What's the best or favorite Linear leaf JM?

I'm thinking of adding one of these to my selection and I have no preconceived ideas of what I want. Can some of you share your thoughts with me?

Thanks

Koto No Ito
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/84947/

Villa Taranto
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/85056/

Ohhh, thanks Doss. I didn't realize Vila Taranto was a lance leaf. I've been lusting after that one for awhile!

Koto No Ito, looks strange to me, do you have it?

Well, I guess you do, or you wouldn't have pictures of it in the Plant Files! It looks better from a distance than up close.

Koto no Ito is really beautiful. It's a real attention grabber - everyone notices it and wants to touch it. If you want fall and spring color Villa Taranto wins. If you want a beautiful leaf form, Koto no Ito wins. If I had to only have one I'd choose Koto no Ito. Koto no Ito looks a little strange because the leaves that are first year growth look different from the older leaves which are thinner but this is what gives it most of it's texture. My least favorite thing about Koto no Ito is that it tends to hold onto it's last year's leaves.

We have an oak like that...drives me crazy!

I'll have to figure out if I need green or red. I do love that Vila Taranto though...

Then get a Villa Taranto! It doesn't stay red all through the summer.

Doss, you are such an enabler.

I think you asked???? LOL But, yes. When it comes to beautiful plants I'm an enabler.

LOL! Yes I did!! Now I can tell the DH that Doss told me to do it!

I have a small Villa Taranto and have seen some older ones, and love it! I also drool over Doss' photos of her Koto No Ito.

Laura

All Linearlobums are nice IMHO... The Villa is a very pretty plant ...so is tthe Koto no ito. I can only speak of one the seems "officially" hardy and that is the Beni otaki. Mine is planted out and is an outstanding tree in every right and seems to be particularly hardy. My villa in a pot now does seem to have winter die back and seems ,for me to have late flushes , which is not good for your zone unless potted out the leaves seem to not be as linearlobum as many such cultivars at least at times they are a bit thick ... I have two and one from out east does have thinner leaves. Sclopendrifolium is also completly hardy ( for me) and is an excitiong green beauty... no winter die back justy as the beni does not but Beni is red.. Atrolinier is also hardy in my experience . Generally speaking most linearlobums are hardier than many other JM's for some reason and can withstand some sun and wind...another good one is Hubbs Red Willow. For your first Lineariobum ( if it is your first) I wouldn't pick the the Villa but it is a must have tree..at some point. I just think for your area it might be better to pick a tree that is a bit more buffed up ... David

Thanks David. I'll look those up!

My favorite linearilobum is Koto Ito Komachi.
But I haven't seen it offered for many years, so it must have fallen off the planet.
It's an even finer textured linearilobum than Koto No Ito.
I agree w/ David that the linearilobum's apparently are hardier than they look,
since mine survived last year's devastating frost. (I won't say unscathed, however.)
Below is a fall picture of mine before the frost injury.
It will be a few years before it redevelops a nice form.

Oh, that is beautiful, Weerobin. What time of year was that picture taken?

November.
I can't give you a great current picture, since it's really in recovery phase from last year's frost injury.
Young leaves are typically more palmate, while the older leaves are amazingly threadlike.
Because of all the new growth, the leaves are currently much broader than usual.
I'll patiently wait for it to recover.

My Koto ito komachi is also nice ...it is though a small tree ( mine is more bush - like) and a slow grower great for a smaller area of your garden ...It will revert so you have to watch that especially in rich soil or when in stress . this year mine looks perfect last year it survived the freeze, mostly under cover ( but that made little differnce with other trees mostly dissectums that succumed .) but last year many leaves were large and not fine like they should be ( many JM's had deformed and abnormal shaped leaves from that stressful event and many linearlobums had much wider leaves than normal... since it was injured I let it be and was surpried that it is true to form this year but there are occasional larger leaves that appear and should be cut off and branches that do same. ...Overall it is a surprisingly nice plant just watch for reversion althouigh it will then be a small Koto no ito which is not a bad thing although not what you paid for ;>) It is still available several places but not everywhere i think the reversion part has turned growers off on it and it often being too close to Koto no ito although smaller. David

This message was edited Jun 24, 2008 12:11 AM

This message was edited Jun 24, 2008 9:29 AM

Weerobin, was that picture taken in Springtime or Fall?

David, do you have a picture of yours?

Joycet, it's a shot of late fall (November).

Just gorgeous...I looked on line, but I can't find one for sale. :o(

I just looked at mine and it now is showing alot of larger reverted leaves ...it may be in too fertile of an area...If I were you I would just go with Koto no ito if you like that tree ...it is available lots of places rasonably and supposedly both hardy and will be similar to what you might eventually get with the komachi anyway ;>) David

My koto no ito also takes a lot of sun without burn. You would think that with the narrow leaves that wouldn't be true but it's quite wonderful.

It is surprising isn't it mine don't either..although my Beni otaki did last year but it was both brutal long lasting and had survivrd the freeze.and as I have said even trees in partial or filtered shade got burnt!!!.. I think overall they take sun wind and cold better than every other leaf form ..that being said Doss i wouldn't put your Fairy Hair out in sun ;>) ...with those micro linearilobums it is quite a differnt story and that is the trend with this leaf form that started with the Komachi ... tring to get finer and finer...maybe their theory is eventually they will develope this leaf form that is invisabile to the naked eye now that would be a real novelty;>) ( if not senseless ) but the fary Hair is fine enough for me and real cool!!!!! David

My Fairy Hair is sitting under a big oak and only gets dappled sunlight which I figure should be enough for it. It seems to be doing fine. I think that potted trees need less sun anyway. My Koto no Ito is in the ground.

My koto ito komachi also doesn't burn in nearly full sun.

I think the larger palmate leaves on my tree aren't reversions,
but just immature leaves.
They revert to their narrow shape w/ maturity, at least for me.
I have two pretty large trees (6 feet or so), about 10 yrs old, without any difficulty w/ reversion.

Mine does well in sun too but the larger leaves are throughout the growing season . Eastwoods cd says it does revert...yours are older closer to the original so they may be less prone to this .grafting and regrafting often changes a cultivar over time.But I will say neither yours or mine looks even remotely close to the Vertrees originally hybredized specimen in his book... which is actually more like the Fairy Hair. Which gives more creedence that this plant is changing with time and what Eastwoods says is true. So I stand by my suggestion to go with the Koto No Ito ...especially since it's a moot point to consider the Komachi sinec it is rarely available as i said likely because of this reversion occurring..It is hard to sell a plant to anyonne into JM's if it really isn't remotly like what vertrees has pictured . That makes your or my tree any less pretty or cool or worthy of collection or what ever but that seems to be the reality of this culivar it may be just too close to the Koto no ito in it's current form for nuseries to have both. david

That's interesting, David. I guess I'm glad I got mine when I did.
Do you have a mature Koto no ito?
Does it evolve into a upright tree form, or does it stay as a bush?
My Koto ito komachi's seem determined to become trees.

Mine is definitly a bush ...no central leader is evident. I was surprised to see the many larger leaves since until a couple weeks ago it was true to form ...as i said it may be to fertile we are in one of the richest soil area in the world here high nitro dark black earth. If I ever get time I will get da wife to take a jpeg she is taking jpegs of them all one by one ... for a web site I am having put together... since it is small and full it should show ok ... mine is in it's third summer and was 4 years old when I got it ...It has nice caliper trunk but only about 1' high and wide...It seems to be a slow grower ... The Koto no ito is a somewhat larger tree ..eastwoods saus 7-12ft . Vertrees first developed this he had to move it to more vigerous RS since it grew in very small cent. pr year like the Fairy Hair but even then it was a very slow grower barely gainming any size he considered it a VERY small dwarf... the eastwoods cd says 3-7' vertrees does not give a size but implies it is very short. ... eastwoods says their komachi's are indistingishable from the Koto no ito... I think it is likely this tree no longer exists in it's original form and it is likely neither of us has a true Koto ito komachi... That being said who really cares... they are both nice trees whatever they are.. david

Here's a photo of my Koto no Ito. It's about 9 feet tall now.

Boy, that sure looks like my Koto ito Komachi (at least, like mine used to look like). I wouldn't be able to tell them apart.
Your's is beautiful, Doss. I'm not sure if mine will recove their form after the frost injury last year.
Mine are about the same height as yours, but the regrowth is clustered along the stem, etc. We'll see if they shape up.
Thanks for posting the picture. I'd be embarassed to post a picture of my poor guys now.

I'm so sorry that yours were damaged. I think that the Koto No Ito is my very favorite tree out of all of them.

Oh, that is beautiful...thanks for sharing Doss.

My fave has always been 'Scolopendrifolium', although I've only ever seen one in a nursery, and I snapped it up! It's been with me for 10 years now, and even went through two transplants with no problems.

I have been sorely tempted by some 'Koto No Ito' specimens at my local nursery, however.....

Here's my Scolo baby:

Very lovely tree.

Yes I agree for are area it is tops .... oh BTW be careful with ivy on brick it will eventually destroy your mortor...some types and possibly yours, is ok but My experience was NOT good... true story .... the folks that owned our house had i think english ivy growing up our chimney ... we had to cut it off at the base and poison it to get rid of it ... with much work we were able to remove "some" of the vines ...but many broke off it was a chore and if we wated to totally remove we would have had to get on a 28' ladder! Well it is STLLL there 14 years ltr. dead but stuck to the chimney ...14 years .... and new plants come up every year and have to be poisoned ... it is not something you want on your house even if you accept the motor damage it has to be trimmed constantly or it gets into your soffets gutters etc...windows frames ...a mess . .... it looks great BUT.... David

Thanks David, but this ivy is to match the Boston ivy on the front of the house that has been there for over 40 years. I just keep it cut to 6', as it has been since it was planted, and all is well. I think it's the evergreen variety that can literally pull out grout because of its weight. In my experience, the grout comes out only if you rip off the ivy.
But thanks for the warning : )

Actually, that's Hydrangea anomala ssp. petiolaris, and there's a Schizophragma hydrangeoides in there as well. Those guys are probably more of a hazard, but I have a neighbor with a Hydrangea that's been on the side of her brick house for 15 years with no problem. Again, I think pulling the vine off is when the grout comes. And yes, the aerial attachment thingies (botanical term haha) are impossible to remove.

I have some sort of climbing hydrangea ( I am sure there are several varieties by now) that I have kept for maybe10 years but it really doesn't have the grip of the other ivy. It is relatively easy to control and remove from areas which it shouldn't get into..it barely clings. unlike those "rooting" english type ivy that cling like pit bulls or barnacles on bottom of boats ivy types...in addition the roots are also a skin irratant for at least alot of folks skin to touch.... the hydrangea tends to grow both out and up more. I am not sure about the pulling off or just being the on brick mortor that causes problems for the regular ivy type I always heard it was not good for mortor period but am too lazy to google it ;>)...the fact that it is a skin irritant or at least mine is would give me pause... you may be right though and it is a pulling thing and the folks that say not to plant it on brick are talking NOT about you pulling it off with the mortor but IT doing so over time with it's own weight which would make perfect sence in many ways.as the mortor ages and gets more brittal and the vines heavier and heavier... I am sure whatever damge it had or hasn't done has long since happened . David

Wow- I never heard that ivy had a skin irritant! It surprises me because I need major glove coverage when handling any kind of conifer (save Ginkgos), Euphorbia, and anything with even the slightest hint of hairs, (Gotta be that Scotch/Irish/German/English skin of mine, drat it!) but I've had no probs with Parthenocissus tricuspidata, P. quinquefolia, or Hedera helix. I do prefer Hydrangea, however; the flowers are so beautiful, and such a great backdrop for my precious Scolo! : )

It certainly irritated me ...not seriously and I don't even get poison ivy or bug bites bad ...it was the root section those grabbers that seem to do it when fresh..I ended up using gloves and long sleeves ...which i should have worn in the 1st place... I like my climbing hydrangea too whatever cultivar it is ...mine though is on the north side so I get a few flowers not many ...it seems to require much more sun than any other of my "normal" hydrangeas ...oak leaf and drawf oak leaf Sikes as well as the die back types that all seem to bloom with little sun.David