Looking for column shaped evergreen

Discussion in 'Gymnosperms (incl. Conifers)' started by portlandrose, Apr 11, 2007.

  1. portlandrose

    portlandrose Member

    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    West Linn, OR - Clackamas
    Moved to small lot in Oregon and looking for an evergreen backdrop for my rose garden that will also give us year 'round privacy by screening our back fence. A Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'columnaris' would be perfect, but I'm unable to find any for purchase in the US. So, other choices are Italian Cypress, or Van Pelt Blue Cypress. Any thoughts on these - or other suggestions? Just don't want arborvitae as they get so leggy and brown in the center. Thanks for help or suggestions.
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    You can find the 'Columnaris' if you search effectively but it and the other two are not small slim kinds suitable for small garden hedging. The popular dense bright green 'Smaragd' arborvitae should be quite suitable unless you want a grayish or silvery color. Sparseness with old dead foliage showing through is a factor of poor site conditions.

    http://images.google.com/images?svn...859-1&c2coff=1&q="thuja+occidentalis+smaragd"
     
  3. portlandrose

    portlandrose Member

    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    West Linn, OR - Clackamas
    I appreciate the info, the link for photos is a great help too. Still leaning towards the false cypress columnaris or Italian cypress in the front my fence area with some climbing roses on the fence. I really like the spire look both these offer. And yes, you were correct - after about 3 hours of searching I did find a nursery in Oregon that has the columnaris. There's just so much to learn! Thanks for your help. Any comments about a Pembury Blue Lawson Cypress for a corner?
     
  4. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    Unless you are only planning for a short time span like 10 or 15 years these will overwhelm a small yard*. In our climate the 'Columnaris' is upswept only in its early years, in the fashion of the far more common 'Alumii', with the branching habit becoming arching when cones begin to be produced - although in Portland cypress family conifers tend to be more compact than in Seattle. Columnar Italian cypress is comparatively strict in habit but not small, unless you plant a dwarf cultivar.

    http://www.monrovia.com/PlantInf.ns...25684d007113b5!OpenDocument&Highlight=0,tower

    'Pembury Blue' has a nice color but is not a dwarf either, plus any planting of Lawson cypress is at risk for root rot these days.

    *Here's some sizes (circumference x height x crown spread) recorded for local specimens:

    'Columnaris'

    5'2" x 45' x 11'

    Columnar Italian

    2'3" x 42' x 6'
     
  5. KarinL

    KarinL Well-Known Member 10 Years

    Messages:
    1,058
    Likes Received:
    1
    Location:
    Vancouver
    Why not Yew - Taxus baccata fastigiata, gold or dark green? Also the fastigiate variety of Cephalotaxus. Both these will grow in shade as well as sun (wait, not so sure if cephalotaxus like sun).

    Maybe also consider Thuja 'DeGroot's Spire'.
     
  6. J.Onstott

    J.Onstott Active Member

    Messages:
    64
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Albany, Oregon
    Here's a useful link for landscape plants.
     
  7. Scion Swapper

    Scion Swapper Active Member

    Messages:
    117
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    A word of caution about Cham. lawsoniana cultivars/species. (collumnaris, Van Pelts blue, Oregon Blue, Pembury Blue, Green Hedger, etc) , they MUST be grafted in the US or they will die of root born diseases. Our nursery and a few other nurseries are evaluating the best understocks to use. Several understocks have great promise.

    I've seen entire fields of hundreds to thousands of Cham. lawsonianas from rooted cuttings die during a wet and humid summer.


    Brian
     
  8. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    They MAY die from root rot. First they have to be infected. Not that there aren't Lawson cypress trees being infected and dying out here, including in the wild but the hot and wet summer climate of New Jersey etc. would be especially suitable for pathogenic water molds.

    A couple garden centers here got in some 5 gallon Tiny Tower cypress, probably off the same truck. One had them priced at over 60 dollars, the other about 50. At those prices making a hedge out of them would add right up quick. That's the problem with slow-growing, compact plants that stay in scale with modern small garden spaces - you have to pay for the extra time it takes for them to get up to size at the production nursery.
     
  9. Scion Swapper

    Scion Swapper Active Member

    Messages:
    117
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    Ron B,

    Your right, they MIGHT. But our nursery doesn't consider propagating trees that MIGHT die of a Wide-scale problem that is very likely to result in mortality either in the wholescale nursery or the landscape. Any nursery that does, in my opionion, is looking for a quick buck and doesn't care about their customers, or their customers customers best interest. You talk about cost, how about the cost of purchase, planting, growing trees that have to be replaced???

    Brian
     
  10. J.Onstott

    J.Onstott Active Member

    Messages:
    64
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Albany, Oregon
    From my experience in the Willamette valley... they are dying left and right (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana). Our industry, recreation, commerce and everyday travel is aiding in the loss. if you are going to plant one consider how far away from the road they will be (even though they are infected by zoospores which require water they can be spread from site to site on the wheels of cars and trucks). Observe your local area and look for signs of abnormal loss. Here is a succinct page that has relevant information:link link2
     
  11. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    Yes: I only plant these where I think the drainage may be adequate. Not the horticultural force the species once was, still very common in the planted landscape due to all the planting of it in the past but no longer a major component of garden center offerings. In fact, I am surprised at how many I am seeing being offered, even though it would seem to be much fewer than in the past.
     
  12. portlandrose

    portlandrose Member

    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    West Linn, OR - Clackamas
    I appreciate the "heads up" on the Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana Columnius Glauca. You're correct, as a border, they would be expensive and now with your warnings about disease, I don't think I want to take a chance. So will most likely go with Italian Cypress as a backdrop for my rose garden and Irish Yew to act as both a noise buffer and privacy screen for a section of my back yard. Thank you to all who have offered assistance. The people on this forum are amazing!
     
  13. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    If there's a noise problem a row of plants won't do much, you need something more dense - like those concrete walls they have put up along freeways.
     
  14. Scion Swapper

    Scion Swapper Active Member

    Messages:
    117
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    Quick update about Cham. lawsoniana: New strains that are resistant to Phytophthora lateralis. (the root disease that haunts this tree, especially in it's home country of the USA) are now becoming available to the wholesale market and will soon be available to the overall market here in the US. They were developed by selecting disease resistant rootstocks in research done by Oregon State University. They (OSU) grew thousands of seedlings and intentionally exposed them to P. lateralis and found resistant individuals which have been evaluated, named and propagated. What will be offered in the next 5 or so years are strains of Cham. lawsoniana that are disease resistant, plus later cultivars of lawsoniana that are grafted onto disease resistant rootstocks.

    Good News!!

    Brian
     
  15. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    Don't you think these are going to be vegetative propagations (clones) of the resistant seedlings rather than seed strains?
     
  16. Debby

    Debby Active Member 10 Years

    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    2
    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
  17. Scion Swapper

    Scion Swapper Active Member

    Messages:
    117
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    Ron B,

    Yes, in the immediate future there will be several disease resistant clones that have been chosen for their resistance to P.l. diseases, and will be vegetatively cloned by rooted cuttings. However, the long-term intention/hope is to cross pollunate between these 3 or more clones in an attempt to develop sexually derived strains that are more resistant to the root disease than the general population. That part of the work has not yet been done, based on my understanding. The ultimate goal by OSU is to devise strains, not just clones, that are more resistant to phytophthora lateralis, which can be used in reforestation work in the PNW.

    B
     
  18. Maple_Lady

    Maple_Lady Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

    Messages:
    253
    Likes Received:
    51
    Location:
    La Center, WA USA Zone 8a
    Brian,

    Did you finally plant some evergreens? If so, which ones. Sam
     

Share This Page