The US Botanic Garden used to have a gigantic Podocarpus henkelii they put out in the summer around the environs of the Enid Haupt garden. It was at least 12' tall and in a 5 X 5 X 3 foot box planter. It had obviously grown for years in the climate of DC to get that big. So, not sure it will grow on the Gulf but at least this isn't something like a Himalayan lepidote rhododendron or alpine Chilean plant that has an absolute abhorrence of heat & humidity.

And one year I remember seeing it on the south wall of the Arts & Industries building, which was obviously a hot spot. The other year it was somewhere in the Haupt Garden itself. (which I just now read is under threat of destruction. So sad when those weenies who go into cushy public administration jobs feel compelled to leave their stylistic mark on a place, but that sort of garbage happens and this won't be the first time. It's already a travesty that they got rid of the ice cream parlor. Apparently anything that doesn't reek of post-modernism isn't "cool". And the New Newseum is somewhat dumbed down compared to the old one...but I digress...)

one reason i like the forums.. is seeing things i never heard of before.. thx for the pix.. and the history ...

have anymore to talk about

ken

It should grow well. We have a couple specimens growing here at Leu Gardens in Orlando. I think you would have more worries about cold hardiness. They should be good to 20F maybe 15F.

Thanks, where we are is close enough to the Gulf to avoid severe cold most winters. But yes, in the long-term, this will probably be a plant that can survive until the 20 or 30 year cold event where it drops into single digits here.

Update 2017: the podocarp survived the winter inside quite well and is putting out some lush new growth here in the Midwest summer.

I guess you have 2 residences and eventually are going to plant it on the Gulf coast?

Saw many typical East Asian podocarps in New Orleans of course. But suspect the African ones are incredibly rare in the US, outside of California. (and not too common there, either)

This one is going to stay as a container plant. I have another that I plan to plant as a test individual. We're a little cooler than New Orleans, but only 10 miles from the Gulf. But those severe cold fronts in winter seem to extend their cold about the furthest south in our area, so I'm not sure if P. henkelii would be able to survive a night in the teens. Seen very mixed reports on hardiness, possibly due to the difference in heat hardening.

P. macrophyllus grows splendidly of course, and I've got an Afrocarpus falcatus and P. salignus already planted and growing. The Afrocarpus is a clone of one that has survived at NC State, and it is already thriving. Made it through a summer drought last year without supplemental watering and you couldn't even tell.

Interesting. Just as an FYI - a prominent collector in DC gave his collection away a few years ago and gave me his NCSU Afrocarpus. He said that _in his opinion_ he thought it was a mislabeled East Asian Podocarpus and that somewhere along the line a nursery or botanic garden had mixed it up. Now, usually, if I cite someone else on this board, I do so assuming their views to be authoritative and correct. That is not the case this time. I'm just throwing it out there. In terms of the morphology and growth habits of it, does anything seem notably different than the Podocarps you see along the Gulf?

Anyhow I'm trying it experimentally. Even the very hardiest one floating around, "Podocarpus chinensis" of commerce, died here in the first polar winter. But I think the spot for it was not optimal and I want to try another one at some point, if Camforest sells it again.

The supposed Afrocarpus looks very different than the macrophyllus types you typically see. Long needles, almost plastic like. I got it via Desert Northwest, who is holds a fair number of rarer podocarps. I'm no podocarp expert myself, but I know the University of a Georgia has conifer trials on the coastal plain and have reported excellent success with afrocarpus falcatus. I don't know if they are also derived as clones of that original NCSU specimen or not. I guess it's possible that it is some East Asian podocarp other than macrophyllus, but it is such a well referenced specimen that I'd be cautious in assuming it isn't afrocarpus.

Agree with your thoughts.

It's possible that from the POV of the collector I know...well I should probably say I merely misunderstood what he meant...maybe he just thought that particular nursery had screwed up which variety they sent, not that all "NCSU Afrocarpus" were not that species. I high doubt he had seen the actual mother plant in NC. I know I haven't! In spite of being to that garden 3 times in the last decade.