In western Arkansas (arid, air-transition of the southern US) it should do fine with occasional supplemental water is my guess. It is susceptible to white pine blister rust within proximity of gooseberry and currants. (lots here in IL) I don't know about Arkansas.

Cryptomeria, good plant for across Arkansas.

Dax

What you saw for sale would very likely have been Pinus reflexa (native to AZ & NM, and long confused with P. strobiformis), rather than true P. strobiformis (a Mexican endemic from further south in the Sierra Madre Occidental). It'll do well with you, though as Dax says, blister rust is a potential problem to watch for.

Resin

Thanks to both of you. I went ahead and bought one strobus, one labeled strobiformis, and one ponderosa. Didn't see the note about the cryptomeria until I got home. I'll have to go back and give those a closer look. And darn it, those hemlock look sooooo pretty and healthy. I am tempted to take one of those home, too though I know every tree at the store is already doomed to fail here.

Here are some pics of the p. strobiformis (the one on the left in the first pic, the right one is p. strobus). I don't know if these pics are good enough for an ID but I can take more if needed. They also have p. reflexis 'Vanderwolf's Pyramid' that I also really liked.

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They both look nearly identical to me in color and needles per fascicle (5) other than the p. strobus is slighly more open while the needles on the strobiformis are closer together in a tighter bunch near the buds. I could very easily mistake them for seedlings of the same species.

Again, thanks for the advice

John

I do see a slight color difference -- reflexa w/a slightly more pale, blue-green look.

I seriously doubt Ponderosa will last long in AR.

j0nd03, looks like your drought is getting slowly chipped away from the east. Hope things will continue improving...

A word of warning -- I'd check them for girdling roots. My Pinus reflexa from Forestfarm had a nasty case of it. Had to wash off the soil & do serious surgery (ditto for a Pond pine). Both suffered badly from the surgery (and had to be staked), but have happily recovered after quite a few yrs.

Thanks for postive thoughts, beng. We still have standing water in the low spot from the last snow melt and rain storms a week ago. The soil moisture levels are in good shape for spring as long as the rains keep coming. Spring rains were very lacking last year and that really got the ball rolling with our drought. Once summer and the triple digits without rain hit, things went downhill very fast. I saw many native trees that grew all of 1-3" last season as well as a couple trees I planted 3 years ago that are "free range" although the diminished growth did get them several rounds with the soaker hose.

As for the trees, I planted a few things today, but darn if I couldn't find the perfect spot for those pines! I might pot them up into larger containers this week and perform root surgery as needed. The spot I have picked out for them may become a pond so I need to wait till this fall after I have (hopefully) decided. They were only $10 each so nbd if they end up in the compost pile. After spending $$$ the last 2 springs and getting nearly all the big landscape trees going, I really haven't tapped the spring budget at all this year. I don't really have a lot to add at this time either. Just a cool shrub here and there and now trying a few dwarf conifers (not the ones in this topic!).

WRT the p. ponderosa, I have seen several growing around here but they have all been fairly small perhaps the largest around 8' with no mature specimens. Honestly, I had heard the opposite about their hardiness here. What conditions are detrimental to them here and what do you recommend as far as placement to help them succeed?

John

Hey John. Just seen your post. I've been very busy grafting.

All the above mentioned plants grow well for me. I only have 1-2 small Pinus ponderosa cultivars that I have been growing in pots for a few years. I'll probably plant them out soon. They made it through our two previous horrible summers. Hopefully they will continue to do well here?

I have several Pinus strobus. My Pinus strobus 'Pendula' is growing like a weed. I have never had any problems with P strobus thus far. The same can be said about Cryptomeria japonica. You might want to give them evening shade though. My Cryptomeria japonica 'Yoshino' took off last year.

As for the Tsuga canadensis, I've lost 1or 2 in learning what I'm doing. I have about 12 Hemlock cultivars(in groung and in pots) and they are doing fine. They get no direct sun. I've planted them in shade and everything is good now.

Good luck with your new trees!

Patrick

John, the Ponderosa will almost certainly get needlecast after a couple yrs. Once it starts, it'll gradually infect the whole tree from bottom working upward.

And you should be able to tell if they have girdling roots just by removing the topmost soil to expose the root crown and on the roots directly against the pot. If it isn't obvious, they're prb'ly OK.

beng....Why will the ponderosa pine "almost certainly get needlecast?" What factors attribute to this? Humidity?

Hey, Patrick! I did remember your p. strobus were all doing great when I visited. I do think your climate is ever so slightly wetter in summer than me and a little "cooler" by a couple degrees in summer. The river valley really heats up and is usually warmer than the surrounding areas. This is not surprising as the Ozarks are north and the Ouachitas are south of here. I also think you are probably more humid in summer, too. I'm sure this all changes from year to year, but at least the last two years this has been the case (summer of 2011 was B no matter where in AR you lived and east of the Rockies for that matter!).

Back to the trees... was that a tsuga you had growing is mostly shade at the entrance on the left? I seem to remember something about removing the mature trees on the other side of the fence to give it more light so I may be mistaken. I guess from pics of your ice storm damage, mother nature may have forced your hand in that respect. Hopefully most of your plants that are not juniper will recover in the coming years. I know it would slow down your expansion project if you had to redo your current garden ie getting new plants established. I also remember your cryptomeria doing great as well as a sequoia (giganteum?) doing very well.

Beng, I will look into needlecast. I am not the kind of gardener who uses preventative measures (chemicals) to keep trees alive, though. Way too busy with kids/work to mess with that. Needlecast may not even fall into the preventable category anyway.

John

abciximab, yup. It's been discussed here many times. Occasionally it seems to do OK on the fringes of the eastern "hot & humid" zone, like Quebec & the extreme upper midwest. AR is smack in the zone.

John, try it, but I wouldn't spray a tree for the rest of its life. My 16' Jeffrey pine, after initially thriving, is now devastated by it, and my younger 7' Ponderosa now has it on the lowest branches.