Since the 1990s, I have been enamored with the weeping red cedar, Juniperus virginiana ‘Hancock’s Weeping’. This native gem was originally discovered by plantsman Bob McCartney of Woodlanders Nursery, in Georgia’s Hancock County. We are thrilled to have this amazing specimen as part of the JLBG collection. Sadly, it’s not a plant that will ever find itself in mainstream nursery production, due to it’s unusual form, which causes issues in large scale nursery production. Hardiness Zone 5a-9b, at least.
Looks like one I planted on a now deceased friend’s property decades ago here in the Pacific Northwest. That was presumably obtained from a garden center. But the source and the cultivar were not recorded and kept accessible. If in fact the same clone it produced a pyramidal specimen with apical dominance in this instance.
Looking around elsewhere ‘Hancock’s Weeping’ appears to be a fixed juvenile. With there being some confusing of that with ‘Pendula’ by a percentage of commercial growers. That are showing weeping Juniperus virginiana forms identified simply as “weeping”. (And the one I planted looking like ‘Pendula’ up closely, something I now recall I saw previously).
Actually, we never noticed any juvenile growth on Juniperus ‘Hancock’s Weeping’ The lack of nomenclatural attention by some plant folks has no doubt resulted in the name ‘Pendula’ being applied incorrectly to any weeping form.
Your photo is from too far back to tell, there is definitely a percentage of material of “weeping” being shown on the web that is entirely juvenile to some height. As though fixed. So, there may be a third entity being grown and sold. With an additional wrinkle being that one site includes an account of a Leyland screen being replaced with three small starter plants obtained as ‘Hancock Weeping’. With the close shot of one of them showing a fluffy blue foliage type. A mix of scale and needle foliage or with the outer tips not having fully developed needles yet.
Great point. Anytime Juniperus virginia is propagated, a large percentage of the foliage will revert to juvenile. It has been our experience that most of that disappears as the plant matures.