I WOULDNT BOTHER WITH RED STAR AGAIN ... oops ...

i am not sure those buds look completely gone on the parv ...

the ghost is a goner... IMHO ... ken

Your Pinus parviflora made it. It's just hurt a bit.

That Red Star will never look good again. Time to pull that one out of the ground, literally. I'd stomp on it if it gave me any trouble.

That densiflora said good-bye too! ;-) Although... you may wish to wait till June. If you can brush the buds off right now with your hands or if the bark is toast well than it's a gonner.

Here:
One Picea engelmannii seedling.
Probably a few boxwoods.
Japanese Maple seedling is in perfect shape. I grew it from seed of a cultivar.
My only other: Acer japonicum 'Omurayama' not a single blemish and in full 'artic' winds. Horrible winter...

All Abies nordmanniana var. ambrolauri minus one out of 20 or thereabouts never hardened off that well this fall and took with each of them juvenile foliage into the winter which turned orange immediately but all the buds are perfect. I'll be keeping these after all.

That's about all I have to report. Probably 250 total plants.

Dax

stevemy,

Welcome to the real world off disappointments. It's a learning process to find out what works and does not. I am sm still in the learning process. I just took a tour of my garden and I see where my 8' Sequoiadendron giganteum 'Pendulum' has decided to die. Make my day. Healthy and green the last time I had a look at it...about a month ago.

There is no guarantee what you put in the ground conifer wise will make it. Nothing like vegetable gardening where you grow it ...eat it...and its gone.

Dave

Hi St. Three out of one hundred...that's not too bad.My only loss so far is a Picea abies 'Echiniformis' wich I purchased and planted last october; it lost it's needles very soon after .The dog? Too much rain? Go figure as you guys would say!
BTW,In Van Gelderen/van Hoey-Smith encyclopedia,'Red Star' is said 'to make a good indoor plant'. A clue?
BTW 2 My 'Red Star' wich Dave said was toast last autumn,still has it's plum-purple colour,and actually appears to be greening-up again.Back from the dead?
BTW 3 Is 'Red Star' really the same plant as 'Rubicon'? Adrian Bloom in his book 'Gardening with conifers' makes no special mention of it as being particularly difficult,so maybe there are two look-alikes,with one being more fussy than the other... T.

Yes definitely a horrible winter. Oddly some things I thought for sure were goners came through okay, though there is considerable burn on a few things planted last fall. Of everything, Chamaecyparis obtusas look the worst. I know I have one dead Crippsii and I think a Nana Lutea is so burned that Im going to get rid of it too. There are a few things I'm just not happy with or that the rabbits so severely ate that i will get rid of and replace, but not much death for a bad winter. As far as maples, It does appear that an Acer palmatum Beni kawa is dead, in that the bark is totally black around the base.

Dave, you talk of Marvin Snyder's garden and I would like to know if he grows all the stuff you do such as Atlas Cedar, Arizona Cypress, Sequoiadendron, etc-

Your climate is soooo weird for a zone five...even if it behaves like a zone six, no matter what.

Dax

Hi Dax,

Marvin is pretty much a Picea abies,omorika and orientalis dwarf cultivar fancier. A few Abies, pines, Sciadopitys, Chamaecyparis and acer palms thrown into the mix for balance. To many deciduous plants to name...all unusual and not your run of the mill nursery stock.

Does not care, in my opinion, for Atlas Cedar, Arizona Cypress, Sequoiadendron and Junipers not to say he doesn't admire them in a setting. His space is limited to grow these larger cultivars.

We live about 10 miles apart as the crow flies. He can grow a few Abies cultivars...I can't. I grow Cryptomeria...he can't. Go figure...

Dave

Wait, you can grow a plant that dies ten miles away??? Now that's a microclimate.

It is too early here in West Virginia to know the score. The lowest temperature has been -10F. I am really sorry dcsteg about the Sequoiadendron giganteum 'Pendulum'. I have one (18")that is just hanging on from the last two winters. I followed your earlier posts on you obtaining and planting yours. I had hoped at least yours would make it because of its size.
Gary

So far..fingers crossed, everything here looks good to go. The wind on the conifers down back has been wicked, nice thaw, some rain and then 40-50mph winds almost took some of our bigger trees out. Still count that as lucky, big, big trees up rooted.

Dax the plants you sent us a couple years ago are doing fine and the seeding J Maple is really looking good.

As far as winter? Typical Ohio..Blech

All of mine seem to have made it, although as I've stated elsewhere the sciadopitys isn't looking all that GREAT and the Cryptomeria has some yellow needles on it which are either winter coloration or the results of improper light and watering because it's been in the garage all winter.

However, driving down to Columbus today, seeing a LOT of pines off to the side of the road that are either dead, or fairly damaged. (Trees that got blown over from the after-effects of hurricane Ike not included. Ohio has such wonderful weather). Also, the drought from July to Septermberish didn't likely help things out.

In any case, it's a real shame. I loved looking at all of the highway-side pines when driving around and the view's going to be a little bit more sparse this year.

Thanks Dave.

Thusie, that's great. Nice to see you too.

Dax

Dax,

"My only other: Acer japonicum 'Omurayama' not a single blemish and in full 'artic' winds."

Japonicums are my favorites in the JM category, and sadly overlooked by many. They're much hardier than the Palmatums in most respects. There are a number of others you may want to try, including 'Takinogawa', 'Aconitifolium', and a weeper - 'Green Cascade'. Their fall color is spectacular..

K4

I am pretty sure there is a good sized 'red star' or 'rubicon' at the Cheekwood Botanical garden in Nashville. If memory serves me correctly it was about 8ft tall. I will look for it the next time I am there.
Jeff

Yep, K4. I'm lucky enough to be growing seedlings of cultivars as well, it's a riot. Check these out from 2005 or 2006, I forget which.

Dax

{{gwi:647026}}

Dax,

I'm drooling! LOL!

K4

Dax,
Do you have some favorites in that batch of seedlings?
There looks to be a lot of variation in leaf shape. That's going to be fun watching them grow and develop!

Barbara

It's as much fun as growing conifers. I have 3 dwarfs from that year alone. I gave away most of the good ones, I have 67 one-gallons left from my original 125. I'm going to plant them everywhere around this lake I'll be putting in. It's going to be Japanese maples, Dawn Redwood, Larix mastersiana, and then some evergreen conifers with other stuff of course too. A lot of colorful stuff I'm growing from seed of perennials and perennial herbs.

All from Horizon Herbs:

Cascara Sagrada (Rhamnus purshiana) seeds, fresh, organic
Clover, Crimson (Trifolium incarnatum) seeds, organic (corn crop cover)
Lavender, English (Lavandula angustifolia vera) seeds, organic
Black seed set, (4 seed packets): Black Seed, habat soda, hispanica, and love in the mist, all organic
Asphodel (Asphodelus ramosus) seeds, organic
Bear Grass (Xerophyllum tenax) seeds
Pyrethrum, Painted Daisy (Chrysanthemum coccineum) seeds, organic
Mint, Mountain (Pycnanthemum virginianum) seeds, organic
Lavender, Czech (Lavandula angustifolia krajova) seeds, organic
Sage, Clary (Salvia sclarea) seeds, organic [WA no]
Cowslip (Primula veris) seeds, organic
Camas, Blue (Camassia quamash) seeds
Sage, Pitcher (Salvia spathacea) seeds, organic (hope it re-seeds). I won't find out the hard way though.
Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum) seeds, organic

Dax

Fun site Stevemy. I enjoyed the Tandoori chicken recipe. :) Sorry to hear about your conifers. Was your Chamaecyparis thyoides planted in the open? Although you are zone 7 and that conifer should be able to take colder temperatures, I still find that small conifers planted without any protection from the winter winds can get burned. I had lost quite a few small conifers because they were in the open.