LOL at the Calocedrus. There's one at the National Cathedral in DC that was somewhat eccentric looking (I think they finally cut it down) but it was nothing compared to this.
In contrast, the ones at Longwood look relatively conventional...and I've seen one in New Jersey that look from a distance like a perfectly symmetrical 'Green Giant'. I have a couple small ones that have done very well in the past 3 hot dry summers.

They do quite well in the south - that old one has a right to look bedraggled. You would too after 150+ years in central GA clay.

HAHA. I'd look a lot worse than that!

I keep hoping to find Calocedrus in the wild in southern Washington... it comes so close.

That Calocedrus - did it get hammered by the Confederates, or the Union side? Or caught in cross-fire from both?? ;-)

Oldest in Britain was planted in 1854, probably the same age as this one (the species was discovered in 1853).

Resin

Ian, yes it does. I have Calocedrus seedlings popping up all the time from three I have planted on the edge of the bluff. I potted up about 20. When larger, they don't take to transplanting as easy as some conifers. I'd hesitate to bare root them. The seedlings in the pots are doing fine though.
Mike

i have been perusing all of you various posts..
and want to take this single opportunity to thank you for taking the pix .. downloading the pix.. uploading the pix.. and typing out all the various posts ... its a labor of love.. that few acknowledge.. and frankly.. brightens my day ...

otherwise.. from a MI guy .. these things may as well be on pluto ... lol ... as foreign .. as foreign can be ... to me

thx

ken

Glad to help Ken. Every once in a while, I get a burst of energy for stuff like this.

I think everyone has been quite receptive and appreciative of these various pics!
I'm a big fan of Calocedrus decurrens, and I'm used to seeing the older specimens
in similar states of, well, senescence. They gain a natural, hard-lived nobility.

I've collected Calocedrus trees, and I've tended a Calocedrus in a container for
several years now. This Spring, I even sowed a batch of seedlings from a 5000'+ source.
I concur with Mike about the sensitivity to root-disturbance. When I've re-potted, the roots
have grown in a thick, fibrous mass, which makes bare-rooting very difficult.

Josh

How were the planting dates established?

There's a naturalized stand of incense cedar on a sunny slope above I-5 in Mt Vernon, WA, overlooking the downtown area. Jacobson, Wild Plants of Greater Seattle - Second Edition (2008) says it is "naturalized in dry sunny sites not far from cultivated specimens" there. I see a few here and there in this area myself, apparently if a location resembles hotter and drier Oregon or California environments they are fairly able to take hold.

"How were the planting dates established?"

With the UK ones, estate planting records. I'd assume the same for the Watkinsville tree above.

Resin

It was growing in front of a very old plantation house that was converted into a funeral home. I spoke to the owner and he said the tree was visible in old photos and that the original owner brought it back from a trip out west.

Wow, that's an impressive coastal redwood. A touch of California in Georgia. Surprised it hasn't been cold-damaged or hit by some fungus.

Yeah, complete with a "cloak" of Spanish Moss?

beng, there are coastal redwoods in:
Philadelphia (northernmost), Silver Spring, MD, Fairfax Co. ( a couple smaller ones), Williamsburg, VA (2 planted in 1955; tops taken out by hurricanes but roughly 100'), and various points south all the way to the piedmonts of GA & SC. The climate in Athens, GA, is not going to take out most clones of it at least in terms of cold.

davidrt28, yeah, I remember seeing a 30 footer on the U of MD campus decades ago. Thought to myself -- that's not gonna last. Perhaps it did...

I'm going to check with the U of MD about this. The people in their libraries are always enormously helpful when I've used that library, even though I didn't go there. (Unlike using the National Agricultural Library, which is truly like a scene out of the 1985 film "Brazil") So hopefully that will extend to the groundskeeping staff. Do you have any idea where it was? It could be languishing there without horticulturalists knowing about it! I was told about 10 years ago there was a 45' one in Silver Spring, I need to contact the person again to get its exact location. At the time he tried to get Hines to micropropagate it but they weren't interested. (Hines did briefly sell some of his other discoveries, before they went under)

I'll be the first to say some HAVE been known to die on the East Coast, but the overall success ratio is high enough to safely say the species is growable there. Unlike monkey puzzle, where the majority of them clearly die from our steam heat. If W&M had planted a grove of them and only 2 had remained, it would be fair to be more skeptical. They planted 2 and they lasted 50 years until their tops became targets for hurricanes and lightning, as we would expect.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Sat, Dec 1, 12 at 15:07

David, so long ago...
But I do remember it was placed w/some consideration. It was surrounded by buildings for wind protection except open to the south. Might have been the Agronomy buildings...

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Posted by davidrt28 7 (My Page) on
Sat, Dec 1, 12 at 15:06

I was told about 10 years ago there was a 45' one in Silver Spring, I need to contact the person again to get its exact location.
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I seem to recall that person posting here at Gardenweb about that very tree maybe 6-10 months ago and that it was indeed alive...

Here is the grove at Longwood Gardens. Tallest is was 86' in 2010.

{{gwi:853933}}