While probably more then a few of you may already know about this teriffic web site resource, I wanted to post it for anyone, like me, who hadn't come across it before.
The American Koi Club Association. All you have to do is register. They have deep expertise and resources.
http://www.akca.org/joomla/index.php
Great koi web site
I am registered with them as Mothermole as well. I found them this summer during my darkest pond moments . . .
Not surprised you knew about it!
I can't remember if I'm registered there or not...have to look through my emails. I also tend to register everywhere else as ic_conifers.
Snapple: Are you Snapple everywhere? I'm Mothermole, or Moley or Smole (sexy mole . . .don't ask). My husband nicknamed me that years ago because I am always happiest whilst I am digging in the garden.
Why are you Snapple and IC Conifers-why that name?
I live in Iowa City and have a ton of conifers : ) The "IC" is kind of a joke like "I See" - the first thing you see when you drive in front of my house are tons of dwarf and mini conifers. Well, maybe not tons, but there are quite a few. I met someone else from Dave's Garden (we toured his garden earlier this year) and I described to him where I lived in Iowa City - his reaction was "Oh! Now I get it!" He had driven past our house on a number of occasions and wondered who was the conifer nut. That would be me.
Are you a conifer collector of rare types or just love them-all types? If you do come into the Marengo koi shop here in Illinois you absolutely have to go to Rich's rare conifers location. They are about 10-15 minutes apart out in the Bull Valley area of Illinois. Rich's is an amazing place. That is where I bought my umbrella pine that I am crazy about!
Here's the link:
http://www.richsfoxwillowpines.com/
Snapple = Snapple diet peach tea. There is a Snapple peach tea close at hand at all times. I'm rarely found without one. The house rule is that there is always to be a full case in reserve in the garage. I even heat it and drink it hot in the winter. Heating it actually intensifies the peach flavor. Just stick the bottle in the microvave for about 50 seconds and it's great. Whacky huh? I usually use this username.
I've never been to Rich's Foxwillow Pines but they are well known for their elite collection. Someday maybe I'll get there.
I prefer the more rare conifers, but I don't like the really high maintenance rare!
Rich's Foxwillow Pines is definitely a location I want to visit in 2009! My husband is an aikidoist and there is a dojo that one of his friends runs about 20 minutes from there. It is also only about 30 minutes from the farm where one of my horses went to live and I've been meaning to visit the farm in the spring when foals are born.
Unfortunately, I've more or less run out of sunny locations for dwarfs so most of my collection going forwards needs to focus on miniatures, which tend to be more fickle.
What makes an evergreen high maintenance? Rich at Rich's isn't a high maintenance kinda guy-more like a lumber jack who kinda fell into this hobby. If any of you ever want to come out and visit both the koi guy and Rich's let me know-I would love to show you around. I'll take you to a few of my other favorite gardening haunts as well-they are all in this area!
If I can manage to keep some fish alive, I will definitely take you up on that offer! (One was not looking good this morning, I hope I did not overdo it with the PP.)
Some are just hard to grow - they like more/less water, more/less drainage, more/less organic matter, more/less direct sun, more/less humidity. Some are more prown to diseases or pests. Once a conifer starts to show signs that something is wrong, it is nearly impossible to do anything about it.
I tried to put things in perspective this weekend - so far, I've lost $35 worth of fish (five $6.99 koi). That is less expensive than ONE conifer and I had a bad order this year where I lost like seven of them. I just want things to stabilize.
Conifers and Japanese Maples. MM - If you want a gardening challenge I invite you to explore these two categories. I've had Japanese Maples whom I swear simply commit suicied. My biggest conifer failure last year was a Picea omorika 'Pimoko'. Planted in a bed of otherwise thriving conifers, it alone died branch by branch all last summer. I love this particular cultivar so I'll probably try again but why, why, why did it die? Then there was the 1yr. old 5' Acer palmatum 'Oriodo Nishiki'. Watered it deeply on schedule, ( with all the JM's) left for a very short vacation and came home to find it crisped to a toast. It was in total high shade. We had a hot windy spell while we were gone . None of the others were affected, even one in full sun. The addiciton to confiers and JM's is a lot like being addicted gambling. Success is not guaranteed, so when it does happen it fuels the addiction and keeps you going back for more.
Yup, I more or less gave up on the Japanese Maples for this year! I have two in my yard right now, which is only about 1/4 of those that I started with.
ic - with your expertise in conifers, does the 'Pimoko" require something different or unusual from other conifers? I've no clue as to what happened. It was not pot bound when I got it. Whatever happened, happened on my watch. It was planted in the same bed with Abies nordmandia 'Golden Spreader' , Thuja plicata 'Whipcord', Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera' and a big honking Picea abies 'Reflexa'. No problems with anything else, just the 'Pimoko'. BTW the hit to the wallet with the 'Golden Spreader" was substantial but well worth it. It's just now going yellow for the season.
Frankly, koi are easier.
And I think Koi are the hardest . . . remind me NOT to buy any acers. I had a gorgeous one at my last home in MA that I did nothing for and it was great.
Do conifers do better in different environments and soil types? I own quite a few on my property here (maybe 30 or more but only one is rare-I think) and I have planted a lot of them at different homes I owned in Illinois and all thrived. We have a large percentage of clay soil here.