Evergreen ID

I found the motherload of interesting evergreens today walking around Bridgewater State University in SE Massachusetts..

I'm going to start with the easier ones first.

This one had long slender leaves - not needles. It reminded me of palm leaves a bit - very soft and Dr. Seuss-esque. The tree was gorgeous but the cones were ugly and grey.

I loved to feel the leaves on this one, which is not the most scietific of descriptions, but perhaps will add in IDing it anyways.

This message was edited Feb 22, 2014 2:04 PM

Koyamaki Sciadopitys verticillata. Native to Japan.

Resin

Worth adding - it is the world's most uniquely distinct conifer, with no close relatives.

Resin

I knew this one was special. I've never encountered anything like it before.

Thanks Resin! I have more coming which may be more of a challenge.

Crap... I've fallen in love again.
Off to do some research...

YES! It's hardy in my zone...(big perma-smile).

Always happy to help make a match. :)

Mipii:

You better buy a big tent to keep one of these under, if you are going to grow it in Michigan winters. That will be a TEST.

neefster:

Since you seem to be more than a bit smitten by Sciadopitys verticillata, you might as well plan for a day trip down CT way to visit the Dr. Sid Waxman conifer collection. He was singularly taken with this species, too - so much so that his acreage has innumerable seedlings and named selections amongst which to stroll. I haven't had the pleasure to do so since 1995, but it was one of the best days of my conifer-appreciation life when I was allowed the honor. I don't know if Sid is still with us, but contacting UConn's horticulture department would give you the what/where/when/how.

You'd be forever doing yourself a disservice if you did not avail yourself of the opportunity - whilst you still draw breath.

I'm going to be in New England this summer and I was wondering if it would be worth a trip to Storrs. Sounds like it would be.

VV, I'm a UConn graduate, believe it or not! I use their tree ID website all the time:

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/index.html

Both UConn and URI have self-guided walks to ID trees of all types which I want to participate in this spring.

Here's Dr. Waxman's obit from 2005. Interesting life...and wife. I lhad to laugh after reading description of hemlock broom he named for her.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/obituaries/20waxman.html?fta=y&_r=0

If she had developed her marksmanship, she wouldn't have been relegated to scrambling through the groundcover collecting cones.

They were married 57 years. I suspect he found her quite fetching...

Thanks for providing the link Pseudo, that was a good read!

You're welcome. Just as a side note, is there anything better than walking through an elderly person's garden? A couple of years ago I visited Dr. Wesley Whiteside's garden. Anyone ever heard of him? I hadn't until a gentleman form eastern Illinois, who has come to earn Dr. Whiteside's trust, gave me a stroll through his personal garden. We were about half way through the garden, which covers roughly five acres around his home, when we met him on the garden path and talked for a few minutes. His age and the temperature were in the 90's, and he was givin' it. Incredible! I can only hope to be so furtunate. I think someone needs to do a study on the connection between gardening and human longevity, if there is any. From my personal experience, it does exist in a most positive way. How's that for a side note?

Dr. Whiteside's garden is a treasure. I had the honor of visiting in 2010.

From the carnivorous wetland plant collection, to the most Magnolia macrophylla I've ever seen in one place, to the extensive bed of finely formed Franklinia alatamaha - Dr. Whiteside had spent a lifetime planting, growing, observing, refining...and sharing his love of plants.

That's a fantastic flowering Franklinia.

Phenomenal...

Ah, franklinia, my nemesis...