Winter post-mortem and triage

Well, most the glaciers have retreated, and even the mid-week snowfall has melted, and it's getting easier to assess the damage and the cause.
Privet hedge - seriously wounded by bunnies; amputation recommended - recovery probable.
Plum yew (Cephalotaxus) - terminal, COD: cold.
Dwarf Japanese white pine - seriously wounded by cold; recovery in doubt.
Young hemlock (Tsuga) - terminally wounded by bunnies; no recovery possible.
Japanese umbrella pine (Scaidopitys) - older foliage damaged by cold; recovery likely.
Dwarf scotch pine - seriously wounded, 2/3s of crown removed by bunnies; recovery likely but it won't look the same.
Sedum ground cover has been nibbled to the ground by bunnies; full recovery anticipated.
Other shrubs will require more time before it can be determined what leaves out and where it leaves out.
That's the assessment at this time. Conifers really took a beating. Not everything is so grim. A clumping bamboo of doubtful hardiness appears to be quite alive probably due to snow cover. A young Helleborus foetidus of doubtful hardiness (winter cold killed a previous one) seems to be fine, and again the heavy snow cover may have helped. Otherwise the rest of the yards and gardens look like hell heavily littered by twigs and limbs, dead perennials, leaves, and wind-blown junk from who knows where. Clean up will take quite an effort.

Today's laboratory - Conifer identification

Oh, this is so much fun!  Most people, and my students are no exception, except for a couple of the horticulture students, commonly think several incorrect things about conifers.  1. All conifers are evergreen and that evergreen and conifer are synonyms.  2. All evergreen conifers are "pine" trees.  3. All evergreen conifers basically look alike.  4. "Furs" are Christmas trees and animal pelts.  So today TPP will endeavor to correct at least one of these misconceptions.  If you set your goals too high, you get disappointed.
In a few moments, once this cup of coffee and this blog are finished, TPP will grab his clippers and wander around our arboretum to obtain some nice specimens.  After you spend a few decades at this you get pretty good at it and you recognize most common genera by sight.  On one of our Botanical Geek Tours (locale Swathmore's campus arboretum) this one almost had TPP stumped, but then from somewhere, probably a mental process of elimination based on what it could not be, and this genus popped to the fore.  So here you go school kids.  Identify this conifer.
Unfortunately this genus doesn't grow here in the upper midwest, so my ID key to common conifers (including one  uncommon genus, which is in my garden so what the heck) won't be any help.  Don't say TPP has never given you anything.  It's an indented key, so hope the formatting works here (hmm, not quite).

IDENTIFICATION KEY TO LOCALLY-GROWN GENERA OF CONIFERS AND RELATED GYMNOSPERMS

 

1. Leaves small, scale-like, hugging the stem in pairs or threes. 

  2.  Scale leaves with glandular dot in center; leafy stems more or less flattened, leaves on two sides flat and on two sides folded or keeled. 

3.  Leafy branches flattened into 2-dimensional sprays, leaf keel convexly rounded such that apex points inward toward stem; cones oblong...............................Arbor-vitae (Thuja)

3'. Leafy branches not flattened into sprays, or only slightly so, leaf keel straight or concavely curved such that apex points upward along stem axis; cones globose  ……………… ………………………….………………………….. White cedar (Chamaecyparis)

  2'. Scale leaves without glandular dots; leafy stems rounded or 4 sided.

 

               3.  Leaves in pairs or threes, vestigial, fused into papery sheath around green stems with widely spaced nodes...........................................................Mormon Tea (Ephedra)

 

                             3’. Scale leaves small, but not vestigial, some leaves may be needle-like in whorls of 3 around

                                                stem; nodes closely spaced………………………...Red Cedar, Juniper (Juniperus)

  1'. Leaves linear, long and narrow, or broad and flat, borne on stems singly, in clusters or whorls.

4. Leaves borne in bundles of 2s, 3s, or 5s, needle-like, stout to long and flexible,..........Pine (Pinus)

4’. Leaves borne in helical whorls on short side shoots and at the ends of twigs.

5.  Whorls of flat strap-like leaves (greater than 3 inches long) borne at ends of elongate shoots, each leaf subtended by a bract ……………………………………Japanese Umbrella Pine (Scaidopitys)

5’.  Whorls of leaves borne on short, stubby, lateral branches (spur shoots); broad leaves or needle leaves (3-sided or flat and less than 3 inches long). 

6. Leaves stiff, sharp, 3-sided; cones erect on branches, 2-3” long, evergreen; not hardy in our  region ...............................................................................Cedar (Cedrus)

6'. Leaves soft, flat needles or broad, flat, fan-shaped; deciduous.

7. Spur shoots  less than 5 mm diam., leaf scars tiny, hard to see; Leaves long, flat, linear, soft and flexible; cones persistent, pendant or surrounding branch, oval, 1-1.5”; tree branches more or less at right angles to trunk …………….......…Larch (Larix)

7'. Spur shoots greater than 5 mm diam., leaf scars >2 mm wide; leaves broad and fan-shaped, no cones; tree branches angle upwards ………………….Ginkgo (Ginkgo)

                4”.  Leaves borne individually along stems (spur shoots absent), sometimes arranged or arrayed in 2 ranks.

8. Leaves on side shoots arranged in 2 ranks producing  feather-like lateral shoots; leaves all soft and flexible; leafy shoots deciduous.

9.  Leaves usually less than 1 cm long; leafy shoots (or scars) alternate on main stem …………………...........................................................................Bald Cypress (Taxodium)

9’. Leaves mostly greater than 1.5 cm long; leafy shoots (or scars) opposite on main stem.............................. ……………………………………….Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia)

8'. Leaves mostly spirally arranged (sometimes reoriented to present flattened array of leaves); leaves thick, leathery or stiff and needle-like; leafy shoots evergreen.

                                                10. Leaves 4-sided needles, very stiff..............................................Spruce (Picea)

                                                10'. Leaves flattened (cannot roll between fingers), linear.

                                                                11. Leaves narrow abruptly to short discrete stalks; foliage not aromatic.

12. Leaves with 2 white bands on lower surface; needles on top of twigs upside down, pointing to twig apex; small seed cones (1 cm long) …. ....................... ………………………………....Hemlock (Tsuga)

12'. Leaves all green on both sides (lighter below), stems showing segments at base of leaf stalks; ovules terminal on short shoots, seeds  with red aril at maturity…………...............................................Yew (Taxus)

                                                                11'. Leaves not on short stalks, but taper narrowing to base; foliage aromatic

13. Leaves narrowing to an elliptical base, raised from twig at lower edge; buds dry, conical .................................................Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga)

13'. Leaves narrowing to a flat, circular base; buds coated in resin, dome shaped …………………......................….....................Fir (Abies)

 

Black Friday - Green Saturday

After shopping until you dropped yesterday on Black Friday, a event religiously avoided by TPP, the Christmas season officially begins.  This means that people will be shopping for a conifer tree.  It turns out that 364 days ago, while avoiding Black Friday, TPP posted a blog providing simple description of how to distinguish your basic conifer genera, pines, firs, and doug-firs used as Christmas trees here in easter North America.  Our tree will be bought today, not because it will be put on display right away, but because all these trees have been harvested and are just sitting around.  So buy one now, and put it in a bucket of water until you're ready to move it into the house.  It also helps to spray the tree with WiltProof, if you have any left over from spraying the rhododendrons. 
Of course, in Australia, in Queensland, who knows what our tree was?  Somehow that information was lost from memory.  And in the early days of our wedded life the Phactors had a large, spiny Euphorb that served as our tree, an aberration that probably warped our poor daughter during her infancy.  Ultimately this tree out grew our house so we changed to the traditional conifer. 

Holiday season retrospective

Quite a few holiday posts have accumulated over the past couple of years, and like watching the miracle on 42nd street for the 42nd time, why not do a bit of a retrospective?
There was a time when the Phactors did not decorate the usual evergreen tree, and while it probably warped the F1, it was easy to hang ornaments.
Almost every year someone asks about whether it's ecologically sound to have a real tree and how to tell a "pine" tree from a "fur" (Yes, that's what they actually asked.)
Let's see the Phactor has also covered holly (or maybe uncovered would be more accurate) and mistletoe, and how these symbols of the season are pagan in origin.
Lastly you'll be glad to know that our non-hardy azalea is blooming right on schedule and now has its seasonal decorations too.
Now back to the pile of student papers on my desk.

Firs, Pines, and Douglas-firs, oh my!

'Tis the season when many people purchase decorative conifer trees; otherwise they own some ersatz version thereof. No option exists in our household because Mrs. Phactor is of the most firm opinion that only a natural tree will do. On an ecological basis cut conifers are grown as a crop and can be fully recycled. So here is your holiday conifer primer. 1. Evergreen is not synonymous with "pine tree" or "conifer". 2. The vast majority of trees sold this time of year are firs, douglas-firs, or pines, and these are three different genera (Abies, Pseudotsuga, and Pinus respectively). 3. Douglas-fir is not a true fir, but most confusingly it's also called Oregon pine and Douglas spruce. See the problem with common names?
Here's how you tell these three genera apart. One pines needles are in clusters or bundles of 2, 3, or 5. The other genera have needles borne singly upon the twigs. The common pine species sold as cut trees have two (Scotch) or 5 needles (white pine). Firs and Douglas-firs have different buds at the end of twigs. Firs have resinous buds, that is coated in resin, and rounded in shape. Douglas-firs are smooth, dry, and conical. Distinguishing among the various species of firs is too tricky for verbal descriptions.

Dwarf Alberta spruce advice

A correspondent asks the Phactor, "I would like to create a screen to shield my firewood racks and trash cans from the neighbors. Give me an opinion on whether there is enough space and sun to plant dwarf alberta spruce?"
Here's someone who has not yet read my 10 Commandments of gardening, in particular #8. This conifer is indeed dwart, but it's hard to recommend planting one anyplace outside of a rock garden. They are so slow growing that they won't provide a decent sight barrier maybe ever. And around the midwest they tend to be fussy and prone to spider mites adding to their summer heat misery. Even without consulting the Prophet Dirr, it is written that you won't be happy with this plant. A better choice would be a columnar arbor vitae like 'Degroot's Spire'. The Phactor has spoken.

Conifer Fun

The laboratory spent examining conifers (yesterday) is always quite a bit of fun. Even among biology students most think conifers and evergreens are synonymous. The worst even think pine and conifer are one and the same thing, as in, "See the pine tree", while pointing at whatever evergreen conifer it may be. And a local merchant got quite annoyed at me for pointing out that the basket of seed cones being sold were not "pine cones" but spruce cones, and suggested the Phactor had no way of knowing! Well! So that's why it's so much fun to provide my students with a generous supply of conifers of various sorts, and let them key them out to genus. Language is a problem. If precise, it's too technical; if more descriptive, then it's too imprecise, but that's the price you pay for trying to construct a non-technical key for wider usage. You wouldn't believe what different people think is "ferny" or "soft & flexible" or "broad". In particular part of the fun is betting on which among them will be bored, impatient and non-observant, or observant and thoughtful. It tells you much about their potential. One very bright young lady is quick on the uptake, but this has bred in her a frightful impatience with anything that isn't immediately clear or evident. Still most did quite well and two even commented on the sense of accomplishment they enjoyed for figuring these things out, and a recognition of the the tremendous utility of identification keys, and the ability to identify things where other people failed to see differences. On the whole a most satisfactory result. Still saved one curve ball for later when they'll have to decide what kind of plant this is and they are presented with Scaidopitys, which lurks in our garden and is so different looking it stops most people dead in their tracks.