r/plants • u/letsmakesweetlove • 1h ago
Success I saved a Cypress sapling that had sprouted in a crack in the bricks on the second floor.
(edit: it’s almost definitely not a Cypress. Silly me.)
Houston, TX, USA. One day I noticed a small tree growing in the brickwork outside of a second floor window of my office building. A coworker came to look and said it was a cedar (they call everything a “cedar” around here, but they mean the native Ash Juniper). I was relatively sure it was a cypress. I believed cypress had combined leaves what it was young and only developed individual, short, needle-shaped leaves when more mature. Whatever it was, it did not look healthy.
Weeks later, our company hired a contractor to paint the building. I arrived to find the little tree had been snipped off at the base and thrown down on the ground. I put the cut end in a cup of wet soil I scooped up from the grounds, and it went home with me that day.
I live in an RV because I travel for work. My rooftop air conditioner drips condensation through a small spout at the end of my front awning. So I put the cutting in a pot of soil right below the drip, ya know, thinking it’s a water-loving cypress
The top portion of the little tree died back over the course of a week, but a few days later there was new growth. I removed the dead part and it brought me a lot of joy to come home and see a little more growth every day. It seems happy here in soil that’s always wet and direct sun all afternoon! I feel less lonely with it here to greet me every day after work.
I’ve always heard Texans refer to all the native varieties as “Bald Cypress,” but I don’t know how to know from a little shoot like this. Based on the comments, I’m pretty sure it’s not a cypress. Whatever it is, it has been enjoying the moisture so far.
