The only good pics I've seen of Pinus thunbergii have been from Japan. Never seen a decent one in Britain, nor on my travels anywhere else (not been to Japan).

Cedrus - the difference between the Atlas and the Himalaya is rainfall patterns - the Himalaya, like Texas, has a summer maximum, while the Atlas gets nearly all its precipitation in winter, as snow - more like the southern Sierra Nevada in California.

One I'd add to the TX to-try list is Keteleeria - like an Abies, but loves heat and drought.

Resin

Not monstrous, but it is a proper 'tree-sized' tree, maybe 20 metres or so in the long term. It can however be coppiced (unlike most of the rest of the Pinaceae), so there's the option of growing it for a few years, cutting it when it gets large, and letting it regrow from the stump.

Resin

never heard of most of them... lol ...

i do grow the purist version of taxodium up here ...

and i have quite a few thunbergii .... though young.. resin .. what makes a 'good one'????? .. i suppose variegation turns your stomach .. lol ...

here is a little one .... P. t. 'mini mounds' .. growing like a weed .... and one of my current favorites .. and green for Michael .. lol
{{gwi:703849}}

cant find a variegated one.. maybe tomorrow... ken

Beautiful! Hey Ken, are those your 'Green Giants' in the background? They look great!

That's awesome Ken. I'm adding it to my list as I always do.

tcharles, my favorite Taxodium distichum which I'm sure you're already familiar with is: 'Shawnee Brave'.
I'd also add Taxodium distichum 'Pendens' for a very large single-specimen (only).

My current favorite Cedrus deodara is:
'Eisregen'. Here's some pictures:
UBC Conifer Photo Gallery Thread

Later on Gangsters,

Dax

Seeing that Central Texas soil is alkaline soil, are you talking about west/central texas source bald cypress that can thrive in alkaline soil better than east Texas source which is mainly acidic soil?

Where I live (south of Dallas), the soil is pretty much exact same as Central Texas so I have to look at Central Texas and see what grows well rather than East Texas that big boxes seem to sell a lot of plants that do well in East Texas including bald cypress. No wonder why they look crappy. The best conifer i've seen around here is that Taxodium Mucronatum. Dark green leaves...

About pine tree... You might want to check out Italian Stone Pine tree (P. Pinea). It was recommended over any other pine trees including black japanese. Texas Forest Service is selling these seedlings for West and Central Texas. You might want to talk to them about it how they perform compared to others.

Juniper (eastern cedar)is very common but does great in crappy soil... Best wind break and privacy screening trees money can buy around here.

{{gwi:452157}}

Taxodium mucronatum aka Montezuma Cypress a couple miles from my house. By far the best looking taxodium in alkaline soil. This is either planted in native heavy clay topsoil (usually around 2-4 feet if you're lucky; terrible when wet though) with caliche/limestone subsoil (very deep) or directly into crushed caliche soil (like mine). Most bald cypress trees look like they do not belong in my area. Maybe East Texas source?

Another promising taxodium is TM-TD hybrid called 'nanjing beauty' which supposedly can tolerate up to pH of 8.5. I'm going to plant one soon... Hopefully it will turn out great.

I'd love to give a Keteleeria davidiana a try. I haven't seen one listed in the usual places (at least where I've looked). Any suggestions?
J.D.

I think pubescens is probably properly conisidered a variety or subspecies of davidiana.

Not easy to find any of them. Seed should be fine because you would mail order the plants anyway and couldn't get a large one.

My top 5 for this reigon would vary slightly:
1 - Eastern Red Cedar - looks good and thrives easily
2 - Arizona Cypress - usually looks good and thrives fairly easily.
3 - Bald Cypress - looks good and thrives. I've seen these rated for up to 7.5 pH.
4 - Ashei Juniper - sometimes looks ok and thrives.
5 - Leyland Cypress - looks good and thrives if you water it during drought.
Some possible mentions :
Thuja Green Giant - 2nd summer, seems to be ok but slow growing.
Alligator Juniper - 3 seedlings growing slowly.
Pinus Sabiniana - 3 planted/first summer.
Think twice before you try these:
Deodar Cedar - I've seen them growing here, but mine will not and died.
Pinyon Pine - 2 of 6 are alive and green. SLOW and tempermental fits them in this area.
Loblolly pine - knew better but tried them anyway.

How are the bald cypress doing in central Texas this year? I managed to get a true central Texas BC to try it out in DFW in caliche soil to see how it compared to east Texas BC that are obviously planted everywhere and don't seem to be doing good. The cypress I posted earlier in this thread, a nice one with deep green color is going on strong with no sign of distress at all unlike all the bald cypress. I don't know if it is truly bald cypress or montezuma cypress. Noone seems to be sure of it yet.

lou,
Took a trip down the upper part of the Guadalupe River in June. The bald cypress there were more beat up than I remember. Guess less year's floods were rough on them. About 1/3 of area had new bc seedlings growing here and there, on the other 2/3 of trip noticed no seedlings. Perhaps the grazing discourages establishment of seedlings.

A couple of my "Louisisana-sourced bald cypress appear to be suffering from chlorosis, the others seem ok. Guessing the gene pool generally covers adaptability to these soils.

Another possible conifer candidate for this area is Hinoki Cypress. I've planted 4 of them and they seem to be doing ok. My seed source is about a dozen trees growing on a vacant lot on top of a hill in Killeen. Will gather more seeds this winter if anyone wants some.

A very old thread but i would love to have some Hinoki seeds! Also here is a garden i did in the middle of the hill country with P thunbergii. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeEGdb3DRiM