PlantFiles: Japanese Umbrella Pine
Sciadopitys verticillata

We purchased a beautifully landscaped house here on a mountain in Princeton, MA, about a half zone colder than the towns around us, with lots of wind and ice and snow. But with lots of tall oaks and hickories around, we are sheltered.
Two of these trees are on a corner of the house, shading a sun room. They are spectacular. Just about 15 ft each, they catch the eye of everyone who walks the gardens, and no one (myself included) seems to have ever seen one before. The best thing is that their openness prevents their interior from being dark like most other pines. Light permeates, and the ground underneath is clearly visible and accessible to all the garden residents, fuzzy and feathered alike.
A great specimen, or anchor. Totally maintenance free, with a beautiful natural conical form. The needles need to be seen, since they're like no other conifer. The new growth in early summer makes for an intricate eye-catching texture.
These are interplanted with rhodys, azaleas, variegated euonymous, and a dogwood close by. This collection has a great 'prehistoric' feel, which I love.

This is a unique and beautiful conifer that is a collector's item here in So Cal where it is very marginal except along the constantly cool coast. It does much better up north. It has two kinds of leaves- needles and scales along the branches. It makes cones of both sexes on one tree (monoecieous). Here in So Cal it is either bonsaid, or grown as a large shrub or small tree. However, in the mountains of Japan, it can grow up to 120' tall. This tree is so different molecularly and evolutionarily from all other conifers it has been recently put into its own family.