Conifers Too!

Besides flowering thigns on our daytrip, we also saw some nice conifers. Abies alba "Contorta?" Is this the cultivar name, John?

Scott

Abies cilicica.

Abies cilicica as a volunteer at the edge of a woods. Perhaps the nicest re-seeder you'll ever be rewarded with.

Calocedrus decurrens.

Thuja plicata "Spring Grove" at Spring Grove. What could be finer?

Pinus koraiensis.

Occupational hazard. What do you do at an arboretum? You look up mostly. Which means you don't see the trailor hitch on your wife's truck, which sometimes means you walk into it. John took a hit on this one. No tears though. I was impressed, as surely I would have been rolling on the ground, wailing and cursing.

Scott

Very nice!

(except for that grotesque cultivar at the top of the page ;-)

Resin

Great shot of the post injury reaction - especially with headstones in the background.

Stigmata??

Scott:

Go ahead and admit, especially in a thread with this name.

Does anyone remember from some time back a thread where pontification pertaining to Parrotia persica and Pinus bungeana (particularly pruning) played out?

I should have known it would come to this.

Much of the day was spent scrutinizing Persian parrotia and lacebark pine (skirted and not) in a vast array of conditions and circumstances. The debate raged on: "Great bark!"..."Less branches!"

Finally, His Decumbency decided that I had a few too many lower limbs.

Fortunately, his Felcos were dull and I came away with only a flesh wound.

I can sympathise with that last picture, I hit my kneecap on a trailer hitch once and it almost killed me! LOL

Scott,

Looks like you guys had fun and got some good pictures too! Spring Grove is a great place to look over big, old conifers. I always enjoy the Oriental Spruce that are everywhere. I was thinking that the Abies at top was 'Spiralis' but I could be wrong. Big, bold things, they are.

Vv- ROFL about low-pruning! I know from experience that trailer hitches are no fun.

Regards,
Ernie

Now a picture of the Abies religiosa I got from ForestFarm the other week is going to look mighty pathetic...

Mark., hope I don't kill it this time

Ernie, You're right. "Spiralis". Does anybody know why Picea orientalis fell out of favor? It was planted abundantly in the past in this city, many of those plants are still growing and look great, but finding young ones in town or plants in nurseries to buy is next to impossible.

Scott

Hi Scott,

My gut feeling about the non-planting of Oriental Spruce is mainly due to our 'microwave' society. To the average consumer, it looks similar to Norway Spruce when young and doesn't grow as fast. Probably the most commonly asked screening/blocking question is: "How fast does it grow?" When given the choice, they snap up the inferior Norway and the store is left talking to the wind about the superior traits of the Oriental. I went to the ACS database to see what they list as cultivars and most are small, witches broom types of plants. There are a couple of them at Spring Grove (on the bluff overlooking the lake, not far from the huge Calocedrus) that are pretty upright in shape, perhaps not fastigiate, but upright that might make nice plants for a smaller yard. The ACS database lists to P. orientalis witches brooms from Spring Grove, one of which I saw. I wonder where the other one is. While I'm chattering on about witches brooms, does anyone know how frequently witches brooms occur, especially on White Pine? I don't recall seeing more than one or two in the first 29 years of my life and in the past 2 years I've come across 6 within 1/2 hour drive of my house. To be fair, I wasn't looking for the first 23 years but still..........

Regards,
Ernie

Ernie ~ Loved that last pic, how the tree is framed by the stone pillars, nice!

John ~ I hate when that happens. Hope the rest of your visit was fun.

PG17,

I happened to be leaning on the side of the truck when he collided with the trailor hitch. The whole vehicle shook! I knew this wasn't just your average stroll into a protruding, hard metal object (at shin height). As John was still trying to regain his poise, shin bone throbbing, in an almost Three Stooges moment, he just about leaned onto this nearby tree. Kalopanax picta. The bad news would've been a new injury. The good news would've been it might've taken his mind off his leg.

Scott

I have never seen a more barbaric tree. Since this was in a cemetery, good thing you made it out before nightfall...

This message was edited Mar 24, 2007 8:53 PM

Reminds me of something I saw in Dawyck Arboretum in Scotland . . .

Was collecting cones there, and saw an Araucaria araucana (which I wanted a cone of), with a ladder against the trunk, and a 4 metre pruning pole on the ground beside it. Asked the head gardener if I could go up the ladder with the pruner to get a cone off it, was told "yes, provided you accept it's at your own risk". He then told me why the stuff was there . . . a student from Edinburgh BG had been there, also collecting cones. He too was trying to get an Araucaria cone, but while manoeuvring the pruning pole up the ladder, had slightly lost his balance. So he reached out to grab a branch to steady himself.

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And then had to be rushed off to hospital to have several stitches put in his hand. Ouch!!! (for them's as don't know, Araucaria araucana leaf edges are as sharp as razor blades).

I got one of the cones, without incident ;-)

Resin

ParticularlyGrisly:

Here's another shot of the Kalopanax pictus (which I think has a new name that I can't remember), with an uninjured portion of my anatomy for scale. It looks like those protuberances are coming for me...

That is Positively Gruesome.

VV, if it was me it certainly would have a new name - one that cannot be used here. Looks like a rose cane.

PalpablyGrimacing:

The little stubbies are soft (like big grub larvae). You can rotate them around to point different directions and watch them move back.

I think that wretched looking thing is the last thing someone wants to see in a cemetery.

I didn't hear any dissension from the assembled clientele.

Did you make an EVP recording?

OK, I'll bite...

Exceptionally Vaporous Paranormality?

For those interested in plants, history, architecture, and design, one could do worse than hopping off I-75 in Cincinnati at exit 6. A couple blocks away (actually highly visible from the interstate) is a 700+ acre treasure that waits quietly for your visit.

Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum (http://www.springgrove.org/sg/sg_home.shtm) was established in 1845, with the mission

Wow, that's huge. By way of comparison, Central Park is about 840 acres.

I never realized that, thanks for the info, both of you. Morton Arboretum was originally something like 735 acres, may be more now. Cemetaries are great places to find old trees.

I added Spring Grove here: http://davesgarden.com/go/view/4234/ - reviews of this and other local attractions and resources you're familiar with are very welcome and encouraged ;o)

It's sad, but most cemetery planners in my area view trees as a liability. I can't think of any local cemeteries with very many trees, most of them only have grass and some weeds.

Are they new or old cemetaries? We have a few old ones around here, and one that is "newer" and absolutely flat, and cleared of everything except grass, tucked in next to the quarry. One early evening, I was heading home to make supper, and we saw a deer bent to the grass at almost every headstone, it was so weird that image has never left my mind.

The setting sun was reflected in the clouds as horizontal layers, I wish I had had a camera with me. Maybe I should paint a picture, LOL?

I think you just did.