Trees in parks & gardens 2017

[johnw]

Ulmus americana always stops me in my tracks, they abound along streets in this city and I can't imagine a finer large tree for streetside planting.  That is if the wiring is underground.  Not even the oft-recommended substitution Zelkova is a match.


john

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi John,
is it immune to Dutch Elm Disease?
There is apparently a specimen in the Botanics in Melbourne but otherwise very rare here and D.E.D. is not yet present here.
Melbourne is full of European Elms!
cheers
fermi

[David Nicholson]

Hope shrubs are OK here too?

Pieris japonica 'Valley Valentine'

[David Nicholson]

Early Magnolias look in pretty good nick in this part of the World. Here's an example from a neighbour's garden but he doesn't have any further info. about it.

[johnw]

David  - Looks to me to be Magnolia sargentiana or sargentiana v. robusta.

john

[David Nicholson]

Cheers for that John.

[François Lambert]

Pollarding willows, just fascinating how their trunks get hollow and the tree keeps standing on just 10 cm living wood and another 10 cm dead but not yet composted wood, sometimes one side of the trunk falls down and you can have a look at the inside.  Sometimes seeds of trees or shrubs germinate in a compost pocket on the trunks.  Not so easy to see on the second pic, but there is a wild cherry tree growing on the trunk.  The cherry tree germinated at about 2 meter high on the thrunk and sent a root all the way down to the soil, and right now it is flowering.  Apart from that I also find honeysuckle, wild roses and elder all starting their life as epiphyte on old willows.

[Garden Prince]

(For John W.)

This Magnolia is grown from seed that I acquired through the Atlantic Rhododendron and Horticultural Society. The seed came from a plant labeled as Magnolia cylindrica x M. Pink Delight. The seed was donated by John W. if I remember correctly. Seeds were sown in the spring of 2014. I was very surprised to see the first flower on this plant after only 3 years. This could be a freak incident and the plant may not flower for the coming years. I'll have to see how the plant develops. A bonus is that the flower is also slightly fragrant. Thanks Mr. W. for donating the seeds!

[Garden Prince]

A plant that you do not see everyday is Melliodendron xylocarpum. I bought this plant from Bulk Nursery, Boskoop, The Netherlands. The plant is grafted but I do not know what the rootstock is (could be Pterostyrax). The plant is now about 1.50 metres high and flowered for the first time this year.

[johnw]

Garden Prince - Not quite sure where you live but I assume some place mild given your purchase of Melliodendron!

Well that was almost record time to flower that Magnolia cylindrica x 'Pink Delight'.  First off I can almost certainly tell you that the seeds you got are most likely self-pollinated as the 2 Magnolias nearby are much different.  The late Dennis Ledvina did that cross and sent me the hand-pollinated seed in 2003, my code for it was JW15.  I had so many various Ledvina seedlings that I had to farm the seedling out to friends.  This one went to a friend who planted it in a neighbour's yard, that fellow allows us to check on it and collect seed. It first flowered about 5-7 years later.  We weren't overly impressed with it as it looked very much like a clean pink x soulangeana, perhaps a bit smaller.  As time passed its habit impressed us, it was a saucer that was quite narrow and upright as opposed to that massive gobbler of garden real estate.  Yours has a more emphatic colour which is a decided improvement.

1. 2015 flower
2. 2016 habit - it could do with a sunnier aspect.
3. 2016 flower

M. cylindrica seems to be a good parent, we had a cylindirica x sprengeri 'Diva' flower last year from 2003 or 2004 seed.  The slowness we blame on shade but trees around it fell down in a storm a couple of years ago and presto, buds.

4. cyclindrica x sprengeri 'Diva'

I hope your plant thrives if you are in a cold area and that it has an equally good habit.  The first Magnolia flowers are usually not indicative of its true potential, another 2-3 flowerings may show vast improvements.

john

[Gabriela]

A plant that you do not see everyday is Melliodendron xylocarpum. I bought this plant from Bulk Nursery, Boskoop, The Netherlands. The plant is grafted but I do not know what the rootstock is (could be Pterostyrax). The plant is now about 1.50 metres high and flowered for the first time this year.

Very interesting, thanks for showing.


John - the pink blushed flowers of that Magnolia are really nice.

[Garden Prince]

Thanks John for the additional information and the pictures. The flower colour of my magnolia may be influenced by the relative high tempuratures we got here in The Netherlands at the time the plant flowered. Some magnolias have a better flower colour when it is warm (for instance loebneri Leonard Messel and 'Genie'). Plus my plant stands in a polytunnel and was brought outside to make the picture. I'm glad I put it back in the polytunnel because last Wednesday and Thursday we had severe late spring frost and many magnolias in gardens suffered quite a bit (even stellata which is quite hardy). My Melliodendron suffered also but I'm optimistic it will recover.

[johnw]

Your warm temps explain a lot.  We do not get great colour on 'Genie' or 'Vulcan', we always blamed our winters but this makes more sense.  Our magnolias flower in May when temps are rarely over 10-15c and it's always cool at night.

john

[johnw]

Perhaps of interest:

Bambus - Das Wundergras

https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/Bambus-Das-Wundergras,bambus116.html

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

In Austria there is a memorial building plus various displays etc which make up a memorial to the Battle of Austerlitz. Outside in a grassed area adjoining the battlefield, which seems now to be under cultivation as farmland, there are various trees which are tall now but I've no idea of their age. Can anyone suggest what they might be, based on a single seed of which I have no picture but it is approximately pear-shaped, flatter on 1 side than the other, greyish in colour, about .5cm long and .4cm wide, and prominently ridged along the length on both sides, 4 raised ridges on each side.

I realize it is a longshot but worth a try. Thanks.