...but I wouldn't want to (ahem) live there....yet! Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum. A glorious day here for 11-24, so I packed the wife into the SUV and we went down to admire the stonework and the trees. Some good pictures. Hope everybody had a great holiday!
Scott
A little broader shot reveals those famous SG taxodiums.
scott
Calocedrus.
Here's the ball and chain herself, attacking a poor, defenseless Katsura.
Scott
With your little eye, you just might spy her at the base of this impressive American Elm.
Scott
I think she was hiding behind the tree at the time, trying to elude the seed police!
This message was edited Nov 24, 2006 7:43 PM
Found my favorite Sophora again. The seed pods now shriveled.
And I know I'm asking the impossible, but Resin has performed the impossible before. I know. I was there. I saw the whole thing. Just from this picture and the next of the foliage, can somebody tell me what this is? I'm assuming it is a Thuja species, but not even sure of that.
Scott
Thanks!
Scott
Nice pics. It could also be a Thujopsis dolabrata which has broader, flatter branchlets and larger leaves. Then again it kinda looks like Thuja plicata excelsa.
Scott,
Memories, memories! Those Calocedrus are superb! Longwood Gardens was looking for some old, proven plants of Calocedrus to use to propagate from and I suggested these. I too wonder a bit about the Thuja at Spring Grove. There are many large ones (as well as smaller ones) there and they all appear very similar in habit and foliar characteristics, i.e. winter, color, density, etc. I surmised that they were propagating their own clone to plant on grounds. Your picture looks a bit more dense than run of the mill 'Spring Grove.' But I wonder if it isn't just a plant that lost its leader and got fat and bushy until it threw a leader a couple of years ago? Also, as I drove through there this past winter, I got an eerie feeling that 'Spring Grove' and 'Green Giant' are very, very similar. Just poked around in Dirr for the correct spelling of "Platycladus" and happened to notice that he is/was suspicious of the two plants also. I was looking at the two trying to tell the difference this past fall using plants from different vendors and noticed that the foliage of 'Spring Grove' is lighter green at the very tips (the very last scale), like it has buds formed or something. Green Giant didn't have these. Is there a legitimate name for these little things, and is it possible that it is just from being from a different source, i.e. farther along in dormancy? I suspect Resin may be able to fill in some details here. I wonder if Dr. B. Søegaard sent plants around which got mixed up/misnamed? Or has there been more than one cross of the two species which could account for the similarities? Perhaps I'm too tired and need to go to bed? Ehhh, well...... There are a number of Platycladus oreintalis on grounds but they look different.
Regards,
Ernie
Scott,
You missed your calling - you should have been a professional photographer! (it's never too late to start) You always post such fantastic pictures. You sure do have an eye for composing a photograph, dude.
Does the water in the lake/pond ever freeze solid during the winter? (not really sure if zone 6b EVER experiences "winter"?)
Again, thanks for sharing the great pics!
Thanks,
Mike
That last one looks like straight Thuja plicata to me - a bit too dense and glossy to be 'Green Giant' - compare this pic of 'Green Giant' from MOBOT: http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/images/low/B443-0628050cs.jpg
I like those translucent Styphnolobium japonicum pods (previously Sophora japonica)
Resin
Ball and chain? Looks to me like the fair Parrotia has some serious competition in the lovely limb department.
How tall is that American Elm???
Thanks for the compliment, Mike! As for winter...I remember winter. We had a week in the -10F to -25f back in 1990, I think. -12F two years ago. The lakes and ponds do freeze over here, often for extended enough periods where people can get out on them and walk around or skate, although never without fear of plunging through. When I was a kid, in probably 1975 or 1976 (see, it is too late to start!), the Ohio River actually froze over. That was a sight. Great big jumbled blocks of ice all pressed together and frozen in place. People actually crossed over to the Kentucky side. I have no idea why anyone would risk plunging into freezing, dirty Ohio River water to get to Covington, but they did. While we were watching this, and I was begging to do it (which my Mom would hear none of), a towboat with barges icebreakered its way up river, cutting off a lot of Buckeyes on the other side. I'm not sure if any of them got back.
Resin, Thuja plicata was my first guess. I bruised some foliage and smelled it, but didn't really get much of an odor. I thought T. plicata was supposed to be pungent. Okay, Styphnolobium japonicum. I'm saying it aloud three times to lock it in. And, again, I ask, why is these names never change to something simpler and easier. They always go from something like Greenus plantius to Sapronelliagnium compuilliasium. Seems we are evolving in the wrong direction.
Nothojeanus, I would guess that elm to be over 110'. My wife is just over 5 feet. So I rough guessed by stacking Micheles upon herselves up the length of the tree. A big elm is just amazing. As for her legs, well, she's a sweet girl, but she's got the knobbiest knees you've ever seen! Comical. And ugly toes too! So, parrotias: limbed up. Michele: strictly jeans and no sandels. Yeah, I know, I'm a jerk, but I have very high aesthetical standards! My own appearance (big gut, arthritis bent, beginnngs of a double-chin) of course, excepted.
Scott
And, again, I ask, why is these names never change to something simpler and easier
Resin,
Not trying to be disagreeable or at odds with you but I think that the foliage in Scott's photo falls within the acceptable range of 'Green Giant.' My reasoning is such: plants in shadier environments appear different than those in full sun. To make some sort of a case for myself, I got out my macro lens and had at various plants at work. So, I will attempt, not only to bore everyone to death but also to show that 'Green Giant' can have glossy foliage and hopefully post some pictures that will allow readers to see if they can spot any visible differences between 'Green Giant' and 'Spring Grove' arborvitaes. I have yet to succeed on the last item but my time spent doing it has been minimal.
Ok, first up: 'Green Giant' purchased this summer in #15 pots and kept in P.M. shade. I think that is important to note that I can in no way duplicate the conditions that Scott had, nor does my camera saturate the colors the way that his does. My camera doesn't have a flash so I can't add the flash glare that can add some shinyness to the foliage. My best attempt at duplicating with a little glare from the early morning sun. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/ThujaXStandishiiGreenGiantFoliage2.jpg
#2 'Green Giant' bought in #5 pots in Oct. and left in the sun. These were most probably grown in full sun in the growing range in OK where they came from. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/ThujaXStandishiiGreenGiantFoliage.jpg
#3 Little (flower buds?) things on 'Green Giant' http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/ThujaXStandishiiGreenGiantFoliage10.jpg Earlier in the fall I hadn't noticed these so I think that these are a new addition for fall.
#4 More little things on T. plicata 'Spring Grove' planted in the field from a #5 pot from a MN grower. http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/erniew/plants/ThujaPlicataSpringGroveFoliage6.jpg The camera chose a cooler white balance on this picture and I didn't adjust it so the greens don't look quite as green/yellow.
#5 Foliage of T. p. 'Spring Grove' same plant as above. Not much shininess on these plants but I did circle some areas (for ease of spotting) where the inner foliage has a bit of shine.
Now is when someone with prior knowledge about these two plants can step in and say " Hey, dummy, all of this has been done. Genetic tests and field trials have shown they are different. Here's a link." And I will fume at myself for spending time typing all of this and taking the pictures.
Best Regards,
Ernie
Thanks for the pictures Scott. I can't wait to have a chance to go to Spring Grove sometime when I visit Oxford. I am no conifer expert but that one certainly looks like Spring Grove or Green Giant to me. It is amazing how fast those things grow. I bought about 100 1' plants 2-3 years ago, and most of them have been moved twice, maybe 3 times. The best performing ones are now 5' tall, in relatively sterile sandy soil with no supplemental water (though we did have a very rainy fall here). I think they will make a pretty good screening hedge in no time flat.
BTW, speaking of winter, the long range forecast is that the upper midwest (and it seems a lot of us hail from there) is going to have a mild winter. In fact, the NOAA maps show significantly warmer temps for January through March, and the center of the above normal area is Michigan! There were no below zero temps here at all last winter, and it looks like we might get another one. Yeah! Another year for my Cedrus deodora 'Karl Fuchs' and Magnolia gr. '24 Below' to get fully established before a really cold one hits. I have found the NOAA maps to be accurate more often than not, though no guarantees....
