• About

Dave Creech

~ Life on the Green Side

Dave Creech

Category Archives: TREES

Styrax japonica ‘Emerald Pagoda’

26 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by creechdavid in TREES, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Styrax japonica ‘Emerald Pagoda’ is no doubt one of JC Raulston’s greatest introductions, one of those special landscape plants that deserve more use in the south. Planted in 1988, our oldest specimen sports a heavy bloom about mid-April and is a spectacle for several weeks. This particular clone is unique and different from other Japanese snowbells and their cousins.

styrax-japonica-emerald-pagoda

Styrax japonica ‘Emerald Pagoda’ in bloom

The leaves and blooms are larger and growth habit is distinctly pyramidal to conical by nature in our region. We have noted in some years (this one included) what we believe might be a slight problem with inadequate chilling – tufted early season growth, delayed foliation and stretches of healthy buds that insist on remaining dormant for a longer period of time – but the verdict is mixed on that.  Some Houston plants are reported to perform fine.  Our Zone 8A/B location and a mild winter may define this clone’s southern range?  At any rate, more evidence is needed in our region and proper seedling selection appears prudent.

This plant had a precarious early life during its trek into commerce. J.C. Raulston’s “Friends of the NCSU Arboretum” Newsletter Number 18, December 1987, chronicles the National Arboretum’s 1985 Korean expedition – and the one-day visit to the small island of Sohuksan off the coast of Korea.  The exact history of this clone was not included and as I remember JC’s recount, he was waiting at the docks for the ferry and the day-long return trip to the mainland, brooding over a particular styrax he had seen near the top of the mountain.  At the last moment he made the decision to grab some cuttings.  He raced to the top of the mountain, mist and rain making the trail even more challenging, made the collection, and raced back to the dock arriving just in the nick of time to jump on the ferry.  The wrapped, moistened cuttings were held two days before shipped by air to Raleigh – and the cuttings arrived sadly wilted.  Technician Newell Hancock immediately placed them into the mist chamber.  The leaves dropped.  An on-the-spot decision was made to graft the cuttings to Styrax japonica seedlings.  One survived.  That specimen was nurtured for several months (spring 1986) and made good growth despite one mishap; a student assistant accidentally dragged a hose across the bench and knocked the graft askew.  A sliver of wood and cambium lay connected.  Technician Hancock spliced it back together, wrapped the wound and placed the budling in the mist chamber for a few days.  The graft survived.  From that plant and that history, thousands now grace southern and east coast landscapes.  We received our first plant in 1988; it was grown one year in the shade house before planting into the SFA Arboretum’s “Asian Valley.”  It has grown into one of the largest in the nation.  ‘Emerald Pagoda’ is unique and different from other Japanese snowbells and their cousins.  The leaves and blooms are larger and growth habit is distinctly pyramidal to conical by nature in our region.

styrax-japonica-emerald-pagoda-trunk

The oldest ‘Emerald Pagoda’ is in the SFA Mast Arboretum

 

 

Styrax japonica is native to China, Japan and Korea. Japanese snowbells commonly grow to twenty to thirty feet and a number of cultivars are available.  Bell-shaped flowers hang in mass from beneath the branches and the tree is best viewed from below.  ‘Pink Chimes’ has a nice habit and, for us, enjoys a bleached light pink flower.  This year’s show is better than past, perhaps because of the cool spring we have been having after a mild winter.  ‘Carillon’ has a distinct weeping habit and has been a very slow grower in the Arboretum. ‘Fargesii is reported to have a robust tree-like habit.  In Japan, ‘Benibana’ is the name referred to pink-flowered seed-raised forms.  While Japanese snowbells appreciate moist, well-drained soils they also appear to perform well in heavier soils in the Arboretum.  After two or three years of establishment, the trees are quite tough.  Other Styrax species in the SFA Arboretum include Styrax americanum, S. americanum var. pulverlentum, S. grandifolium, S. texana, S. hemsleyanum, S. obassia, and S. philadelphoides, S. formasanum, S. serrulatum, S. calvescens, S. tonkinensis and a few others.

One interesting side note.  I grafted S. japonica ‘rubrum pendula’ on an ‘Emerald Pagoda’ rootstock years ago.  While the graft took and the tree still lives in the Ruby Mize Garden, the graft shows signs of incompatibility.  That is the rootstock is of smaller diameter than the scion variety.  We have also obsereved that the blooms are pinker than our large ‘rubrum pendula’ on its own roots which produces blooms that are closer to a very pale pink to cream color.  Perhaps the incompatibility is the reason for the blooms being pinker?

styrax-japonica-rubrum-pendula2-on-emerald-pagoda-rs-04-23-07

Styrax japonica ‘rubrum pendula’ grafted on to ‘Emerald Pagoda’ rootstock

Our original specimen of S. japonica ‘Emerald Pagoda’ arrived as one of those JC Raulston’s “I-can’t-believe-it’s-Christmas” boxes.  Gifts like that made the early years in this Arboretum so much fun. The NCSU Arboretum, now the JC Raulston Arboretum, made a name for itself by spreading plant wealth near and far. The SFA Arboretum ended up being a part of that excitement.  With a modicum of good horticulture, our garden is now blessed with many pearls of plant life worth appreciating as we trek through this life of adventuresome gardening.

Taxodium distichum ‘Cascade Falls’ – Musings from the treehenge

26 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by creechdavid in TREES, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

If you google Treehenge, you learn of ancient old world theologies, the mystic philosophy of the sacred orders of Bards, Ovates, and Druids.  You can also learn the proper attire to wear to a Druid ceremony.    It’s complicated.  At SFA Gardens in Nacogdoches, Texas, we have a simpler definition.  For us, a treehenge is a circle of trees.  For those who visit our 70′ treehenge circle, we don’t encourage or discourage visions of old world mysticism, botanical magic, awe or enlightenment.   There are no virgin sacrifices here.  No religious intent.    This is a Pineywoods East Texas treehenge without a mission or any particular purpose – other than to be a kind of living sculpture at the Jimmy Hinds Park.

cropped-image.jpeg

The idea was born by two factors: 1) a pretty big inventory of trees that needed a home, and 2) a Jimmy Hinds Park development that needed something highly visible from Austin Street.  The site was perfect for bald cypress (wet), and I thought we had the perfect variety,  the weeping bald cypress, Taxodium distichum ‘Cascade Falls’.  It’s a strong weeper growing only as tall as it’s staked.  Don’t stake it and it will grow like a snake into an unkempt haystack. This variety was a chance mutation found about 15 years ago at Cedar Lodge Nurseries in New Zealand.  It made its way into the USA via Stanley and Sons in Oregon , and quickly got patented with a pretty steep royalty ($5 per tree).  I thought it was going to be huge.  I was wrong.  It never caught on, pretty much an industry introduction flop.  People like it, most don’t buy it.

image

As an early advocate, I encouraged a friend in the nursery industry to grow off about 500 of them, which he did.  They sold poorly.  So, I paid for shipping and we ended up with a lot of trees.  We sold enough to get shipping costs covered, gave away some to other public gardens, and we still had over 100 in thirty gallon containers on a 9′ stake.  So, a tight circle of closely spaced ‘Cascade Falls’ seemed like a way to work our way through inventory.  See.  It’s just a circle of trees.  From the beginning, this planting has generated discussion.  People ask “what does it mean?”  Nothing, I say.   “What’s the point?”  Well, it’s a treehenge.  “Don’t you think it’s kind of strange.” No.  “Who gave you permission to do this?” Never thought to ask.  “Is Satan involved?”  No.  Actually, the inception of this living sculpture is more about serendipity, having lots of ‘Cascade Falls’ that needed a home, and zero thinking on other side issues.  As an aside, we planted a dwarf bald cypress, at the center of the circle.  This unique clone grows about a foot or two per year, has nice branching, and roots rather well.  It’s a natural dwarf found on a lake at JBerry Nursery, Grand Saline, Texas.  It’s certainly a Texas native, albeit a short fellow.  When we planted the ‘Cascade Falls, I admit we did position trees so that they “weeped” more toward the center of the circle than to the outside.  While it’s taken me a while to realize it, I guess it does kind of look like a circle of weeping praying patriarchs all bowing to the dwarf lord of the Universe, ‘Jim’s Little Guy’.IMG_0158

November 17,2019

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • June 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2019
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • March 2018
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016

Categories

  • TREES
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Dave Creech
    • Join 53 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Dave Creech
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...