Those of us who live north of Atlanta, GA (USDA zone 7-b) can not enjoy Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), which are not hardy in most of the Southern Appalachian region (zone 6-a to 7-a). If you are designing a Mediterranean look in your garden, choose among select cultivars of these columnar evergreen shrubs:
Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) ‘Sky Pencil’
Upright boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) ‘Dee Runk’ and ‘Pyramidalis’
Red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) ‘Taylor’, ‘Brodie’, ‘Blue Arrow’, ‘Idyllwild’
Eastern arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) ‘Techny’, ‘Pyramidalis’
Common juniper (Juniperus communis) ‘Pencil Point’
Alaskan cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) ‘Green Arrow’, ‘Van den Akker’