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A whole Goldcrest cypress cut out on white, a narrow lime-yellow cone of soft scale foliage from tip to base

Goldcrest Cypress

Cupressus macrocarpa 'Goldcrest Wilma'
Care level: Moderate

Goldcrest is the lemon-scented, lime-yellow form of the Monterey cypress, and 'Wilma' is its tidier, slower sport: the narrow golden cone sold in autumn as a living Christmas tree. Crush a sprig and it smells of lemon. It is the colour that sells it, and the colour is the first thing to go indoors: this is a full-sun tree, and a warm dark room turns it dull green, then brown from the inside out. Treat it as a patio plant that comes in for a fortnight, not a houseplant that goes out occasionally.

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Varieties and related species
Cupressus macrocarpa 'Goldcrest'Cupressus macrocarpa 'Wilma'Cupressus sempervirens

Light

Full sun, outdoors. The gold colour is made in direct light and fades to green without it, and no indoor windowsill is bright enough to keep it for long.

Water

Keep the rootball evenly moist and never let it dry out completely: a conifer that dries out browns, and the brown does not grow back. In a pot in summer that can mean daily. Soggy is just as bad, so the pot must drain.

Humidity

No concern outdoors. Indoors, dry heated air is what brings spider mites, which is one more reason not to keep it inside.

Soil

Any well-drained soil, acid, neutral or alkaline. The RHS lists chalk, clay, loam and sand, all of them well drained; in a pot, a loam-based compost with grit holds water without turning sour.

Temperature

Hardy to about -10°C.

Size

Sold at about 50cm. In the ground the species grows past 12m.

Growth speed

Fast

Hardiness

Hardy down to about -10°C. Source: RHS

Pet safety not confirmed

As a precaution, keep it out of reach of children and pets.

What the pot does not tell you

The plant in the shop is 50cm tall. The species behind it reaches over 12 metres with a 4 to 8 metre spread, and the RHS gives it more than 50 years to get there. 'Wilma' is slower and denser than plain 'Goldcrest', but it is the same tree, not a dwarf: planted out it becomes a large conifer, and kept in a pot it needs the pot going up a size every two or three years or it will brown out from want of root room.

Spring

Pot on if the roots have filled the container, and shear the soft new growth lightly to keep the cone tight. Feed once with a balanced fertiliser and move it back outside after the last frost if it has wintered under cover.

Summer

Water often and check it in hot weather: a pot in full sun can dry out in a day, and a conifer gives no warning before the brown appears. Shelter it from cold drying wind, which scorches the foliage as surely as drought.

Autumn

Stop feeding and reduce watering as growth slows. This is when it appears in the shops as a table tree; one bought now will be happiest kept outdoors and brought in only briefly.

Winter

The RHS rates it H4, hardy through most of Britain to about -10°C, so it stays outside in all but the hardest spells. A pot is the weak point rather than the plant: roots freeze faster above ground, so move it against a wall or wrap the container.

Soil and pot

Any well-drained soil or compost, acid, neutral or alkaline.

Repotting

In spring, if the roots have filled the container.

Fertilising

Feed in spring and summer. Stop in autumn.

Pruning

Shear the soft new growth lightly to keep the cone shape. Never cut back into brown wood, as it does not reshoot.

Common problems

Browning that starts in the middle and spreads

Most likely cause: The root ball dried out.
What to do: Keep the root ball evenly moist. The brown parts do not recover.

Gold fading to plain green

Most likely cause: Too little light.
What to do: Move it into full sun outdoors.

Dull foliage with fine webbing indoors

Most likely cause: Spider mites, brought on by dry, heated air.
What to do: Put it back outside and rinse the foliage thoroughly.

Sticky foliage with small brown insects

Most likely cause: Cypress aphid.
What to do: Rinse the plant and squash what you can reach.

Brown tips after a hard winter

Most likely cause: Frost below about -10°C.
What to do: Trim the dead tips in spring, staying within the green growth.

Pests & Diseases

Spider mites

Signs: Foliage going dull and sandy-looking, fine webbing deep inside the plant, and a bronze cast to the gold, almost always on a plant kept indoors
Treatment: Put it back outside. Rinse the foliage thoroughly first; indoors in dry heat the population doubles faster than anything applied to it can keep up with. Check the undersides of the leaves and the crevices where the leaf stem meets the main stalk.

Cypress aphid

Signs: Yellowing then browning patches spreading from inside the plant outwards, often with sticky honeydew and sooty mould on the foliage below
Treatment: Rinse the plant and squash what you can reach; the damage shows weeks after the aphids have gone, so check in spring rather than waiting for symptoms. Badly browned branches will not regrow.

Root death from drying out

Signs: A whole side turning brown and crisp over days, with the compost shrunken away from the sides of the pot
Treatment: Not a pest but the commonest way these are lost. Stand the pot in water until the compost is wet through. Foliage already brown stays brown; what matters is whether the green that is left holds.

Mine went brown in the middle and the brown is spreading. Can I cut it back?

Not into the brown. Cupressus does not reshoot from bare old wood, so a branch cut back past its green growth stays bare for good. Trim only the soft young growth, little and often. Browning from the inside is usually dryness at the roots, heat indoors, or a pot that has run out of room.

Can I keep it indoors after Christmas?

Not for long. It wants full sun and cool air, and a heated room gives it neither; a fortnight inside is about the limit before the colour dulls and spider mites arrive. Put it on a doorstep or a balcony and bring it in only for the occasion.

Why has it lost its yellow and gone plain green?

Too little light. The gold is made in full sun, and in shade or indoors the new growth comes through green. Move it into the brightest spot you have and the growth that follows will colour again; the green that is already there will not change back.

How often should I water a Goldcrest Cypress?

Often enough that the root ball never dries out completely. A pot in full sun can dry out within a day in hot weather.

How big does a Goldcrest Cypress get?

It is sold at about 50cm, but the species behind it grows past 12m in the ground. It grows fast, so a plant in the garden needs room.

How hardy is a Goldcrest Cypress?

It is hardy to about -10°C. It can stay outside all year in all but the coldest areas.

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