I've really come to appreciate the fall color of the members of the Taxodium genus. At work, we have many large Shawnee Brave planted and they are fabulous for a bright bronzy-gold fall color. In my youth, I turned a blind eye to these plants but now can no longer deny it's rightful praise.
A seedling-grown plant along our lake last year.
Beautiful!
Breathtaking!
This reinforces my decision to plant them.
Thank you for the photos.
Towards the end of fall color in it's native habitat. The species showing off "some leg" unaided by man's pruners.
The show doesn't stop at fall color for T. distichum. In it's native habit once again showing off structure, buttressed trunks and water level staining.
Geez, those are just gorgeous. Postcard perfect!
Last year I noticed a branch on one of our trees at work that turned a burgandy/plum fall color rather than the gold/bronze typical of the species. The picture that I took was about 8 days into fall color, past peak. It was also taken on a sunny day and washed out the color a bit. Plum coloration is to the right side of the picture with the normal golden color to the left. Anybody else seen anything similar? Should I be sending off for scions for grafting?
I forget if there are T. ascendens mixed into the group at Bernheim on the north side of the lake, but as far as I can discern from my images they are T. distichum.
Reflection in the lake at Bernheim.
Under the right conditions, the bark of Shawnee Brave really shines in winter! Early morning light giving a warm hue to the bark.
How can one not give credit to the knees. My favorite display here at Spring Grove Cemetary in Feb. 06.
Finally, to end my exorbitant use of webspace here at DG, I post a winter picture of T. distichum. There is beauty in winter for those who care to take the time and brave the cold!
Regards,
Ernie
Do the knees keep geese away? Great photos.
Bill
There is beauty in winter for those who care to take the time and brave the cold!
Equil- these are fine trees!
Bill- I don't know about the goose thing. Maybe knees and a BB gun?
To everyone- thanks for the kind words about the pictures.
Best Regards,
Ernie
Do any of you have pictures of the "Monarch of Illinois" cultivar? It is reported to be unusually wide spreading.
Oh my! I am not worthy!
Scott
malusman,
It's been several years since I've been to Bernheim, but I'm pretty sure there are at least a couple of T.ascendens selections in that Taxodium planting on the lakeshore.
Coming back to KY from the Wetumpka, AL area yesterday, there were a number of swampy backwater areas alongside the Tallapoosa and Alabama Rivers or their tributaries in which T.distichum was present in profusion, festooned with Spanish moss, and just beginning to exhibit their fall color change.
es cambia guy (It's Change Guy?)- I don't have any pictures of 'Monarch of IL' although we have one along the lake that I think I've been told is 'Monarch.' The top of it blew out about 5 years ago so it is really spreading, perhaps to 40' already. The odd thing is- we grew 'Monarch' in the field and it had upswept branches like 'Shawnee Brave' but was like a chubby teardrop. Bark also seemed more silvery than S.B. Perhaps laterals grow off of the lowest branches in older age, but this is not representative of the tree along our lake. Something else to look into.
Scott- You ARE worthy!
Lucky- I found a folder of images that I thought I'd deleted and looking at it I see that there are some T. ascendens (T. distichum var. imbricatum- name change recently ???) but farther to the left of my reflection image. I think it would be a grand thing to start in Canada or Alaska and follow Fall down to where it ends. Then follow spring back up! I'd have to do it 20 years in a row so that I could include all of the different geographic regions and their idiosyncrasies. I need a wealthy benefactor! Ahh, one can dream anyway.
Regards,
Ernie
LHDP:
Nicely done.
Especially when you include fine KY captions. Any of the others from places like Giant City State Park? Or Reelfoot Lake?
Bernheim definitely has (renamed or not) Taxodium ascendens 'Prairie Sentinel' along Lake Nevin. Unfortunately, all my pictures of those fine trees are unconverted slides. 'Monarch of IL' is in the grouping there, too.
Ah, trips with the seasons. May 1995; back in school for LA degree, traveling with the UK horticulture club students. Went from KY all the way up to Quebec, and got to see spring repeated for almost 3 weeks. 32 rolls of slides, if I recall.
If I ever get all those scanned....
I recently saw "Prairie Sentinental" for the first time. I am smitten! That is a "must have" already near the top of next year's list.
Scott
VV,
Images are from Horseshoe Lake in Southern IL and surrounding swamps. Get that scanner out!
Scott- 'Prairie Sentinal' is a great plant! I think it's a bit touchy here in central IL as we had some and had a lot of frost crack in the field. One survives and prospers on grounds. Should do fine for you. Longwood Gardens has a great grouping of it- where I saw the new name.
Regards,
Ernie
Just stunning, Malusman! Has anybody seen the fall color on "Prairie Sentinel?" Is it good?
Scott
Taxodium ascendens is actually more common here than Taxodium distichum. For some reason when they are grown in normal soil they start getting flat topped after about 30ft. They just don't seem to keep that nice conical shape very long.
Scott,
The fall color is good. This is from 3 years ago, this year it seems a little darker, more toward bronze.
Ernie
While my feet don't fit in LHDP's shoes, I'll contribute a little to the thread.
This Taxodium ascendens specimen is in Boone Square Park.
Here's a closeup.
But an even niftier tree to look at is found at Stansbury Park (next to University of Louisville campus, on 3rd Street). It is an impressive Taxodium distichum indeed.
The trunk condition on this old sentinel (planted circa1900)...
Now, the upshot of all this is...
That Taxodium ascendens is more typical of what I usually see in my area.
...that no two are much alike, and bald cypress can make quite the show despite environmental impacts.
VV,
Thanks for the pics. Truly an impressive tree!
Mike
Vv,
Your feet don't fit into my shoes because you're 6'4" or 193cm (1.93m) and have bigger feet. Those are great trees! That Baldcypress is something else. It looks like a fastigiate form to have all of those large branches ascending rather than spreading. Or perhaps it was topped (by nature or man) about 60 years ago and sprouted all kinds of branches from where it was cut/broken? I noticed on your T. ascendens that the flowers are greenish which are similar to those in the image I posted. 'Shawnee Brave' has more of a brownish/gray with only hints of green in their color. Have you noticed if this is a distinguishing factor between the two species or however they are classified now?
Thanks in advance,
Ernie
Was wandering aimlessly through files of images and found a series of images taken to be made into a pano. From Spring Grove, to really show off the knees there.
Edit: DG shrunk my image to a somewhat blurry representation of what is really there. The idea remains.
Regards,
Ernie
This message was edited Nov 9, 2006 9:12 PM
I was just chatting with Scott (and lamenting the 20-odd years of slides that I'd love to download to digital) and mentioned that one of the great things about DG is everyone looks at things in a different way. I can admit that I've looked at a lot of Taxodium across this great land, and never would've begun to think to compare whether the flowers/flower buds on the two species were colored similarly or differently.
Touché, LHDP; I now have a new mission.
That, and to get at least some slides downloaded of the self-same plants as several of you have posted across this forum, just from years ago when the world was younger.
That bald cypress above indeed lost its top (leader) some years ago, as did an even more impressive specimen in George Rogers Clark Park. I will get pictures of that one soon. Dated at about 125 years old, it formed a dozen or more new leaders sometime early in the last century (1920s - 1930s) and now also presents an unusual habit to admire.
Close scrutiny of the form of the ascending branches, especially as they depart from the trunk, shows the "engineering" wonder that trees are. Imagine the cross-section of these limbs; why are they that shape?
Where's Willis?
I bet somebody was thinking of pruning those branches years ago, but thank goodness they didn't. I, more and more, take the no-prune approach--let them grow up however they please. They may break apart, or look odd, but who cares, Nature does what nature wants. I curse the man who owned my land previously and limbed up every single tree to 20' so he could drive under them. I'll take some pics of the Taxodium here tomorrow, which has about 35 years of Zone 5 under its belt. Its one of the reasons I bought the lot!
WHERE'S WILLIS! WHERE'S WILLIS! I'll get you Viburnum:)
Are you asking me why these limbs are that shape? I will have to use all my engineering powers and most likely have to take down the tree to give you an answer. The upside is that the cross section just below the branching will make a very cool coffee table at my house. Maybe I can buy the cross section of Prometheus (the bristlecone pine) and have a theme to my decorating; cross sections of once great trees.
How's that for an engineering answer.
Bill
