October 2019 in the garden - deciduous conifers (mostly)

For some reason, I was so happy to see Douglas Justice's October blog not be about bright colours and piles of leaves that need raking (not that I do any of that). The trees featured this month are the deciduous conifers. The blog is up at October 2019 in the Garden | UBC Botanical Garden. There are so many good photos in the blog and in the October 2109 tour in Garden Explorer (Tours | UBC Botanical Garden) that I'm only mentioned three here.The first two have not started to colour up yet.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood) and Taxodium distichum (bald cypress) conveniently grow across from each other in the Carolinian Garden, so it's easy to note how different they really do look. This photo shows the Dawn Redwood on the left.


Here is dawn redwood (these have opposite leaves and branching)


And bald cypress (leaves are alternate; they are also whorled on the stems, but twist to appear in a flat plane):


One of my favourite trees is Pseudolarix amabilis. I lost lots of time looking for this, not where Douglas said it was but where there used to be one in the Winter Garden. At least there, I could enjoy touching the soft leaves. I'm not at all happy about its placement in the Asian Garden, very visible, but back too far to touch and for me to get a clear photo of the leaves. Douglas's photo on the blog is very nice.

 

Here are some more trees that are not going to contribute to any autumn leaves display.

This Pinus nigra was growing near where I was first looking for the Pseudolarix. Needles are in pairs. The cone colouring is quite nice, with the light scales standing out against the dark central stem.


Here is my favourite Eucalyptus, E. rubida, candlebark gum. I first posted this as a wee youngster four years ago: August 19, 2015 - Blues


This snow gum nearby is pretty nice too. Eucalyptus pauciflora subsp. niphophila.