Question
Jim, I have two Italian Cyprus trees on either side of my front entrance gate planted about three years ago.  They evidently love the location(Southern California very near the beach) because although they have remained skinny, they have grown very tall (20 ft. and still going). Can I trim them to keep them at 15 ft?  I realze that we have planted the wrong variety but I hate to just take them out.  Thanks

Answer
Generally you should not prune cypress. You can try it if you want but the results may not be good. You can top them BUT they will look pretty bad --like they have a flat top hair cut. Over time a side branch will try to grow as the new top. They are a long slender tree normally. Here is a web site that gives information on them: http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/CUPSEMA.pdf