Conifers: What are you growing?

Well we nature boys in Michigan childhood would call it a Red Pine. Pinus Rubella. HAHA

I got lucky is about all I can say. Little information is available on the Internet. That took me well over an hour to come up with P. pinceana and it was more a shot in the dark based on the process of elimination. I was not able to find any photos that matched up to those you posted and went almost exclusively on written descriptions. Some written descriptions were professional as were those at the link I posted above but many I found to be far too subjective.

Evidently, I am not the only one who has never been taught how to go about IDing conifer species properly. Would you be in a position to start a different thread for the purpose of walking those who are interested through the process by using detailed photos? I can go out and take detailed photos of some conifers around me but you've probably got an arsenal of images. To be quite honest with you, you stated long retention of juvenile needles was a clue but I don't know what short retention of juvenile needles is and could find no reference to same. I am familiar with the associations of many species in habitat but am not capable of IDing a plant that might not belong in say a dune environment of wave cut cliffs along Lake Michigan.

Here is the list of evergreens that I am growing. I'm sure not all are correct but the best I could do.
Abies lasiocarpa
Abies procera nobilis, one of my favorites, beautiful shape
Abies Fraseri
Abies lasiocarpa, var. Arizonica
Cedrus Port Orford Cedar
Chamaecyparis lawsonia Oregon Blue
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis pendula, Alaska Cedar
Chamaecyparis obtusa
Chamaecyparis pisifera Boulevard
Chamaecyparis squarrosa nana
Chamaecyparis obtusa Slender Hinoki Cypress
Cryptomeria jjaponica Black Dragon
Juniper squamata Blue Star
Juniper scopulorum Skyrocket
Junipers chinensis San Jose
Juniperus Hillside Spire
Juniperus atlantica pendula (maybe Cedrus atlantica)
Juniperus rigida pendula
Juniperus scopulorum Silver Candleabra
Juniperus scopulorum Tolleson's Blue Weeping
Juniperus Blue Rug, grafted standard weeping
Microbiata decussata
Picea amorika Serbian Spruce
Picea orientalis, Oriental Spruce
Picea concours
Picea glauca Colorado Blue Spruce, Fat Albert
Picea glauca conica Dwarf Alberta Spruce
Picea pungens glauca, Blue spruce, Chatham Hill
Pinus koraiensis Silveray
Pinus mugo Gnom
Pinus Ponderosa
Pinus strobes Eastern White Pine
Pruns densiflora oculis Draconis, Dragon's Eye Pine
Taxus x media 'Densiforma' Yew
Taxus x media, baccata Pilaris 'Beanpole'
Thuga occidentalis Aurea
Thuga plicata Stoneham Gold
Thuja occidentalis filiformus, grafted standard
Thuja occidentalis smaragd Emerald 'Goldie'
Thuja plicata Zebrina
Tsuga Canadensis pendula Sargent's Weeping
Tsuga Canadensis
Tsuga Canadensis Gentsch's White

And several with missing lables

DonnaS

Here's the conifers I have:

Species:
Abies fraseri - 1980
J. virginiana - indigenous
Larix decidua - 1994, bonsai's
Larix russica – 1994, bonsai’s
Microbiota decussata - 1985
Picea asperata – 1986
P. crassifolia – 2000
P. meyeri – 2000
P. pungens – 1976
P. glauca – 1976
Pinus contorta var. latifolia – 2000
P. flexilis - 1992
P. peuce - 1998
P. ponderosa - 2002
P. sibirica – 2000
Taxodium distichum - 2005
Thuja koraiensis – 1997
Thuja occidentalis – Northern Minnesota genotype
Tsuga canadensis – wild genotype from outlier population, Central Minnesota

Cultivars:
Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifera Nana’ – 1980
C. p. ‘Glauca Pendula’ – 2000
C. p. Snow cultivariant – 1985
C. p. ‘Squarrosa Lutea’ – 1985
C. p. ‘Filifera Aurea’ – 1986
C. p. ‘Minima’ – 1985
C. p. ‘Sulphurea’ – 1986
C. p. ‘Filifera Variegata’ – 1988
C. p. Mini variegated - 2000
Juniperus scopulorum ‘Holden Arboretum’ - 1989
J. chinensis ‘Espansa Variegata’ - 1988
J. sabina ‘Variegata’ - 1988
Larix decidua ‘Pendula’ -1998
L. kaempheri ‘Wolterdingen’ - 2003
P. abies ‘Kellerman’s Blue Cameo’ - 2003
P. a. ‘Parsonii’ –1984
P. omorika ‘Treblitzch’ – 2004
Pinus parviflora ‘Hime Goo Matsu’ - 2005
P. strobus broom seedling – 1995
P. s. ‘Densa’ - 2003
P. s. ‘Wintergold’ - 1995
Taxus x media ‘Maureen’ - 2004
Thuja occidentalis ‘Degroot Spire’ – 1992
T. o. ‘Filiformis’ – 2004, thanks Mike
T. o. ‘Pumila Sudworth’ – 1985
T. o. ‘Sherwood Frost’ – 1993
T. o. ‘Snow Tip’ – 2003
T. o. ‘Spiralis’ – 1983
T. o. ‘Techny’ – 1993
T. o. ‘Wareana’ – 1998
T. o. ‘Wareana Lutescens’ – 1999
T. o. ‘Winona’ – 2000
T. plicata ‘Cuprea’ – 1985
Tsuga canadensis ‘Jeddeloh’ - 1987

Your lists are enviable :) We only have 4 years of collecting under our belts ;)

Chamaecyparis lawsonia Oregon Blue
Chamaecyparis obtusa Slender Hinoki Cypress
Cryptomeria jjaponica Black Dragon
Picea amorika Serbian Spruce
Picea engelmannii
Picea glauca Colorado Blue Spruce, Fat Albert
Picea glauca conica Dwarf Alberta Spruce
Pinus contorta 'Taylor's Sunburst'
Pinus mugo
Pinus Ponderosa
Pinus thunbergii
Sciadopitys verticillata - Japanese Umbrella Pine
Thuga occidentalis Aurea
Thuja plicata 'Whipcord'
Tsuga Canadensis pendula Sargent's Weeping
Tsuga Canadensis
Tsuga Canadensis Gentsch's White

We really like the Pinus contorta Taylors Sunburst in the late spring :)

Dea

Most of these were rooted over last winter and are spending their first winter out in the cold. The Calocedrus and Pines were grown from seed.
Calocedrus decurrens
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Alumni’
Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Crispii'
Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Blue feather’
Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Gracilis Aurea”
Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘squarrosa’
Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘filifera aurea’
Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘sulphera nana’
Cryptomeria japonica 'Sekkan Sugi'
Juniperus chinensis
Juniperus communis ‘oblongo pendula’
Microbiota decussata
Pinus bungeana
Pinus koraiensis
Thuja standishii
Thuja x ‘Green Giant’
Thujopsis dolobrata

Tim

Nice Cham. pis. 'Sulphurea'(I think), Tim. I originally bought mine under 'Sulphuriana Nana'. But I have since found there is no such thing, and it is Sulphurea. My 19 year old is now 7 feet.

Barring large, stately species, few things can beat Taylor's Sunburst in the "Wow factor" category.

And you made me remember I also have some 25 year old species Picea omorika. And I "found" my 15 year old Sciadopitys verticillata again last summer. Still limping along. Oh ya, and . . .

Looks like we do have a bunch of coniferaphiles here at DG. Take that, you deciduous devotees.

Rick

And I am a turncoat deciduous coniferaphile! Larix and Taxodium my comrades...

Why, JamesDean, you must make the troika with this one:

I keep coming back to Cryptomerias. My first was Sekkan Sugi, but then I found one that the nursery called 'Crested Cryptomeria' which has new growth that looks like the flowers on Celosia (kinda looks like a brain or a ridge or something). It's a little contorted, and just beautiful.

My most recent acquisition is Cryptomeria auracaroides (someone thought it looked like a Monkey Puzzle tree, I guess) with a very open habit. I've never seen a big one -- mine is about 3' tall.

I have another that the nursery was about to dump because they thought it looked to weird, but I don't know its name. It looks a little like an afro on a stick at this point. It is supposed to turn yellow in the winter, but mine is just starting to do that.

My other favorite for this winter is a 'Wates Golden' Pinus virginiana. It's bright yellow all winter, and stands out against all of the greys and browns of the season.

Nice pic VV.

I can't tell if the branches are opposite (Metasequoia) or alternate (Taxodium) from the pic, but the general outline of the tree leads me to believe that it's a Metasequoia.

I was surprised to see that my Juniperus pingii (in a pot) is still going strong. No winter burn at all and I have read that this plant is a zone 7 plant, or something along those lines. We have had a VERY mild winter so far with a low of only -13°F. I also have the pot for this plant sunk on the sheltered east side of my house, so that may explain its survival so far. I have a concolor fir in the same area that does not look too good, however. I'll have to wait and see what happens this spring, if the tree survives.
Mike

Nice Metasequoia, VV!

Mike - going by its native range, some origins of Juniperus pingii should be zone 5, but it could be you got lucky with the mild winter. It'll also be OK if you can keep it under snow cover during very cold spells.

Aha, that was the third genus I couln't recall. Troika indeed, Virile Vermin. Does anyone have seed to spare of Metasequoia? Before I die, I want to outgrow the sad-looking specimen on the college campus here.
K. James

It's a darn shame that that's all the more view I have when I'm sitting in my office at work. You'd think I'd at least get to ponder park design while looking at, say, a Taxodium ascendens. Wait, sorry, there's a couple of them, too.

There are still cones on this dawn redwood and it's weather-worn partner, but I doubt that seeds are still in them. I'll check Monday a.m.

We all want to know: how come no enterprising Boston-area propagator has named a clone Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Doug Flutie'?

Another view of this specimen in Creason Park, Louisville KY, with people for scale.

This message was edited Feb 25, 2006 5:24 PM

Hi Resin,
How hardy is Glyptostrobus? The first 4 deciduous conifers, in your list, are growing here in Minnesota, but I have a feeling that the genus Glyptostrobus is anything but hardy? Any chance that Glyptostrobus could survive -32°C (-25°F)?
Thanks,
Mike

Hi Mike,

Somewhere close to no chance at all, or a bit less. I'd not rate its chances below about -20°C

Resin

JamesCo,
I ordered seed of Metasequoia from F. W. Schumacher seeds. Schumacher has $3.00 trial packets of all of their seed available and that's all the home gardener would ever need.

I have had very good results from their seed. I'll post a picture of the seedlings that I have from the seed of Syringa pekinensis and Pinus contorta var. contorta, tomorrow. I need to take the picture in natural light or the flash will wash out the photo.

Here is a link to their web site:

http://www.treeshrubseeds.com/

Mike

Thanks, Resin, that's what I thought. I like to take chances by growing plants out-of-zone, but even that is a bit too risky for me. (:o)
Thanks, again,
Mike
(Wow, you're up late! It's almost 2 am there, isn't it?)

I have ordered from Schumacher before. That's a nice company to deal with. I got a high germination rate from their seed too.

Thanks for the Schumacher link!

My word! My few conifers put me to shame! I have :

Thujas occidentalis
Juniperus virginiana ( 2 in our yard -many in our woods! )
Juniperus chinensis 'Hetzii'
Juniperus chinensis 'Pfitzeriana (5)
Picea pungens var. glauca
Pinus echinata
Tsuga canadensis
Taxus cuspidata 'Hicksi' (2)
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Taxodium distichum
Ginkgo biloba

Several of my attempts didn't make it ;

Leyland Cypress
Pseudotsuga menziesii ( P. douglasii)
Cedrus libani
Sequoiadendron giganteum ( It might have made it if a neighbor's run-away fire hadn't got it ! )

Thanks for the Schumacher link. (Echoooo)
K. James

Marian, I wouldn't say shameful at all. And notice none of us was brave enough to list our failures.

Rick

P.S. In my younger years I lost many a tree to Dad's marauding mower. I even lost a 6 foot Alnus glutinosa 'Imperialis' to such a fate. (Okay, that wasn't a conifer.)

Here's a list of the "furry friends" that I'm currently growing.

Species:
Abies balsamea(Canaan Valley WV varities) Tucker & Randolph Co's
A. bornmuelleriana
A. cephalonica
A. chensiensis
A. cilicica
A. concolor
A. delavayi
A. georgei
A. fargesii
A. firma
A. fraseri
A. grandis
A. holophylla
A homolepis
A. koreana
A. nephrolepis
A. nordmanniana
A. pindrow
A. recurvata
A. veitchii

And I should add "with varying degrees of success"

conifer50

Wow, a fir fetish!

Boy, an Abies man in the heat of Georgia. It's always the difficult ones that we want to grow.

Hello Everybody! Just signed up...

My list (some are in pots):

Dax

Dax’s Plant list 2005 (an * indicates the plant is large enough to propagate)

Conifers;
*Abies koreana ‘Silver Show’
*Abies koreana ‘Silberlocke’
Abies veitchii ‘Pendula’
Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Compacta Variegata’
Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Gold Dust’
*Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Golden Sands’
*Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Juniperoides Aurea’
*Juniperus x media ‘Daubs Frosted’
*Juniperus Scopulorum ‘Snow Flurries’
*Juniperus communis ‘Arnoldia’
Juniperus communis ‘Berkshire’
*Juniperus communis ‘Gold Cone’
*Larix decidua ‘Lanark’
*(maybe…still small yet)Larix gmelinii ‘Rhomberg Park’
*Metasequoia glyptostroboides
*Picea orientalis ‘Aurea Compacta’ aka 'Skylands'
Picea abies ‘Acrocona Pusch’
*Picea abies ‘Jacobsen’
*Picea abies ‘Hildburghausen’
*Picea abies ‘Formanek’
*Picea engelmannii ‘Compact’
*Picea engelmannii ‘Bush’s Lace’
*Picea glauca ‘Arneson’s Blue Variegated’
*Picea glauca 'Rainbow's End'
*Picea glauca ‘Sander’s Blue’
*Picea glauca ‘Pendula’
*Picea mariana ‘Aureovariegata’
*Picea pungens ‘Viola’
Picea pungens ‘Glauca Procumbens’
Pinus banksiana ‘Angel’
Pinus koraiensis ‘Winton’
Pinus leucodermis ‘Schmidtii’
Pinus mugo ‘Marand’
Pinus mugo ‘Winter Sonne’
Pinus nigra ‘Globosa’
*Pinus nigra ‘Morris W.B.’
*Pinus nigra ‘Walter’
*Pinus parviflora ‘Fukai’
Pinus parviflora ‘Hagaromo’
Pinus parviflora ‘Ko-Ku-Ho’
Pinus parviflora ‘Ogon Janome’
Pinus parviflora ‘Pent. Azuma’
*Pinus parviflora ‘Yatsubusa’
Pinus pumilla ‘Na #20397’
*Pinus resinosa ‘Fastigiata’
Pinus strobus ‘Golden Candles’
Pinus strobus ‘Green Shadow’
Pinus strobus ‘Hershey’
Pinus strobus ‘Merrimack’
*Pinus strobus ‘Northway’
*Pinus strobus ‘Planting Field’
Pinus strobus ‘Shaggy Dog’
*Pinus strobus ‘Trautmann’
*Pinus sylvestris ‘Argentea Compacta’
*Pinus sylvestris ‘Hillside Creeper’
*Pinus sylvestris ‘Becon Hill’
*Pinus sylvestris ‘Little Brolly’
Pinus uncinata ‘Aries 14 WB’
Pinus uncinata ‘Popelka #23 WB’
Pseudotsuga menziesii ‘Powell Dhone’
*Thuja occidentalis ‘Emerald Variegated’
*Thuja occidentalis ‘Malonyana’ (2)
Thuja occidentalis ‘Malonyana Aurea’
Thuja occidentalis ‘Degroot’s Spire’
Tsuga canadensis ‘Gentsch’s White’ (2)

Also I have these plants at another garden:
Conifers at Friends and other plants
Pinus sylvestris ‘Fastigiata’
Picea glauca ‘Pendula’
Juniperus communis ‘Tage Lundell’
Fagus sylvatica ‘Tortulosa’
*Picea pungens ‘Fastigiata’
*Picea abies f. ‘Pendula’/ ‘Reflexa’

***With more on order!*** and lots grafted and cuttings in the greenhouse!***

One of my favorite cultivars: Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns' - Bickelhaupt Arboretum

conifer, where are you ordering from???? You have some really interesting varieties I'd love to get.

That Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns' you photographed looks spectacular.

With all these lists people are posting and the photos, I now have conifer envy. I think I am going to get a few more species for around here.

Electrotonus:

Sorry, not indigenous and not even close. May even need to be on a watch list now, since without you even owning one they've had an intrusive infectious inculcative effect.

We might have to spray you so you don't end up like this:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=1496059

Oh slave of Quercus, she is not the only one on watch lists around here. Your beloved v's have been getting a bad rap as you grovel at the four feet of your master. Nanook

Hey, Dax,

Welcome!!!

It's good to see you here. This is a great place to sit for a spell and take a load off, so to speak. A great group of people, many from GW, are now hanging their hat here. Now that I think about it, I need to renew my membership as my due-date is getting close.

I think you will love it here at Dave's as much as I do (and everyone else, too).

Sit down, take your hat off, grab a cup of coffee (or your preferred beverage) and start reading and writing.

I still have a Metasequoia for you, dude, and I'm just waiting for the weather to get warm enough to ship it to you. It will probably be late April or early May before I ship the tree.

Mike
(Greenthumb on GardenWeb)

Oh V V, I certainly don't need to be spayed... that's why we "ordered" our children. Want to borrow one? Some are older now and all the hard work is done. And are you sitting down for this one... our boys ARE better behaved than our dogs.

Now V V, I said I thought his/her conifer was spectacular. I meant it when I typed it. I really liked the way its lower boughs draped around the base like a vintage lace table cloth. I also thought the top of the tree being slightly tipped was absolutely wonderful because it reminded me of a Christmas video I saw called "The Little Crooked Christmas Tree" which was a tale of a little Christmas Tree that grew crooked from bending its branches around to protect a gentle dove and her nestlings. The misshapen trunk stopped the tree from being cut down at Christmas time. I didn't say I was going to plant one like what he/she has but I sure do love the looks of his/her tree for personal reasons. I'm not too up on conifers as in hardly at all. I know a few are proving to be problem children around here but that's only because they were pointed out to me and when I began taking notice, sure enough there were escapees all over the place. I just ordered seed to NA Pinus sylvestris from Sheffields and I am trying to locate NA northern seed to P. banksiana, P. rigida, P. strobus, and Larix laricina. Keep the faith V V... I must admit I did buy a few exotic Hydrangea recently though so slap my hands silly if you wish but I can't find anything indicating they are problematic and I'm not seeing them in natural areas so hopefully I don't end up ripping them out of the ground at some point in time. There, did I redeem myself or dig a deeper hole?

One thing about Dax, he has a superb collection of conifer photos. Most of the photos that he has taken are uploaded to the conifer society web site. I believe that the conifer society web site will have all of Dax's photos marked and credited to
Dax.
Mike

May I have a link to the Conifer Society web site please?

www.conifersociety.org

Oh Ken, check this Cedrus deodara 'Aurea' out-
http://www.conifersociety.org/cs/modules.php?op=modload&name=coppermine&file=displayimage&album=random&cat=0&pos=-28

What a beauty!

Heya Mike! I'm ready to sit back and chillllllll.

You guys are all welcome to visit the link on my profile here. I've linked my photobucket account which has 467 Conifer photos I think. My old man told me to put all my photos on CD to free my computer of storage and speed it up, so today since I joined here at Daves Garden I realized that life is much simpler and I can upload directly from the computer...Well! I decided to try and put 'back' all my photos and you all won't believe this, but, as I watched the digits get up to that 467 number, the photos all appeared without names! ...Now I gotta go back and rename every single one! lol

What a screwball affair... I got the time though.

The other option is that I simply use the CD's but then... no photos show up, just names and that doesn't always help and I won't even try to explain why, it just doesn't. Oh well, life must go on!

The ACS can simply be accessed with a google search for the American Conifer Society. Check out the British Conifer Society as well. Striking collections of photos.

I've got the capacity for over 1800 photos on one of my memory cards plus the one that came with the camera, plus my moms card......I will take that many photos while visiting the Gotelli Collection this Spring. Those of course (photos) will also be added into the ACS Database. I've already noticed The British Conifer Society has some of my photos as well...

All the better I say. It's my goal with the help of other like-minded folks such as all of you to make the Databases as loaded as we can get them.

Looking forward to that Metasequoia Mike! For those of you who might not have seen a photo of Mike's Dawn Redwood, it's of the most perfect shape of any I've seen yet. He really got lucky with his purchase. I remember he bought it at a trade show as a plug. Anyway, it's one in a million. My Mom will be pleased to have his clone.

I'm out of room here, but have plans to sell soon (my home). The better the deal, the more conifers I'll have to plant!

Thanks for the warm welcome,

Regards,

Dax