Mainly because I can't post an image, but here goes anyway.

The tree in question was obtained from a local nursery and labeled Hetzi Columnar. Yes, that's the way they had it labeled. I got six, in gallon cans, no more than a foot tall, in '08. The price was right, three bux a pop. Believe it or not, they are still selling their one gallons for the same price, including green giants.

So, ten years on these trees are around 15-18 feet tall, with single stem ramrod straight trunks. There is no sign of them wanting to be anything but single stem. They are female, and cone every year and heavily. Currently cones are olive green, about the size of a medium pea, about three times the size of a current eastern redcedar cone. They will be purple-black when mature. Cones are produced to the ground, but most heavily on the top 20 percent of the tree. Foliage is currently bright green, much like 'Spartan'. It has never been affected by tip blight, which is endemic here and infects native redcedar and spartans most every year. Winter color is better than spartan, but still discolors somewhat, especially on the sunny side. Not unattractive at all, and far and away better than most of my existing native redcedars.

The eye catching thing about this tree is the shape, which I can only describe as architectural, in the extreme. If you are familiar with torulosa, that's a start. If torulosa is an 8 on the scale, these trees are a 12. The branches on the lower portion of the tree remind me of a saguaro. But further up, the branches are much smaller and fewer. The upper trunk is clothed in branchlets, with only an occasional longer branch. This tends to accentuate the height and narrowness of the upper part of the tree. Torulosas that I've seen tend to be individuals, every one is different. My six trees look as though they came off an assembly line, the only difference between them is that two are growing in fairly unfavorable conditions and are much smaller than their cohorts, but the shape is the same. In my opinion, these trees would not be suitable for a screen, they are way too open.

Not many people have seen my trees, but the first word they usually say is "WOW". And then ask what they are and where they can be obtained. One knowledgeable person shook his head in the negative when I told him the name under which I obtained them, but didn't know what they were. I've looked at Google images under J chinensis, which I believe it is, and also J virginiana, and I've not seen anything that looks like my trees. I've Googled all the tree-like named clones of chinensis and for good measure virginiana, and nada. I suppose it COULD be an extreme expression of Hetzii 'columnaris' (sic), but all the images I've seen of that cultivar haven't been anywhere close. I've wracked my brain to try and remember where I might have seen this tree in person, and I think it may have been at Huntsville Botanic Garden (rhizo?), but can't remember what it was labeled. The nursery where I got my plants nursery sells liners, containers, and field grown b&b by the thousands, yet I've never seen these locally.

So, any and all thoughts, ideas, and images would be appreciated!