Flowering Trees Where You At

[Norachan]

do they grow where you are?

Yes, I think I recognise them. I don't see so many up at this altitude, but I'm sure I've seen them in parks and gardens lower down

Next to bloom, and it is starting, is the weigelia

That pink is just stunning!

The whole forest is in bloom here at the moment. It smells like a dream! A few pictures I took on my walk yesterday.

C catapault you'll have to forgive me, I don't know what most of these plants are called.

Is this some kind of rhododendron?

Maybe honeysuckle?

I don't know, but it's very pretty

There are a couple of these trees out in the cat's enclosure.

More of a shrub than a tree, but I like the colour

This one I know, it's a Japanese Dogwood. Yamaboshi

I have severe tree envy over this one. I have a little yamaboshi, but it's only waist high. I hope it grows up to be as beautiful as this.

 

[rubysmama]

The whole forest is in bloom here at the moment. It smells like a dream! A few pictures I took on my walk yesterday.

Beautiful pictures.

 

[Kflowers]

so love this thread. The second picture is honeysuckle, you're right on that one. And that's all I know.

 

[catapault]

First 2 images, red flowers = rhododendron or azalea.
Next 2 images = Lonicera / honeysuckle. Whether bush type or vining, both are invasive over here
5th and 6th images, white bells = Halesia / silver bell Lovely small tree. In Japan called asagara zoku
7th image, cluster of small white flowers = not sure without closeup but I'll guess as a viburnum
8th & 9th image, fuchsia pink flowers, shrub = Spirea, in Japan called shimotsuke zoku
10th & 11th images = yamaboshi is Cornus kousa, the Japanese cousin of the American native dogwood, Cornus florida

Some day when I have nothing else to do (hah!) I'll tell you the story of the correspondence between Japanese and North American plants - many "cousins" - and how this was discovered.

 

[Norachan]

Some day when I have nothing else to do (hah!) I'll tell you the story of the correspondence between Japanese and North American plants - many "cousins" - and how this was discovered.

That sounds really interesting, I'd like to hear that.

I Googled Viburnum. How big do they get? There are a few around here that are at least as tall as the house. I'll try and get a better picture next time the sun comes out.

 

[catapault]

Andre Michaux was an 18th century plant explorer. Here is a link to his biography if you want more information: Brief Biography of André Michaux Collecting in the southeastern United States in 1788, one of the plants he collected for the herbarium (in France) he labeled as an unknown plant from the mountains of the Carolinas "Hautes montagnes de Carolinie. An pyrola apec. ? Angenus novumun" [A species of pyrola? A new genus?]. The plant, by the way, would not be seen again for about 50 years.

Now it is 1839. Asa Gray is traveling in Europe, visits the herbarium in Paris, and sees the pressed specimen. He realizes there are unknown plants "back home" and starting in 1841 spends a couple of years botanizing in the Carolina mountains. Unsuccessful in finding the particular plant.

Commodore Perry and the gun boat diplomacy, Japan, 1852-1854.
"In 1858, Gray was examining a group of specimens from Japan brought back by Commodore Perry’s expedition. For a long time – indeed, from the time the first collectors had begun sending samples of Japanese species to Europe and America – botanists had been aware of an odd fact: certain plants could be found in Japan and in the eastern United States but nowhere else.
Gray "concluded that during the last ice age, the spread of glaciers had forced plant species common to the entire North Temperate Zone of American and Asia to retreat southwards, and only where there was room for them to shelter in agreeable surroundings (as in Japan and the eastern United States) did they survive."

Shortia galacifolia is an exquisite evergreen herbaceous plant with white bell-like flowers. It demands an acidic soil in shade. Very difficult to grow. I was successful with it in Connecticut, which garden had that mythical gardener's holy grail of high organic soil, moist but well drained. New Jersey? Fuggedaboutit!

We share trillium and arisaema. Japanese plants such as daylilies and hosta thrive in our gardens. Some, like Japanese stilt grass and Japanese honeysuckle are so successful that they are thugs.

Norachan One of my books, alas now out of print, is Enhance Your Garden With Japanese Plants, published by Kodansha. Maruzan had copies when I was in Japan in 1997. Perhaps your library can find a copy for you to borrow - it is in English!

 

[Norachan]

That's amazing! I've often wondered why we get a lot of plants here and in the US, but not in other places. I wonder if some of the fauna did the same thing?

I'm really happy about how many hosta have appeared in the enclosure since I've been pruning some of the trees back and allowing more light in.

Do you think honeysuckle would grow well from a cutting? I'd love to train a bit of that over the fence. It's a bit of a jungle out there, but more native plants means more bugs, which means more birds.

 

[catapault]

To propagate the the honeysuckle, Norachan , find the end of a shoot that can be bent over to touch the ground. A foot or so from the tip, gently scrape the bark away with your fingernail. Bend it down to the ground where you have loosened the soil. Lay it down with the wounded portion in the soil and lay a rock on top. It should root where there is a node - the place where leaves come off the stem.

Some flora managed to escape the glaciers. Fauna, not so far as I know.

 

[rubysmama]

That's amazing! I've often wondered why we get a lot of plants here and in the US, but not in other places. I wonder if some of the fauna did the same thing?

Very cool.

My weigela is looking pretty good. I'll get pictures today or tomorrow to post.

 

[catapault]

The UK was completely covered with ice, hence nowhere for plants to retreat to safety. USA - the Appalachian mountains are at somewhat of an angle north to south, and some plants were able to move up the mountains. BTW - glaciers stopped at about New York City. The Laurentide ice sheet was a mile thick! When the ice melted and dropped all the stones that had been carried along, that's what created Long Island. In Japan - the southern islands were never glaciated.

 

[rubysmama]

Here's the last of my flowering trees.

Weigela:

 

[LTS3]

I know most people are stuck inside these days and aren't out enjoying the nicer weather. Here's a pic I took today on my way back from the supermarket:

 

[Willowy]

I have this tree/bush in my rock garden. The last owner told me it's a sand cherry. I think the flowers are adorable, but the tree itself seems a bit sparse. I'm not sure what's wrong with it because the pictures I can find online show a much bushier tree with thicker flowers/leaves.

 

[catapault]

I am having garden visit withdrawal symptoms, what with public and county gardens that I'm used to visiting closed because of covid-19. Every now and then Himself drives me on a loop around town so I can take pictures. As you can see BelleWood-Gardens - Diary in this virtual visit.

 

[Mia6]

Pink Dogwood

 

[LTS3]