Can anyone tell me the exact variety of this conifer please?

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...6/P1010251.jpg

John wrote:
Can anyone tell me the exact variety of this conifer please?

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...6/P1010251.jpg

Those who know more about it than I do are wise enough to avoid
diagnosis just on the basis of one pictu can you provide close-ups
of the sprays of foliage? What do the leaves smell like when crushed?
Has it had its top cut off at some time?

If, in spite of your request for an exact answer, accuracy doesn't
matter too much, I'm inclined to guess it may be a Lawson's cypress. At
least that's a starting-point for argument from the experts.

--
Mike.

Mike Lyle wrote:
John wrote:
Can anyone tell me the exact variety of this conifer please?

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...6/P1010251.jpg

Those who know more about it than I do are wise enough to avoid
diagnosis just on the basis of one pictu can you provide close-ups
of the sprays of foliage? What do the leaves smell like when crushed?
Has it had its top cut off at some time?

If, in spite of your request for an exact answer, accuracy doesn't
matter too much, I'm inclined to guess it may be a Lawson's cypress. At
least that's a starting-point for argument from the experts.

--
Mike.

Thanks Mike.
Picture of foliage at
http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...nch1http://s97..

The crushed leaves smell like....pine!!

John

John wrote:
The crushed leaves smell like....pine!!

If in the spring the club shaped flowers (at the end of each leaves)
turn bright red it's a female Lawson's cypress. Do you have cones on it
(these arrive around now aug/sept) and does it droop at the top and
does it smells like parsley and the trunk is red at first then
grey/brown and then flaky? It's a lawson. If it branches horizontaly,
is multi trunked (bark peels vertically in strips) and the cones are
opening really wide like a aniseed seed and finally its under folliage
green is darker than the upper, it's a thuja.

La Puce wrote:
John wrote:
The crushed leaves smell like....pine!!

If in the spring the club shaped flowers (at the end of each leaves)
turn bright red it's a female Lawson's cypress. Do you have cones on it
(these arrive around now aug/sept) and does it droop at the top and
does it smells like parsley and the trunk is red at first then
grey/brown and then flaky? It's a lawson. If it branches horizontaly,
is multi trunked (bark peels vertically in strips) and the cones are
opening really wide like a aniseed seed and finally its under folliage
green is darker than the upper, it's a thuja.

No - the end of the leaves are yellow, and there are no cones at all.
The top is rounded. It branches upwards (?45%)- trunk darkish brown.

John wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
John wrote:
Can anyone tell me the exact variety of this conifer please?

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...6/P1010251.jpg

Those who know more about it than I do are wise enough to avoid
diagnosis just on the basis of one pictu can you provide close-ups
of the sprays of foliage? What do the leaves smell like when crushed?
Has it had its top cut off at some time?

If, in spite of your request for an exact answer, accuracy doesn't
matter too much, I'm inclined to guess it may be a Lawson's cypress. At
least that's a starting-point for argument from the experts.

--
Mike.

Thanks Mike.
Picture of foliage at
http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...nch1http://s97..

The crushed leaves smell like....pine!!

I pass, I think. Can you tell us why you want to know? Unless you very
properly just want to know for its own sake, any advice on care is
likely to be much the same whatever cypressy kind of thing it is.

--
Mike.

Mike Lyle wrote:
John wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
John wrote:
Can anyone tell me the exact variety of this conifer please?

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...6/P1010251.jpg

Those who know more about it than I do are wise enough to avoid
diagnosis just on the basis of one pictu can you provide close-ups
of the sprays of foliage? What do the leaves smell like when crushed?
Has it had its top cut off at some time?

If, in spite of your request for an exact answer, accuracy doesn't
matter too much, I'm inclined to guess it may be a Lawson's cypress. At
least that's a starting-point for argument from the experts.

--
Mike.

Thanks Mike.
Picture of foliage at
http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...nch1http://s97..

The crushed leaves smell like....pine!!

I pass, I think. Can you tell us why you want to know? Unless you very
properly just want to know for its own sake, any advice on care is
likely to be much the same whatever cypressy kind of thing it is.

--
Mike.


Yes, I asked because I had previously asked for prunung advice, and one
of the respondents wanted to know the variety of the tree in question.


John

John wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
John wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
John wrote:
Can anyone tell me the exact variety of this conifer please?

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...6/P1010251.jpg

Those who know more about it than I do are wise enough to avoid
diagnosis just on the basis of one pictu can you provide close-ups
of the sprays of foliage? What do the leaves smell like when crushed?
Has it had its top cut off at some time?

If, in spite of your request for an exact answer, accuracy doesn't
matter too much, I'm inclined to guess it may be a Lawson's cypress. At
least that's a starting-point for argument from the experts.

--
Mike.

Thanks Mike.
Picture of foliage at
http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...nch1http://s97..

The crushed leaves smell like....pine!!

I pass, I think. Can you tell us why you want to know? Unless you very
properly just want to know for its own sake, any advice on care is
likely to be much the same whatever cypressy kind of thing it is.

--
Mike.


Yes, I asked because I had previously asked for prunung advice, and one
of the respondents wanted to know the variety of the tree in question.


John

PS I think it was you that asked!!!

John wrote:

No - the end of the leaves are yellow, and there are no cones at all.
The top is rounded. It branches upwards (?45%)- trunk darkish brown.

Great! You've got a Lawson cypress - in the summer the tips go yellow.
Female as well and trunk matches. Also, I looked at your second
picture, which I had first missed, and I am now convinced it's a
cypress.

As for pruning there's lots of way: reducing it (heading back),
thinning it or crown lifting it ... The choice is yours. However
lawson's don't like pruning, only lightly, as they don't reproduce new
branches (new buds). How many trunks do you have? You could perhaps
remove one or two if you need to make it look 'lighter'. HTH

La Puce wrote:
John wrote:

No - the end of the leaves are yellow, and there are no cones at all.
The top is rounded. It branches upwards (?45%)- trunk darkish brown.

Great! You've got a Lawson cypress - in the summer the tips go yellow.
Female as well and trunk matches. Also, I looked at your second
picture, which I had first missed, and I am now convinced it's a
cypress.

As for pruning there's lots of way: reducing it (heading back),
thinning it or crown lifting it ... The choice is yours. However
lawson's don't like pruning, only lightly, as they don't reproduce new
branches (new buds). How many trunks do you have? You could perhaps
remove one or two if you need to make it look 'lighter'. HTH

Thank you.
There are 4 trunks. If I remove one or two will not that leave bare
wood at the point where those trunks are removed?
Also, is there any way of removing some of the height and the tree
still looking OK and growing back into shape? What would happen if the
top 8 foot was removed like a hedge and six inches taken off the sides?
Would it recover its shape?

John wrote:
John wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
[...]
I pass, I think. Can you tell us why you want to know? Unless you very
properly just want to know for its own sake, any advice on care is
likely to be much the same whatever cypressy kind of thing it is.

Yes, I asked because I had previously asked for prunung advice, and one
of the respondents wanted to know the variety of the tree in question.

PS I think it was you that asked!!!

Ah, very likely. I have a memory like, er, one of those things...what's
the word?

I don't think you'll get very satisfactory results from pruning. Taking
the top off won't do any harm, but you'll have a permanently bushy top:
a pointy shape can't be regained. As I hinted earlier, I think this has
been done already at some time. This kind of tree needs to be watched
early in life in case it decides to fork -- I think you said upthread
that yours now had four trunks. You can't cut back beyond any greenery,
as "brown wood" won't send out new shoots. A bushy top needn't be
unattractive, but it is going to try to reach over a hundred feet in
height: in smaller gardens they really need to be treated as temporary
features.
--
Mike.

John wrote:
Thank you.
There are 4 trunks. If I remove one or two will not that leave bare
wood at the point where those trunks are removed?
Also, is there any way of removing some of the height and the tree
still looking OK and growing back into shape? What would happen if the
top 8 foot was removed like a hedge and six inches taken off the sides?
Would it recover its shape?

I feel that you are in two minds with what you want to achieve. You
either want to reduce the height and keep it to this height, or you
want to cut it and then let it grow again to same height and shape. The
later is not possible with cypress.

It's the unfortunate things with these trees. They are fabulous as a
feature, I think, in a lawn, removing the lower branches which gives a
pleasant cover underneath, but I always advise not to use them as
hedging because soon or later they'll outgrow their space if you don't
prune them annually to be kept as a hedge and you get to the situation
you are in now. Ideally it should have been reduced to 2 trunks, and
the leader cut down and kept down to the height desired.

If I was you, I would cut out one trunk, the tallest/leader one and
prune to the desired shape. You ought to do this now as it's the best
time. To keep on top of it, you must prune a few times during the
summer the following years. By doing this, you will have selected a
smaller trunk as the leader, this one could be kept as the 'peak' of
the shape you wish to keep so much.

Thank you