Last fall I saw this beat up tree sitting next do a dumpster behind a nursery here in town. It was basically a stick with some burned up needles attached to it. I grabbed it, repotted it and pretty much ignored it. Had a great spurt of growth this summer and hope it continues. I have gotten different information on it's hardiness. Think it'll do OK in Chicago?
I just noticed the squirrel in the background admiring it......
I think it would do better in Lombard :)
Bill
From the American Conifer Society page it says zone 5 with protection. It says the yellow will get some winter damage without protection so I think you might be alright in the city. I guess it might be better in the city than Lombard, but questionable out on the farm in MI. I can save a sheltered place for that one though.
That is the best dumpster dive find I have ever seen.
Bill
I should've taken a picture of it when I got it. It really looked hopeless...
You can't really see in the pictures but it has really great yellow spots on the needles....
Spectacular save!!
Zone 8, zone 7 with very good shelter. It'll not last long in zone 5.
Resin
Resin, is that specific to this cultivar or the species? What about the 'Morton' one then? I have seen that listed as Z4 even. With a name like Himalayan Pine, you would think Z5. Again, just quoting the ACS about hardiness as I have no personal experience besides seeing the one at the Morton Arboretum.
Bill
I always wonder why reputable nurseries sell trees that aren't hardy in the area.
The tree at the Morton is a cross and isn't the straight species. There are some pines at the MN Landscape Arboretum that are labeled as P. wallichiana, but they most certainly are not. Again, they are a cross with a much hardier species (like P. strobus). The trees at the Arb. do have very long needles and have a tropical-look to them.
I would bet that Resin knows the exact cross of the trees at the Morton. Hopefully he will let us know what they are.
Mike
Bill, the one at M.A. is not pure P.w. It was misidentified for decades -- I believe it's Pinus xschweringii or whatever they call the cross with P. strobus.
But there are some pure ones that can survive in zone 6, so maybe there's hope for the Ginkgo Fairy if he can keep it protected and global warming continues. I've never heard of that cultivar he found and have no experience with it.
Guy S.
Well. Mike and I were singing a duet again . . .
Pinus x schwerinii for P. strobus x P. wallichiana
The Himalaya may be very high, but they're also a long way south*, so far south that there isn't a big difference in daylight length between summer and winter, so they don't get very severe cold in the winter - or the altitudes that do, are also too cold in summer for trees to grow.
*Everest is on the same latitude as Tampa FL, or Corpus Christi TX
Resin
Yeah, but the highest point in Florida is 345 ft above sea level, probably around10 times lower than even the foothills of the Himalaya :)
I have seen that the one at the Morton has been listed as a hybrid, but was mostly going off the ACS plant info for zone hardiness for the other ones. I'll trust you guys about it not being reliable, but just curious how long people have been trying to push this one and with what degree of success. Where's Dax when ya need him?
Bill
I got one last year from Salicaceae, wild-collected at 10000 feet in Bhutan. I'm trying it outdoors this winter in a fairly protected spot near some P. taeda, P. palustris, and a young Cupressus funebris that are doing OK here way out of their zone -- we'll see.
Guy S.
I've seen several killed in a severe winter in zone 7 in Scotland and Denmark. The only reliably hardy ones in Denmark have been the c.1975 introductions from Paktia Province, Afghanistan.
Resin
Now don't jinx me, Resin!
Awww, why not??
Gotta expect it, planting out-of-zone stuff like that ;-))
Resin
You just wait until your warm Atlantic current stops due to ice-sheet melting and you're living in an igloo while I'm bouncing up to zone 6. Then you'll be sorry you ever picked on me!
Guy S.
Latest forecasts are that if the Atlantic current stops, we'll warm just very slightly, while the rest of the world toasts
Resin
Don't you guys watch the movies. Global warming is gonna create 3 perfect storms that will immediately usher in the next ice age for the northern 1/3 of the hemisphere. We are all gonna freeze. :)
Bill
