I had ordered a 3 gal. Monkey Puzzle tree, and am not sure who that was, that I ordered it from.
Any help in the would be greatly appreciated.

If need be call on my cell 925.784.0536

Thank you for your help.

Posted by greenthumbzdude 6 PA (My Page) on
Sat, Feb 9, 13 at 15:11

Just thought I report a sighting of a Monkey Puzzle Tree in Pennsylvania within Lehigh County on Race Street near the Lehigh Valley Airport. Its growing in the open within an industrial park. Its about 6-7 feet tall. The tree is growing in zone 6a with no damage.

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RE: Monkey puzzle

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Posted by nikkie_in_toronto Chstn9a (My Page) on
Sat, Feb 9, 13 at 19:10

I read through this thread before and didnt want to cause an argument, but since its up again, and in regards to heat tolerance,I saw one at AASU in Savannah, GA. I would assume thats zone 8b/9a.

Well, given what I know about them, I'd give better odds to the one in the Lehigh Valley being the real thing. Until we have pictures, I won't be 100% sure of either one. The Lehigh Valley could be a very hardy Cunninghamia, and the coastal Georgia one could be a Araucaria angustifolia.

Nikkie,
if it it's the one barely visible in the icon on this page:
http://www.armstrong.edu/

It doesn't look very big, and might not have had time to die yet. A nice one brought in from the PNW would probably coast for a year or two before Phytophthora got to it. Someone should try grafting a MP onto Araucaria angustifolia, that might overcome its problems in the SE.

I just clicked the entire course of "Race Street near the Lehigh Valley Airport" on google maps streetview and saw nothing resembling a MP. Can you be more specific about where it is greenthumbzdude?
Remember mature means, there for some years, at least 20' tall (they are slow when young), has at least seen one cold winter. (the last being 1994, although IIRC 2003 or 2004 was also cold as far north as Allentown). They will last a couple years before they succumb...that's why they've been sold by upscale DC nurseries since the early 80s at least. I once had an old catalog from Betty's Azalea Ranch that listed them for some ungodly sum like $400, almost the most expensive thing in there besides 15' B&B magnolias or oaks. I've seen them at various times at American Plant Food (called something else these days) and Behnkes.

Here's what I wrote in the other thread:

There are no more than five Araucaria araucanas known to have become truly mature specimens on the US East Coast. Ever. Anywhere. Remember this is hardly a new plant and was all the rage in Victorian England. They are all in zn 7 according to the new USDA map: Lower Merion, PA, Silver Spring, MD, Baltimore MD, Wilmington, DE. The horticultural geniuses at Longwood, Morris, National Arboretum, Tyler, BBG, et al. have not managed to bring even one to maturity. They were sold by prestige nurseries in the DC area since at least the 1970s, and yet only one mature one predating that period is known. I have seen a 8 footer die in the garden of a rare plant collector in Columbia, MD. So, this is about as difficult a tree as can be attempted in our climate. In zn 5/6 I wouldn't get my heart set on it, that's for sure.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Sat, Feb 9, 13 at 21:28

I'd agree, an Araucaria in Savannah, GA is more likely to be A. angustifolia. Tried looking for it on google earth, but couldn't find it.

Here's some genuine A. araucana to help this thread along . . .

{{gwi:652837}}

{{gwi:330112}}

Resin

Nice pictures, Resin. Do they self-seed in garden situations in most of the inhabited UK (i.e., obviously not at the top of Ben Nevis!) or do they prefer the wetter/warmer SW?

Thanks! These are in northeast England, fairly close to the North Sea (about 6 km inland and 150 m altitude), so cool (particularly so in summer) and not very wet, but also without severe winter cold.

Most places they don't self-seed because (a) the seedlings can't compete with lawnmowers or garden spades, and (b) very often the parent trees are single and far enough from pollen sources to produce few if any viable seed. But climatically, it is probably capable of regenerating in most of Britain.

Not sure if soil may also be a factor, at this site it is fairly well-drained and coarse-textured. I suspect they might be less able to regenerate on the heavy clays that cover much of Britain.

Resin

Resin

Whats the oldest in Britian?

I always enjoy seeing the distinctive Monkey Puzzle trees whenever we travel. Unfortunately, as expected, my attempt to grow one here in 5b/6a failed.

Here is a pic of a huge MP at Camperdown Place in Dundee, Scotland. According to the curator of the garden where the original 180-year-old Camperdown elm is displayed, the MP is circa 150 years old.

It certainly has a different, largely pendulous look which is typical of old MPs.

The other pic is of a young MP near Rosslyn Chaple in Peebles, Scotland.

Camperdown Place Monkey Puzzle.

Rosslyn Chapel Monkey Puzzle, Peebles, Scotland.

Here Is Your Proof:

In my first post I said there was no damage, upon closer inspection there is a bit of "browning" on some of the lower branches and tips possibly from the -1 degree F temperatures we had last week. A possible reason for it doing so well could be a heat island generated by the highway and airport runway across the street. Again, this is in zone 6a Allentown, Pennsylvania by the lehigh Valley Airport on Race Street.

OK. Thanks for posting the picture. Ones this size have probably been planted all over the NYC exurbs for decades. It's not very old. If a summer doesn't kill it first, a winter like 1994, 1985, 1977, or even 2004 probably will. Believe me I harbor no ill will toward people planting them if they want to. The simple fact is very few of them last on the east coast considering they've been a collectible for almost 100 years. I have no doubt if I bothered to look I could find plenty of primary sources documenting such - old issues or Arnoldia or whatnot. I've tried a slew of Chilean plants. Almost all of them despise being in a non-maritime climate. Other antipodal regions: ZA, AU and Argentina are more promising. As for which is worse, NZ and Chile are a toss up. But as I think about it, Chile is worse. The interior of NZ can actually get slightly hot...the record high for even Santiago is a measly 99F. Compare to 113F for downtown Los Angeles, and 115F for Melbourne.

This one is more likely to be done in by a winter; that area has relatively cool summer nights by east coast standards and you don't have go very high in elevation up there until it feels like you're in northern Scandinavia or something. (this surprised me when I once drove to upstate NY...above 1600 or so ft. there is suddenly nothing but white birches) BUT the winters up there would be far too cold for it, being zn 5b at that elevation. With the string of mild winters we've had I'm not surprised it hasn't died yet; a brief -1F is w/in its tolerance range. A couple weeks with many nights below 0F will probably not be. The few east coast trees I've mentioned are quite likely extra tolerant to both heat & cold; it's a shame there's no easy way to breed them. (I can just imagine a silly NY Times article highlighting such a sisyphean task: rushing pollen from male trees to female trees across state lines. With only 3 or 4 of them, there might not even be a match)

For some reason, google books is much less useful than it used to be. When it pulled up a bunch of ancient full-text books. Now it's excerpts of more recent books that publishers are still trying to hawk.
Nevertheless, I found a 1926 article noting a Monkey Puzzle being grown on one of the great Long Island estates. A few plants are noted as growing under glass, but the majority on the list are not. In any case, there's a good possibility at least some of those places tried some outside. Do we know of any 50' monkey puzzles on Long Island? We do not.