed some of the new tree tours. To learn about the June 1st Montlake Garden & Art tour, go to (https://montlake.net). Regarding the Montlake Tree Tour, to download it in PDF format, click here.

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