Le "Jardin des Plantes" in Orléans was founded in 1834, with some of the plants from an earlier garden for medicinal plants dating back to 1640. Some of the trees there must be over 100 years, like the big Ginkgo biloba at one of its entrances. The diameter at the base of the trunk, at 30 cm high, is at least 1,50 m. The growths that can be seen on the trunk and some of the branches are called "chichi" in Japanese, it shows the tree is very old : But back to maples, and "what's the weather like" : it didn't rain today, but we're going to have rain and wind (50-60 km/hour) in the next two or three days, so I took the opportunity to go and see how the maples there were doing. First, a few small maples recently planted, along the entrance path. Sun in the afternoon. I should have taken a photo of the sign that said something like "due to a "prefectural decree" this area was not watered". Seiryu is the one that looks in a good shape, others have suffered from the drought and heat Garnet : all the leaves are scorched, but some living tissue remains on half of them Shirasawanum 'Aureum' : not too bad considering what I saw later Peve Starfish : I could only spot one leaf with some green at the base "Senkaki" (sic) : probably gets less sun than the others. Bigger trees seem to have supported the drought better, like this Acer platanoides 'Globosum' (didn't find it in the "Maple photo gallery" sub-forum : if that's of any interest, I could go back to the park later and post more photos there) : <To be continued>
There's a section with maples and rhodos (and azalea), with paths inside, and it was a very very sad sight : most of the rhodos had badly suffered. I think (hope) most of the maples will recover even if they need some pruning for next year, but some of the smaler azalea were as dry as dead. There are some tall "plain species" that looked all right, others in not such a good state. In this section, none of the trees are labelled. Acer J. 'aconitifilium' (I think) had a lot of samaras, I took about 2 or 3 dozens. Most were not as ripe as expected, but... Acers with some of the ghastly sight of other trees in the background (...) ... The brightest tree in the whole park, I'm pretty sure someone can identify it : But actually, I went there to see if there were any seeds on this big one, about 5 metres tall. I know that seeds from cultivars, etc, and I only found one small samara, two small wings, one seed, no hope at all on this one ;°) Like the others, it is not labelled : is it 'Okushimono' ?
So sad to see Alain. Think the palmatum with you holding it is 'Okushimo'. Bet Emery will ID the brightly coloured Acer.... If there are continually these droughts I wonder what will happen to these wonderful gardens. Along with visitor numbers down due to Covid, will they survive!!!!? Thankyou for sharing your walk in the park.
That Ginko trunk's got some real character Alain,bet it's got some stories to tell...almost looks like candle wax.Is that bamboo next to the Okushimo?...so red!
Painted bamboos. I don't know exacly what they mean, or why they are part of the landscape. Actually, walking in this park makes me feel like they had some "design" in mind, then because it was closed, or almost no one could work, and because of the heat and water restrictions, they abandonned a project when it was in its first stage. As you can see in other photos, there are also bamboos to mark paths into the plantings. Probably a good idea : don't tread on the soil or the roots can choke ! It's as if a place had been abandoned because of a virus, leaving all the work unachieved... I was happy to walk in a park with almost no one there. There's a place with a merry-go-round where I used to take my kids, and swings and the like, now, there's no one, it looks like... Chernobyl ? But the very few people I crossed wore masks : they would put it up their nose when I was in sight, just like me. Except for those two 20ers pushing a bike and having so much to tell each other that the mask was only jogging up and down their throats while their eyes kept so straight into one another ^_^ I stepped aside to another part of the dendrological world... ;°D Sorry, corny, cheesy, ringard, but it really made me smile :
Awe,as far as I know that's still a pensioners favourite....then again there's not so many of that era left.Wonder what we'll be singing in get togethers when we're more elderly....nothing so innocent I'm sure. Ya know you're right,didn't really give it a thought but since the kids have gone back to school,and people returned to work,the parks are empty now,yet they were bustling more than usual during the hot summer lockdown.That analogy to Pripyat is spot on.
Nothing corny about Nat King Cole, that velvety sound makes everything sound great! And an old song (tin pan alley I think) but still a good one. Did you know Alain that Cole was a really fine pianist? Before hitting it big he was mostly known as a pianist, not a singer. There are a few recordings out there... I can tell you the beautiful red tree is a sugar maple A. saccharum, but nothing more than that! It would be great if you could start the A. platanoides 'Globosum' thread in the photo gallery. Actually a very good cultivar, they often look like rows of lollipops bordering a path or whatever. Quite popular still. By and large the maples look like they're doing OK, considering. Even "Senkaki" (drives me nuts, the French insist on this one along with "A campestris" and "A trifidum"). Absolutely disastrous for rhodos, azaleas, pieris. Same here of course. Was having a conversation with the tree guy, he told me "Beeches are not a tree for the future here. It's too hot, they're all dying, even worse for the purple ones." So beech, ash, chestnut all dying off massively... :(
OK, I'll do that. But when you say "rows of lollipops", I think it might be Acer platanoides 'Columnare', not 'Globosum'. There aren't many ''Globosum' in my area, only the one I saw in the park, and maybe one that is in a kids' playground near where my mother lives. But I'm prettyu sure some in a street that I spotted months ago are 'Columnare'. If the weather permits, I'll take photos and post them.
I don't mean 'Columnar' (or 'Columnare', cant' remember which is right or be bothered to look it up.) Difference between American lollipops and French ones, maybe? Form of 'Columnar' Form of 'Globosum' Though they do get much wider (and more to my taste, heh) better looking as they get older. There's a big haras (stud farm) not to far from here in the Perche, where they planted a long double row -- meaning 2 rows on each side -- with big rail fencing on the outside of them to keep the horses off, on the maybe 2km path from the road to the main house. They were planted maybe 15 years ago, now looking quite spectacular and surreal. The fields are very green and hilly there.
Yeah probably ;°D Actually "chupa chups" are Spanish, eh no ? Chupa Chups - Wikipedia The question is : did Kojak suck big flat lollipops (American), or smaller rounded ones (Spanish) ?... I think that 'Globosum' is sort of "Chupa Chups", and columnare more like "Pierrot Gourmand". But I can't think of any maple species that is big round and flat <LOL>
