It’s hard to talk about bald cypress, without a brief mention of Taxodium taxonomy. We adopt the concept of three separate species, although some taxonomists prefer to lump them all in a single species with three varieties. They are Taxodium acendens (aka: T. distichum var. imbricatum), Taxodium distichum (aka: T. distichum var. distichum), and Taxodium
LaNana – No Hair and No Knees Read More »
Back in 2008, I was visiting Virginia plantsman, Paul James, and was taken by the form of one of the now mature bald cypress seedlings that he’d planted around his extensive mountainside property. Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) are deciduous conifers, native to the southeastern US, and while all are nice, I found this one exceptional.
Admiring Paul’s Bald Read More »
We have long loved the North American native, dawn redwoods. Yes, you read it correctly…North American natives. As I always try to explain to the scientifically challenged, native is not a place in location, but instead only a place in time. Metasequoia went extinct in North America, a mere 7.5 million years ago, primarily because
Shining the Night Light on a Dawn Redwood Read More »
Since watching the bizarre Monty Python skit, “The Larch” as part of their series, “How to Recognize Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away” was first aired in 1969, I became obsessed about growing this deciduous conifer, which is confined to the world’s cold summer regions. Since 1969, I’ve killed an array
And Now, For Something Completely Different…The Larch Read More »
Our specimen of the dwarf, Gingko biloba ‘Mariken’ is looking quite lovely this week, with its golden fall foliage. This amazing plant was discovered in 1995 in Holland as a witches broom mutant. Fifteen years later (2010), it was named Plant of the Year by the American Conifer Society, and also awarded the Royal Horticultural
Despite it being 55 years ago, it’s still impossible to not flash back to Monty Python’s ridiculous “The Larch” skit, from their “How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away”. Although we’re limited in the true larches we can grow here, one that does thrive, and one of the earliest
Real News…Fake Larch Read More »
We’ve long had an affinity for larches (probably due to a hangover from watching the Monty Python larch skit far too many times), but there aren’t many larches that will survive our hot, humid summers. We can, however, succeed with the false larch, which belongs to the monotypic genus, Pseudolarix. Both larix (larch) and pseuodlarix
