Source: The Tree Center (MD), PlantingTree.com (NC)
Size shipped: #1 pot (measured 2')
Planted:
First flowering: Who cares? But both exploded in pollen cones in Aug-Sept 2020
Buy one at PlantingTree.com (affiliate link; supports this website)
(These plants stayed behind when I moved in 2021; therefore, the following text will receive no further updates.)
Another one for the "need fast-growing but still attractive trees for this house" bunch, and I'm excited to try this one after Broken Arrow Nursery in Connecticut reports that they're having success with the cultivar 'Blue Ice' (which is reportedly rather similar to 'Carolina Sapphire' but not as fast-growing) despite being in USDA zone 6 (like we are). I don't know if I've ever seen a true cypress in real life before this, and I'm interested to see how it does here in the North Jersey Piedmont.
In case you're wondering why I didn't just get a juniper (which don't have hardiness concerns in our area like Arizona cypresses do) if I wanted a conifer in the cypress family that likes full sun and doesn't need much water, the reasons are (1) junipers seem to be more pest- and disease-prone, (2) junipers are all over the roadsides here in New Jersey and I wanted something different, and (3) my crabapple has already gotten cedar-apple rust even without a juniper in the same yard and I don't want to make it even worse.
Since cypresses like it on the dry side, I forewent the usual Fafard 52 in favor of a 50-50 mix of fir bark (Repti-Bark) and pumice (1/8" size) when potting it in April 2020. However, I did NOT include any sort of fertilizer either, as opposed to most of my potted trees that have been getting Osmocote Plus, so I'm going to need to fertigate. The idea is that this container mix is so well-draining that overwatering it should be all but impossible. I should also note that I probably ended up removing at least a quarter of the roots in my attempts to loosen the root ball and remove as much of the old substrate as possible, as the roots were a little potbound.
It was only a month later (May 2020) that I realized my grievous error and corrected it by repotting the cypress in the same pot but in a mix of mostly pumice and a little Fafard 52. You see, I had completely failed to appreciate that Repti-Bark is uncomposted fir bark and, as such, repels water, which was why the water was running almost right through the pot every time I would fertigate. The new substrate, thankfully, does not have this problem. I'm also going to put the rest of the Repti-Bark outside in one of my unused #7 pots (for drainage) with some high-nitrogen fertilizer and try to compost it that way for a few months, so that I can actually use it for my intended purpose at some future point.
Many of the conifers I'm keeping held off growing in 2020 until the official start of summer for some reason; the cypress, likewise, did not appear to start growing until July 2020. That may have been a fluke, as 2021 saw this cypress and also the two giant sequoias start growing in May like many of their broadleaved brethren -- only the arborvitae seemed to remain late to the party.
Also in July 2020, I ended up getting a second Carolina Sapphire from PlantingTree.com, since the shipping charge for the Yoshino cherry I was ordering was enough to push it over the free shipping threshold, so I figured I could throw in this tree essentially for free. It measured almost 2' on shipping and appeared nicely dense compared to the more open cypress from TTC, but not as big. For the next few months, I grew the two side by side in equivalent containers and similar substrates with the same fertigation, to see which would come out ahead.
In mid-September I finally planted out the cypress from TTC; the one from PlantingTree had clearly not caught up yet, so I moved it indoors to see if it would keep growing over the winter under the grow light (because if it can survive in the semi-arid to desert climates of its native range in the Southwest USA and Mexico, it might be able to handle the lower humidity levels indoors). Months later I could see no evidence that it had grown at all, but it still ended up bigger than the TTC cypress... due to deer munching liberally on the latter, outdoors and unprotected as it was.
In May, I had finally had enough and planted out the cypress from PlantingTree as well, after it had become painfully obvious that the Edith Bogue magnolia was not in fact going to regrow from its antler attack over the winter and had to be replaced. As far as I could tell, it still had not grown any the whole time it had been indoors. I also note here with annoyance that the soil in the yard into which I planted the second cypress was a clayey mess. That said, the Edith Bogue had been able to grow some substantial roots out into it, and the cypress seemed to have no shortage of root tips ready to go thanks to growing for months in an Air-Pot, AND this cypress is supposed to be tolerant of clay.