"Keteleeria?"

Could be. Any cones?

"Cunninghamia konishi? Couldn't get the whole tree, everything is jam packed"

Araucaria sp., likely A. angustifolia.

Resin

Here's my green form of Cunninghamia, said to be konishiki.
My leaves are longer than yours. I wonder who has the right guess. I'd sure like to know either way.
This one fell over in wet ground when it got about 20 ft. tall. I cut it off at just above the ground and it resprouted. I think I'll grow it as a bush just for cuttings.

Mike

No cones Resin,I'm surprised you would need cones! It just looked like Ketelerria to me, I wouldn't think it could be anything else. Probably A. angustifolia also although the whole tree seems awfully stout. How about the last two pics?

The first picture looks more like White Fir (Abies concolor) than Keteleeria.

I thought the same thing blue cone...although it's a bit difficult to imagine an Abies concolor surviving in extreme east Texas, except maybe if it were grafted onto something A. firma. Even then it's a stretch. Are there any A. concolor in central Texas? I guess that means around or north of Austin? I bet there are some in Alpine, even though it really isn't that alpine. In fact I think I remember seeing a couple.

However when I googled Keteleeria, I saw a couple pics where it looks like this. Which oddly isn't what I remember them looking like either. At least the large one at NCSU, which I examined closely. The foliage, I noted, seemed like "cross a yew with a hemlock or maybe spruce, then magnify slightly" in other words, rather boring. The overall habit is also non-descript. It's always a relief with me when I can see a rarity and realize it's worth scratching off my list and not worth coveting. The same thing when seeing Tony Avent's large (by US standards) Cathaya. Kind of interesting, but not nearly as distinctive as Sciadopitys or even Podocarpus.

Did you get Taxodium hybrids from there?

Yes, it's Abies concolor on the first pic.
Clement

I disagree - it is Keteleeria evelyniana. It is quite distinct and has more bottle brush like foliage which is glaucous. I have some that look just like that.

Something tells me it isn't abies, certainly not firma for sure, which is the only that would survive at all to that size, not even grafted on firma.
So far the only abies I have survive besides firma is a A. recurvata seedling, go figure. It looks happy, new growth is much healthier and robust than what it came with.
I will try chensiensis and maybe pindrow at some time, and also P. smithiana. P. polita which everybody else but on here calls P. torano, seems so far to be a winner but grows so very slow, looks perfect though.
lou_midlothian_tx, I got a Taxodium T406 in gallon pot, maybe I will plant it down at our community boat house, it supposedly grows very fast.
Lots of neat things, but I did not get the P.taeda 'Nana', they were not small grafts- about 4 ft tall and very nice and 80.00! That would have taken most of the budget, I definitely will get one in the spring if they offer them again. Jap maples where 75.00, but most things where very very reasonable- 10.00 and under.
Got a magnolia, very robust almost on steroids even, just labeled "Michelia" it will be interesting.

Oh, I have gotten Nanjing Beauty, T-27, 405, 406, 407 and 502 hybrids from SFA. I graduated from there 14 years ago. The gardens have gotten a lot bigger since then. They are doing a Taxodium project along La Nana creek that they are planting hybrids, best taxodium trees from all over USA and so on. I remember that they were small to begin with. Now... like a forest...

Trying to go back there soon to acquire even more new hybrids to try them out in central Texas... at least 3 new ones that I know of. The most interesting will be Montezuma x Pond hybrid... Will it make it in very alkaline rocky soil around here?

The best Montezuma cypress seed source I've ever tried is from SFA campus. Seems to have consistent nice form every time I grew from seeds. Usually, with MC, the form isn't that good as you'd see in Bald cypress.

T406 for available at their recent sale, so some lucky person(s) got one. Hard to tell from pictures but it might be a little nicer looking than Nanjing Beauty.

Hopefully more nurseries will have these various hybrids soon.
It's kind a shame if SFA Gardens only gave small plants of Nanjing Beauty to Botany Shop, as they were apparently unable to figure out how to reproduce them by cuttings. I've emailed them about whether they will ever have them again, and they haven't gotten back to me.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://sfagardens.sfasu.edu/images/stories/PDF/Fall2014brochure.pdf

As I said I got a T406, now I will have to decide where I want to put it, it will get big fast. I would rather have the P. taeda broom, maybe in the spring if they have them again, I will have to bump up the budget. They were big and very nice, on standards, I thought they would be small grafts. You are right, there are Taxodium all over the place, it looks like they might be THE place that will distribute the hybrids in the future.

I personally think 406 and 407 look a lot better than Nanjing Beauty. NB sure looks different than what was shown in the picture from China so I have no idea what happened. The MC on Wilson street by the intramural fields is a pretty good source to grow MCs from seeds if you ever want to try that out. Can't recall which hybrid this is... either 406 or 407... It's located in Houston in the "greenbelt" behind my brother's backyard that he planted this hybrid there.

That's wonderful! How old is it? I really would like to keep this T406 here in my own yard but don't know where exactly to put it. I need a tree beside my house, I wonder how wide it will get?

I believe that was planted as 1g size and that's what it looked like after 2 growing seasons. Frankly, I'm surprised that and other hybrids are still alive there. They were pretty small to begin with and thought the maintenance guys would kill them. How big will it get? Just like Bald Cypress that you see everywhere, it will *eventually* tower over the house with nice shade if that's what you need. Mine is just 15 feet from the house...

"You are right, there are Taxodium all over the place, it looks like they might be THE place that will distribute the hybrids in the future."

I guess you are talking about the arboretum and not the internet retailer I'd mentioned.
IMHO the fact is ornamental horticulture is a fairly small part of academia and one of the reasons we don't have more of a stream of interesting plants from China is only so many professors like Dr. Creech are willing to go to the hassle of cultivating relationships, traveling there, and dealing with the rigmarole of importing them. So a big thank you to him.

Thanks for the pic of 406 Lou, that's the clearest I've seen that shows the nice look of the foliage. My former Nanjing Beauty (tried to move it in summer, oops) and the one I saw at NCSU just don't have nearly as attractive a branch structure. I used to think 'Prairie Sentinel' was the best looking Taxodium but 406 might be superior.

I was going to post the rest of the pictures for the hybrids to go along with the picture Lou posted above but I can't find them (maybe Lou has a copy I sent him). Most of the newer hybrids look better than Nanjing Beauty (better branching and better resistance to disease). I have had fairly good luck taking cuttings off Nanjing Beauty and got a few off some of the newer hybrids.

I will try and go take some updated pictures of the trees this weekend and post them. The lawn guys for the neighborhood came through a few months ago and cut off the branches on the bottom 6 feet on a few of the hybrids which ruined the shape a little. They will be fine next year when they put on some more growth but look a little odd at the moment.