Can nobody help me out here?!

RESIN!! I saw your post right off, treeguy, but while I do have some fair skills, I don't know wallichiana, etc. well enough to take a shot.

Thanks Tom, hopefully Resin or others can chime in! I'm quite excited to know if it is truly wallichiana as it isn't supposed to survive around here, protected area or not!

Gotta be wallichiana. I can't think of anything else it could be except the remote possibility of x schwerinii.

Last photo of Picea torano. I don't know the cones but the shoot looks absolutely correct. It is porcupine sharp. I have two of them.

Dax

Thanks for the input Dax. If they're not straight wallichiana, P. x schwerinii was my next guess.

The P. torano are that sharp and more! The species is on my wish list. I have a tiny graft that is holding its needles but no bud break for two years. I keep pruning the crown of the rootstock each year to keep it from getting bigger but don't want to remove it completely as I'm sure it's feeding/keeping the little graft alive. I'm hoping there will be a low cone on one of the three Highland Park trees that I can collect seed from in the fall.

I actually have torano seedlings. They do great here.

Best Evan,

Dax

All look right, don' forget , a little diversity are normal.

Interesting. Rochester is zone 6b at best. I remeber reading P. wallichiana rated as a zone 7 tree and no less. I guess some P. wallichiana can be more cold hardy, perhaps provenance of the stock coupled with a protected planting site. Definitely worth my going back in the fall to look for seed. I'm dying to grow this species - I just love the long drooping needles and big cones (compared to P. strobus). Now, if only P. pseudostrobus was more cold hardy!

treeguy, I have a pure P. wallichiana that's 10 yrs old. Unfortunately it's been attacked repeatedly by a shoot-borer (and endured a difficult transplant), and doesn't look very good at present. However, I'm certain cold hasn't been the issue:

Thanks for sharing Beng. Seeing yours as well as the other older specimens around my area (just found a couple growing across the border in Niagara Falls, Ontario) has helped me decide to give this species a go. I will try to get seed from the trees locally as I think that would be my best bet at success - the parent trees are obviously doing well in climates similar to mine.

Treeguy, I'm sure you know any seed may be a hybrid if there are nearby P strobus. Not to discourage you of course. Maybe Dax could do a graft...

I could, I would, sure.

Just keep me in the loop if you guys want me to do so. Evan has my email, Ben, or you may message me here.

Dax

I thought about that too, Ben. P. x schwerinii isn't too bad looking either!

Dax, thanks for the offer - I will definitely keep you in the loop.

I'd go for P. x schwerinii for ##1-2; the needles are a bit on the short side for P. wallichiana, and also the shoot looks to have some pubescence?

#3 is Pinus ayacahuite.

#4 doesn't look quite right for P. peuce; it may be, but I'm thinking more probably a hybrid P. peuce x P. strobus.

#5 yep, Picea torano.

Resin

How have you been Resin? Any excursions lately where you're off in the forest with your hand lenses looking at bugs and stuff?

Dax

Thanks for the input, Resin. I was hoping you would chime in! :)
I will try to get some closer pictures of the twigs/branches to confirm pubescence when I'm back in Rochester later this month for the lilac festival. Even if they are P. x schwerinii, they're really attractive and unique compared to all the P. strobus I'm used to seeing.
I will also try to get some more detailed pictures of the P. peuce to try and confirm its ID.