Larix kaempferi Jakobsens Pyramid - Larch

The Larix kaempferi 'Jacobsen's Pyramid', also known as the dwarf Japanese larch, is a moderately sized deciduous conifer, with an elegant silhouette and a very narrow columnar habit. Its ascending branches are covered with blue-green needles from spring to summer. It takes on a magnificent bronze to orange hue in autumn, before revealing its pink-brown branches in winter. With fairly rapid growth, it will be perfect in a small space, a bed, or as a standalone. Very hardy, it appreciates light, neutral to acidic, fresh soil, and a sunny exposure.

The Japanese larch, the Larix kaempferi also called Larix leptolepis, is a large Japanese conifer with a conical habit that can reach 30 m (98 ft 5 in) in height, with deciduous foliage. It is native to the mountains of Hondo Island, at an altitude ranging between 1,300 and 2,900 m, but it adapts very well to cultivation in lowland areas in a rather cool climate. It belongs to the pine family, like pines, firs and spruces. It is a species very close to the European Larix decidua.

The Larix kaempheri 'Jacobsen's Pyramid' forms, after 10 years, a very slender bush, with a columnar and narrow habit of 3.50 m (11 ft 6 in) in height for 70 cm (27.6 in) in span. Its growth is fairly rapid for a larch. Its long unramified branches emerge from the trunk at a very closed angle, directing up towards the sky. From spring to summer, the foliage is generally blue-green, made up of soft non-prickly needles. These are inserted in dense rosettes on the branches. This larch, like all the others, takes on a magnificent hue in autumn, here bronze with orange reflections. Covering its young stems, its beautiful old pink to pale brown bark is an additional asset in winter.

The 'Jacobsen's Pyramid' larch is a low-maintenance and very elegant conifer, easy to grow in a small garden, in a Japanese or exotic bed, provided the soil remains fairly fresh but drained and that it is placed in a sunny exposure. It can be adopted near an entrance, and its sentinel silhouette suits it well. It easily grows in a large pot to decorate the terrace or balcony. It will go well with bushy or sprawling conifers. The graphic qualities of conifers naturally impose themselves in a contemporary garden, which prefers the aesthetics of shapes, silhouettes and textures to the waltz of flowerings. These plants structurally shape a bed, mark paths, border the terrace, easily substituting the strong presence of pruned boxwood. They associate with the complementary temperaments of shaggy grasses and heathers. The key is to play with volumes and colours. 

Advice : Water regularly during the first two years, and in cases of prolonged drought.