Depending on where you live, BC will be slower growing than DR, which is the main difference. The trunk will be narrower too, with less root flare and fluting. Gc with tighter, more columnar cultivars, but the species of either tree will have an unpredictable habit.

noki,

You could choose narrower forms of Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) and they'll grow a little slower as well but fast enough:
'Sheridan Spire'
'National'
Both of which will be about 1/3 as wide as high. You could expect a 60 foot tree being 20 feet wide (perfect for a street tree).

Dax

Pond cypress, if you can find it, is usually narrower than BC & DR. I think there's a Pond cypress cultivar, 'Prairie Sentinal', that's reliably quite narrow.

Noki, what zone are you in? Comparing the mature bald cypress and dawn redwood examples at the Missouri Botanical Garden, I'd say the cypress are somewhat more narrow and the trunk is more conventional.

Dawn Redwood
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/m/metgly/metgly1.html

Bald Cypress
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/t/taxdis/taxdis1.html

Pond Cypress (Taxodium ascendens) has a neater, narrower pyramidal form for sure.

All those are fun trees. I am a big fan of Taxodium, as they will grow most anywhere with few problems.

Glyptostrobus pensilis is also very cool for wet sites... if you can find it.

I think both trees are considered large trees to grow in a small yard, The Dawn redwood will block out more sunshine, all the ones I've seen seem to have more leaves than Baldcypress.

Another winter coming up right around the corner -

I'm really digging Taxodium 'Cherokee Brave' lately. 'Perfect' street tree. Folieage dense and a beautifully shaped specimen.

Then again, you may get that lucky seedling of Dawn Redwood such as the one that our old friend Greenthumb has growing in his Minnesota garden. And, I have a cutting of!

Make that a correction - Taxodium distichum 'Shawnee Brave' - that's two posts now I've given an incorrect cultivar name. The tree can be viewed and puchased at this link:

Dax

Here is a link that might be useful: Sooner Plant Farm - 'Shawnee Brave' Taxodium

What are the scientific differences between the typical Bald Cypress and the Metasequoia glyptostroboides? From the commentary above, it seems like the only observable differences (to a layman) are the height and girth and fluting differences. Obviously, there had to be some significant differentiation to warrant the creation of a new genus when the Metasequoia glyptostroboides was "discovered" by Shigeru Miki in 1941 -- 5 years before it was realized that this so-called extinct genus was actually not extinct.

The cones and seeds are very different; Taxodium cones break up at maturity to release the large seeds; Metasequoia cones open but remain intact, letting the small seeds fall out.

Taxodium has alternate leaf and shoot arrangement; Metasequoia has opposite leaf and shoot arrangement.

Resin

Main difference is that Metasequoia has opposite leaf arrangement and Taxodium has alternate leaf arrangement.
Mike

I love metasequoia glyptostroboides have a grove of
them here by a stream. It should be planted much more.

It seems to me that the Bald Cypress has more of a tendency toward multiple tops than the Dawn Redwood. In snow country, that can be disastrous.
So far my Bald cypress at about 3o ft. with multiple tops has not suffered any snow or ice damage, but I feel it's just a matter of time.

We have an area on our property that is very wet from an underground spring soaking up through the soil. The soil is very shallow with lots of limestone below, but not solid bedrock. If we mound the soil in this area a bit, to say 2', do you think either Dawn Redwood or Bald Cypress would survive with a fairly shallow root base? Many large native trees seem to find nooks & crannies between the stone to send down roots to anchor themselves. Is there anything about the root growth on DR &/or BC that would require particularly deep soil?

Bald Cypress should survive ok if there is plenty of moisture. Have seen them grow on limestone here in central Tx. with the roots between the cracks. Not sure about how alkaline a soil they can take.

Botann:

I don't see a lot of baldcypress, except as ornamentals here and there. But because it is one of my favorite trees--much more so than dawn redwood, I pay a lot of attention when I do see them. I have never seen any of these trees damaged by any kind of storm. Something I never really noticed until recently, so I am not sure if it is a usual or alwsys kind of thing, but the last baldcypress I saw had a kind of regular U shaped joint between the trunk and its branches, and some buttressing beneath. This may explain one aspect of the trees strength, But as I said, I had not really focused on this before. In the future I will look for this to see how much it may be a general characteristic of these trees' growth.

I have three young ones in my yard that I planted 5 years ago, and another thing i have noticed is an unusual degree of flexibility in the trunks--they are more flexible than all the other trees I have planted that have about the same diameter, and that is a lot. Maybe that has something to do with this tree's resistance to damage.

Well, I guess I am saying that maybe it is not just a matter of time until your tree suffers damage. And, by the way, I have not noticed the tendency for these trees to develop multiple leaders. I know it happens, and I think one of those big old ones in DC has a double trunk, but it hasn't split yet.

--Spruce