Nice thoughts, guys. There are many environmental problems that we can and should solve!Trees are a tremendous benefit and make the world a better place! Trees are the answer.

If one looks at the geological record we are in a carbon drought, and if CO2 levels got much lower many plant species would cease to exist due to 'starvation'. CO2 is the "staff of life", basically. Increased CO2 levels help plants tremendously and there has been significant world-wide greening due to the increased levels of CO2. The greatest periods of plant and animal diversity occurred in eras when CO2 was 10-20 times what it is now.

PL,

What kind of trees are you getting? Are they from a local nursery program?

I'm half Polish btw: and my grand parents on my dads side always had the entire back yard into flowers and trees (NE Mpls). I was pretty young (5?)when I saw these things but remember how beautiful they looked when we visited. There was even a Koi pond and can remember mom telling me how grandma would put the Fish in a wash tub of some sort, down the basement, during the winter. Ah, the memories. :-)

Oh, Lane,

I know nothing about CO2 levels but last winter, when I gave my cuttings a little too much CO2 during rooting, They fried and turned brown and I may have killed a few. :-(

eta:

And what I was talking about when I said 'oxygenation of the atmosphere' is, that is something that has to happen no matter what. Our global tree base has been greatly diminished and even as a young lad we were taught about how plants/trees renew our air we breath. And that was way before all the hub bub we hear about now was going on.

Hey Bill

I will be planting every variety I can get my hands on from jeffries nurseries in Manitoba. They ship out to me. Amazing selection of trees that they have cultivated.

I am seeing the weirdest long term forecast I’ve ever looked at. I checked weather models and it’s almost as if the equipment is glitching out with almost no change for a week. This almost never happens where there is almost no temperature difference between day and night nvm a full week of it. The models have been having trouble the last couple weeks. I got a meteorology program because I find it so interesting. Check out this forecast and keep in mind its Celsius so it’s not nearly as cold. Funny enough, these guys said mid December was a wild card because they couldn’t figure it out and that was a month ago.

That is unusual. Must be the 'polar vortex' wobbling around?

We sometimes, in January, can get a spell where the temps stay below zero (F) for several days but generally will get near zero to single digits below zero (F) during the day and teens to twenties below at night. So more of a spread there anyways.

We've already seen a couple of nights in the teens below zero (F) earlier in December and it's been colder than normal all through November and December so far this year.

We received decent amounts of snow over the last few weeks, with events of 10"+, 5" and 4", plus a few 'skiffs' of less than an inch during the nights.

Not much wind so far this winter, with 10-15 mph being tops during the first snowstorm and mostly calm most days since with 5-10 mph on a couple of days.

I see the NOAA extended forecast for the next couple of months shows large areas of the continent with the letter 'E' (equal chances of warmer or colder than normal) so it helps to know that I suppose! haha :p

I surrounded the Hemlock again this winter and put a snow fence on the north side to localize the drifts.

We haven’t had much wind either. We have had three snowfalls over one inch so far which is a very small amount. I know the exact amount because I have to do the removal in parking lots and it’s been a super slow year. We have about 3 inches of total snow in my yard right now. Our low so far is -14f or -26c. It was sneaky too. Wasn‘t forecast to be near that low.

We've had a few light snows that weren't forecast and a some forecast that never happened. Our -15 forecast low, last night happened by 11:00 pm and by morning rose to only -5 (f).

I have some Tsuga c. seeds stratifying in both the cold frame and the garage, I don't know why other than they became available to me and mine didn't do well last season. So would like to end this Tsuga infatuation on a good note. :-)

I also have Thuja occidentalis and Picea mariana seed to yet stratify. I want to start a P. mariana in the yard and I'l give all the extras to my son for his 'bog'. :-)

Other than those, the only trees I have would be those that survive winter in the cold frame and if anything new roots for me this winter.

You'll have to post up about your 'Tree Day' after it happens. Be fun to see a few pictures on it. :-)

It's been overall colder than average in the latter half of Nov and Dec. Fair amount of snow. Nothing too crazy. The coldest was today when we had -12 F. They were predicting 0F so they were only off by 12 lol

Around here is seems anything above zero isn't too bad. Something about that certain temp you can really notice the difference when it drops below.

But to be honest, it sometimes feels colder, we call it 'raw' when the weather warms and the humidity rises. You seem to feel it more for some reason.

Last weekend I went through Enviroment Canada's historical weather temps for the closest location to me. The first winter that the Pinus Aristata that I planted did well 14/15, after that they have been top killed. That winter maxed out to -35 C for one night and a couple of nights less than that. I will have to look for a different source if I what to grow these successfully. I am running out of whorls of branches on these, 3" to 4" inches of snow here now.

Wayne - I am surprised that you are having trouble growing pinus aristrata. There are quite a few around here and it's been known to get -30F to -35F here some winters and they never show signs of suffering. Pretty much bullet proof here. It's very windy and dry, too. It could be that little bit of extreme cold that gets them. interesting

I think that the seed source for these was at it's lowest elevation and I had six in different places of the yard..

I’ve seen a couple huge bristlecone pine in Edmonton. Wish I took pictures. The city planted some a few years back and they are completely hardy. Seed source is key like any other tree though.

i have come across a curious case. I have seen a lot of Austrian pine around the city in neighborhoods and planted by the city but all of nurseries tell me they can’t grow them because they aren’t hardy. I just had a nursery tell me I must be mixing them up with mugo pine (ya right) or ponderosa (easier to do).

Austrian pines have light grey bark that is deeply furrowed from a young age. The other two don’t. That should be a dead giveaway. They make me feel like I’m going crazy. Who the heck is bringing in these trees? Local box store (Canadian tire)???

Please someone confirm this is an Austrian first and ponderosa (pacific) second in the pictures and dakotas ponderosa third. Notice the bark difference. Austrian is furrowed light gray and and ponderosa is a flat dark greyish brown color.

What makes this case even more annoying, is that the Dakotas version of ponderosa has short needles and kinda looks like the Austrian pine. Edmonton has both pacific coast and Dakota versions. Pacific has long needles.

Merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate!

The first pic indeed looks like an Austrian pine. Merry Christmas!

Need closer pictures of needle bundles, cone and bark for an i.d. U of S. has a number of pines that I did not think would grow here but no pictures. They would have the advantage of getting trees from the most cold hardy of locations. I haven't been to Saskatoon for a long time but need to go there some time. I have had the chance to get an up close look of a 30' Swiss Stone pine that is near by. Very nice. The owner says that the squirrels strip the tree bare of cones, so tough to compete with them.

Yup, winter buds and cones go a long way to making accurate decisions. Number of needles per bundle help too even though some trees like the Dakota Ponderosa can have occurrences of both 2 or 3, you'll find mostly two needle bundles on those.

If you want to know if the trees pictured look like the species mentioned, yes they do, sort of, maybe. :-)

Plant Love, Sherwoods forest has both Pinus Uncinata and Nigra in stock, he would be able to tell you about their hardiness.

Got my abies concolor from Sherwood's Forest (on trade), tree has done very well, though requires a protected site. Last spring, had picked up abies concolor 'Wintergold' at the Big Greenhouse in Spruce Grove, that one yet remains potted and held over in my garage, didn't realize until today that it gives off a real nice fragrance when needles are brushed.

I will wait a few years before I try any Abies, need more protection, but I did get some Douglas Fir from Sherwood to see if they can handle it here. Also got a couple of Ponderosa Pine, the one that I have is doing really good. The Norway Spruce got continually chewed by deer, they never ate the pieces but never left it alone, it had needle burn every year but the buds survived, I took it out.If I could get a species tree from the north of it's range that would be good.

Hey Lane. Thanks for the confirmation. This is the seventh time I'm trying to upload these photos because my msg deletes every time I press enter to make a space in my writing!!! Frustrating site.

Austrian

Ponderosa

Mountain Pine Bark

Hey Wayne

I'll talk to Sherwood. I'm guessing Canadian Tire is the other one. It wouldn't surprise me. There are 350 Austrian Pine in the city and I drove by about 30 of them in a row and they were definitely Austrian. Ironically there were mountain pine mixed it with them and they look nothing alike. Dead giveaway on the bark.

Why do nurseries have an impossible time finding hardy sources? Why don't they grab pine cones from the city trees? Takes too long to grow I'm assuming. Greenland told me they try special cultivars like Oregon Green....that's probably why. The cultivars aren't hardy enough.

Its amazing how much the nurseries think I'm wrong. Its really annoying lol. Sunstar nurseries told me I'm probably mixing it up with Ponderosa or Mountain Pine. Going by the bark, that's impossible. I had both of the trees in my yard. No where near the same. Ok....rant done.

The ponderosa pine is finally beginning to look like a different species of pine this season.

White pine to the right and red pines all around. The red pine needles used to look so long to me before the Pinus ponderosa scopulorum came along. Different needle coloration and thicker main stem diameter.

Very nice but they are very close together. You wanted a forest look?

A little off topic, but the weather just keeps getting weirder. Record cold in the east and record heat in the west. Extremes just keep hitting.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/march-like-pattern-to-bring-snow-freezes-to-midwest-northeast/734932

My area went from far below average for two weeks of April and then far above average for the last three weeks. It’s all getting to be a little much. Systems get stuck for weeks on end.

They'll make a nice backdrop for the yard being at the far end along the alley. Too far from any buildings to be a problem.

Our lows have been downgraded to lower 20's for the next several days. Yikes! :-)

I'm two hours outside of the big city but they have no frost in the forecast for city centre but close to freezing ( i bet the outskirts will have frost). If the city doesn't frost this weekend, they will have had a last frost date of around april 20th. Wow. That's nice.

I have a 28, 26 and 28 for sat, sun and mon and then it looks like frost will be gone for the year as the heat comes back with a vengeance and its 70s next weekend.

Low 20's is chilly but who knows, I might get it here too. Chilly highs just under 50 for two days and 52 for monday.

Im just glad none of my flowering trees will get burnt flowers. They are just about to pop.

Looks like after Tuesday morning, we'll have lows above freezing too and 60's for highs, hopefully no more frost for the season.

This cold is not unusual here but the plants were a little ahead, breaking bud early this year.

Most of our trees have small leaves expanding and even with the cold nights, they continue pushing leaves. Except for the Ash, they're smart enough to wait for a later date.

Everything i have is zone hardy and nothing that flowers, except the Maples and they're done already.

Sounds like we are at the same stage. Many native poplars have small leaves now, my weeping willow has small leaves, crabapple, pear... the maples are just pushing leaves now and ash and elm should be out by next weekend.

We have big areas of green showing up in the forests now. This cold won’t hurt anything. Its only a problem if it hangs around for 24hrs but we have three hours or so a night below freezing and a warmer day.

Few things have leaves here, if so just emerged. My average last freeze date is into June, so I know it's likely not done yet, lol.

Fair enough. I was trying to go for a walk this morning and the wind was straight out of the arctic. 40f and an ugly north wind. I am now seeing 30, 26 and 30 as lows the next three days and then done with freezing hopefully.

Areas around the Great Lakes were hitting mid 20s this morning and everything is leafed much further along. New York city had some snow. Toronto is getting snow. So nice to see the east take some pain for once lol. Misery loves company. And no I don’t mean your area Bill.

I got on to fertilizing everything this week. We got an inch (25mm) of rain overnight Thursday. My grass is very green now. Either I’m just dreaming or my cedars are flushing up with the water and food.

Picea omorika ... these trees really should be far more commonly planted! This one will be a real beauty as it hits its stride, I love the weeping form as well !!

Nice! I didn't realize they were that blue in color.

Picea omorkia stays pretty narrow?

Bill, yes, this one rather resembles a blue spruce, though with a nice upward arching habit and needles that are not sharp.

Clark, the native species tend to grown more narrow, though a google search shows some selections that are much more wide.

I wonder why balsam fir isn't readily offered, I've heard it's touchy and requires both shelter and good moisture, mmmm?? Okay, years ago, I had dug a large number of seedlings from along the roadside, I think I even had requested permission from the county. These I had lined out in a long north to south facing row with the trees receiving the full brunt of the nw wind, I mean a wide open field! The juvenile trees had maybe a slight bit of browning in those first few years, though nothing afterwards and otherwise had totally thrived in that exposed hot dry location. Also, look how this specimen is growing, on a steep sw facing slope that undoubtedly is pretty darn hot and very dry at times. Years ago, when I had discovered this beauty of a perfect tree, I had attempted grafts, too bad those had not taken. Now, I hope the tree still remains and has produced possible seedlings. There's plenty of balsam in regions near Whitecourt with tons of seedlings in the ditches, just need to get that county approval and have the bear spray handy as well, lol.

Nice tree. Why do they burn if they are pretty much zone 1?

My Pom Pom recovered and looks nice again.

Ran across the largest Balsam fir I've seen in the wild.

Couldn't get the whole tree for the forest.

Plant Love, yes, balsam are tougher than given credit for that's for sure! I'm itching to bring home a good lot come spring, hopefully time shall permit!

I have a few topiaries, a pom-pom juniper, a blue spruce and I keep many of my upright junipers clipped tightly to produce full and narrow specimens.

I hope Juniperus scopulorum 'Woodward' soon makes it way to a local nursery, this one would sure would make a statement in our northern landscape!

Woodward columnar juniper

I see Abies balsamea in a variety of places. Sometimes along with Tamaracks and Black spruce in very wet conditions. Other places A.b. grows right up and over the hillsides, some in pure stands. I don't know if the quality of the soil matters? I know they don't like to grow on poorer soils. They are seen generally in areas where the hardwoods grow.

It's a little like that with Eastern white pines. If the soil is poorer, the red pines dominate.

Native range of Abies balsamea.

eta: Find one mature balsam fir and there's usually many small seedlings growing not too far from the trunk. :-)

Bill, yes, come to think of it, the balsam trees I've come across have all been sited in what I'd consider better soils, mostly that on the sandy side.

Froze: have you seen Taylor juniper? It looks like an Italian cypress and I love it. Why don’t we have it in stores here if it’s zone 3? I plant the skyrocket juniper but it’s way shorter. I love how taylor can be 30ft. Have you guys seen the picture of the driveway with 20ft columnar scots pines in Edmonton? One of the nicest runs of trees ever. They are beautiful and they pruned them so you could see caramel coloured flaking bark. What an underrated and underused tree. It’s way too expensive at the nursery and rare. I should grow 100 of them and sell them lol.

Taylor juniper. http://haleandhines.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Taylor-Juniper-3.jpg

Plant Love, I do have the 'Taylor' upright juniper, though I must have a poor specimen, the thing has always had an anemic color and tended to drop a lot of its foliage, have had it in two positions, both with good soil, though I guess it just does not like me! I've now forsaken it and allowing the deer to have their way with it. A friend has four of them lined in a row and they looked healthy and vigorous when I had last seen them a few years ago.

Yes, I believe you before had posted a photo of those great looking columnar scots pines, they were beauties!

I’ll push my nursery for the woodward.

Did I ever post this Korean maple in my town? It’s a beauty. Been there 4 years I think and handled our worst winter in my lifetime. Sometimes dies back a little but seems to be finally establishing fully.

Apparently Woodward was picked at Cheyenne station. I’m guessing Wyoming? It seems to be almost identical to Taylor. I have high hopes!

Interesting. it was developed at the high plains arboretum In Cheyenne , wy. About 35 miles from my house.

I want to give it a try

Plant Love, I think most Korean maples are seed grown, those I previously had seen at the nursery varied in habit and fall coloring and some hardier than others from what I've read. I'd sure love to acquire some superior clones!

Okay, just went out and snapped some photos, the growth of 'Taylor' matures to a yellowish brown that gives the appearance of being attacked by spider mites, in which these have not. Don't know if I just have a poor specimen or what, it had been obtained from Greenland a good number of years ago now.

'Medora', is one of my favorites for narrow form and coloring.

'Medora'

The below are 'Moffat Blue', awkward in its juvenile years, though pruning makes for nice compact landscape punctuation marks, these have been sheared rather hard to obtain a desired slim profile, they will show some browning in the worst of winters.

I got some Japanese black pine started from seed to try to indoor bonsai. Wanted to try it outdoors but its zone 5 so that’s not happening. I believe it was the Japanese red pine that was hardy to zone 3. Im gonna buy some seeds And hopefully they bonsai like the black.