More Tree Bark

Tanyosho Pine
Pinus densiflora 'Umbraculifera'
(PY-nus) (den-see-FLOR-uh)
Pinaceae (py-NAY-see-ay)
Synonyms: Umbrella Pine, Tabletop Pine

The cinnamon colored bark is one of this tree’s best attributes. Tanyosho (Tan-y-o-show) Pine grows to about 18 feet tall with a wider spread and often has multi-trunks. The needles are a nice green and grow in bundles of two on this Japanese native. I would recommend the compact or dwarf types for most home gardens.


Lacebark Pine
Pinus bungeana
(PY-nus) (bun-jee-AY-nuh)

A very interesting species of pine that has exquisite bark. A native of China, Lacebark Pine can reach 75 feet tall but is slow growing. It is a bushy tree with medium green needles. I have found that these trees don’t like a lot of extra moisture in the soil and they are susceptible to snow and ice loads. I have a dwarf version at the Estate as well as a grove of the larger ones. Both have been rewarding to cultivate.


Just to keep things normal, since the site name is digital flower pictures.com, here is a waterlily picture I took the other day. Obviously it was growing indoors and I had to lean over the pond to get this shot. The owner didn’t know the name of the cultivar.

Tree Bark

Tree Bark

I have wanted to do a post on the various nice tree barks I have been seeing. Often times that is all we northern gardeners have to look at this time of year. It can also be very useful in identifying tree species this time of year. I like that there are so many variations of bark and a lot of times there are variations throughout the life of the tree.

This picture and top photo: Stewartia pseudocamellia bark

The functions of tree bark are quite complex here is a link to a UCLA site that deals with some of the scientific aspects of it:
ucla.edu

There are a multitude of reason bark is important to trees. One of the biggest is protection against the elements. It protects against both hot and cold temperature extremes. It also can block insects and diseases from entering the cambium layer of the tree. Since it is sometimes porous it helps the tree breathe while still protecting against water loss.

Bark can be an excellent way to enhance the winter garden. The different colors and textures can also have a nice effect on plants in front or behind the trees. There also medicinal uses from certain tree barks and some hold hope in various cancer treatments. Who can forget all the help bark lends to the garden during the year in the form of mulch?


Not sure which species of Platanus (PLAT-an-us) or Sycamore tree this is but the bark was a wonderful mosaic of colors. I usually tell the American and London Planetrees apart by the number of seedpods. The American species has single seedpods and the London Planetree has two together. I’ll probably feature a couple of more barks tomorrow.

Hoop Petticoat Daffodil

Hoop Petticoat Daffodil
Narcissus cantabricus var. foliosus
(nar-SIS-us)
Amaryllidaceae (am-uh-ril-id-AY-see-ay)

These were blooming in the Wave Hill Alpine House. Like the Conservatory at Wave Hill it is small by public garden standards but it is always packed with interesting plants. These little Narcissus were a bit of tease (since spring is still so far away), but were a welcome sight. They were only about 3 inches tall but the stand of flowers looked very natural in their grouping. I featured another Hoop Petticoat flower from Wave Hill here:
Hoop Petticoat Narcissus
and if your interested the divisions of the different Daffodil types are on this post
The 13 Divisions of Daffodils
That last link also explains the difference between a Daffodil and a Narcissus.


This flower falls into Division 10, the Bulbocodium Hybrids. The pictures are shot at a little bit of a weird angle because I didn’t want to included the clay pot they were in or the others around it.


When I went around the side of the Alpine House I got a little bit of a start when I realized there was a cat hiding out in the Euonymus. At first he played coy but later came out for a better shot. He almost came down to let me pet him but then took off into the plantings. I miss having a cat.

Wonder Tree

Wonder Tree
Idesia polycarpa
(eye-DEE-zee- uh)
Flacourtiaceae
Synonyms: Flacourtia japonica, Polycarpa maximowiczii, Iigiri Tree, Ligiri

This tree blew me away at Wave Hill. It was simply amazing. I hadn’t seen it before and was thoroughly enchanted with it. I would have sworn that this tree wouldn’t be hardy in Connecticut but apparently it is hardy to USDA Zone 5. It was certainly living up to its scientific name polycarpa, which means many fruited. The long pendulous clusters of orange berries were visible from across the garden.


Since I have never grown this tree it would be hard for me to pass on any cultural information. I definitely want to get one for the estate. I did find out it is native to China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan, has fragrant yellow-green flowers and likes moist, well drained soil. It can grow in part shade also. It reaches a height of 50 feet and you can eat the fruit either raw or cooked.

ABC Wednesday – Z is for Zinnia

ABC Wednesday – Z is for Zinnia
Zinnia elegans 'Zowie Yellow Flame'
(ZIN-ya) (ELL-eh-ganz)

If you are here for Wordless Wednesday scroll down to the next post and thanks for visiting.

In many ways this plant exemplifies what the breeding in annuals has brought us over the years. Petunias, Marigolds and Zinnias are three types of plants that have benefited from the work of these programs. I don’ think even 10 years ago I could have imagined a Zinnia that looks like this one. I really like the growth habit, flower color and the disease resistance that have been included.

‘Zowie Yellow Flame’ was introduced in 2005 and won the prestigious All-American Selection award in 2006. This Zinnia is both semi-double (flower) and semi-tall (plant). It is easy to grow and makes excellent cut flowers. One trial had the flowers lasting up to two weeks in vases. Since I have already featured this plant before I thought I would do a little more research into Zinnias themselves.

'Heartland Red' Zinnia

Zinnias originate from Mexico and were brought to Europe in 1613. They are named after a medical professor, Johann Gottfried Zinn. Who along with his book on the anatomy of the eye, wrote about the plants he saw around Gottingen, Germany and is credited with making the first scientific description of the flower. There are all types of shapes and sizes available amongst the hundreds of cultivars. The smallest plants are 8 inches tall and the tallest range up to 4 to 5 feet. All colors are available except true blue. Zinnias are not particular to soil and are drought resistant.
Some pink Zinnias I saw this summer in Queens, New York

I can’t believe we made it all the way through the alphabet. Twenty six weeks seem to go by very fast and although botanical pictures are hard to come by this time of year I hope we make another trip through the letters.

Here is the ABC Wednesday Blogroll:

mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
kate isis
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
author blog
kai
Mollitudes
ten forty
Neva
Ackworth born, gone West
Secluded Habitat
katch photo
Mr. Mapper
The Max Files
Oswegan
Watch me, No Watch me
Peter Miller
Lynette
Andrea’s Thought of the Day
Photowannabe
RuneE’s Visual Norway
Happy One
Jim Baker Photography
Azure
HPY
cre8tiva
NYCindividual
Lilli and Nevada
Bonnie
Outhouse of Canada
imac

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tuesday Edition

Jackson Pollock. (American, 1912-1956)
One: Number 31, 1950


Connecticut sunrise from my driveway.

Fragrant Wintersweet Tree

Fragrant Wintersweet Tree
Chimonanthus praecox
(ky-moh-NAN-thus) (pray-koks)
Calycanthaceae

Thinking I would enjoy the last day of moderate weather I went down to Wave Hill Gardens in the Bronx. What a wonderful winter walk I had around the gardens. I found this plant, Chimonanthus praecox, in full bloom. It didn’t look like a sporadic bloom but it was doing what it did every year at this time. Its translucent yellow flowers were highly fragrant and in various stages of blooming. I can’t really report what it is like to have this plant in the garden but after looking it up I will have to give it a chance. I found out it hardy to USDA Zone 6 and grows to 12 to 15 feet tall. It was planted in a protected location at Wave Hill and I will probably do the same with mine. The only negative thing my research turned up is that it can sometimes take several years to bloom. Since I have learned that you really need to have patience in the garden that wouldn’t really bother me.


I will be featuring some of the plants that I saw at the gardens this week. This was a particularly pleasing combination of Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata), Inkberry (Ilex glabra) and although you can’t see it here a low-growing gray Juniper. Winterberry has been featured on this blog before and if you want more information on it click the label for this post. This was the species, which has slightly smaller berries that are spaced a little further apart than most of the cultivars. The species can be variable though.


Yesterday I also went to get shoes. Not that remarkable for most people but when you wear size 16 EE it is always an adventure and sometimes a nightmare. I had heard of a shoe store that was carrying sizes like that and I walked in and quickly scored three pairs at 30% off. Oh happy joy! If I could find a clothing store like that I would be really happy.


Thankfully the snowstorm only dropped 4 inches instead of the forecast 15. The weatherman can be wrong like that every time as far as I am concerned.

Japanese Maple and White Birch

Japanese Maple and White Birch

Since I was a little bored, and I got some new Photoshop plugins, I decided to play around a bit. Normally I try and keep any adjustments in PS to a minimum and really try to take the photo ‘in the camera’ with the correct composition and exposure. It is fun to use the massive editing power of Photoshop sometimes. I really don’t have any set work-flow, I just keep trying things until it looks right.

This picture was taken with the 50mm/1.8 lens in my backyard on Thanksgiving Day. The Maple is in my neighbor’s yard and it turned the most stunning color. He just cleared some trees from around it and in the six years I had been living here I hadn’t noticed it. It was hard to miss this year. November 22nd is a little later than most Japanese Maples usual fall color timing. It sure was a strange and extended autumn. The White Birch is in my yard and is quite a distance from the Maple. I thought the contrast between the two was nice. A day or two later when I looked out the fading sun on the two was even more beautiful.


This second photo didn’t turn out the way I wanted and also underwent heavy editing in Photoshop. The process is called selective color and it sometimes works out. On this one there was heavy glare from the glass in front of the bird, which caused some noise and faded color. This Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco) was at the Bronx Zoo’s World of Birds and seemed quite curious of both my camera and I. It’s native to parts of South America and is not a threatened species. It is one of my favorite tropical birds.

Japanese Anemone

Japanese Anemone
Anemone x hybrida 'Whirlwind'
(uh-NEM-oh-nee)
Synonyms: Japanese Windflower, Japanese Thimbleflower

This is another great perennial for the late summer or fall border. The beautiful semi-double flowers are held high above the foliage (which sometimes can get a little ratty) on wiry stems. This is considered a semi-double form that grows to about 2 to 3 feet. Most nurseries classify this as a deer resistant perennial but I have had mine eaten before when the feeding pressure is high.


What I like about these plants is they really come on strong in the late season. There are numerous cultivars to choose from and they grow with almost no care. They do like some moisture and can grow in alkaline soils. In fertile soils they can spread rather rapidly but I have found them easy to control and when I plant them I keep in mind they need a little room to spread. You can divide them in the spring as a control measure or a way to get more plants. My experience is that they are not really fussy about the soil they grow in as long as adequate moisture is available and they have good drainage. The flowers are long lasting and can be used as a cut flower.

Even though they are known as Japanese Anemone it is generally believed to have originated in China. They were introduced in Europe around 1840.

Montauk Daisy

Montauk Daisy
Nipponanthemum niponicum
Synonyms: Nippon Daisy, Chrysanthemum niponicum, Leucanthemum niponicum

This plant has a few naming issues as it is called several synonyms and its scientific name has changed a couple of times over the years. It now has its own genus, Nipponanthemum, and is indigenous only to Japan. No matter what you call it this flower is great for the fall garden. It is hardy to USDA Zone 5 and has always been a reliable bloomer for me. The flowers look a lot like Shasta daisy but the almost succulent foliage and the fact the stems get woody makes it different. While I find Shastas and the other Daisies to be low maintenance the Montauks need even less water and care. I simply shear them to 6 to 12 inches to tidy them up in the spring and if I remember pinch them a couple of times during the spring and early summer.


Since Montauk Daisy blooms in the late summer and fall it is a nice plant to combine with Goldenrod (and I only recommend the garden cultivars of that), taller Sedums, and Miscanthus and other fall grasses. These pictures were taken on the Eastern end of Long Island, near the end of the North Fork. It was simply amazing to see them in bloom in a lot of the yards and commercial plantings. They seemed to be especially effective on man made berms were they had a great rolling carpet effect.

Our January thaw came a little early this year. We still have another day or two left. I found out on Wikipedia that January thaw is considered a weather singularity, which “is a weather phenomenon associated with a specific, potentially approximate, calendar date. For example, a large snowstorm that occurs around February 1 would be a singularity. Seasonal trends and their consequences (such as the fact that May Day is usually warmer than New Year's Day, in northern locales) do not comprise singularities.”

I have to run now to enjoy our ride on the Pineapple Express .

ABC Wednesday - Y is for Yellowtwig Dogwood

Yellowtwig Dogwood
Cornus sericea 'Flaviramea'
(KOR-nus) (ser-IK-ee-uh)
Synonyms: Yellowstem Dogwood, Golden Twig Dogwood

If you are here for Wordless Wednesday please scroll down to the next post.

When I took these pictures about a month ago I thought that it would be a good ‘Y’ post. Yellowtwig Dogwood is a favorite winter plant of mine. I love to see it in masses and I often plant it with Redtwig Dogwood. It looks good in leaf and the summer flowers give way to white berries but the real show is the winter color of the twigs. They do take a little bit of managing as only the younger twigs show the best color so you have to remember to prune them during the spring. They can also get quite large if left to their own devices. I have seen them up to 10 feet tall and like to keep mine at about 6 feet.


Yellowtwig is hardy done to -45.5 °C (-50 °F)! It also tolerates moist and even wet conditions. It is not fussy as to soil and propagation is easily done by layering some of the sucker branches (you can do it by cuttings, also). It is a nice plant and can be used singly in the small garden but as I said I much prefer it in large masses. There is one cultivar that I am familiar with its called ‘Budd’s Yellow’ and does seem to be a little brighter and heavier branched than the species. There is also a slower, smaller growing variegated cultivar, which I think is called ‘Silver and Gold’.

Here is a link to Wikipedia with everything you want to know about Yellow .


One thing I learned is that yellow’s complimentary color is indigo. It has taken awhile but I have really begun to love yellow in the garden, both with flowers and foliage. A quick search for ‘yellow’ in image titles on my hard drives yielded 339 items. Many have been posted on this blog before but here is a real yellow Plumeria flower that I took on the quiet end of Duval Street in Key West, Florida.


Another bright yellow flower from the archives. This is Witch Hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise') and it often blooms in late January or early February here in Connecticut. The flowers are very fragrant and come in a couple of different colors. Witch Hazel can turn into a large shrub and is nice planted with several together.


Here is the ABC Wednesday Blogroll:

mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
kate isis
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
author blog
kai
Mollitudes
ten forty
Neva
Ackworth born, gone West
Secluded Habitat
katch photo
Mr. Mapper
The Max Files
Oswegan
Watch me, No Watch me
Peter Miller
Lynette
Andrea’s Thought of the Day
Photowannabe
RuneE’s Visual Norway
Happy One
Jim Baker Photography
Azure
HPY
cre8tiva
imac from the mind’s eye
NYCindividual
Lilli and Nevada
Bonnie
Outhouse of Canada

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tuesday Edition

Embarcadero Center, San Francisco
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sculpture Garden, NYC

Florist Kalanchoe

Florist Kalanchoe
Kalanchoe blossfeldiana
(kal-un-KOH-ee) (bloss-fel-dee-AY-nuh)
Synonyms: Flaming Katy, Christmas Kalanchoe

This is a plant that I see almost everywhere. Its ease of cultivation, compact size and great flower color must be some of the reasons for that. I had some other photographs of it somewhere but went with these two I took in Manhattan on Saturday.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, which I have now learned how to pronounce correctly, is a native of the southern end of Madagascar. It was brought to Europe in the 1920’s and has been the subject of breeding programs ever since. It is hardy in Zone 10 (maybe 9) so most of us (not you, Misti) will have to grow it in pots. It doesn’t require much water and I give it even less in the winter. Try not to get the water on the leaves. I keep mine outdoors in the summer in bright light but not full sun. In the winter they live in the greenhouse and I take them inside the house when they start to flower. They could also live on a bright windowsill. Propagation is easy from stem cuttings if you want more. If your cleaver about managing the photoperiodism , you can get it to bloom in any season. Kalanchoe is a short day period plant.

For Christmas I got a Bamboo graphic tablet it is a pretty cool piece of hardware. I am getting used to using the pen but decided I liked my old trackball mouse better. It came with some demo software including Color Efex Pro 2.0, which is 4 Photoshop filters (plugins) including Graduated Blue which I applied to this Black and White photo of an old Florist sign in Chelsea Market. I am going to play around a bit more before deciding to purchase the ‘real’ set of 52 filters for $99. Also included in the bundle was Photoshop Elements (which I don’t need since I have its big brother CS2) and Corel Painter which I haven’t had time to even open up.

This sign is also from Chelsea Market which was a fun and interesting place. I got a few nice photos inside even though the light was very dim.

Hyacinths

Hyacinths
Hyacinthus orientalis
(hy-uh-SIN-thus)

Yesterday I went down to Manhattan with the idea I would try out the 50mm/1.8 lens at the Museum of Modern Art. When I got down there at the 10:30 opening time the line to get in was just too long already so I decided to take the subway down to Chelsea and have a walk around. I went by the Wholesale Flower District on 28th Street and see if I could get a few snaps. It was a little depressing as many of the shops have closed and many weren’t open on Saturday. I did manage these shots of Hyacinths that one of the stores had placed on racks outside. These were shot with the 17-70mm Sigma lens, except for the sign picture which I used the 50mm.


Dutch Hyacinths are familiar to most every gardener. They have been in cultivation in Europe since the 1500’s. Their colorful, fragrant spikes are always welcome in the spring. I actually know a few people that don’t care for them but I think they are in the minority. They compliment nicely with Daffodils and can also stand on their own. They are best planted in clumps in well drained soil. They are quite hardy (USDA Zone 4, for most) and are lovely when forced. The blooms are long lasting and make excellent cut flowers. There are literally hundreds of cultivars to choose from. I usually plant annuals over them after they have bloomed sine this hides the dying foliage.

These are a couple of other shots I got when I was walking around Chelsea, it is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Manhattan. I will probably be posting some MoMA pictures and some other various NYC pictures this week. I will be working full-time sine it looks like we are in for a solid January thaw coming up.

This was a florist by the Chelsea Market on 15th Street.

I got a chuckle out of this one. I knew I was king of something! (:lol:)


Its like Tom Petty said:
“Its good to be king and have your own way Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings You’re out there with winners, its good to be king”

Giant Hornbill

Giant Hornbill
Buceros bicornis
Synonyms: Great Indian Hornbill, Great Pied Hornbill

Another bird from the Bronx Zoo’s World of Birds. The Giant Hornbill is impressive at 130 centimeters and is beautifully colored. Their native range is Southwest India, the Himalayas to Southeast Asia and there is an isolated population on Sumatra. It is an important seed disperser that can consume seeds as large as an Avocado pit.

The current captive population is 70 individuals and they are under study for squamous cell carcinoma, a cancer that affects the hornbill’s bill (casque). There were a pair at the Bronx Zoo and this is the male of the species. The female looks similar but is smaller.

I haven’t been posting many flower pictures but hope to get some this weekend. Here is a picture of a Cosmos flower and a Syrphid Fly. Remember Syrphid Fly larvae are beneficial in the garden, consuming aphids.

‘Crimson Sentry’ Norway Maple

Norway Maple
Acer platanoides ‘Crimson Sentry’
(AY-ser) (pla-tan-OY-dees)
Synonyms: European Maple

I was going to call this a Dwarf Norway Maple but not sure if that is correct. My definition of a dwarf is a plant that is smaller than its parent or a plant that does not reach the size normally associated with its species. There can be several reasons for dwarfism amongst plants including environmental factors, genetics and grafting. Since ‘Crimson Sentry’ gets to a final height of 30 feet with a spread of 15 feet it is considerably smaller than the normal height a Norway Maple, which is about 45 to 95 feet in height.

I planted two ‘Crimson Sentry’ Maples at the estate about 12 years ago. One of them died several years later from unknown causes and the other has been growing well. This tree is a slow grower (super slow compared to the species) and has been a welcome addition to the garden. For those of us that like red colored foliage it is a good alternative to ‘Crimson King’, which is much larger. One thing I have noticed about ‘Crimson Sentry’ is that it never seems to need pruning and maintains an almost perfect shape naturally. The foliage emerges much redder than ‘Crimson King’ and then gradually fades to the same color during the summer. I would recommend this tree for patio and entrance ways.

There are over 100 cultivars of Norway Maples available to gardeners. I featured one a few weeks ago. I didn’t know that were that many and will have to investigate some more of them.

Here is a photo I took from my bedroom window with a 200mm lens. This is actually the smaller Whitetail buck that has been hanging around our neighborhood. I have only seen the larger one at night but he looks to be a 12 to 14 pointer.

ABC Wednesday – X

ABC Wednesday – X

Happy New Year to all! If you are visiting for WW please scroll down to the next post.

X is a tough letter. I decided to use one of the signs that mark the plants at the Estate garden. I tried to get cute with this picture and only get the X in focus. There about 700 of these signs and correspond to about half of the plant species and cultivars. I picked this sign since it has an X in the middle of the name. Without getting too technical (and a bit boring to some I sure) the X stands for a hybrid between two species of the same genera. These are generally natural or wild occurring hybrids and are ‘interspecific’. Hybrids that occur between different genera are more rare and are called ‘intergeneric’. They are usually denoted with the X before the first name, which is often a combination of the two genera. For example the intergeneric hybrid of Ammophila arenaria and Calamagrostis epigeios is known as xAmmocalamagrostis baltica.

This particular plant, Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum', is one of my favorite groundcovers. It got its X from being a hybrid of Epimedium grandiflorum and E. pinnatum subsp. colchicum (subsp. stands for subspecies, naturally occurring geographical variant of a species). This plant has several common names including Bishop’s Hat and Bicolor Barrenwort. It is a handsome plant that spreads well by rhizomes (not invasively) in both sun and moderate shade. The yellow flowers (that’s where the ‘Sulphureum’ comes in) are spurred and the petals, sepals and spurs are different shades of yellow. They bloom early and their bright color is welcome in the spring. Epimediums are getting more and more popular and there are several types that do well in the garden. I rummaged a round for a picture of the flowers but couldn’t find one. I will have to remember to shoot one in the spring.

Many of the Magnolias seem to like to hybridize and this one is Magnolia x Elizabeth. It was the first yellow Magnolia to be widely available and is still considered one of the best yellows. These pictures are from Wave Hill.

Magnolia x Elizabeth (M. acuminata x heptapeta)


For those you not interested in plants here is an X I saw when I was walking my dogs across the street at the school.


Here is the ABC Wednesday Blogroll:

mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
kate isis
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
author blog
kai
Mollitudes
ten forty
Neva
Ackworth born, gone West
Secluded Habitat
katch photo
Mr. Mapper
The Max Files
Oswegan
Watch me, No Watch me
Peter Miller
Lynette
Andrea’s Thought of the Day
Photowannabe
RuneE’s Visual Norway
Happy One
Jim Baker Photography
Azure
HPY
cre8tiva
NYCindividual
imac