Bald cypress' autumn foliage assumes a rusty-brown color at best. Tamaracks (larches, Larix spp.) are another deciduous conifer that does have yellow fall color. Young tamaracks are similar in appearance to bald cypress and dawn redwood. Being someone in a colder climate, I can't speak for dawn redwood; it isn't hardy here in Minnesota. But bald cypress does just fine. I planted mine ten years ago as a six foot tree in a backyard ditch. It is now 30-35 feet tall and starting to srow those knobs in the surrounding soil. And I'm delighted by the butressed trunk, too. Bald cypress is one of my favorite trees.

oh .. gotta beat me to it ... i am 5 8".... and have a 6 foot ladder .... that puts me safely to about 10 feet while being safe ... including at least one other person to hold the ladder ... i have an extension pole saw/pruner ... and though it may extend to great distance.. i find i cant hold it aloft and actuate the thing.. probably about 10 foot limit again ... unless you are part monkey .. or part squirrel.. or happen to have a bucket truck available... i just dont see how you will 'maintain' a tree at 15 feet ... ken

An update: I went back the the area to re-evaluate the problem areas. We actually have several walnut trees on the perimeter of the bald cypress grove we are trying to establish. There are several on the north side, one on the south side and a couple on the east side. In all cases, most of the bald cypress/dawn redwood whips and B&B trees have died under those walnut trees. Almost all other B.C./D.R. have lived in other areas not directly next to/under the walnut trees. The death sometimes takes a few years. It seems clear to me that the walnuts are the problem. I just wanted to verify that with some study that may have been completed and published somewhere, but there seems to be nothing documented on the subject.

Argh. No way to edit posts, is there? Anyway, I took it up for a bit tonight to check out the roots. It was pretty root bound, but most of the roots were either thick, spongy, and pliable, or fibrous. I'd actually say the majority were fibrous. There were some thicker, woodier roots, but not all that many, and only a few had started wrapping around the pot from what I could tell. Some were at oddish angles, but growing mostly normally. As for the ones that were wrapping, I cut those back to where it looked like they were straigtening out, which wasn't too far. Other than that, I just used the guidelines about making one-inch cuts down the side of the rootball, then tried to shake stuff loose a bit. Don't know how much it'll help or hurt, really. From what I could tell, it didn't look like there were any thick, wrapping roots growing near the trunk, in any case.