What grows that "shouldn't"

The whole pitiful winterized thing.

Keep moist, slightly warm (but not hot!) and covered until they sprout. I had best luck with 3 pt soilless mix cut with 1 pt perlite. Fleuro Lights are the easiest place to do it, personally speaking. Fresher the seed, the faster, but years-old seed can still grow, I hear.
A packet of Brug seed is a potential forest in one year! Seedlings are a box o' chocolates, so if an individual doesn't perform well, chuck him in the compost!
K

These guy's mother is variegated, so they are albino. Unlike humans, albanism is certain death. Only one remains, and it's looking poorly... I strongly suggest forgetting the thought of variegated brugs from seed!

Oh, I cross-posted with even better advice! Nice brug, Shelly. What luck, a crinkled double from seed! I like the form of the one in the latter photo.

Here is the rockwool (I dont use now just a picture of it) and the container I use.

I don't use other mediums lest I get busy and forget the plants...

Sorry K! Great advice!

Here is the seed with the cork on

And here is a peeled seed on the right, and cork on the left.

I too only use soil now.



This message was edited Oct 11, 2006 10:41 AM

Cool. I don't think I will be keeping them long enough to see how they bloom. I am partly interested in getting them to germinate, and getting them big enough to trade for something I really need. Like more lilies.

I tried some stratified and non-scarified side-by side. Both were seed from the same pod, planted within minutes of eachother. Fresh seed. The corkless ones came up first, all at once. Unscarified one were later and sporadic.

Now, the tables may turn with older seed, but I can vouch that fresh seed germinates faster sans corky layer.

Lilium or Hemerocalls, GreenJ?

K

Another shouldn't grow here plant!

I nearly drove off the road when I passed this.
A pond cypress. Taxodium distichum. Yep, like you Louisianans and Texans (and even Illinoisians) are familiar with.
I talked to the homeowner, who thank goodness loves her tree (even though the neighbors don't).
I'm going to collect seed, it may just be a colorado-tolerant provenance!

Oh, mainly called BALD cypress.

This is a mature specimen at the university of Illinois' arboretum.

I have to wonder if one planted in CO next to a lake would be prettier than this one surrounded by asphalt?

(Interior of the above.)

re: Lilium or Hemerocalls (sic)

At this point either one. Lilies are harder for me to get locally.

Amazing to see that cypress. It is hard to understand why the owner's neighbors don't like it. Maybe the knees are coming up in their yards? Other than that, they are not a troublesome tree. The ones planted at the shores are about the same as far as I can tell, but it would be nice to see one in a park on the edge of a lake in Colorado. That is where one usually finds them in their native habitat, but my mother used to have a yard full of them, near New Orleans. They probably had a very high water table there, though. I have several at the farm. If you don't get seed from your friend, I will see if I can beat the squirrels to the seed at the farm.

This URL shows some old cypresses, of which few are left intact from logging. There are 3 pictures ( you have to scroll down to see them) in this article for what this tree could look like in 700 years. Note that one man is leaning on some cypress knees as tall as he is. These are not knees mowed by a lawnmower.

Your link didn't post, Betty.

The neighbours, she says, do not like the fine hard-to sweep needles in fall. Maybe they need to try an indoor/outdoor vacuum. Or they're just that odd breed of anti-tree... There were no knees to be seen when I looked on this sample in Grand Junction.
I did some reading on germinating them. It is entertaining that unlike most things that want cold-stratification to sprout, Cyruss want wet stratification! I'll be watchign them to collect seed, as the one sapling I have in a pot (from FL) is not enough!

There is also some dispute as to what the tree needs with the knees. It is assumed that they get oxygen in anaerobic soils. Others say they are part of the tree's support structure. All complicated by the fact that they seem to survive find without knees...
There was also lots of debate about ageing them, as they make false rings, giving bad data to previous surveys.
Aren't plants fascinating? Stupefying, too, apparently...

Greenjay- Hemerocallis: Breeders have tons of surplus seed, and many will bloom their first year. Lilium collecting has more to do with one's pocketbook, eh? Available but relatively expensive.

Oh, I nearly forgot the most interesting thing I read about them. Someone reported that somehwere in Russia (there are som obvious limitations...) someone hybridized Sequioa with Taxodium! Neat, eh? Then realise that the Chinese redwood Metasequioa(one of three kinds of redwood in the world, not counting bald cypruss) is extremely similar to cypruss in many ways...
I wonder if this rumoured russian hybrid is deciduous or evergreen? (or Semievergreen?)
K

Sorry! Here is the link. You have to scroll down a bit to catch all three of the pictures but these cypruses are a few that escaped logging, apparently.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5676344/

When I googled bald cypress, I read in another link that they need an inch of water a week for the first 3 years of their lives. The person who planted the Colorado one must have really treated it with loving care at first. The cross in Russia sounds very interesting. The Sequoia and the Bald Cypress have to be two of the most magnificent trees on Earth for their size, their majesty, and their wood, though it is such a shame to ever cut one down.
Cypress wood is the color of honey and makes lovely furniture. When I was a kid, my father made all of my bedroom furniture out of cypress -- before the ban on cutting cypress trees or even knees for any reason in Louisiana. Now the only way to get cypress wood in Louisiana is to get old cypress wood from old buildings or if you are really lucky find one of the old logs sunken in the bayous where they were originally cut. The wood sinks and does not rot, which accounts for its value. They lost some huge old logs in the bayou and every now and then some lucky person finds them. They are often 6 or 7 ft. in diameter.

Great pictures in that, Thanks Betty.
That Cross in russia is looking more like a rumour and many not be true.

I recently saw the film, All the Kings Men about Huey P. Long. The film is okay, not fabulous, but the pictures or cypress swamps are out of this world. Nice pictures of live oaks as well. If you can spare the time, I recommend it on the grounds of great botanical scenery. ( The problem is that Sean Penn doesn't make a very good southerner.)

Hard to act like one unless you growd up there. ; )

Yes, vadap, I agree. Sean Penn didn't cut the accent or in my view even the feeling of Huey P. Long. On the other hand he played a good character, just not Huey P. Long. On the other hand, Anthony Hopkins made a great old Southern judge. They should have found a different actor for the Kingfish.
But I really enjoyed the scenery.

Southern x Sweetbay Hybrid Magnolia, chugging along yet.

Kenton,
I might have to have one of those. Has it been through a winter yet?
Betty

Kenton,
I was looking for the Magnolia above in Forest Farm and found this. Is it the same thing? Magnolia virginiana 'Moonglow' SWEETBAY MAGNOLIA? It sounds very tough from the Forest Farm description.
Betty

It says it's zone 5 in the description -- but how much water does it need?

More than a Spruce, say, but not a ton. Deep amendment and mulch will help it get to water in the winter when it needs it most. Still, such an evergreen tree is not dead if it does defoliate.

I planted it March of 2005. I made a real mistake by trimming it, gads. The things we learn, though...
Man I was stupid!

My bad science figuring was this: That the tree would be less stressed and be able to recover better if I reduced the amount of leaf/stem that the roots had to support when they experienced transplant shock. True, but:

The real science: Those branches would supply the energy to regrow the roots faster in response to the stress. Plus, I didn't damage a huge chunk of root mass anyhow. It takes a lot of root-volume removal to warrant a hard trimming like that. And even then, a person is probably best just to remove only leaves to reduce transpiration temporarily.
Gads....

Anyhow, it is a cross, Betty and Green: Magnolia virginiana x Magnolia grandiflora. This particular version of that cross is mistakenly sold as a pure grandiflora cultivar. It was called 'Monland' by the hybirdizer (there are other flavours of the same cross available) in homage to a land that certain asian natives have hoped for and never had... but off that tangent: For purposes of saleability, it was sub-named "Timeless Beauty" or some such. Monrovia offers it nationwide, your local garden center could probably get it.

It has bloomed. Yep. Classic white things. If they open in the heat of summer, they are often crinkled and don't last more than a day or two. I have never gotten a picture of a good flower (not quite a foot wide, I think) but when I was off traveling somewhere, it bloomed a perfect bloom for my friend, so I should ask if she still has that picture...

GreenJ, there is a specimen of a Mag. grandiflora 'Braken's Brown Beauty' at the W CO botanical that I've been watching, as it has gone without water for some bad parts of the summer, and reacted better than say, a maple. So figure on the water needs of a maple or spruce. (Winter watering if it's dry, you know all about that...)

On that: For anyone intereted in an evergreen Magnolia, I think that Mag. grandiflora cultivars take drought and dry air better. It's not scientific, but a hunch. M. virginiana is just as hardy, but the virginiana (sweetbay) species is known to be unreliable about evergreeness- (some indivuduals are, others are semi. Some individuals have multiple trunks, others have one...) There is a cultivar that is supposed to be evergreen and tougher called 'Northern Lights.' It's still a pretty plant worth a try.

M. grandiflora leaves feel tougher, are more rigid and glossy. This species is more widely know to tolerate alkaline and clay soil. (Westerner's ears perk up...) Plus, there are some much tougher cultivars out there for M. grandiflora. One is aptly named "Twenty-four Below." No joke, this cultivar took a -24 winter well in Knoxville, TN. (I saw a lovely specimen of it in Northern Illinois) More available ones "Edith Bogue" (also known to have taken -24F, considered teh hardiest) and "Braken's Brown Beauty" (-20F) are pretty dang tough too, I saw them sold in zone 5a/4b Kansas.
There is one I've only read about in cold trials called 'Little Gem,' being a slow grower with a 15' ceiling, and blooming young.

The hybrids between the above two (like mine, 'Monland') are new. Some people say that a few of the hybrids are as hardy as anything, but it is too early to tell. The most popular hybrid is called "Maryland," so look for it and become part of the experiment!

I do blather on...
(K)

blather away!

I would love to have magnolias and dogwoods and redbuds. But there is that small matter of water consumption. This one looks promising perhaps if I put it on the edge of one of the aras earmarked to remain KBG lawn for recreational purposes.

Thanks for all your blather. It was really great to hear the story of magnolias vs. the weather. I thought the picture of your magnolia bud was quite nice. Oh dear, I am going to have to find yet another spot for a tree in my yard. Broad leaf evergreens are just magnificent. You know, I bet the deer don't like them either. Leaves are rather tough.

Greenjay, go for one of the Deciduous Mags for low-water. I've seen Mag. soulangeana so mistreated (underwatered) yet still clicking along nicely. There is a champion-tree runner-up of that near the college here. A real sight to behold in the spring... unless we get a late frost and the whole thing becomes a hanging art peice featuring what appear to be dirty brown rags...

The last three years running we have had late frost and/or late snow that ruined the cherry blossoms -- do they bloom the same time as the magnolia here?

The Mag soulangeana probably bloom before the cherries...
There are some (clever breeders, eh?) late-blooming hybrids out now. 'Yellow butterflies,' 'Elizabeth,' 'Jane' 'Randy,' 'Vulcan,' and a bunch of others. Plus, they are a bit more apt to rebloom a bit in the summer. They are showing up in garden centers thesedays.

Thanks for the tip on Magnolias. Is Magnolia soulangeana disiduous?

I'm going to stay away from magnolia I think. My challenges this year will be mainly getting stumps cleared and planting beds in order. And starting seeds for about 2000 plants. Nothing too big.

I am so pleased that you are taking it easy this year. I might consider a magnolia, though.

Hey up, all. I found out by smelling them one night from downstairs (they are upstairs) that my brugs are blooming. I have an unnamed orange (nicer shape) and 'Jamaica Yellow' (nicer fragrance). They are strategically near my bed.
Sunday:

The orange thing is most endearing. I removed all of its leaves and literally pulled it out of the ground with my hand around it's trunk, then potted it in a little pot, and here it blooms away.

Looking up into that one.