It's just a blue form of larix kaempferi.

Clément

I think it will look something like this:

http://www.dreviny-okrasne.cz/foto/jehlicnany/lar_le_bra.jpg

The picture below shows 'blue rabbit' sheared and in fall color in VT --
http://www.cadysfallsnursery.com/Larch%20in%20Autumn_files/DSC_0016_3-filtered.jpg

Mine is tiny, but is shaped normal, not a ball at all.

There is a cultivar called 'blue ball' that looks similar, but is ball shaped.

Mine is only 18-24' tall. Looks like a tree.

It's supposed to be real narrow Ken.

Dax

thanks guys

ken

Bunker's-Thanks for the links...I think...The picture from Cady's is absolutely stunning. I have added that to my plants to get this fall. Just what I needed, another one on my list. :-)

Eliot

all larix color that way in fall ... ken

I figured the "rabbit" name was meant to suggest that it grows quick like a bunny. Mine sure is. I think it has a foot of new growth this year.

KarinL

The rabbit thing is a Dutch/English translation.
This cultivar was selected because of it's very blue needles by Leen Konijn from Holland.
Konijn is the Dutch word for rabbit, so it's named after the founder.
He also found a weeping form with nice blue needles and named it 'Blue Rabbit Weeping'.

So we here in the US should know our plant's as 'Blue Rabbit Weeping'? There's no bun-shape cultivar over here.

Dax

Hi Dax,

'Blue Rabbit' is a upright form which is narrowly conical.

'Blue Rabbit Weeping' is a weeping form which it's branches are hanging down.

didnt they change nomenclature rules to forbid translations????

could you give me the full correct name for the upright one ... so i can make a new label or change my database

thx

ken

Hi Ken,

I'm not familiar with forbidden translations in the nomenclature rules.
I see the konijn/rabbit thing as a kind of a partly fantasy name.

The name of the upright form is:
Larix kaempferi 'Blue Rabbit'.

but then that is TWO NAMES.. for the same plant... depending on which side of the pond you are on..

that doesnt seem right ...

ken

No Ken, 2 names for 2 differend cultivars.

I mentioned this 4 messages back.

Larix k. Blue Rabbit foliage

Clément

Joy-The way I read Ken's question was he was asking about the two different names you mentioned for 'Blue Rabbit', what does the plant go by in Holland/Europe 'Blue Konijn' or do you call it 'Blue Rabbit'.

Did Mr. Konijn just make the translation when he named it and called it 'Blue Rabbit' to begin with?

Eliot

Hi Eliot,

There's only the English written version on the market.
Indeed, he made the translation when he named this plant, because "Konijn" makes only sense in Holland and a part of Belgium but not in the rest of the world.
IF there was a Dutch version then it was named 'Blauw Konijn' but such a name does not exist.

Picea mariana 'Blue Rabbit' was also named by Leen Konijn.

Most cultivars named by him have something to do with the name of his nursery which was "Tempelhof"
Some examples:
-Chamaecyparis obt. 'Tempelhof' (Bigger version of 'Nana Gracilis'
-Juniperus chinensis 'Templar'(greygreen pyramidal form)
-Juniperus communis 'Tempelhof'(green mounding form)
-Pinus parviflora 'Tempelhof' (fast growing blue selection)
-Pseudotsuga menz. 'Tempelhof Compact' (green schrublike form)

Hi all.
Coniferjoy, maybe we should help our English-speaking friends with the pronounciation of the IJ wich turns up every so often in the Dutch/Flemish language.
Pronounce Konijn as Ko-nine,with a very soft i .
A bit like the way the Scots would pronounce nine...get it ? T.

My 'Blue Rabbit' planted in NE Ohio in ~ 1992 is now almost 40' tall and > 10" DBH. It coned a few times and I found a blue seedling in a flower bed nearby. I will be watching it closely...

BTW - 'Blue Rabbit' is not narrowly upright, in fact it seems rather broad for the species. I have seedling origin plants that are much narrower...

if i walk into a nursery.. NO MATTER WHERE IN THE WORLD ...

and i ask for Larix blue rabbit..

EVEN IN HOLLAND ... i will get the same plant ...

or will they look at me quizzically.. and say that stupid american doenst know the dutch translation of the proper name of this plant ...

yes ???

if NO .. then the plant has 2 names ... AND IT IS IMPROPER ...

all i am saying is.. i will gladly use the dutch name.... if that is the PROPER name .. and if whomever sold it to me.. will recognize the name.. and the international society of naming plants stands up to its own rules. ...

one plant.. should have one name... it should NOT be different .. depending on whether you are in Europe.. or japan.. or the US ... THIS IS WHERE PEEPS BECOME CONFUSED.. 15 YEARS DOWN THE LINE .. when joy isnt there.. to explain it all ..

ken

Kenny,
The cultivar 'Blue Rabbit' is Blue Rabbit' in any language, the confusion is with 'Blue Rabbit Weeping', because of the similarity in names a lot of people think they are possibly the same plant.

Hi Ken,

You are right when you asked for a Larix kaempferi 'Blue Rabbit' you must get the same plant, where ever you are.
In this case only this name exist because there's no Dutch version, but I can imagine that some plants are availlable in differend languages and that's a very confusing thing.

I think that in Holland this 'Blue Rabbit' is almost died out, maybe in some Arboreta and Pineta you will find it but it's not availlable from nurseries here anymore.

I hope I'm still around in 15 years as I'm now 39 years of age ;0)

still just a boy then, Edwin :0)

May I see a photo of 'Blue Rabbit Weeping'. I'm a bit peeved that my 'Blue Rabbit' will become wide. It's supposed to be narrow by description over here. Clement's photo proves otherwise. Google only shows 'Blue Rabbit'.

Thank you,

Dax

Dax-I agree. The picture showed in Bunkers link from Cady's Falls Nursery was tall and narrow, however Henks picture appeared to be quite broad, more like the one showed in the first link of Bunkers.

I like the plant in Cady's picture a lot. Could that be the weeping one? Even though only the bottom couple of branches appear to be weeping, not all the way up.

Or could that one not be a "Blue Rabbit' at all and be a different Larix all together?

Eliot

Eliot

You know, I don't know. I'm going to watch this one of mine now and if it becomes broad at the base when it's six or seven feet tall, I'm going to yank it.

Stephen if you visit this thread would you add a photo of your labled at your website, 'Blue Rabbit (Weeping?)', please?

Thanks,

Dax

Stephen's New Website/Nursery/Foxhollow Garden, England

Everytime I see Foxhollow Gardens I think it is one of the most complete and beautiful gardens for conifers and color that is out there.

mark

mark - photos can lie, probably not really as good as it looks :0)
Dax - here is a photo and not a very good one, of my 'Blue Rabbit Weeping' it's only about 10-12 yrs old, also my plant is not situated in a very good position and is getting slightly crowded out and shaded by the Metasequoia 'Goldrush to its left.

{{gwi:790587}}

That's exactly what I need. That's one of the better.

Thanks a lot,

Dax

Thanks Blue, and I agree with Mark, you have beautiful gardens! I always appreciate your pics. Blue's Weeping Blue Rabbit looks like the one shown in Bunkers second link.

I located the 'Blue Rabbit', but does anyone know where a guy could come across one of the Weeping ones?

Eliot

'Blue Rabbit Weeping' has never been introduced into the U.S. and it is illegal to do so from Europe now, unfortunately. I have searched many gardens and conifer collections here and have never seen it.

'Blue Rabbit' has been here at least since the 1980s and like I said before, is not narrow growing - though some people (probably Cady) trim them to be narrow. It is very vigorous and fast and a nice tree though.

The best narrow larch is L. decidua 'Fastigiata'. Unfortunately it is not in the U.S. and very rare in Europe. I have only heard descriptions of it and not even seen photos. L. decidua 'Pyramidalis' is only known here as a large tree in Rochester, NY that is over 100 years old and not all that narrow anymore. i photographed it about 5 years ago. Someone needs to propagate it.

L. kaempferi 'Jacobsen's Pyramid' was introduced in about 1997 and I shared material with a number of nurseries including Stanley's. I have an original graft from then in Ohio doing well. I first saw it in England in 1993 at Savill Gardens It is narrow - but does widen with age.

L. laricina 'Fastigiata' is in Clement's garden and I had it for a while until rabbits ate it in Minnesota.

As I was reading through this thread, I couldn't help but immediately think of the English cognate
for the Dutch word 'konijn' - which is, of course, cony: a rabbit.

Further, I found that the word 'rabbit' itself can be traced to Middle Dutch, in the form robbe.

Josh

Salicaceae,
You are right about the fastigiate Larix forms, the Larix decidua 'Fastigiata' is a beauty, I have a small plant in my collection.

Larix kaempferi 'Jacobsen Pyramid' must be written as 'Jakobsen Pyramid'.
I wrote this spellcheck allready several times before at this forum.
All conifer cultivars found by Arne Vagn Jakobesen from Denmark must be written this way.

Josh,
As I'm a Dutchman, I'm not familiar with the name "robbe" in the form that it means rabbit.
Maybe we used it in the middle ages but not now at this time.
On the other hand we use the word "zeerob" which is a seal in the English language.

Coniferjoy,

Do you have any photos of L. decidua 'Fastigiata' you can share? I have been searching for this plant for a long time. I only found 1 Russian nursery that has it.

Jason

Hi, Edwin.
Yes, robbe is Middle Dutch - c.1100 - c.1500.

Josh

Hi Jason,

I received my plant from a Polish nursery as a 1 year old graft from which the habbit is not recognizeble now.
I saw the motherplant there and it was an amazing beauty!
Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of it.
There's a big possibility that he got it from a Russian nursery.

The correct name is the one properly applied by the originator or other person first naming the cultivar. If they use an improper name that does not follow established naming conventions, then it should be changed. Otherwise, everyone everywhere should use the original name - in whatever language it was first given. Non-Roman characters would of course be changed to those where such are used. But it is not acceptable to translate German into English and so on and use the translated version as the cultivar name. Such a translation is not the plant's name, anymore than a translated person's name would be.

Bboy, you are right.
Some German into English translated conifers are:
Abies koreanan 'Silberlocke'
into
Abies koreana 'Silver Curls'

Abies koreana 'Goldener Traum'
into
Abies koreana 'Golden Dream'

Abies koreana 'Kristallkugel'
into
Abies korenana 'Chrystal Globe'

Abies koreana 'Silberkugel'
into
Abies koreana 'Silver Globe'

This isn't the right way and isn't acceptable.

The same indeed is the name Jakobsen which is the second name of Arne Vagn from Danmark.
He's very disappointed that many people will spell his name in a wrong way into Jacobsen.
Please everyone change your wrong Jacobsen in Jakobsen.

This counts for:
-Abies nordmanniana 'Jakobsen'
-Larix kaempferi 'Jakobsen Pyramid'
-Microbiota decussata 'Jakobsen'
-Picea abies 'Aurea Jakobsen' (I know it's not a right name because it's given after 1959)
-Pinus mugo 'Jakobsen'

i thought the earth might have stopped for a second last night.. bboy agrees ... lol ...

ken

Salicaceae, are you referring to this current spread sheet, or is there another catalog out there from this wholesale nursery? I don't see 'Blue Rabbit Weeping' listed on the spread sheet.