Can I grow Weeping Nootka Cypress off the coast?

Hey all.. new to the forum so hope I'm doing this right. Weeping Cypress are a common ornamental west of here in Terrace, BC but not in Smithers where I am. I know it's hardy enough for here but perhaps not ideal. Even still I love this tree and thought I'd ask.

Insights on the following would be appreciated:
- some clay in soil although lots of topsoil
- deer known to be hard on cedars in are; considering buying 13ft
- I have irrigation; Smithers is neither coastal nor interior.... really the transition zone.

 

I've seen more than one large, well above the house height planted example at some very isolated and dusty looking wheat country farmhouses while traveling eastern WA highways. If you aren't in an actual desert area the tree should be perfectly feasible for you.

Cedars as in Thuja are often favorite winter deer browse, whereas the Callitropsis you are wanting to plant is from a different part of the cypress family - I have never seen it damaged. So I wouldn't waste money on a big expensive specimen. Also if it were a deer magnet they would come and nibble away the lower parts of it, regardless of how tall the rest of it was - the solution would still be to fence them out anyway. Either from the immediate vicinity of the new tree or the whole garden.

 

Will the big snow falls in Smithers break off those nice branches?

I wonder if the master gardener group in Prince George BC knows of any that do well in their climate

 

The area experiences very heavy winter snowfall, sometimes in excess of 10 meters. Most of the trees develop very heavy mantles of snow, and breakage due to snow loading is a common cause of death among saplings. C. nootkatensis, however, sheds the snow because its foliage hangs almost straight down and both foliage and bark are smooth and not easily wetted

Cupressus nootkatensis (Alaska yellow-cedar) description