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Most rare conifer in your collection
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Posted by kmanzfive z5NH (kbhl25@comcast.net) on Sun, Nov 15, 09 at 16:38
Just curious to find out what you may think is the most rare conifer in your collections. Also why you believe so. Is it because its hard to graft or root. Is it so tiny its a pain in but to graft?
Mine would be either Tsuga canadensis 'Walter Billings' or Tsuga canadensis 'Verkade's Yellow Seedling # 1' I've been to plenty of conifer/collector gardens, etc., and only seen them in one garden. There is no info on them anywhere. In my opinion truly a collectors item. Worth the hunt if you got plenty of time. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| A good post. My collection isn't so impressive. A Gold Rush Metasequoia or Thuja occidentalis 'Sunkist' arborvitae is probably the lease common. My sunkist is somewhat unique looking after getting attacked by a deer last year lol. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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- Posted by bboy USDA 8 Sunset 5 WA (My Page) on
Sun, Nov 15, 09 at 18:36
| Thuja plicata 'Puget Pyramid', my own introduction registered with the International Conifer Register in Britain. Elsewhere I am growing another local introduction, which was first listed inaptly as 'Colvos Hybrid'. It is probably not a hybrid. It is an apparently unique habit variant of western redcedar that arose as a seedling at Colvos Creek Nursery. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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- Posted by bboy USDA 8 Sunset 5 WA (My Page) on
Sun, Nov 15, 09 at 20:57
| Not in my collection per se but I've been planting rare wild conifer species in a garden I visit frequently, things like Pilgerodendron and Prumnopitys. As it happens, both of these came from Colvos Creek also. Other recent additions have come from local garden centers and forestfarm. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| I don't have anything all that rare, but sluice did give me a few of his Jerry Morris grafts ... so those would be my most rare. I also have a Metasequoia 'Little Giant' and 'Goldrush' ... |
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| I have a new variegated mutation of Picea pungens from a GW member that contacted me from Canada. It was grafted for the first time winter of 2009. It's called Picea pungens 'Terry's Variegated'. I'll try to get a photo later as I'm in my jammies. Dax |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Picea martinezii, Pinus lumholtzii, Cupressus montana and Cupressus stephensonii, plus a few others... All hard to find osprey |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Just a few in my collection to list.Always on the lookout
for more rare ones. Abies colimensis
Abies fansipanensis
Cephalotaxus lanceolata
Chamacyparis henryae
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Intertexta'
Cryptomeria japonica 'Gracilis'
Cupressus guadalupensis
Cupressus jiangensis
Juniperus bermudiana
Larix mastersiana
Picea martinezii
Pinus estevezii
Pinus kwangtungensis
Podocarpus parlatorei
Pseudotaxus chienii
Sequoia sempervirens 'Filoli'
Taxodium mucronatum 'Maclaren Falls'
Taxus globosa
Taxus sumatrana
Thuja plicata 'Eucloria'
Torreya fargesii
Torreya taxifolia
Wollemia nobilis
Xanthocyparis vietnamensis |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| the variegated strobus from a tree up the street ken |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Lately I have turned to searching out conifers that are seldom seen in gardens or redily available. Right now the rarest conifer I have is Fokeinia, which I finally located after months of hunting. Currently have my eye on Athrotaxis and Phyllocladus but if I could ever get ahold of Callitris and Cathaya, I could die a happy man. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| No space for my own, so I go to see them in the wild instead . . . rarest conifers I've seen in the wild are probably (alphabetical order, not rarity order): Cupressus atlantica
Cupressus bakeri
Cupressus forbesii
Cupressus stephensonii
Picea martinezii
Pinus culminicola
Pinus greggii (rarer than most books seem to suggest)
Pinus pinceana
Pinus maximartinezii
Pinus nelsonii
Pinus torreyana Resin |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| scpalmnut, get some seeds of Cathaya (Sheffield's or Schumacher) I don't remember!!. I bought a few, but I only got one to germinate.. they take longer to germinate than most species, mine required about 4-6 months. Nice selection Resin. I have all but Cupressus atlantica, Pinus culminicola, Pinus pinceana and Pinus torreyana...... still looking for those pines of northeast (Mexico), including P. johanis |
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| In my collection? Larix mastersiana. Would love a Cathaya but they are so hard to find. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Most rare in collection and seen in the wild: Araucaria nemerosa |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| dacrydium cupressinum, dacrycarpus dacrydiodes, cupressus guadalupensis ssp. guadalupensis, c. benthamii (aka c. lusitanica ssp. benthamii), pinus bhutanica, p. pseudostrobus, p. montezumae, p. devoniana, p. englemannii, p.durangensis, podocarpus parlatorei, p. matudai |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Dax,
It's Picea glauca 'Terry's Variegated' which isn't a Picea pungens cultivar. My most rare conifer is Sciadopitys verticillata 'Mireille'.
It's a seedling selection found by myself and I named this special coloured variety after my wife. Sciadopitys verticillata 'Mireille'
 |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Here is Picea glauca ('Terry's Variegated') 
Picea glauca ('Terry's Variegated')
 Dax |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| George, How hardy is P. devoniana? I have a couple of young seedlings!! What was your source of buthanica, is it hardy for you? thanks osprey |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Osprey, FWIW, devoniana (aka michoacana) should be as hardy as patula, pseudostrobus, and montezumae which would probably be ROUGHLY usda zone 8b/9a or so. they apparently come from an area of summer rainfall and so would most likely not be drought tolerant in hot summer/low rainfall areas. all these species are extremely drought tolerant here on the southern oregon coast even with our very dry summers because of our extremely temperate/cool weather. grew from seed many years ago provided from frank callahan seeds of gold hill, oregon (don't know if he has a website now but you could google his name and a mailing address might come up. engelmannii might be a substantially similar looking plant that should have somewhat more frost hardiness. bhutanica seems perfectly hardy for me though rather slow growing compared to patula and pseudostrobus. not sure where i got the plant i have in the ground but "salicaceae" who sometimes posts here kindly gave me one which i believe i stupidly let die because it was slightly beyond the range of my watering apparatus when it was in a pot (aargh). |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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I've got a samll Pseudolarix amabilis, quite a rare tree.
I also have an Araucaria araucana, monkeypuzzle tree (thus my name). :) They're quite common here in Washington state, though they're not everywhere else. -Sam |
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| There are some monster monkeypuzzle tree's here for sure. Near the base I work on there's a tree that must be 50+ years old and 80-100' tall. They must really like our climate. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Araucaria hunsteinii 
Eric
Orlando,FL |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Hi Eric,
Very nice to see someone posting from Florida (am a fan - have visited Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables in 2006!). Out of interest though is it "impossible" to grow most of the picea and abies for instance in that climate. Or what would work?
Richard |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Abies guatamalensis would work... if you can find one. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Abies firma grows in N. FL and so far is growing well here in Orlando. I just recieved an A. chensiensis to try out here. In the past I have planted Abies forrstii var. georgii, A. kawakamii, A. pindrow, and A. vejarii but none survived long. Never tried any Picea, not sure if any would grow here.
Being here in central FL is nice as it is the temperate/tropical transition zone. So we are trying temperate species for heat hardiness and tropicals for cold hardiness. Eric
Orlando,FL |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Thank you George. I have one P. patula doing well for me. It got some damage last winter (-13C to -15C), but not a lot. I killed one montezumae some time ago.
I have some seedlings of devoniana from Nevado de Colima, about 8 months old. I really hope they will be hardy for me. Eric, where did you buy your A. kawakamii and A. vejarii. A. pindrow is doing well for me, as well as A. coahuilensis and A. vejarii. osprey |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Osprey, How did your Mexican conifers fare this winter? Did you ever plant the devoniana? I have one from that location too. One I got from George a couple of years ago was damaged by the cold, but survived. Jason |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Coniferjoy,
Could you please repost your photo of Sciadopitys verticillata 'Mireille'? I would love to see it. Dax,
'Terry's Variegated' is beautiful! Hopefully it will grow fairly fast so you can graft more of them! (:o) My rarest conifer isn't that rare, but that it has survived here in zone 4a since 2003 is somewhat surprising. I have always seen Pinus parviflora 'Tanima no Uki' listed as zone 6, but it has done very well here in zone 4a. I have not protected the plant for the last few years and it's done just fine.
Mike |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Jason, most of my Mexican pines are too young and I keep them protected during the winter. I will put them in the ground in about a year from now. What was the lowest temperature your devoniana was able to take? This year I didn't have much damage as it was a very mild/wet winter. One plant that surprises me is Araucaria angustifolia, it has survived 2 winters here!! On the other hand, Sequoia gets killed to the ground every single year.... osprey |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| non grafted rare ones : Pinus juarezensis
Pinus quadrifolia
Pinus maximartinezii
Cedrus brevifolia
Pseudotsuga macrocarpa*
* this one gave me fits, it grows wild near me but it has taken over eight years and a dozen plants grown up from tubes then into pots till finally now I have one in the ground doing well. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| I would say the most rare is the one that did not make it over the winter. LOL. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Probably the most uncommon conifer in my garden: Picea shirasawae `Mt. Yatugatake'. I believe from the Mountains of Japan.
 -Will |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Will - I love the Picea shirasawae cultivar above. Where can it be obtained from? I wonder if it will grow well in my USDA Zone 7A N.C. garden? Thanks! PlantMarker |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Osprey, It was somewhere between 13-16 F this winter. We had many nights in the low 20s..My P. pseudostrobus, P. patula, P. engelmannii and P. montezumae were all undamaged. I has some minor damage to Araucaria bidwillii and even less to A. angustifolia. Our winters are wet, usually - quite different from yours. Snow, however, is very rare. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Salicaceae Can you post a photo of your Araucaria bidwillii
mine is ok after -8C/18F |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| PlantMarker, I bought it was a stock plant from Larry Stanley. I believe he has grafts, but S&S is wholesale so you'd need a business or to make a large order. -Will |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| P. engelmannii should be perfectly hardy, I know for sure they take -20C to -25C in Chihuahua. The other should depend on origin. Do you happen to have P. maximartinezii and nelsonii?. I believe they are hardier than most people think, and even more if they are grown under conditions similar to mine. osprey |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Pinus maximartinezii is not very hardy at all; plants tried even in the warmest parts of Britain were killed by as little as -5°C. Pinus nelsonii is much hardier, and is hardy (so far) at RBG Edinburgh, Scotland:
 Resin |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| It could be shorter growing season and less summer heat in the UK contributing to make P. nelsonii fail in winter.. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Mike, Terry's Variegated is as rare as hen's teeth but look for it at Whistling Gardens in the next few years! Dax |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Not living: Slightly mineralized Metasequoia from glacial deposits in the arctic - about 40 million years old (give or take a few million) Living: Agathis alba, Acmopyle pancheri, A. sahniana, Calocedrus rupestris, Cupressus dupreziana, C. gigantea, Araucaria muelleri, Pinus luzmariae, Pinus pinceana, Juniperus barbadensis var. lucayana, Retrophyllum minus, R. comptonii, R. rospigliosii...and a few I shouldn't mention. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| I'm not sure how "rare" it is, but I recently purchased a Microcachrys tetragona, which is at the least rather uncommon, for a mixed conifer container planting. And I was sorely tempted by a Diselma archeri yesterday, which the van Gelderen/van Hoey Smith text decribes as "extremely rare" and not in cultivation (which it obviously is) but questioning the amount of sunlight I have available for it. I may still get it and plant in a container for my very sunny driveway, the only place I receive more than a just a couple hours of sun. Great textural plant! |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| A couple of recent pics of my Pinus maximartinezii..... 
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RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Below is a list of southern hemisphere conifers that I propagate which may be unfamiliar to a lot of northern hemisphere collectors. All are worthy additions to any collection and my pride and joy is a specimen of Phyllocladus hypophyllus from Borneo and New Guinea.You have no idea how hard this was to come by. Propagation of it can be difficult from cuttings but now I have managed to strike a couple. Surprisingly it can handle moderate frosts down here in Tasmania. Actinostrobus pyramidalis
Actinostrobus arenarius
Afrocarpus gacilior
Agathis australis
Agathis robusta
Agathis microstachya
Araucaria araucana Araucaria angustifolia
Araucaria bidwillii
Araucaria columnaris
Araucaria cunninghamii
Araucaria heterophylla
Araucaria subulata
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis laxifolia
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Austrocedrus chilensis
Callitris oblonga
Cephalotaxis fortunei
Cryptomeria japonica
Cunninghamia lanceolata
Dacrycarpus dacrydoides
Dacrydium cupressinum
Diselma archeri
Fitzroya cupressoides
Ginko biloba
Lagarostrobus franklinii
Lepidothamnus laxifolia
Lepidothamnus laxifolia "glauca"
Libocedrus bidwilli
Libocedrus plumosa
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Microcachrys tetragona
Microstrobus fitzgeraldiii
Microstrobus niphophilus
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
Phyllocladus alpinus
Phyllocladus glaucus
Phyllocladus "Cockaynes Blue"
Phyllocladus trichomanoides
Phyllocladus hypophyllus
Pilgerodendron uviferum
Podcarpus gracilior
Podocarpus hallii
Podocarpus henkelii
Podocarpus lawrencii
Podcarpus macrophyllus
Podocarpus nivalis
Podocarpus nubigenus
Podocarpus salignus
Podocarpus totara
Prumnopitys andina
Prumnopitys ferruginea
Prumnopitys ferruginoides
Prumnopitys taxifolia
Saxegothae conspicua
Widdringtonia nodiflora
Widdringtonia cederbergensis |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Wonderful collection, tasmanii !! ....would LOVE to see some photos !! Thnx Jaro |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| G'Day Jaro, As soon as I work out how to upload pics to the forum I will put some on. Cheers from Tasmania |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Great !!
....unfortunately we can't "upload pics to the forum" -- we have to upload them somewhere else (for example photobucket), and then use the html link to the image to display it here.
Very awkward, but that's what we all do....
Good luck ! |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Sounds all a bit complicated to me. I will have a go at it but it may be easier for me to email them to you.
Cheers |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Rare for my area. Unique in my opinion as it is sheared for the look. No other mugo that I know of is cared for this way. In Europe probably plentiful. Dave Pinus mugo 'Tyrolean'
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RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Tasmanii, Nice collection. I have seen P. hypophyllus in 2 collections here, but you are right - it is very rare and hard to get. Dacrydium nausoriense is likely the rarest in my collection - though D. elatum, Calocedrus rupestris and Araucaria muelleri are all good contenders. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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G'Day Salicaceae,
Yes I am pretty intrigued with the whole genus which I am fortunate enough to have. Have never heard of Dacrydium nausoriense, sounds like I should have it. Our iconic Huon Pine (Lagarostrobus franklinii) was once assigned to this genus. Just received seed of Araucaria nemerosa, rulei, scopulorum, laubenfelsii, montana and luxurians in recent times which I am over the moon about especially given that A laubenfelsi, rulei and nemerosa have began to germinate. I collect seed of most of what I grow so if you see anything of interest let me know as I may have or be able to get seed of them when available.
Cheers
Tasmanii |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Tasmanii Is prumnopitys ferruginoides hardy with you? |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| G'Day blue yew. Hardiness is unknown yet as I have only just managed to strike a couple after being in the propagation area for 18 months. Its early winter here now so I will not risk putting them out until all danger of frost has passed (late October). The only specimen I have seen of it planted out is about 1.2 metres high so obviously been growing outdoors for a few years.It would have been subject to a number of moderate frosts to -2C or so over the years I'm guessing, but nothing like the cold experienced throughout Europe I suspect.
Cheers
Tasmanii |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Cupressus guadalupensis
Cupressus stephensonii
Cupressus bakeri
Cupressus forbesii
Cupressus abramsiana
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Fitzroya cupressoides
Gyptostrobus pensilis
Taiwania cryptomeriodes (seedling which germinated in a botanical garden bed and was given to me by one of the groundskeepers/gardeners) |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| "Have never heard of Dacrydium nausoriense, sounds like I should have it" Native to Fiji Resin |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| @tasmanii Does something produce already seed ? |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| G'Day Borubar, A number of my specimens produce viable seed and I also have access to quite a few different species throughout Tas. The main seeding period for most of the ones in my collection is from March through to May other than those that retain seed all year round. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Tasmanii Im looking for seed of Microstrobus niphophyllus
we could do an exchange. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Tasmanii please write me an e mail because I cannot send you a mail |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| G'Day Blue yew, .........and lucky for yew.... I am possibly the only person silly enough to collect seed of this species. It is now known as Phaerosphera hookeriana which was its original name and since recently reinstated. Seed is notoriously difficult to germinate but if you like I can send you some to try your luck. Also have seed of a few other notable Tasmanian conifers plus a few bits and pieces so if you are looking for anything in particular, let me know, you could get lucky twice.
Cheers
Tasmanii |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Cedrus deodara 'blue dwarf' No pictures of it on the internet that I could find. I'll change that as soon as I can borrow a good camera. |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Hi Severnside,
You didn't search hard enough because I show a pic of this Cedrus at my website... |
Here is a link that might be useful: Cedrus deodara 'Blue Dwarf'
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Thanks for telling me about your excellent website CJ, it's defied my searches for some reason. Yes that's the 'blue dwarf' though mine has no central leader. I notice you also have the Cedrus libani 'Comte de Dijon' which I've never seen before either. I'm still looking for a picture of Cedrus libani 'Fontaine' [spelling?] which is for sale at the nursery I've linked to. I have possible access to a Cedrus libani subsp. brevifolia 'Epsteiniana' which you list, is this a dwarf? |
Here is a link that might be useful: Larchcottage - Cedrus
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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Cedrus libani 'Comte de Dijon'
Semi dwarf seedling selection from France. Cedrus libani 'Fontaine'
First discriped as 'Pendula Contorta', this selection is also from France. Cedrus libani subsp. brevifolia 'Epsteiniana' is a seedling selection from cedrus libani subsp. brevifolia which is a semi dwarf tree form with a yearly growth of 25 cm.
I received this plant under the name 'Epsteiniana' from which the World Checklist of Conifers mentioned that this cultivar name is illigitimate because it's found in 1979 which is after 1959 and from that year on Latin names may not be used as a cultivar name, so 'Epstein' it should be... |
RE: Most rare conifer in your collection
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| Thanks again Coniferjoy, pictures of two great specimens. And thanks for the info. I like the look of the Fontaine/Pendula Contorta, the needles (foliage?) are similar to a full size cedrus, but I guess that's a mature specimen and many years old itself. Yes it seems the Brevifolia 'Epstein' is what is being offered at the place I linked to, the price half of that for some of the others is maybe indicative of it's lack of rarity. The 'Epstein' would bring my modest collection up to all the Cedrus - Atlantica, Libani, Deodora and Brevifolia. |
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