Willis, my favorite dragon's eye cultivar of densiflora for our climate is 'Burke's Red Variegated'. I have had no winter burn on it at all, and it always looks good. 'Golden Ghost' has not faired as well for me, but I have to admit I did move it. I don't have any experience with 'Oculis draconis', but thought I'd share my experiences with similar cultivars. Dan

Chub Harper says these are worthless in zone 5 Illinois. He also says Chamaecyparis obtusa are as well. There are certain guys like Dan who have exceptional microclimates that allow for great conditions for conifers and Asian Maples that normally don't fare so well or at best are ratty plants.

I'd definitely try one and just see how it does.

Dax

Already bought it last weekend from Contrary Mary's in Minooka. A nice 10 gal for $125. I planted it same day in an exposed site, but may move it to a site that would get pretty good winter protection from existing spruce. That just means I have to dig out my Chicago Lustre Viburnum which I can't stand anyways. Will gladly trade for a cool conifer.

Dax, I knew about Chub's experiences via a previous thread on densiflora, but wanted to try it anyways and getting a good sized dragon's eye from a different species like a koraiensis might be pretty expensive. I also have an 'Aurea' and 'Umbrifilica', so my yard can be another Z5 guinea pig.

Thanks D&D

Defiantly not a Zone 5 conifer in KC. Mine lasted 2 years. Whole limbs would die off from the bottom up. It didn't take to long for it to find the dumpster.
Great conifer for those who can grow it.

Dave

Newman. Ok I'll move it before it gets happy where its at. I guess I know what I'll be doing on Fathers Day. Please, nobody tell my tree or my wife that it isn't Z5 material.

Dave, I'll gladly take one of your conifers in a trade for my Viburnum. I'll even give it a one year guarantee to be replaced with my Autumn Jazz Viburnum.

Willis

Hello Willis,

Which one do you want?

Dave

Here's a picture of my P. d. 'Burke's Red Variegated' from today. I got it as a 1 gallon pot from Rich's Spring '05. It's actually planted with full Southern exposure. It's in a slightly raised bed in a spot I used to have an Opuntia cactus, but had to move so my kids wouldn't get hurt. The bed was ammended with a significant amount of Profile clay soil conditioner, which is basicly like turface, so it drains really well. Maybe that's the trick. I don't know, but it seems to be doing pretty well so far. I haven't had it that long so I guess time will tell.
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Dan

Removing weeds, good irrigation and common plant knowledge certainly help plants flourish and I see it in the best of gardens.

This too certainly helps.

Dax

Regarding Oculus Draconis winter burn, yes i do have the perfect example in my garden. it was planted spring 06 very dense rootball. did fine last summer. i burlaped it over winter then this spring wicked burned needles and some die off. HOWEVER i do have new growth on top of the yucky parts. I don't know if i should keep it or try again. I need advice as well. thanks

Move it to a sheltered location and with eastern and/or an understory planting (same conditions as for most all Rhododendrons). If eastern is your prevailing winds, choose elsewhere.

Dax

I have a great spot for it, just haven't gotten around to moving it yet due to the weather and other things.

I'll try and post a pic soon.

Willis

Hi, picture of my about 15 years old Pinus densiflora Occulus draconis. My place zone 5 - 6 Europe, sometimes there is minus 25 deg. of Celsius - every 5 - 6 year.
Jan wbgarden

Here is a link that might be useful: Dwarf conifers

Here are 2 pics of mine, which is at least 3 feet tall. Thanks for posting your pics.

Willis

There is a gorgeous Dragon's Eye planted in the hosta garden at the Wade and Gatton nursery in Ohio. They are zone 5a and it is thriving. My DH fell in love with this tree and insists on including it in our landscape. Mr. Wade is extremely knowledgeable about this tree and would probably be willing to share his thoughts on keeping it healthy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wade and Gatton

I stand by my Pinus densiflora 'Burke's Red Variegated' pick. Here's a more recent photo of mine and for $7.50 from S&S, how can you go wrong.

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Dan

I have to agree with you, Dan. Nice plant so far.

tj

wbgarden, willis, dan: Beautiful photos of this tree at different ages and growing in different conditions.

You live much further north than I do. My questions are about wind, not temps. Dax, you advised Dan to move his tree to a sheltered location and protect it from easterly winds. Does this advice generalize to prevailing winds from other directions, i.e. out of the south and southwest? Long periods of hot wind out of the south are hard on many trees at my place until they settle in and adapt to these conditions. Depending on the species, this takes 1-2 years.

To all: I can plant Pinus densiflora 'Oculus draconis' a few hundred feet from the house where it would be protected from all wind but I wouldn't see it nearly as often. I would like to plant it closer to the house (with winds) so I can enjoy it.
Any way this can work?

Nice tree,but what gives it the name Dragon's Eye? Just curious as I've not heard of this one.

Pam, zone 8 is a cakewalk for you to plant this anywhere!

I recommended to this other fella because in zone 5 Illinois we get prevailing winds from the North,Northwest. I have heard that Pennsylvania gets their prevailing winds from other directions but I know nothing of that nor anyplace else. I assume most people have their winter winds (at least in the US) from the north-northwest.

The choices large-leaf Rhododendrons are planted on the east side of a garden with protection here.

Dax

here is what i just typed in another post:

as to any OD .... especially densiflora .... they do burn ... extremely easily ... this summer i was wondering if it is all winters fault ... or if the damage starts in the heat of summer.. and shows up in the freeze drying winds of winter .... i don't have much wind protection here ...

as with a multitude of white tissued plants.. the white or yellow burns to a crisp in winter .... but the plants fully recover with the new flush .... i even have a couple ... burkes red and mrs cesarini, especially the later .... lose all their needles ... rather shocking ... but they always flush out fully in spring ... though they are a bit naked.. lol ....

it is suggested ... that transplant is also a factor ... the more established trees will not do this.. i am awaiting that year ..... mine have been in the ground about 3 or 4 years .... and complicating it all is that i have them on a slight slope facing due south ... i suspect that lacking snow cover... the winter sun heats the frozen soil .. and leads to additional water loss to the soil .... that whole freeze/thaw thing cant really be helpful to a variegated plant .... this year i will be adding extra mulch to offset that ...

though snow cover is a dual edged sword .. as reflected winter sun on white snow ... on white or yellow needle tissue .. might be worse than no snow.. go figure on that .... sometimes you cant win for losing .... whatever that means ....

get them in the ground .... water deeply and as late as possible.. but don't freeze them into an ice cube .... and good luck

ken

larry .... if you look straight into the branch end .. at the buds .. the needles are banded .... so that there might be a green center ... and yellow further out.. making it look like an eyeball .... or here.. a dragons eye ....

Oh i must find a close up of that Ken!

here is the best i can do from my hard drive ... Pinus koraiensis 'Jack Korbit' 04 ..... look close... can you see the differentiation between the yellow center and the green tips??? ken

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For some reason the thumbnail doesn't open-(just takes me to Photobucket home) I can see the red centre tho,but I found a close up on Google Image
earlier.

Thanks, Dax. I'll give it a try. Last winter, a Cryptomeria 'Elegans Nana' sustained severe damage from the wind - she's still alive but looks awful. That left me gun shy about planting unfamiliar conifers in this area.

Related question to all: If you need to protect new conifers from the elements (i.e., wind and sun), what do you use? I've used floating row cover for young broadleaf evergreens but don't know if this is the best choice for conifers.

i used to protect them... wrapping in burlap .. and tieing with twine ...

then i decided.. the heck with it... i don't need the exercise.. and if zone appropriate.. they should be able to handle whatever ma nature throws at them .. t

that said ... new tiny minis.... fit easily under my old rose cone collection the first winter after fall transplant.. so what the heck ... the rest are on their own ....

ken

Hi Ken! If you didn't see my response at my post on Fragrant Conifers, I will thank you here again for your advice. Also thanks for bringing up this older post. Lots of discussion about OD and it will be very helpful for me.

BTW, I asked this at my post, but thought to post the question here too....Do you think making a barrier (not actually wrapping the OD, but making a screen of burlap in front of the tree whre it faces north) will help to protect it any from the northern winds?

Dan your Pinus densiflora 'Burke's Red Variegated' is stunning and from the pick reminds me of my OD - though I'm sure you experts can tell the difference between the two. Anyway, thanks for sharing the pic.

Eileen

Ken - Thanks for the ideas. Every time I look at my misshapen little cryptomeria, I feel bad. Maybe protecting new transplants falls into the "can't hurt, might help" category.

Pam

you are welcome ...

the issue is whether to protect it from the prevailing winter wind direction [in my case NW] .. or the SW ... which would be the direction of the afternoon winter sun ...

by the time you figure that out... lol ... you may as well wrap the whole thing ...

one or two is a nice project... as the collection grows... it will become overwhelming ... lol ..

BTW ... twine .. i used to buy those little balls.. started to get expensive.. then i moved out of suburbia and found tractor supply ... something like 2500 feet or yards for around 10 bucks ... these farmers apparently bale stuff out here and know how to sell in bulk .. lol ... going on 5 years.. and still not half way thru it.. lol

ken

Here is a pic of my P. d. "Burke's Red Variegated' which I bought from Gee Farms this year along with another pic of the dragon's eye close up. I hadn't thought I wanted this particular cultivar of P. d. Oculis Draconis until I saw it in person and fell in love. It really makes a statement in the garden. I have alpine lady's mantle planted around in front of it along with a yellow and green banded grass and a deep maroon-leaved smokebush nearby.

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Let me resurrect this thread with some questions.
As of today I become a proud owner of 4' tall Burke's Red, read all I could find on internet, but still have some questions:
- in my 6b/7a(?) do I need to burlap it the very first winter considering that it will be in a full winter sun, but protected from the winds?
- will it keep its yellow/green variegation if planted in a summer's part-sun aspect (2 hours of the morning sun + 1 hour of mid-afternoon sun. Rest of the day in a dappled shade)?
-will yellow be more intence or it will become more greener in a cold weather ?
-what eventual size (say in 10 years) should I expect?

Thank you.

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