Penance: Fifteen trees for Colorado

Occasionally one is in the right place at the right time and the camera is handy! This is at Sloane's lake in West Denver, where we conducting a Rollinger Tree survey--and no, I didn't get the kid (or his parents) to sign a release. So...Sue me why don't you!?

Acer grandidentatum in the Rock Alpine Garden

This blog is penance for my not providing a slide list for a talk I gave a week ago today (or this evening rather) at the Longmont Museum whose CEO (Kim Manajek) had asked me to do in consonance with a Treehouse exhibit they were staging, as we passed like nightly ships at Denver International Airport last spring. I am quite sure that sentence has never been composed before in the English language, at least...Henry James would be proud! At any rate, a goodly crowd was very responsive but several asked pointedly for a list at least of the fifteen "specials" rhat ended my presentation. Here you are! A week later as I said!

Acer grandidentatum

Of course the leaves look just like A. saccharum: it's even been lumped as a subspecies of the Suger Maple. And it turns the same uneartly pinky-orangy tones that make New England glow right about now. Our Western cousin is much more compact (usually only 20 or so feet tall--although it can get twice that in perfect spots). It has a superfluity of common names: Utah Maple (it is especially conspicuous in that state), Wasatch Maple (it is glorious on the Wasatch every year), Bigtooth Maple (translating the Latin name--duh!), Western Sugar Maple (I just made that one up). Since it grows from British Columbia to Mexico in a slanted line I like to call the "Kelaidis Line" since I'm the only one who talks about it--the boundary between predominately Californian elements to the West (manzanitas, Ceanothus, zauschnerias, Brodieas, Fritillaria, Pinus longaeva and P. monophylla and suchlike are largely found West of the Kelaidis' line whereas Liatris, Echinacea, Lilium philadelphicum, Buchloe dactyloides, Pinus aristata and P. edulis are restricted largely to the East of that Line named for the clever Curator at Denver Botanic Gardens who was first to point it out. And this Maple gloriously paints that line across the Continental West!

Acer grandidentatum

If there's one thing more gorgeous than a Wasatch maple in fall color, it's a miniature one (or two in this case two) dwarf specimens crowning the waterfall at Betty Ford Alpine Garden in Vail. They must cross pollinate and produce seed--and I'll bet that seed will be largely a dwarf strain--must remember to tell Nicola, Nick or Colin about that...

Acer monspessulanum

I think it could be argued that this is the most remarkable tree in the Denver area. Less than a mile East and slightly south of Denver Botanic Gardens on Milwaukee street an enormous Montpelier maple that has to be nearly a century old is weeping fantastically. I dragged three of my colleagues to see it one fall in its marvellous yellow phase--just about this time of year...

Acer monspessulanum

Who would have planted this? Where did the get it? And why on earth has such a magnificent tree that gets NO irrigation where it's planted not have replicated itself manifold in our region where water is so precious and watering will be curtailed during the next drought cycle and countless trees die as a consequence (but not this toughie!). Thankfully, it does set seed, and quite a few are peppering our region finally. Lainie Jackson showed me this almost 30 years ago--and we grew several from seed, one of which survives (they had to be moved--new building) and is growing near the very southeasternmost corner of DBG (literally on the corner of 9th and York.) Don't run into it please.

Acer monspessulanum

There are a few trident maples in Denver (Acer buergerianum) including one in Plantasia at DBG which have a somewhat similar leaf. Why on earth plant those water demanding maples from East Asia when you can have this tried and true xeric magnificence? But you'll have to get it mail order (not sold locally....................yet).

Acer nigrum

Or maybe THIS is the best tree in town? This monstrous black maple towers over the sizeable house next to it and I'm always terrified the owners will cut it down. It's in fantastic color right now (I drove by a few days ago) and this is after a low of 17F that fried the leaves of most deciduous trees (excepting oaks and crabapples--which are turning gloriously). Of course, it's closely related to sugar maple (which hates it here--the hot days and limy soils are toxic to A. saccharum). But the Midwestern black maple loves us as long as we water. Quite a few cultivars are out there lately--many mislabeled saccharum. Pick carefully!

Abies concolor

A compact specimen of our glorious Silver Fir. This grows everywhere in the West, but is generally greener as you approach the coasts--the really blue forms are from the Rockies. Lots of us prefer this to the overly ubiquitous (and Universal, and did I mention that it's common? Found everywhere) and truly redundant Colorado Blue Spruce (which is also redundantly the state tree of Utah--surely the Mormons ought to have been clever enough to have picked their incomparable maple instead? For once I rue that they voted blue). Fir is friendly, the blue speuce is prickly as hell. The fir ages to a much more graceful tower and I believe it's a tad less thirsty (the concolors usually grow on slopes, while the blue spruce invariably grows right next to the streams). But the fir still needs a drink in dry spells.

Abies concolor a dwarf cultivar

I have envied Sandy Snyder's little concolor muffin for years. It has really grown extremely slowly. And like everything Sandy does it is superbly placed and very happy. Of course, she's a goddess--what do you expect?

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) on Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlock'

For years I naively assumed my Silberlock was the biggest, best and possibly almost the only one in the Denver area: it's almost 3' tall and growing very cheerfully at the northwest corner of my property at he back of my rock garden...it even attracts red admirals!...but then....

Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlock'

One day I was visiting Sabine Bauer (who has the most extraordinary collection of Hemerocallis in the area--probably a million cultivars, or so it seems--when I noticed a strange tree at her neighbors...
I walked close and Lo! and behold. A monstrous Horstmann's! Notice the downspout isn't far away--and it's on the SOUTH SIDE of the house--where it must cook in our Arabian summer (and winter) sun...I guestimate 12' maybe 15'? I have to take a tape measure over there. If someone told me there was a monstrous Korean fir less than a mile from my house I would have spit. I still want to. By the way, they've planted it in the wrong place. And the damn tree doesn't mind.

Abies cephalonica

Barely half an hour's drive from Athens you can be on the breezy, cool top of Parnitha, one of the most rugged, wild and beautiful spots in Greece with masses of wildflowers, bulbs and forests of Greek fir. These have to be the perfect fir for us to grow--lime tolerant. And they can go for six months with no rain. What the hell's wrong with us that we aren't growing these?

Abies cephalonica

And the cones are cute as bug's ears! They remind me of candles on a Tannenbaum.

Abies hybridogenus

Or perhaps this rare fir that grows on Mt. Olympus in Thessaly, and not many other places besides...as the name implies, it likely arose as a hybrid between A. cephalonica and A. alba.

And what glorious growth rate! and those cones! I wonder if this is growing ANYWHERE in the U.S.A,? But we have millions ob bozos hoarding billions of weapons to protect themselves from caravans of Latin Americans marching to America to clean our toilets, pick our veggies and feed our ugly mouths with fast food. Please vote.

Abies equi-trojani

Or how about a REAL Trojan Horse? Photographed on Kaz Dag (called Mt. Ida in ancient times)--probably growing near the very spot where Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite, while Athena and Hera glared angrily. How can we not grow a tree like this, rife and ripe with history and adapted to a fierce habitat with limy soils and endless dry summers?

Abies equi-trojani

This too is presumed an intermediate between the next and one of the previous species...and there are more Abies ringing the Mediterranean from Morocco (A. maroccana) and Spain (A. pinsapo) the latter which I admired in October of 2001 near Ronda (you can read about that experience here on page 16). And MORE. They're thriving in the Morris Arboretum--which is discussed in the same bulletin I just tagged. Why not Denver? Because we haven't tried, that's why.

Abies nordmanniana

I can't believe I spent four days in the vicinity and never photographed a head-on specimen of Nordmann fir--but did catch a slice of one in this shot! Here we are on the OTHER Olympus south of Constantinople: Ulu Dag is its name now. The Great Mountain. You can see one of its shoulders in the distance. We are actually growing this fir, and also A. cilicica at DBG.

Larix sibirica

Here we are in the Altai, near where Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia meet--quite the geo-political hotspot. I'm sure we were the only people within fifty miles that day. Not exactly Grand Central Station. Notice Vladimir in the lower left--that's a big honker on the hill.

Larix sibirica

Closer up...

Larix sibirica

Show me all the sculptures in the world. I wouldn't trade any (except perhaps a few Phideas' or Praxiteles) for a tree like this.

Larix sibirica

Pretty cones too...

Larix sibirica with Vladimir Kolbintsev and Michael Bone

Not the same individual of larch, but a similarly sized one nearby. You'd be hard put to find two better travelling companions, by the way. We nearly stepped on a viper a short distance from this picture.

Pinus bungeana

Somewhere in my piles of transparencies I have pictures I took in 1999 of this species growing at a monastery near Peking. They were enormous--nearly 100' tall. And the trunks were pure white. I have to find those damn pictures and scan them. These are taken at Denver Botanic Gardens of our comparatively puny specimens--which are still among our best plants.

Pinus bungeana

I have seen this sold at local nurseries--so you can get it.

I couldn't resist "borrowing" this image off the web: that's Frank Meyer, the extraordinary Dutch explorer who did so much for the USDA and all of us. Although I do think he was the one who introduced Callery Pear--his bad. He's next to P. bungeana near the royal graves outside Peking. I (and others) still wonder just how and why he died. His body was found in the Yangtze. Plant Hunting is not for sissies.

Pinus heldreichii

One of my hundred or so favorite pines. Actually in the top ten: this was taken on Mt. Olympus, Thessaly--not far from treeline. Notice the people at the base.

Pinus heldreichii

And here's the state champion at Denver Botanic Gardens, which has been moved once. And is currently having tumultuous construction take place next to it...Keep your fingers crossed.

Pinus heldreichii

Slightly higher on Olympus it begins to take on a more windswept form.

Pinus tabuliformis

Sometimes classed as P. densiflora, this "Tanyosho" pine grows on a wide swath of Western China up to Manchuria and beyond. This is the state champion specimen along the street at Denver Botanic Gardens. Sold widely by local garden centers--but I rarely see it in gardens. What do they do, compost them?

Quercus buckleyi

I blogged about this a while ago for Denver Botanic Gardens. Click here for the link and you can read the one blog I've written of nearly a thousand. Due to my hyperbole, a demand actually arose for this tree which had rarely (if ever been sold before) and now is beginning to be stocked by several local nurseries, and I'm actually seeing them around town, So there is hope...(and you wonder why I blog?)

Quercus buckleyi

Same picture on my other blog: I need to photograph more...it's coming into fabulous color soon.

Quercus buckleyi

Ulmus americana 'Pendula'

Regius University in  north Denver. I could go on and on and on about this picture and the place. There's an incredible evergreen holly not far from here that I haven't figured out yet. And so many other fine trees. Marita Tewes Tybalt--now the Hort. Director at Red Butte started the arboretum here a long time ago. She left (long story) to start her new glorious career--and several extraordinary "groundskeepers" have kept up and expanded her vision--and this is now our most important and wonderfully maintained arboretum. I must do a blog just about Regius and them (nearly a thousand blog posts and I haven't done one yet? Life is much too rich..) Anyway, this is the champion weeping American elm of the state. And possibly the Universe.

Ulmus americana 'Pendula'

One day, quite a few years ago, I took my colleagues from the Gardens to tour Regius. It was one of those perfect days...

I would like to bask in the golden light of that Cathedrul of Ulm again--but not this year: I'm sure the leaves fried last week when we had the cold snap...

Adansonia digitata

THIS is a bonus tree--not one to grow where it gets anywhere near frost of course. Twenty years ago this month I was mystified as our guides took us up a very steep, rugged slope of a steep mountain, not far from the Limpopo (in Botswana, but not far from South Africa, or Zimbabwe come to think of it)...where were we going so late in the day? Up up up through rugged thorn scrub--as we reached the top of the table mountain we saw them, dotted about--these enormous windswept baobabs...and then I noticed the orange sun was setting: I perched my camera on a rock and took a whole roll showing the sun turning orange, then red, and finally setting, with this gnarly behemoth in the foreground. I scanned those images, and some day must figure out how to show the magical ballet in a blog...

Oh yes, while we were gawking at the sunset and the trees, our guides set up the tables loaded with wondeful food, sundowners were passed around and bright torches blazed in the African night, and blaze still in my heart and forever in my memory. For God's sake vote--and not for a world run by sleazy morons and greedy fools.