Conifers to love

great tree
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select COPY with the left click
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Sounds harder than it is

I transplanted the baby pine, it was staying too wet. And while I was getting up the nerve it spit out a little branch.
I found another tiny pine in my back yard, goes to another tree, I'll do some research on the name, but it makes me think this might not be a Japanese Black Pine.
Anyone know for sure by looking at it?
I have slash pine and sand pine growing out back.

Looks more like Slash or Sand Pine to me

Resin

Hi Resin, A sand pine would put out a branch like that but they are so much thinner, scrawney.
This is a thick bluish needle with a redish trunk.
But then, maybe 'cause it got the feed from the bucket of pussy willow that it looks so healthy.
Whatever it turns out to be, I'll still love it. I'll just try more JBPine seeds next winter.

Resin, can you recognize this tree? It has a very soft wood, branches break in the wind, I can't get close enough for a close-up of the needles, unless I get out the ladder and jump the fence.

Here's a cone up against the trunk

And one of it's babies. Sure does look like the one in the photo above. Only it hasn't been fed and watered.

Probably more likely a Slash Pine then; it isn't JBP, that has different shape juvenile leaves, relatively shorter and broader, and less widely spaced leaves.

The branch and cone look like Scrub Pine Pinus virginiana, but what that's doing down in Florida, I'm not sure. Planted, perhaps? If not that, then an off-beat Sand Pine perhaps.

Resin

I didn't doubt you for a second, but I searched out the different pines I have around here and this site was perfect. Being from the UK, how do you know this stuff? You must really love your evergreens!
http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/Extension/pubtxt/for21.htm#Virg
Thank you, Resin

Been mad on conifers since I was knee-high to a grasshopper ;-)

Resin

Here is Pinus contorta 'Taylor's Sunburst' doing what it does best this morning in my garden. I love this tree!

Elizabeth

well worth the wait! very nice

Eliz, do you grow your Taylor Sunburst in full, full sun?
I have one which sunscorches badly.
I've heard they are less susceptible to sunscorch as they get older.
I hope so.

Edited to say, yours looks great!

This message was edited May 20, 2010 7:51 PM

Mine gets about 6 hours of sun on and off all day. Later afternoon it is in high dappled shade. That is just the layout of my garden, I don't really have "full sun" anywhere. My Picea orientalis 'Skylands' is quite green but I have a neighbor who killed hers with full sun. I attached a picture I took at the St. Louis botanical center last week of their 'Skylands' that I was very jealous of! Weerobin, you are awfully lucky to live in a city with such an amazing public garden.

I just planted my 'Taylor's Sunburst' in fall 2009 so it has not been though a full summer in my yard. However, the nursery where it lived from April 2009 until I bought it on clearance in fall had it in full sun all summer. It didn't have any scorch evident on it when I bought it.

Skylands is one of my favorite conifers.
So I was really crushed when my deer friends used it as the focal point of their annual October 'antler-rubbing' thing. It completely girdled the spruce, so all I have left is a golden apron.
I'm hoping it'll put up another leader, but I doubt it'll ever be the Skylands of my imagination.
Here's the poor guy... It's enough to break the heart of any coniferophile.

Edited to say that I agree, the Missouri Botanical Garden is truly fabulous.
I'm a big supporter of the garden, but don't go that often, because I'm always working in my yard.
A beautiful day to be at the MoBot is a beautiful day to be in my yard... A dilemma.

This message was edited May 22, 2010 8:40 AM

This is Chamaecyparis obtusa Filicoides Compacta, new this year. I'm pretty happy with it.

GG, looks great.
Most of my yard has become shady over the years,
so the only place for my conifers is down by the street.
I've put in several berms for conifers.
At first, they're pretty barren, but they fill in surprisingly quickly.
Here's a berm one or two years after being planted.

And here's one planted about 10 yrs ago.

Despite looking pretty barren at first, they fill in fast.
Sometimes, too fast.
I will plant them initially with what I thought was plenty of spacing.
Only to find them growing all over each other like sardines in a tin.

Very cool. How tall is each berm? I was thinking of trying one.

Just 3-4 feet, I would guess.
I just have a local mulch provider dump 20-30 cubic yards of 50/50 mulch / topsoil onto the site of the berm.

WeeRobin... Maybe you could take one of the uppermost branches of that Skylands pine and train it to grow upwards by "Wiring" that branch for about 6-8 months.

Oh, that looks terrible. Sorry, LOL, but you may have a very nice low growing, spreading shrub instead of an upright for awhile : )

My Pinus parviflora 'Hagarumo' is dying. On March 30 it looked great, the picture is at the beginning of this thread. Over the course of the last week it has taken an immediate and drastic turn for the worst and I have no idea what is causing it so much misery. It was pushing new growth and the candles looked great one week ago, then it started a rapid decline. All of the candles dried up, the whole tree just looks like it is drying out. Needles browning and falling off, the whole plant feels brittle. I am completely perplexed. No evidence of insect infestation and we've had adequate rainfall. Everything around it is doing well.

Conifer "sudden death" syndrome? I've never seen anything so apparently healthy just suddenly decline.

I'm thinking of digging it up to see if something is eating the roots, but there is still a few branches on the lower part of the plant that don't look too bad and I'm concerned that the shock of digging it up might be its death blow.

Anyone have any suggestions on what would move this quickly to kill a previously healthy conifer? This plant has been in my garden for over three years and never had an issue before now.

Elizabeth

Perhaps most likely girdled by colied roots from being potbound earlier in the nursery. Otherwise, perhaps toasted by a hot dry spell?

Resin

Resin, could it take three years for a conifer to die from coiled roots?

Iowa had plenty of wet weather and our only hot weather for the year so far has been the past three days. Hagarumo is one of the last surviving conifers from a large purchase in early 2007 from one nursery. From over a dozen conifers, there are about four left from that purchase. Most died within weeks of arrival. It was a bad combination of new to conifers (and gardening in general) and young tender stock that sat too long in a shipping box. This was one of the plants advertised as older so it could have had coiled roots when I planted it. I was just starting with conifers and knew just slightly more than nothing.

Yes, it can take that long - the roots gradually thicken with age, and constrict the stem eventually strangling it after a few years. That several plants from the same nursery suffered the same fate makes it even more likely (virtually 100% certain) that is the cause. And I bet they only offer a one-year guarantee for something that is their fault, too . . .

Resin

They didn't offer any guarantee, essentially said on their order form not to bother contacting them if anything died because it was the buyer's fault. I thought it was kind of funny when placing my order, because they had positive review from many people, but a lot less funny when I opened the box and saw what they had sent.

I'll dig it up today and see if root pruning helps. It sounds like I don't have much to lose.

Thanks again Resin.

I found a new nursery here in Maine, Carol's Collectibles, and I had a great time picking out conifers yesterday. Here are a few I bought and have managed to plant. This is Tsuga canadensis 'Jeddeloh'

This is Chamaecyparis lawsonia 'Elwoods Pillar'. Quite small and a very slow grower.

Last one for today, Juniperus communis 'Gold Cone'

If any of you recall from posts earlier in this thread, I have a pine which loses all it's needles every winter, essentially a deciduous pine. With Resin's help, I've decided it's a pinus palustris, which is marginally hardy for me, hence the needle loss every winter. I posted some shots earlier this spring of the needle emergence in earlier spring. Here's an updated photo from this past week of how it's coming along.

Nice pictures granite! One of my neighbors just added a few new conifers to her garden. I went to Iowa City Landscape two weeks ago and saw a few that were just gorgeous. She had been talking about wanting to add a few more to her landscape and I told her about what I saw. Of course she went out the next day and brought home the gems : )

Weerobin, I remember you telling us about that funny tree. It sure looks like an interesting one, I like the picture you posted.

Awwwe, that Pinus Palustris is sooo cute.

sciadopitys verticillata 'hange form'

a pendulous strain. finally kicking into gear....

Wow, that one is so cool too.

Anyone know of an online nursey in the U.S. that sells and ships Pine trees that only grow a short height? Like ones that won't grow super super tall, like maybe 15 foot and shorter?

There are lots of online sources for dwarf conifers.
Off the top of my head (and in no particular order), Coenosium Gardens, Girard's Nursery, Greer Gardens, Forest Farm, Arrowhead Alpines, RareFind Nursery, Rich's Foxwillow Pines.
I'm sure I've left out many others.
Keep in mind that ultimate height depends on the age of the tree as well as on growing conditions.
A dwarf pine that's happy can grown considerably bigger than it's advertised height,
esp as it gets older.
There are many beautiful choices...

This message was edited Jun 30, 2010 7:12 AM

Two of my favorite places to order from are Song Sparrow in Wisconsin and Dave's Nursery in New Jersey. You can check ratings of online nurseries at the Garden Watchdog.

Most places should be able to tell you the annual growth rate of plants. Each year conifers put out new grown that ranges from less than a quarter of an inch to several feet depending upon the species and cultivar.

Thank you so much, that was excellent info :]

Keep in mind that the size listed on most plant labels is the size of the plant at 10 years. Occasionally, the 15 year size will be used. Plants never stop growing, but with pines, you can candle them each spring to slow their growth.

Recently got a small Chamaecyparis obtusa Fernspray Gold that I like.

I don't think I've posted this one yet. It is Thuja occidentalis Danica. I expected the bronze tone on the tips to fade quickly, but so far, it is lingering.