A Gem in a Forest of Sickness

A few years ago, my dad and I drove over to Bend, OR.  Dad had never been over that way, and he wanted to explore.  I hadn't been over there for a good 20 years or so, so I was game.

Of course, I slept for large chunks of the car ride.  There is something about the motion of a car that I find comforting, and I nearly always have the urge to sleep on a road trip.  The fact that my dad likes to begin his day at fuck-thirty in the morning (a term I invented a couple of years ago when I was logging with him) also added to my sleepiness.

Eastern Oregon has a harsher, drier climate than the west side of the state does.  Much of the landscape is covered in Artemesia species (sagebrush) and Juniperus occidentalis, the western juniper.  Before settlement by Europeans, the landscape would burn regularly, keeping the junipers in check. Modern fire suppression has allowed the junipers to really take over, altering the mix of species.  I've read that they are able to suck up most of the available water, taking it from other species which once dominated the landscape.

Fire suppression has had a heavy impact on the forests of the Western US.  In fact, the lush forests that we currently see- particularly in the drier interior regions- don't closely resemble the pre-settlement woodlands.  Regular fires cleared out brush and killed saplings, keeping the woods more open.  Far fewer trees were lucky enough to grow to maturity in those days.  Those that did faced less competition for space, water, and nutrients.  I can only imagine what those forests looked like.

I digress, however.

Juniperus occidentalis is prone to brooms caused by mistletoe.  Any time you see more than one broom in a tree, there is almost no chance that they are two random mutations- it pretty much has to be disease or parasites.  As I looked at the forests of brooms, I thought about how impossible it would be to find a good broom in that mess








Then we drove by a striking broom, right by the side of the road.  I am not sure it could have been more obviously healthy.  It is so obvious that I'm sure other conifer geeks have seen it in the past.  At the time, I didn't have a pole pruner on me, so I couldn't collect any pieces.  I'd also heard that this species doesn't like the wetter, coastal climate.

This weekend, I finally made the drive back over there to collect some cuttings.  I've heard that this species is a bitch to propagate, so I'm not really optimistic about my chances for success.  Alas, I must try.

While I was out there, I happened to see a columnar form as well.  I took a couple of cuttings, just in case.

After all that, I met my friend Alan for lunch in Terrebonne, OR.  We used to be housemates in the 90s, and it has been a couple of years since I'd seen him.  We caught up over lunch, and I headed back home.

Emily

My camera is no longer interfacing with my computer.  I've thought about getting an SD card reader, so I could upload photos, but I have not done it yet.

This picture was taken by my friend Janet on her iPhone.  It isn't the best photo (no offense Janet- we were not working under the best of conditions.)  but it gives you the idea.

A member of my local rock garden society found this broom after a recent storm blew it out of a Douglas fir tree near her house.  Since I've talked about my broom hunting habits at meetings, she knew who to call :)

It is a nice little shape, and it has a very deep green color.  If I can manage to get it to take, I think it might make a very nice cultivar.  My friend requested that I name it 'Emily' after her late daughter.

Wasted Summer

Last summer fucking sucked.

I worked my ass off, and spent nearly the entire time away from home.  My garden went to hell.  I was in a relationship with an unkind person, and I didn't get a chance to get out into the woods at all.

The reason that I bring this up (other than to express my discontent to the world), is because I have no idea how I'm going to have enough plant-hunting stories to get through the winter on this blog.  I am determined to do it, however.

A few weeks ago, when I was out with my friend David, I also collected some scions from a broom that I'd found just a few yards away from the Engelmann Spruce broom I posted about last time.  This one is an Abies amabilis- the Pacific Silver Fir.  It is a handsome species, and I have heard that there are very few forms of it in cultivation.

Unfortunately, this broom was hard to photograph.  The understory of the woods is a thick tangle of Taxus brevifolia, and there is very low light.  I am not entirely sure if this broom is a good one or not.  This species is prone to a rust that produces ugly little tangled brooms.

In this picture, however, it looks like it might be healthy.

I did several grafts, so we will see how they turn out. .








I'm pretty amazed by this little area.  I've found about 4 mutations within a small radius of a few hundred yards.  One of my plans for last summer was to camp up there and spend some time searching.  I know that there are more treasures to be found!

Next summer, I will do that.  I will not be stopped by love nor money- which are the two things that stopped me this year.

Deep in the Woods

My friend David is a good guy.  He has listened to me freak out endlessly over my recently broken heart, and he is willing to go along on crazy outings.  This past weekend, he waded deep into the Taxus thickets to retrieve scions from this broom.

David and I had spent the morning pressing cider (we make hard cider every fall), and we were undecided as to how to spend the afternoon.  A few days before, my neighbor had given me a box of 12 gauge shot gun shells, so I thought that we should head up to the woods to use them on this broom.  

It is in a Picea engelmannii- the Engelmann Spruce.  One year, a few years back, I found several brooms or unusual trees of this species.  This one is located in the cascade mountains, a stone's throw from where I found Taxus brevifolia 'Guthrie'.  In fact, I would not have found this broom if I hadn't been exploring the extensive thickets of Taxus in the area.  There is an over-story of mature Douglas fir, western larch, and western hemlock trees.  There were a few Engelmann spruce and Pacific silver fir mixed in as well.

You can't see this broom from the road.  In fact, it is hard to see even when you are close to it, because the canopy is so dense.  I had David go out to the tree and hide behind it while I shot the broom.  That way he would be close enough to see where the pieces landed.   I had to be about 30 yards away to get a clear shot at it.  I shot it repeatedly, but I was only able to get two small twigs to come down.  One of those twigs was too damaged to use, so I only have one grafted up!  I really hope it takes.  If it doesn't, I will be climbing that tree next year.  

Sometimes, I'm tempted to just cut down the tree to get the broom.  I think you'd have to be an asshole to do something like that, though.   Plus, if the grafts didn't take, I wouldn't be able to try grafting it again in the future.  So I'm stuck with my shotgun and my tree-climbing gear.

In a Strange Land

This summer, I visited the Boston area.  I was struck by how beautiful the forests are there.  They are shorter and more tangled-looking than our Western forests, but they have their own distinct beauty.

Pinus strobus, the Eastern White Pine, was the dominant conifer in the area.  I did happen to find a broom very close to the Boston metro area, but I doubt that I will ever make it back there to collection scions.  Plus, it was in a suburban area where I doubt that I could use a gun to retrieve them.

Nonetheless, it was fun to find this broom in an unfamiliar place.  It just goes to show that mutations are ubiquitous :)

A Giant Cluster of Grapes

I haven't had a chance to do a single day of plant hunting this year.  This makes me grumpy.

I did find this broom by chance, though.  It is in a Ponderosa Pine in eastern Washington.  It looks like a giant cluster of grapes hanging from a single branch.  I wonder how long it will be before it just breaks off and falls to the ground.

Of interest in this broom are loads of female cones.  I will try to collect seeds later in the month- as well as grafts in the winter.

Arceuthobium- Part 1

This post will be brief, and it is late.  this has been a crazy summer, and I've had limited internet access.

A couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend and I drove down through forests on the east slopes of the Cascade mountains into Eastern Oregon toward the desert.  As we went through the transition from wet to dry forests, we drove through stands of Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine.

Having a bit of a timber background, I'm always mindful of the health of the trees around me.  The Douglas Firs were heavily infected with Arceuthobium douglasii, a parasite that I've mentioned before.  It forces trees to grow brooms, some of which can look a bit like the mutations that I'm looking for.  Usually, you don't see these brooms in isolation.  Arceuthobium species are small parasitic plants that spread through stands of trees aggressively.

I've always thought that it would be unfortunate if a good mutation were hidden among such infections-  you'd never see it.

I happened to spot this tree by the side of the highway.  The Douglas Firs all around it were filled with mistletoe infections, so this one is most likely congested because of that.  It sure looks like a handsome and compact specimen- with the exception of one normal branch.

Is this tree the good mutation in the forest of disease?  I may have to graft it up and observe it in order to find out...