Conifer Quarterly Vol. 22 No. 2 Spring 2005 All photos this page by Daniel Luscombe ) ulei Araucaria Araucaria ia r ar auc r he colorful, exfoliating Agathis australis Agathis T kauribark of a young ( angustifolia A t: igh Read more about Daniel Read more New trip to Luscombe’s on pages 20-25. Zealand R Above: endangered The Below: of Foliage The Conifer Quarterly is the publication of The American Conifer Society Contents Featured: Travel Stories 10 Pines and Palmettos Maud Henne 16 Pilgrimage to Portland Flo Chaffin 20 Visiting the Conifers of New Zealand Daniel Luscombe 28 A Distressing Discovery Marjorie Lauer 32 Conifers from China’s Taibai Mountain Henrik Sjoman 36 Dawn Redwood as a Shade Tree? Terri Park More features 38 National Meeting Focuses on Delaware Valley Ridge Goodwin 42 New American Conifer Society Scholarship Announced Gerald Kral Conifer Society voices 2 President’s Message 4 Editor’s Memo 6 Letters to the Editor 8 Obituaries 19 van Hoey Smith Acknowledges Award of Merit 26 Conifers in the News 41 Society Name Issue Addressed by Board 44 News from our Regions Cover photo: Larix chinensis with Rhododendron purdomii. Photo by Henrik Sjoman. See page 32 for more about conifers from Taibai Mountain in China. Vol. 22 No. 2 CONIFER QUARTERLY 1 Conifer PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE BY DON WILD a student needs a Society member to National Meeting Quarterly sponsor his or her application. The ap- Throughout his work on the Conifer of plications will be reviewed, and those the Year, Ridge has also contributed sig- Spring 2005 Volume 22, No. 2 that qualify will be placed into a lottery. nificantly to developing our upcoming A subsequent drawing will give us a National Meeting in the Philadelphia The Conifer Quarterly (ISSN 8755-0490) is yearly winner. A special thanks goes to area this coming August. Ridge and published quarterly by the American Conifer Society. The Society is a non-profit or- Gerald Kral, who formulated this idea Barbara and Jim Smith of Blue Ster- ganization incorporated under the laws of the into a functional event by writing the ling Nursery have created what appears Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is tax ex- criteria, rules and regulations. to be a terrific meeting experience. The empt under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Rev- enue Service Code. Our website continues to improve, post-conference tour is also very excit- You are invited to join our Society. Please including the conifer database which ing and should fill quickly. Please regis- address membership and other inquires to the would like to publicly thank all the now includes over 1000 photos in over ter as soon as possible, as it helps so Conifer Society National Office, P.O. Box 3422, Crofton, MD 21114-0422. Membership: I members of our board of directors 4500 total records. Many thanks to Bill much with the planning of these events. US $30 (basic), $30 (institutional) $50 (sus- and our contractors for the effort put Barger and his efforts to support this taining), $100 (corporate/business) and $130 forth to make the winter business meet- critical aspect of the American Conifer Brochure and By-laws (patron). If you are moving, please notify the National Office 4 weeks in advance. ing a success. Preparation on everyone’s Society. A new website committee has The Society has completed a revision of Editorial and advertising matters should part made this arduous task constructive been formed, and we would like to add the brochure “A Brief Look at Garden be sent to the Editor: Anne Brennan, 145 and efficient. another member to serve on this com- Conifers.” This effort was undertaken by Cedar St., Jenkintown, PA 19046. Our membership continues to grow mittee as a technical advisor. This indi- your past president, Dennis Groh, who Editor and presently stands at about 1900 vidual’s main function would be to assist did an outstanding job of “weighing the Anne Brennan memberships, a number of which in- and advise Bill in some of the daily re- evidence” that needed to be presented in Technical Editors clude more than one individual. The So- sponsibilities of maintaining the site. this very limited study of the conifer Ethan Johnson ciety has been blessed with growth and world. These brochures should be avail- Susan Martin R. William Thomas success over the past several years. De- Conifer of the Year able through your regional representa- Advisory Committee spite the growth of our hobby, gardens The Conifer of the Year (COY) program tive, regional officers, or the Society’s Tom Cox, Committee Chair and arboreta across the country have is proceeding on schedule, and the national office. For those of you partici- Jane Frampton found their funding slashed or at risk as plants have been approved for produc- pating in lecture programs, these are an Charlene Harris Tom Schlereth states attempt to meet their budgets. Our tion. Ridge Goodwin has spearheaded excellent adjunct to your presentation. ex officio: Don Wild plan is to continue our efforts to make this effort with excellent support from This Spring, John Martin will begin ex officio: Dennis Groh this Society educational, interesting, member growers in the Northwest. This an effort to review and update our by- ex officio: John Martin and friendly while working to support complex program has required many laws. These recommended changes will the arboreta associated with the Society. hours and trips on Ridge’s part. It re- then be reviewed by Dennis Groh and Copyright © 2005, American Conifer Society. All rights reserved. No material contained quired not only a considerable time Frank Goodhart of the By-laws Commit- herein may be reproduced in any form with- The American Conifer Society commitment but also a vision of the end tee and, once approved, will be presented out prior written permission of the publisher. Scholarship product and process. Needed support to the membership for approval. Opinions expressed by authors and advertis- ers are not necessarily those of the Society. You will find on page 42 information came from Randy and Rita Oster, Flo Spring is here – it’s time to hit the describing our new scholarship, which Chaffin, Larry Stanley, Don Howse and yard! Note: Hardiness Zone references in the has been created to assist a student in- Talon Buchholz. Rita Oster developed Conifer Quarterly are USDA classifications unless otherwise specified. terested in horticulture, preferably re- the label design and Paul Halladin as- lated to the study of conifers. To qualify, sisted with overall design of the project. 2 CONIFER QUARTERLY Vol. 22 No. 2 Vol. 22 No. 2 CONIFER QUARTERLY 3 EDITOR’S MEMO BY ANNE M. BRENNAN s plant lovers, we tend to seek out members who may or may not have 28, the damage to Abies fraseri (Fraser Atravel destinations that we know found what they were expecting. First, fir) by the balsam wooly adelgid is im- Companion plants to will include opportunities to observe, Maud Henne describes some conifers possible to ignore along the Blue Ridge highlight Summer issue photograph, collect or purchase the and their look-alikes at two gardens she Parkway in North Carolina. A family va- plants we admire. If we’re passing stumbled upon while traveling between cation was tinged with melancholy as the In July, we’ll explore the age-old through a new area, we try to find out her Virginia home and the Society’s group observed tree after tree that had question,“Who is a conifer’s best which arboretum or specialty nursery winter board meeting in Orlando this fallen victim to the ongoing infestation. friend?” might be worth a detour. We attend re- past January. Next we go to China with Sweden’s gional or national Conifer Society meet- Next, Flo Chaffin tells us about her Henrik Sjoman, who explains why some Do hostas hang out with your ings because we know we’ll see great trip to Oregon to visit several members’ conifer species from China’s mountains hemlocks? Does Campanula keep gardens and maybe even take home a nurseries. According to Flo, the connec- show great potential as landscape plants your Chamaecyparis company? plant or two from the auction. tions we can make with the other mem- in Sweden and other regions. He also Send us a picture and inspire our But we also notice our favorite bers of our Society are a greatly notes the broadleaf plants that grow in readers to try a new garden plants when they grow in ordinary, overlooked benefit of membership! association with those conifers, as they combination. Submissions are due everyday places. (Tip: there’s a nice Beginning on page 20, Daniel Lus- can provide hints about the microclimate by May 10th. clump of Cedrus libani at a rest stop combe of the Bedgebury Pinetum in of a particular ecosystem. somewhere around Exit 7 of the New England takes us along on the first part Our final travel narrative brings us Fall issue: Jersey turnpike.) Sometimes these un- of his adventure to New Zealand, where back to the US as Terri Park describes Focus on Propagation scheduled surprises are more memo- he was fortunate to see many of the what happens when a young dawn red- rable than planned conifer encounters. Araucariaceae and other exotic conifers wood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is No sooner do we start growing and This issue of the Conifer Quarterly growing in their native habitat. “topped” at four feet, as was done at collecting conifers than we want to features a collection of travel tales from As Marjorie Lauer reports on page Windmill Island in Michigan. She pre- make more to give away or sell.