Dusk at 7 PM on the east coast, US — sad face
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Has anyone on East Coast ever tried Quercus ilex?
Comments (54)I just wanted to post that I was out at the National Arboretum a few weeks ago. The large Q. acutas looked like they sustained some damage from teh past winter. Some twig and a few branches died back. Sad to see. But they will certainly survive. The Q. salicina looked like it had NO damage at all surprisingly. I have never seen acorns on them. Interestingly the Q. phillyreoides had some acorns. No apparent dieback. They all looked rather shrubby to me and not large single trunked trees. L. henyri and Q. myrsinifolias looked just fine. Q. glauca specimens at the Arboretum have all had a rough go of it over the years. Numerous diebacks. Pretty pathetic. They should really not be grown up here. But maybe they got some northern provenance stock that they wanted to try. I didn't see where they were from. Unrelated, but all the hollies looked great. Even Ilex latifolia. The Ilex latifolia in my yard looks great as well. No apparent winter damage. A small amount of leaf spot but overall I was very pleased. This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Fri, Oct 17, 14 at 10:33...See MoreHeads Up (NJ and North East)
Comments (21)LL Bean's holiday commercial ("The snow is coming down on this New England town...") makes the NE seems so charming! And then I think about being cold all of the time...it makes 90/90 summers (90 F, 90% humidity) seem downright bearable. For those of you who dream of moving south, you'll feel right at home here in the NC Piedmont. We have a HUGE influx of folks from NJ and NY! Yes, our summers are hot and humid, but the weather is delightful from October through June. Of course, we're getting a bit of that cold air here as well -- our low on Friday night is forecast to be around 10 F (very unusual), so I too am taking precautions with my figs and other potted plants. Good luck to everyone... As for the global warming comments, the shift to the "climate change" label hardly qualifies as vacillation. Rather, it better reflects the reality of what we face -- an overall, average warming trend that is likely to make weather a whole lot weirder (the key here is "weather" as opposed to "climate" -- there's a big difference). Some areas will be warmer, some colder, some drier, and some wetter. The climate will be warmer, but local weather may be anything but....See Morelooking for a good home: an east coast monkey puzzle
Comments (28)Oh my gosh. NB that the link now goes to a totally different dead nursery auction in a different part of the state of NJ. That auctioneer is so thrifty they reuse their old URLS! "Finally, the North American Rock Garden Society's Mason-Dixon chapter will present "Monkey Puzzle Tree, a story of survival"" That's a bit ironically titled. Surely a plant with one of the lowest success rates on the east coast, otherwise you'd see them all over. I seem to recall Mr. Hill of the old Hill's Camellia gardens told me he'd tried several and they were impossible in the climate of DC...he refused to believe there was one in Silver Spring and said it had to be a China Fir. (it isn't) They've been sold as specialities since at least the early 80s and yet you never see them in old gardens. Betty's Azalea Ranch in West Fairfax used to publish a big fancy catalog and they listed them for an ungodly sum for the era, I think $200, but I did see them at the nursery in that time frame when I was a kid. (mid 80s) I think they were also listed by the Foxborough Nursery in NE Maryland, which until they went wholesale only in the early 1990s was the country's ne plus ultra source of rare mail order conifers and things like boxwood. (The wholesale list now is a sad shadow of those days and from the vibe I get having seen the current generation of the family at plant sales, they just see horticultural as a business not a passion.) I have personally killed a couple small ones and I know of other collectors with similar experiences. Chile has probably never had a dewpoint above 65F in the whole country and it shows in the behavior of plants from there. This post was edited by davidrt28 on Sat, May 24, 14 at 12:53...See MoreCoast Redwood photos, Big Basin SP, CA
Comments (55)Robert: The narrow strip on unlogged trees along Redwood creek was left to provide access to what were then thought to be the tallest trees in the world. A big section of logged over land surrounding the "worm" was added to the park with the park expansion bill. I was one of two lobbyists for the Sierra club working to make sure our Senators and Congressmen had the right information and would support the bill. It is a shame that that land, and even more, was not included in the original park, which really did not preserve that much additional old growth redwood forest. By this time much of the Bull creek watershed has recovered somewhat--the cutting there was done close to 60 years ago. As for the incorrect measurement of the "Mother of the Forest Tree": As a percent of the total height, the amount of error is not that uncommon. The most frequent error, is what I noted in my discussion above--the top of the tree, or a point sighted as the top, was closer to the observer than a point directly above the base of the tree. So, when the angle for computing the height was read, the clinometer gave an angle steeper than the true angle would be. The problem occurs because the measurement to the base of the tree was made separately from the measurement of the angle. For these calculations, whether for the ENTS method, or the previous method, a right triangle is assumed, but unless the top sighted is directly over the base, no right triangle actually exists for the calculations, leading to distorted results. The ENTS method assumes TWO right triangles, and measures two distances and two angles, and then combines. So whether the tree leans, or whether the top is directly over the base, is not an issue. But this method, using the convenience of the laser rangefinder, is, after all, much easier and faster. The difficulty is finding a good window to the top, and judging what the true top is, especially when sightlines are difficult and the crown of the tree is broad and/or complex. When no good window can be found--if the tree is very special--it will be climbed, and a tape dropped. Now this is really difficult and takes both climbing AND measuring expertise. And one or two additional people. With the ENTS "sine top, sine base," the angle and the height are measured on the same sight line. The assumed right triangle always--and of necessity--always exists for the calculations. If an error occurs, it is usually to underestimate the height. This would happen when something other than the true top is sighted. The ENTS method will give a true height of whatever twig is sighted, whether the top or not. Note that Will Blozan, when he measured the tree, moved 600 feet away to ensure that from his angle--from far away--he could sight the true top. And, because the distance and angle are measured along the same line and from the same point, the issue of whether the top is perfectly over the base is not an issue. The base is measured the same way as the top, and the height added or subtracted, as the case may be. What may have happened with the "Mother" tree, is either someone did not have enough patience to try to find a visual "window" for sighting the true top of the tree.--so if he stood too close to the tree, allowing him to sight some twig that was more to the side of the crown towards himself rather than at the absolute top, and that twig were a relatively small distance closer to the observer than the base of the tree, whether it were the true top or not, a large overestimation of the height could occur. Or, if the true top was sighted, but that top were closer to the observer than a point directly over the base, that would lead to the same kind of error. Of course, errors could occur in measuring the distance to the trunk, even it the top were directly over the base. Of course, people using the ENTS method can make errors, but any error will not occur simply because it is built into the methodology, as has been the case with the method commonly applied previously. Want to have some fun: get some equipment and start measuring. The now discontinued Nikon 440 rangefinder is perhaps the most preferred rangefinder because it has a narrow laser beam that can pass through narrow openings without giving a false echo from surrounding clutter. Used ones usually available on e-bay, often for between $100 and $150. I also use a basic Suunto clinometer and $13 scientific calculator. If I can sight the top and the base without too much searching, I can get readings, punch in the numbers and get a tree height in maybe as little as two minutes. --Spruce...See More
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