I have found that as i've moved away the never ending winters and eternal permafrost of the upper Midwest, my spring anticipation has lessened. years like this year, I get winter anticipation...we had one weekend where temps dipped below zero, but otherwise, not enough cold to freeze the water in a teacup.

Then I got the terrible affliction where you spend days and days hunched over a stainless steel evaporator, constantly feeding the beast firewood...all to get some syrup at the end of the process.

Winter gives me a rest, so I make the best of it.

A couple of hemlocks and hosta...

...and a few others...

tj

maackia and tj, nice to see a mix of plants!

Can't believe you have such a nice Little Honey!

Sweeet! Amazing colors and specimens, both of you!

"Can't believe you have such a nice Little Honey"

Last winter was relatively mild so it didn't die to the snow line and I had it protected from rabbits.

tj

Yeah those rats are tough in the city. Shockingly I haven't seen a rabbit yet around by me. The deer could be an issue along with the voles though.

How old is your sargent cherry now btw?

The sargent cherry is still doing mighty fine.

Edit: Gah, you asked how old. Planted in 2001 as a 8-10 footer.

tj

Is your Sargent Cherry a seedling and does it develop nice fall color? I need to replace a Katsura and this is one I'm considering. I can't get a Katsura to survive up here.

My Sargent is a grafted cultivar known as Rancho. You can see it HERE. It is said to be one of the hardier cherries, so maybe zone 4 will be OK.

tj

Some May 2016 photos:

Pinus koraiensis 'Avocadra'

Thuja occidentalis 'Frizz' - my seedling selection of (OP) 'Hetz Wintergreen'

Thuja occidentalis 'Frizz' - my seedling selection of OP 'Hetz Wintergreen'

Picea glauca 'Terry's Variegated' - SLOW

Pinus banksiana 'Compacta'

Acer palmatum x circinatum 'Herbstfeuer'

Pinus mugo 'Alpen Hexe'

Right: Acer truncatum 'Fire Dragon' - next Viburnum dentatum 'Blue Muffin' - Thuja occ. 'Pickles Spear' another of my seedlings that Edwin Smits said I 'MUST' name as a cultivar. Good plant... but 'Malonyana' is an equal or better. Picea glauca 'Pendula' off in the distance.

Picea pungens 'MPH Mamut Torony' - weeping pungens selected by Zsolt Mesterhazy.

Aesculus turbinata var. pubescens

Dax

Continuing from May 2016:

Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis

Pinus jeffreyi

Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis 'Midnight Steel' - my seedling selection.

Cupressus nootkatenis 'Pendula' (Girard's Nursery form - no longer in business) and 'Green Giant' Thuja's I planted in 2008 as 1.5' tall plants & my dog Daisy.

Quercus nuttallii F2 'New Madrid'

Picea pungens 'Violette Beauregarde' - my dwarf seedling selection.

Acer truncatum

Betula uber

Sciadopity's verticillata 'Sternschnuppe'

I know I should not covet thy neighbors trees, but I want that Korean Pine! What a splendid conifer; you must be thrilled at the prospect of watching it develop. It looks like you've left it plenty of room. I've got 'Silveray' and 'Anna', but they are small and slow to take off. I'm trying to be patient with them, but looking at yours is not helping. ;)

Thanks T.J. Does anyone know if Sargent Cherry is susceptible to black knot? The native Black Cherry is plentiful here to the point of being weedy, but almost all are disfigured from bk.

It may be short but sweet it is!

Maackia here is a link for you
http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/trees-shrubs/black-knot/

Dax, thanks for adding some pics! Some real nice ones in there.

Wow, Dax, Betula uber! Didn't know you could buy them. Some sources say it's just a round-leaved variant of cherry birch.

Bob, it's a good-looking pine for sure. Cultivar or not.

You bet whaas. It's been a very long time.

Beng, you can buy them now but there was a restriction however many years back. I got mine from Guy Sternberg @ Starhill Forest Arboretum. He had a license for them at the time. It's a dandy. Splendid yellow fall color. Love the leaf. Not much different from Fagus sylvatica 'Rotundifolia' in leaf. Two awesome trees. I have both.

Dax

Hey whaas, check out this concolor. A Jerry Morris plant in a friend's garden. He may be the only person in the United States along with Morris to have it.

Abies concolor 'Buffy'

It's the whitest blue concolor (dwarf) I've seen.

Dax

Dax, I love your Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis 'Midnight Steel' and Picea pungens 'Violette Beauregarde', never have I seen a spruce develop in such a form. BTW, your place is developing nicely!

I love the plants tsugajunkie! May I ask what the blue conifer is 3rd photo down, it's the tree on the left side?

Thank you, Terry. How's your 'Terry's Variegated' coming along?

Dax

Dax, I have two specimens, one being rather unruly and showing little variegation, while the other is much better and heavily sprinkled throughout with yellow needles and is now about 3 ft tall. They have been kept potted and been somewhat neglected, though will finally get their roots in the ground this spring. I'll later take photos when they've recuperated.

Great stuff everyone!

Dax, looks like your 'Avocadra' has recovered very nicely from the deer damage. I still get a kick out of 'Violette Beauregarde'. A perfect name for a great looking plant. Can't wait to see that 'MPH Mamut Torony' grow up. I planted a Pinus jefferyi 'Joppi' and a Pinus ponderosa 'King Kone' last year. I'm not sure how well the ponderosa will do but I'm thinking the jefferyi will do just fine. I also finally, got myself a 'Sternschnuppe' that looks the same size as yours. That's a prehistoric looking plant.

T.J., I was going to ask the same thing as Stuart. Is it an Abies lasiocarpa? I really need to add one of those. Seams like a good alternative to Picea pungens that tend to get destroyed by needle cast in my area. Every single one of my pungens got infected last year.

Makia, what is the globose pine in photo 3?

Here's a few photo's from my trip to Gee Farms, Michigan in October. Wish I took more photos but I was kind of in shock and overwhelmed by all the conifer greatness around me to concentrate on anything but drooling. I'll take more photos next time for sure.

Picea abies 'Cobra'

Pinus schwerinii 'Wiethorst' - The leader was removed hence the lower growing form

A beautiful monster trio. I forgot to ask Gary Gee if the broom originated there or if it was grafted on top like that.

Hey Garen,

Spray your jeffreyi and ponderosa with liquid copper as soon as you notice bud swell. Then hit it again when the needles are expanding and again after the needles have fully expanded and are hardening off. And come thru at Fall and spray again.

I read to use copper in the mid-west on jeffreyi while it's becoming established at that great website and arboretum in Missouri. I'm forgetting its name at the moment.

That's my regimen. They don't tell you when to spray but I've had a lot of experience spraying having been a licensed applicator a few times.

Dax

Dax:

http://www.lovettpinetum.org

Garen,

That would be P. nigra 'Pierrick Bregeon'. It's a low graft and doing great.

@stuart & Garen- That is Abies lasiocarpa 'Compacta' aka 'Glauca Compacta'.

Here's a closer pic...

A more upright version would be...

Abies lasiocarpa 'Glauca'

tj

Great pics everyone, keep 'em coming.

Here's another Abies lasiocarpa var. Arizonica 'Compacta'

And my little guy I bought last fall, front right. Terrific color

Whaas - those spring pictures are incredible. Gotta love the new candle push. Do you have any pictures of the Picea abies 'Dandylion' with the growth hardened off? Love the vibrancy and texture.

Maackia - Love the P. nigra 'Pierrick Bregeon', cool needles and texture. I haven't had great success with nigra, but I haven't given up yet.

Dax - Can't beat a Korean pine, and a very nice specimen you have! I also especially like the Pinus banksiana 'Compacta', Pinus mugo 'Alpen Hexe', and the form on 'Midnight Steel'.

I have Pierrick's kin, Pinus nigra 'Gaelle Bregeon' aka 'Bambino'. Actually a nigra x densiflora cross.

Pinus nigra 'Gaelle Bregeon' aka 'Bambino'.

tj

This thread is fantastic.

Dax, Thanks for the advice. That works out well as I was just about to buy some copper to take care of the needle cast problem on my pungens.

Diggin those nigras and lasiocarpas. Thanks guys!

Most lasiocarpas I've seen seem to enjoy putting up multiple leaders.

Most lasiocarpas I've seen seem to enjoy putting up multiple leaders.

Thats exactly what I was going to say!

Coniferbros, sure I can snap a pic for you this weekend.

Oh yeah, that great web site Dax was talking about. Just click the link below and search a plant. You can also google a conifer and their website usually turns up somewhere.

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plantfinder/plantfindersearch.aspx

I use it all the time. I really like being able to hear how to pronounce the different plant names. Great informational source.

Abies lasiocarpa 'Compacta' tends to put up multiple leaders. It gives it the squatty form. 'Glauca' tends toward single leaders.

tj

Lovett Pinetum for needlecast on Jeffreyi. I use MoBot. for plant searches otherwise :-)

Dax

Dax, I copied text from the Lovett site yrs ago -- it's below. Should work on most any conifers affected by these fungal diseases. Trouble is, very hard to do on a 30'+ tree....

***********

The one instance of a seemingly unqualified "Good Chemical" has been the use of Cleary's 3336F (thiophanate) for needlecast, both Lophodermium and Dothistroma. This "saved" almost all of the affected jeffrey and ponderosa pine in the spring of 1994 and I used it again ('97 and '98 spring). The timing of spraying depends on the specific diagnosis (Please see File # 27. 1997 Field Notes). In addition, for needlecast, progressive bottom- upward pruning and interior thinning appears to be helping. Every January, the bottom tier of lateral branches and some of the interior branches are pruned.

For mature trees, two applications of a fixed copper or Bordeaux mixture type of fungicide are recommended to control Dothistroma. If these materials are used, the first application needs to be in mid-May to protect the previous years needles.The second application should be made in mid-June to provide protection for the new needles.

***********

Thanks. What I remember reading (might have been somewhere else on their website) was to spray copper on newly planted Jeffreyi to (hopefully) ward off needlecast during their young years, spraying until the tree heights are no longer capable of being sprayed anymore.

There's no guarantee after that but apparently they have a fighting chance if they make it thru the juvenile and young adult years w/o having already been affected by needlecast diseases.

Dax

Heres an older photo ive never posted.One of my daughters took with a phone.

her photo is better than yours,,,,ha

nice ,al

edit: what I mean to say is , I like the long shot

whaas , if he sees his shadow , it's 6 more weeks of winter,,

if he doesn't , spring is right around the corner,,,in 6 weeks

ron

Is that a spreading pine behind the two shorter conifers?

It is one of pinus densiflora o.d. versions. I think it was this one

http://dawesarb.arboretumexplorer.org/taxon-25610.aspx

Whaas, your 'pendula Bruns' is straight up with a lot of foliage. My now 12 ft picea omorica 'pendula Bruns' is blue green, has less foliage, is more slender and trying to form a 'C' so I tied it to a conduit. I read here that others also are not totally vertically up. There might be variations, also via different understock.

Bernd

What is the short conifer on the far right of the photo that Plant Map posted? Does it naturally have this round crown, or is it pruned that way?

Unfortunately I do not know the name of the round pine. I do not think it was trimmed though, it is in Dawes arboretum and most of their plants look natural, except those in the Japanese garden, of course.

Any guesses from the experts here? I love the dome-shaped crown and the very thick, slanted trunk. Very old dwarf variety, probably.

It most likely wasn't pruned. It looks like one of the many globe shaped Pinus sylvestris cultivars. There's a lot of nice ones out there with different growth rates and shades of green to blue. =)

Ha ha, I did some quick sleuthing on the Dawes website and looked up the plants around that giant 'Oculus Draconis'. It's Pinus sylvestris 'Cutty Sark'.

http://dawesarb.arboretumexplorer.org/taxon-26014.aspx

Most likely won't be able to find that particular one widely available in cultivation but there are plenty of other ones like it; e.g., 'Nana', 'Watereri', etc.., and some slower growing forms like 'Jeremy' for tight spaces.

Conifer Kingdom has 'Chantry Blue' right now.

http://www.coniferkingdom.com/pinus-sylvestris-chantry-blue/

Oh, wow, Garen,
amazing sleuth work, thanks!

I inherited (came
with the property) a 30+ year old Thuja occidentalis 'Woodwardii' that has lost
its globular shape. I limbed it up to make it look like a small tree, it looks
much better that way, but it turns out that the branch flare starts only a few inches above soil
level.

I wonder if the
globular Pinus sylvestris cultivars tend to have a longer trunk before the
branch flare starts, like the specimen of Dawes arboretum (visible on the photo that Plant Map posted). Or does that differ
from one specimen to the next? Grafting on a standard is not as natural
looking, IMHO, although I do have such a standard 'Glauca Nana' specimen that I
like very much.

Ontario, funny you mention limbing up your thuja as I just heavily pruned and limed up my 10 year old Thuja occidentalis 'Concabe' to reveal some of the the thicker trunk below. I think it will look quite nice even though I hacked away years of growth.

As for the globose sylvestris, I think that the height of the thick trunk depends on how high the scion was grafted and the pruning or die off of shaded lower branches. 'Cutty Sark' seems to be quite a nice broom as this one appears to be growing perfectly round unlike many of the cloud shaped ones. This one looks very uniform but with grafting, forms can vary based on the scions that are selected. I am by no means an expert or grafter, just an enthusiastic observer. =)

Oh, the 'Cutty Sark'
looks so utterly natural, it subconsciously imprinted on me it grew on its own
roots, but yeah, it is actually grafted, LOL. Looking at the photo again, I
think it is the big crown that grew to perfectly match the high graft, which makes
the overall tree look so natural, marvellous.

From Google, the
'Congabe' has very nice colors. Limbing up at an early age gives you certainly
good chances at getting the tree shape right, it will be a unique specimen too.

I am not patient
enough, I will be hunting high grafts :-)

Alley cat, I love your garden! I'd love to see updated photos of your garden in the future.