[Magdalen] Rescue (No Anglican Content)

[cady soukup]

David,

We have 3 Metasequoia glyptostroboides trees in our yard, the same age
as our youngest son (they were 2-year-old trees planted when Michael
was about 2 years old). They are much taller than Michael, who, at
6'9" tall is not insignificant except when compared to trees! One dawn
redwood (deciduous), planted next to our pond, is doing very well. The
other two are planted near our woods and, although they are tall and
lovely, they are rather one-sided because of the shade from the woods.
This week, we were able to get mature cones off of the pond tree, and
hope to plant the seeds and start a new crew of dawn redwoods.

I grew up in a house that had previously been owned by a
gardener/designer of the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL. We had quite a
selection of wildflowers in the small, almost wild garden plot to the
north of our house. It was a wonderful place to explore and play in as
a youngling. Down the street from that house was/is a large gingko
tree, another favorite.

My husband has a small pawpaw patch (21 trees by the front creek and
more growing out back. I hope to plant a few more trees in our yard
including a gingko or two, and more redwoods. We have a half-acre
pond, almost an acre of grass and 9+ acres of mature Liriodendron
tulipfera woods with many other trees and plants, including Big Leaf
Aspen, beech, sugar Maples, Walnuts, wild cherry trees, and many
others. Most of them seem to be healthy. We are certainly popular with
wildlife!

I keep thinking I will find the time to ID more of our trees, but
somehow that hasn't happened yet. On the other hand, in the 30 years
we have been here, we have grown 4 children and prepared them to enter
the world. 3 of the 4 now live out of state, something that makes my
husband (who does not enjoy travel) rather sad.

Cady
learning all sorts of new & fascinating things about trees through books -
Diana Beresford-Kroeger, "To Speak for the Trees" - 2019
Monica Gagliano, "Thus Spoke the Plant" - 2018



On 11/12/19, cantor03--- via Magdalen <magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
>
>
> There have been several rescues of trees from near extinction.
> In the past 100 years or so. The prominent tree savings that cometo mind
> include the Gingko biloba (Maiden Hair Tree) which is actuallya conifer
> despite its appearance. and the Metasequoia glyptostroboides(Dawn Redwood),
> both of which are widely planted in the temperateclimates.  The two of them
> were relic trees in China, and plant explorerscame to the rescue.
>
> There is an international effort now to save and propagate a pine,currently
> limited to a few acres with perhaps 200 trees in the highlandsof Viet Nam.
> The pine is not only rare, but it is an unusual specieshaving a rounded
> broad stature much like that of an oak, and thespecies has flat leaves
> (needles) much like the Taxus species.
> The name, dubbed in 1924 is Krempf Pine (Pinus krempfii).  Thereis an
> international effort to collect seeds from the species pine-cones, but
> cones are only at the top of fully grown trees, and once retrieved
> withdifficulty, only about 30% of them are viable.
>
> Longwood Gardens, the Dupont place, is one of the sources for fundsto
> accomplish establishing this pine throughout the temperate world.Despite
> growing in Viet Nam, the pine is a high mountain species,and thus the
> expectation that it will grow where there is a temperateclimate.
>
> I think they will succeed, though I don't think I'll be around when
> theyfinish saving the species.  It is good to see that it is not only birds
> andanimals that are being rescued.
>
>
> Information here is from the quarterly American Conifer Society
> magazine,"Conifers,"of which organization I am a member.
>
>
> David Strang.
>
>