Minnesotaiotians.....

......I just got back from a friend's house in Woodbury, on the east side of St. Paul. He lives in new neighborhood built around a number of marshes. It's actually quite nice, with a great many cool native aquatics. BUT, the landscape has a number of spruce planted too close to the water that are now suffering from wet feet. I went with him to Gertens($$$$$$$!!!) and they had Swamp White Oaks there. That would work for him. I saw no Taxodium or Metasequoia--I know some of you grow them , and the Arboretum has them. Are there hardy varieties for sale up there? A baldcypress would be perfect for his lot. Where could I send him to get one? Thanks!

P.S. It looked waaaaay dry up there.....and why do houses cost so dang much???

HI Kevin,

I'm not sure where the Minnesotans are all hiding, but I can tell you that Rice Creek Gardens in Blaine (north of Minneapolis) had a limited number of nice looking Bald Cypress this spring. They were probably about 4-5' tall plants that looked very healthy at the time. Its been a couple of months since I was last there, so not sure if they have any left. They're moving the nursery to southern part of state due to development pressure; it might be a good time to get up there. Another nursery your friend should check out is Highland Nursery in St Paul, which is my personal favorite. Green Thumb/Tree Lover or Leftwood could tell you a lot more about how Taxodium perform around the Twin Cities. As for housing costs, I can't identify since I live in a bit of a dumpster compared to the homes I see going up. Land rich, house poor over here in cheesehead country.

http://www.ricecreekgardens.com/

really Bald Cypress in Minnesota? And don't answer "Yah".

That's Fargo, not Minnesota. They say ay-ah.

Oh no it isn't. I was riding up a chair lift one day with 2 Minnesotans who Yah'd this and Yah' d that and both were from Minnesota. Yah. Yah. You betcha.

Yah, you betcha to both of you. Bald Cypress is a rare tree around here. The research at the U of Minn. arb conducted by the famous Dr. Pellet and another gentleman is supposedly from a couple of large Bald Cypress growing in north Minneapolis. Some other species under evaluation are Acer pseudosieboldianum, Cornus florida, Cornus mas,Liquidambar styraciflua, and Ulmus parvifolia. I'm not privy to any of this info and have no idea how long this research has been going on. However, I do know that A. pseudosieboldianum has proven to be hardy and is readily available to the retail market. My guess is that Cornus mas would be similar to Bald Cypress in that it might survive, but you'd better find a sheltered site for it. I have no idea how the other three are doing, but I've never seen one other than a first or second year planting. One thing I'm fairly confident of is that Lucky would love to see all
Liquidambar's migrate to Minnesota. Frankly, I'd prefer they focus their research on finding a Nyssa sylvatica that is hardy through z4.

That's hysterical. Yah you betcha, all righty.

That would be nice, maackia. O, forgot to add Quercus rubra, while normally grown in drier soils, can tolerate wet.

This message was edited Jul 25, 2006 2:32 PM

This message was edited Jul 25, 2006 2:34 PM

Now you have a goal of searching for a beech that can take the cold.

Yes, both Metasequoia and Baldcypress grow here in the Twin Cities. I have had a Metasequoia in my yard for approx. 7 years and it has done remarkably well. There are a few Metasequoia growing in the Twin Cities.

There are two Baldcypress growing in a yard in Brooklyn Center (northern suburb of Minneapolis) that have been growing there since the 60's (the trees have seen temps. of at least -30°F, more than a few times, since being planted). I still have a few seedlings that were grown from the seed produced by these trees. I would be happy to send them to the guy in Woodbury. The trees are still under 2' in height and would need protection from the bunnies for a number of years.
Mike

(I've also had a 'Dawyck Purple' beech in my front yard since 2001. I didn't notice how dry the tree was and the leaves are all crispy now. I watered the tree right away (it's growing in a dry-ish spot) and the branches and buds look good. I hope it survives. None of the other trees wilted or received any extra water?)

Sofer,

Beech (F. grandiflora) is native to eastern Wisconsin. Check out this beauty I've been growing for over a fiftieth of a century. The picture is from Google Earth, so much larger than appears. ;)

Shes a cute little tart. I also love Fagus and have one now 8yrs old in my Montana garden. I missed the giant beeches that painted my childhood forests in the fall. It was such a soft leaf pile to lay in and watch the falling tenderlings. I'm getting a fagus sylvatica Purple fountain next year for my new woodland garden. Also a fagus sylvatica Roseomarginata Just to make my life a beech.

Yes indeed, Bald Cypress with the right provenance do well in MN, at least in the Minneapolis area. However, I have seen many with bad genes struggle, and eventually croak, including the first one I ever tried. I now have an offspring from the Brooklyn Park (MN) trees in my yard. St. Bonifacius (where I live) is about 30 miles west south west of downtown Minneapolis.

Fagus grandiflora from the UP Michigan seem to have the right stuff for MN too. Have one of those also, since circa 1995. Unfortunately, the neighbor's sugar maple is becoming massive right next to it, making it lean toward the sun. I would cut down any tree in my yard he wanted, if he would rid me of that stupid maple. And that would include my persimmon, which by the way, has more than a hundred fruit on it this year.

My 9 year old Cornus mas is definitely in an exposed site, with no problems. The BC too, but it's only been through one winter outdoors.

As for the "yah" stuff, it's blown out of proportion, just like the notion that there are mostly Scandinavians here. Minnesota is mostly German. And add to that the large initial migrations of Italians, English, Slovenes, Finlanders. Doesn't leave a lot of room for Norwegians and Swedes. But just as there are Scandivinavians here, there are a few yah people, too. Thankfully, I am not one of them. Nearly everyone here says "yeah"("a" as in "at").

Ay-ah: hmmm, not sure how to pronounce that. But it is certainly not with a long "a" in the first syllable. That would be Maine.

And "You betcha"? Well people do say it here, but not as normal speech. We use it in the same way you do - to make fun. "You bet," however is part of our vernacular.

There is a book called "How to talk Minnesotan." A fun read, but don't take it all for fact.

Slovenian Leftwood

Slovenian? Really! Here too as in Checkoslovakia. Big population settled in Cleveland which came through Ellis Island, as did my folks. Great cooks, master gardeners. Love of good food and hard work in equal proportions.

Oh, oh, Leftwood. Mom is Slovenian, and from Wisconsin. Could be some common chlorophyll happening.

She's up in Willard, WI as we speak (with a passle more Slovenians), a buckeye's throw from Maackia.

All of the extended family is from up that way; their sentence punctuation is "......., and so."

When I saw the thread title, I thought you were talking about Metasequoia, and were unfamiliar with the tree and it's name spelling.

VV,

Thank your mom for bringing some rain with her, and so.

Ahh yes, Snapple, the Cleveland Slovenes! I worked in Columbus for six months at a kind of horticultural fair (Ameriflora '92). On Slovenian Independence day I wore my button that says:
Ne umri za svobodo
Živi zanjo
Slovenija
Brez vojne

Don't die for freedom
Live for it
Slovenia
Without war

Anyway, a Slovenian woman from Cleveland noticed it and told me all about that little section of Cleveland. Next time I went up to the Holden Arb, I had to make a visit. Got our coarse ground sausage to bring home and had lunch at a Slovenian restaurant. Everyone spoke the the language there, and I listened to the old guys shootin' the breeze. Had our brand of potica, of course. And what kind, you ask? Jabolka(apple).

And yes, the Slovakian language is very close to Slovenian. I have a second cousin that married one who can pretty much speak the language.

And Scott, your implication may be truer than you think. Once I had someone telephone me, right out of the blue, because we had the same surname. She though we might be related. Her family comes from Sheboygan. As it turns out, we might be related from a few eyebrow raising tidbits, but no definite links. Apparently, my last name is pretty common in Slovenia.

Živio!
Rick

I was working up here in Alaska when a Slovenian came in with his almost dead kitten and it had been sick for almost 5 days before he came. Well it died and he has told me that he will kill me next time he sees me in town because I didn't save her. Of course he hasn't but I know all about you slovenians. Your dangerous. Zivo. Steve.

Guy, I doubt it. Would you actually have stopped at the Franks Nursery & Crafts booth?

On the other hand, we may have sat next to each other at one of Colin Offord's mini-concerts there. I sat in on nearly all of them.

Dangerous, Steve? Well, I don't know about that guy, but certainly not me. Is there anyone who can play the accordion (sort of) that could be classified dangerous? My Great Uncle use to dress up and imitate Charlie Chaplin when he showed those silent movies at his theater. I don't think I have any "dangerous" genes.

Rick

Yah yah--I had a dear Norwegian friend who said that. Oh, I would give anything to hear that voice again.