Taxus x media 'Hicksii' - Hicks Yew

Vertical growing evergreen small tree, growing to about 15’ x 4’ wide. Quite slow. Great for formal hedges and screens or to create a vertical accent. Dark green color all year. Often used in place of the Irish Yew which you can see at Filoli or on Rio del Mar blvd across from the Arco Station. These are at the Sesnon House on Soquel Dr. You can see the one on the right starting to splay open a bit. This is a problem as the trees age and will require prompt pruning or they will develop a large open space that will not fill easily.

Leaves are dark green and about 1", with pointed tips. They appear to be arranged radiating around the stem. Lower surface is lighter green and there is a distinct midrib. The foliage of all yews are toxic as are all parts of the tree except the red aril surrounding the fruit. The foliage is used to make the cancer drug Taxol.

Stems are ridged, light green with rounded green buds.

Male and female stroboli are borne on the lower side of the branchlets. There are different male and female plants in the yews, but interestingly there are both male and female versions of this plant in the industry.

Fruit is a seed partially contained in a red fleshy aril. The attractive portion is the red aril. This is late in the winter and is not as red as it could be.

A hybrid between the English yew and the Japanese yew. Provides hardiness of the Japanese and the dark green foliage of the English yew.

Misidentification: Irish yew. Look at the size of the plant, the Irish yews are very wide compared to the Hicks yew. Foliage only.... good luck.

Locations: Cabrillo College Sesnon House.

Pseudostuga menziesii - Douglas Fir

The douglas fir is a native conifer that spreads over much of the west coast into the mountains of Colorado and into Mexico. Generally not planted in residential landscapes or even larger commercial ones and likely the ones you have may be there naturally. In it's native habitat the douglas fir is a huge tree, up to 300' and is the source of most of our common building materials. Usually too large even in cultivation to grow anywhere but the largest of lots. It is none the less a beautiful tree. The English love to use this tree. We buy one as our Christmas tree yearly from Hester Family Farms.

This is an "old" one in RDM.

Leaves are linear, 1-1-1/4" long, green upper surface, lighter on the lower surface. Leaves arranged spirally but bending making a V. The bases are bent allowing the leaves to form a flattened spray or at least all the leaves pointing upward. The terminal buds are quite long, pointed, and imbricately scaled.

Notice the way the leaves are bent at the base. Some have referred to this as being like a hockey stick.

Cones, 3-4", brown in color, are perhaps the most recognizable characteristic of the doug fir. Actually it's the three tipped bracts that are the key. The funny story is that something scares a mouse into the cone and it can only get so far in and you see the tail and two rear legs.

Male and female "flowers" are red.

Bark on old trees very deeply furrowed.

Misidentification: Look at the base of the tree for the cones, you cant miss them. The terminal buds are very distinct and look like nothing else, the firs are mostly covered in resin and the spruces have somewhat rosette like bud scales. Leaves fall with a slight bump, not like a fir.

Location: Nice big one fell on a house in Santa Cruz last year.
Nisene Marks, Corner of Monterey and Bay Ave.
On River St across from Probuild.

Picea pungens 'Glauca' - Colorado Blue Spruce

The Colorado Spruce is an evergreen conifer native to the Rocky Mountains. It is quite variable in habit, generally an upright pyramidal, slow to medium grower, 60' x 20' in urban areas, over 100' in its native habitat. Branches are perpendicular to the main stem and can either hang slightly or be strongly ascending. Usually branched to the ground unless cut off so people can use the area under the tree. Can be very full or open depending on the cultivar. Lots of cultivars are available and you will not likely be planting a seedling.

The evergreen leaves are linear, 1 - 1 1/4" long deep blue, very sharp pointed, held almost perpendicular to the stems. Leaves 4 sided so they roll between your fingers. Leaves are attached to the stem on a small bump or pulvinus that remains when the leaf falls. Blue can be very blue to only slightly blue depending on the cultivar. Notice the bud in this image, they are somewhat rosette like but not covered with resin like Fir trees.

Male cones are reddish colored in spring back from the tip of the branches.

Cones are light brown, 3-4" long x 1" wide. Scale tips are undulated and quite papery textured. Borne in large numbers near the ends of the branches and pendulous. Falling whole in one year.

Orangish brown colored stems and distinctly grooved.  After the foliage falls they are rough due to the pulvinus remaining. See image of leaves above to see the grooved twigs. Bark deeply fissured, brown and dark brown.

Lots of excellent cultivars, way too many to list, but some are dwarf, columnar, weeping, very blue.

Misidentification: not sure, if you will have a problem with this one, look at the leaves, the angle they are held from the stem (P. abies is green and held about 45 degrees to the stem).

Locations:
Quite a few around, none look that great, they really need a colder winter and warmer summer. Best over the hill or even better in Oregon.

Juniperus chinensis torulosa - Holly Juniper

The Hollywood juniper has been planted in California landscapes forever. They seem to be planted everywhere, perhaps not as a focal point but as a filler with an interesting habit. Junipers in general get a bad rap mostly because they are over-planted, especially the "dwarf" ground cover types. The Safeway juniper (J. chinensis 'Pfertziana') is planted in all the wrong spots and is as far as I am concerned the cause of the bad name. There are some really nice juniper trees that need to be grown and planted, and I will try to cover some later.

Juniperus chinensis torulosa  (also known as J. chinensis 'Torulosa' or Kaizuka')  is a fast growing evergreen conifer,  to 15 -20' by 10' wide with spreading branches. The branches are narrow, spreading and spinning loosely around the main stem. They seem to be variable and don't all seem like clones as some suggest, and there seems to be several forms in commerce. The twisting may be to one side or all around the tree, and not always clockwise. The form is often referred to as "picturesque" or "Japanese like". I like picturesque. 

The twisting is not just the main laterals wrapping around the main stem but the whole branch twists. Notice the tufts of foliage on the branches.

The leaves are mostly scale-like, evergreen, tiny, maybe a 1/16" long, bright green. They are held tightly to the stems.  Foliage is very fragrant. They may have some juvenile foliage which is awl-shaped but not much on this tree.

The foliage is often in tufts near the ends of the branches.

Juniper fruit are fleshy at maturity and because of this are often call berries, but as you know conifers do not have berries, they have cones. The cones are about 1/4" diameter, ripening bluish black.

"Flowers" are small, hardly noticeable.

Bark is peeling, stringy and attractive like many others in the family.

Misidentification: hopefully you can get to Juniper, from there you are on your own.  No really, look at the form of the tree, many junipers are more symmetrical and not twisting. If you are not at juniper, look at the cones, Cupressus have large cones and are woody when mature, Chamaecyparis have cones about 1/2" and are also woody. If you are somewhere else in CA. and in the mountains you may run into natives but I have not seen any here.

Locations: Nice row at the intersection of 41st and Soquel. Otherwise, very common.
Santa Cruz
154 S. Morrissey Blvd

Chamaecyparis obtusa - Hiniki Cypress

Hinoli cypress trees are not very common here, too bad, they are beautiful evergreen conifers. The species is a large tree perhaps to 60' but you are unlikely to encounter one. There are at least 100 cultivars and most are dwarfs. Generally will see plants in the 10-20’ range, by about 5-10’wide. Some are open, others more compact.  All are very attractive. A golden one is ‘Crippsii’.

The evergreen leaves are scale-like of two sizes. They give them different names due to the way they are attached to the stems. The facials are smaller than the laterals. Laterals wrap around the stems and can be seen from both sides of the flattened stems. The facials are facing you and are in full view. White stomatal areas obvious on lower surface.  May resemble small X’s or barbells with X's on the ends.

Stems grow in fan-like sprays unlike the elongated sprays of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana. Chamaecyparis species are more oval than round and this is why they have facial and lateral leaves.

Male and female stroboli "flowers" are very small, you can see the remnants of the males in the picture above, and the female below.

Cones are 3/8" round with peltate scales. They look bigger in this image than they really are.

Bark is typical of this family, and is stingy and fibrous.

A common selection of this species in the area is C. obtusa filicoides which is found in green or yellow foliage varieties. The foliage is arranged in fern like sprays and not rounded like the normal C. obtusa. 

Misidentification: Look for the smaller woody cones and the lower side of the branchlets having the distinct white X's. Not exclusive of this species but the small cones and the flatted sprays will help.

Locations: To be honest they are not that common, several at Cabrillo College on the "lower campus",
A nice one on the corner of Chestnut and Center in SC.

Abies pinsapo 'Glauca' - Spanish Fir

The blue Spanish fir is a beautiful slow growing, broadly pyramidal tree with a very symmetrical habit 20-40' tall and 15' wide at the base. A bluish gray version of the species, with very tightly arranged lateral branches and very full all the way to the ground. This one gets pruned, I  have seen him up with a really tall ladder.

They look more like this but the top is usually rounded at maturity.

Foliage is very different than most firs in that they are really short and plump.  The leaves are linear, evergreen, short and stout, about 3/8 - 1/2" long, pointed or blunt tip and more or less rounded in cross section. Lasting 12 plus years before falling.  Blue color (a thick layer of wax), and unlike most true firs they spread out completely around the stems (most firs tend to arrange their leaves so they appear to be opposite.

Fir leaves differ from other fir-like trees, like spruces and doug firs by the way the leaves are attached to the stem. The base of the leaf is rounded and is attached much like suction cups. When the leaves fall off they leave a small rounded or oval circle. You can see that in this image as well.

The cones are very pretty, and like all firs they are mostly borne up at the top of the tree. Luckily they do produce some lower on the tree so you can see them.  Cones are 4-5" tall, about 1" wide. The bracts are shorter than the scales so you will not see them. Cones mature in one season and are purplish before maturing to a brown color.

The cones fall apart while attached to the tree and leave behind an upright stalk.

Male cones, small reddish. Notice the terminal bud in this picture, 3 clustered and covered with resin.

Branches light reddish brown, stout, and smooth where the leaves have fallen off they will have round scars. The old trunks are smooth as is common of all firs. It is not till they are really old do they become furrowed. Terminal buds are clustered in 3's at the tip, and covered with resin.

Misidentification: look for the very short blue leaves radiating out all around the stem and resinous buds. Foliage is very much different than most firs in that they are really short and plump.

Locations:
Aptos
680 Bayview Drive