Clyde

Meet Clyde, or as he is more commonly know 'Chamaecyparis nootkatensis pendula'.

A customer came into the gardens during summer and told me he and his wife had moved house and were able to dig up most of their favourite plants except for 'Clyde', by which he meant the 'Nootka Cypress' I mentioned above. He went on to tell me they called it Clyde after the orang-utan (big ginger monkey) in the Clint Eastwood film 'Every which way but loose'. Surprisingly I did not think him simple, as on reflection and casting a quick look at our mature specimen I could see a striking resemblance, so much so that I took a photo of a younger plant in our old churchyard so you can make up your own mind.

Names aside, the 'Nootka cypress' is a fine specimen tree, attractive, atmospheric, stately, and graceful, with long streamers of hanging scented foliage; Pure class.