Bald Cypress

Taxodium distichum

Hills guide picknative · Hill Countrysold locally

Bald Cypress is a large tree native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 60–100 ft tall and 35–50 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and high water, and handles clay soil. Blooms purple in mid spring. Good for birds.

Wet ground only. A wetland plant: it needs standing water or saturated soil — a pond edge, creek bank or rain garden, not a dry upland bed.

Will it grow in your yard?

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From our guide

Village of the Hills

Deciduous conifer, feathery foliage turning rust-orange in fall, buttressed trunk with age.

Why it works here

The right tree for a creek bank, a swale, or a spot that stays wet. Grows fast where it has water and lives for centuries.

Watch out

Not a drought tree despite the reputation — in an unirrigated upland yard it scorches. Knees can lift pavement near water.

The facts

10 sources

Type: Large tree
Sun: Full sun to part shade (3+ hrs)
Water: High
Height: 60–100 ft
Spread: 35–50 ft
Bloom: Mid Spring · purple
Foliage: Deciduous
Soil: Takes clay · recorded on clay, limestone, loam, moist, poor drainage, sand
Deer: Moderate — deer may browse it, especially new growth. Foliage largely ignored; young bark is vulnerable to rub.
Wildlife: Supports birds

Size, sun, water and foliage from the Village of the Hills guide; the rest resolved across sources.

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsNorthern Blackland PrairieSouthern Post Oak SavannaFloodplains and Low TerracesSan Antonio Prairie

2,125 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Sold at local nurseries. Confirmed in stock at a Central Texas grower in these sizes:

4–17 inch pots3, 5, 7, 15, 30, 45, 65, 95, 200 gallon

From the growers we read so far — a short list, not the whole trade. Call ahead.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.