Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Sep 11, 2009 12:18 am Hello I saw this tree one day and had to turn back to take a photo! It was so beautiful. The lady next door to where it was growing was out the front so I asked her if she knew what it was. She said "Coney Polar Bear" She added that it didn't drop leaves or anything so it's perfect for a great all year round shade tree. I just haven't been able to find anything online about the name she gave me. I might have to print the photos and take them to a few plant shops. Has anyone seen anything like this? This one is at Nelson Bay (Port Stephens area north of Sydney) Thanks in advance to anyone that might be able to help!!!! Carol Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Carol & Bruce Will be building with Allworth Homes "Lachlan Elite" House: http://www.MaisonDeBritts.blogspot.com Photography: http://www.pbc.carbonmade.com Relocatable house 4 sale (Newcastle): http://www.283waratah-bayway.blogspot.com Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 2Sep 11, 2009 12:40 am I have no idea??? Looks like I am about to learn a new tree I will email it round and see what we get Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 3Sep 11, 2009 12:57 am It looks like a tamarix of somesort so it may be a weed? Hmmm I'll keep looking Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 5Sep 11, 2009 1:08 am Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 7Sep 11, 2009 8:10 am Thanks so much Fu Manchu! It does look like a kiwi conifer doesn't it. It's hard to compare though when this one is such a magnificent specimen! The lady I spoke to said she recently ran into the lady that planted this tree (she's since moved out of town). She was so excited to see her and said "you just have to come back home and see your tree! You won't believe how beautiful it is now" (it's about 30 years old I think). I've posted this same question on the ABC Gardening Australia website... so I'll let you know what they come up with. It's a moderated site and so it hasn't been approved yet. Such a shame those ABC forumers need to be moderated isn't it... Hey Southies... will you help me do a midnight dig/relocation of this one if I can't find my own? I'm too impatient to wait 30 years to see if mine would be as perfectly shaped as this one!!! Thanks again! Carol Carol & Bruce Will be building with Allworth Homes "Lachlan Elite" House: http://www.MaisonDeBritts.blogspot.com Photography: http://www.pbc.carbonmade.com Relocatable house 4 sale (Newcastle): http://www.283waratah-bayway.blogspot.com Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 8Sep 11, 2009 1:05 pm Well one answer maybe... Quote: This looks like the old Cuppressus Brunionium Coneybearii (not so sure I have spelt that exactly right though) It does look to be a podocarpus of some sort. Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 9Sep 11, 2009 3:37 pm What a legend you are Fu Manchu! With info from this last post of yours I've done some sniffing around and found that it's quite possibly a "Cupressus macrocarpa 'Saligna Aurea'" In one description it said "Discovered as a seedling at the turn of the century by Hodgins Nursery, Victoria, Australia (est. 1892). Incorrectly distributed as 'Coneybearii Aurea'" Here's a few more pictures I found online: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ They all look very similar don't they - these photos and mine! Thanks again... now I just need to work out where I can buy one (after I convince Bruce that our front yard will look awesome with just this in it). Carol Carol & Bruce Will be building with Allworth Homes "Lachlan Elite" House: http://www.MaisonDeBritts.blogspot.com Photography: http://www.pbc.carbonmade.com Relocatable house 4 sale (Newcastle): http://www.283waratah-bayway.blogspot.com Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 10Sep 11, 2009 3:58 pm I LOVE that tree I just about fell off my chair when I saw it Every time we take a trip to Fingal Bay my little family has to hear about how much I love THIS EXACT TREE Sad but true, I always look forward to seeing it. Looking at it makes my eyes feel good. And I think wow it really is as great as I remember. Hey we could start a fan club for it Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 11Sep 11, 2009 5:15 pm I'm with you Carmel... it is magnificent when you see it in the flesh (so to speak). I can just imagine how surprised you were to see YOUR tree. What a small world hey!?!? I have a friend that lives at Fingal Bay so I see it every time I visit her (which is clearly not often enough). If you want a full size copy of the photo... just PM me and I can email it too you Carol Carol & Bruce Will be building with Allworth Homes "Lachlan Elite" House: http://www.MaisonDeBritts.blogspot.com Photography: http://www.pbc.carbonmade.com Relocatable house 4 sale (Newcastle): http://www.283waratah-bayway.blogspot.com
Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 12Sep 12, 2009 10:50 am Thanks Carol I've just copied it from your original post and labeled it Cupressus macrocarpa 'Saligna Aurea'. I would love to plant one but I just can't I'll have to put the pic as my screen background I'd love to see the look on the old owners faces when they see it again. It's the best looking thing in the whole street.. and it's a nice street. Thanks again Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 13Sep 12, 2009 2:52 pm It does look a bit like a polar bear doesnt it? It is a magnificant looking tree. Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 14Sep 12, 2009 4:04 pm It isn't Cupressus macrocarpa 'Saligna Aurea' The name aurea is reference to the yellowy gold in the leaf. The original tree is a blue green colour. We won't know till someone gets me a better shot of the leaves closer up. Who's in that street next? Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 15Sep 12, 2009 7:05 pm Oh and wait, this is getting good. I have a mate coming round who got my email on this and it turns out this maybe a tree of some minor horticultural significance He has a book from 1974 which features this tree inside the cover and has quite a story to go with it Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 16Sep 12, 2009 9:05 pm Oh yeah baby! This is getting good... Be sure to scan the book for me... I'd love to know if it is MY tree. Just let me know if I should ring NBN News and the Herald OK???!!! Carol p.s. heading back to the TV now... GO THE KNIGHTS Carol & Bruce Will be building with Allworth Homes "Lachlan Elite" House: http://www.MaisonDeBritts.blogspot.com Photography: http://www.pbc.carbonmade.com Relocatable house 4 sale (Newcastle): http://www.283waratah-bayway.blogspot.com Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 17Sep 12, 2009 9:21 pm OK with the higher res photos it is absolutely a Cupressus, that is 100%. I also have two very very experienced nursery folk who have been in the game a while, identify it as the "long lost" C. coneberrii (spell ?) (I used C. instead of writing out the name again ) Now from a 20 year old list of plant tag details here in WA, we can likn coneberryii being sold in WA to C. macrocarpa / lambertiana. Some very old school research has been happening ... using books and human memories The last guy I knew that was still growing this spectacular tree in WA to sell to retail nurseries was John Cole. That was a long time ago now. I had many in my nursery years and years ago but couldn't give them away. That one in the picture has been pruned and shaped to perfection Normally they will go to the ground and can be a bit straggly. There used to be a wonderful specimen in Heathridge WA but it has now been cut down Now to the story with it and I will quote this and if it comes up on the net or other forums, you know who typed this out of an old book ... Handbook Of Trees and Shrubs, by Richmond E. Harrison Circa 1974 C. lambertiana. This name is merely a synonym for the species C. marrocarpa and there seems to be no justification for it's continued use, either to suggest a distinct species or even a botanical variation of C. macrocarpa. Apparently the name became attached in Australia to a selected form of C. macrocarpa which nurserymen there propagated and raised from cuttings, as such proved in that country to be longer lived than the ordinary type, raised from seed. Over a period of a number of years, several sports developed, both green and golden forms, and these are likewise classified as varieties of C. lambertiana. On the other hand, a form of C. macrocarpa introduced by Bunnings Nurseries and named C. macrocarpa 'Brunniana', or the golden counter part 'Brunniana Aurea', would be valid. It is a pitty that a synonym was used to describe these Australian forms. They will therefore appear under the heading of C. macrocarpa. C. lustianica A tree varying greatly in habit, much like C. macrocarpa, but with widely spreading branches and sometimes rather pendulous. C. benthamii is grown in New Zealand in damp spots where C. macrocarpa would fail. While not as quick growing or tall as, the elegant drooping branches give a better low-down coverageif left untrimmed. An ornamental form grown in Australia known as 'Glauca Pendular' is a slender up-right growing, silver foliage variety, with short branches quickly becoming pendulous. It serves as an ideal specimen for restricted areas. It goes on to mention C.macrocarpa 'Aurea Saligna' rarly exceeds 3m in height so it isn't that one. The references to Bunnings Nurseries is not anything to do with retail. You see Bunnings as you Mexicans know it, has it's roots as a very old Western Australian logging company. Much of WA's South West and Southern forests were owned or logged with state permission. They had their own division dedicated to growing new timber varieties to plant and use to re forest some areas. It is these nurseries that may be the forefather to the mystery tree your tree may have been developed in WA Now the cultivars I have quoted are all very easily crossed with others. I don't think it is a true golden colour that is for sure. So to call it 'Aurea' would not be too flash. I'd say it is a sport / cross with say C. macrocarpa (lambertiana) Horizontalis and lustanica. That would explain the only slight golden colour but I recon it is more a grey green than yellow leaf. I have seen the yellow one and they are just outright golden. It may even have been a specimen that was in between the Glauca and Aurea with breeding. That would make it really something To grow one or buy one is going to be one hell of a mission because these trees have dropped off the nursery radar well and truely. Best bet for you is to get a few cuttings from that tree and that way they will be a clone of the parent Should do well from cuttings for even an armature Perfect weather over there just now to do it too It really is one out of the vault Re: Can anyone I.D. this tree for me? 19Sep 13, 2009 8:05 pm That's funny Carmel... I just got into trouble when I said to Bruce "I want to have a look at MY posts on Homeone" He went... "Ahem... don't you mean OUR posts" Of course I mean OUR tree and OUR posts!!!! Carol & Bruce Will be building with Allworth Homes "Lachlan Elite" House: http://www.MaisonDeBritts.blogspot.com Photography: http://www.pbc.carbonmade.com Relocatable house 4 sale (Newcastle): http://www.283waratah-bayway.blogspot.com Hello. I just bought a few acres in Habana, Mackay, and my horses seem to love hanging around under this tree. I would like to name the paddock after this tree. Can… 0 9528 Fellow Perth dweller. Looks like pruns nigra. It's a dark leaf flowering plum. Doesn't get massive and is easily trimmed deciduous tree. Very popular in small gardens in Perth 7 2759 |