Bald Cypress

[swamptreenelly]

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums....IAL.jpg

Bald Cypress in fall color in Fremont, California. The trees are submerged in water year round and make a great statement. Nice swamp trees to plant around swamp palms.

[garrin]

I was surprised to find many years ago there were cultivated bald cypress that are perfectly adapted and beautiful where I grew up in Peoria, Illinois.  Then I discovered what might be the northernmost natural stand in the midwest on the shores of Lake Springfield, a natural lake on the southeast side of Springfield, IL.  None of the plant books show the natural range to extend to this area, but the trees there were obviously ancient with huge diameters, heights, and root "knees" extending far from the parent trees.  But these days, whether it is development of new varieties of plants or global warming, even Peoria has large evergreen Magnolia grandiflora here and there and rhodies, azaleas, and hollies everywhere .  Are palms next?

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

I was in San Antonio a few weeks ago.  San Antone has just about the best down town area I have seen in any similarly sized city.  I was surprised to see mangos, roebelinis and a few other tropical/subtropical stuff there along the riverfront.

They also had the largest bald cypress I have seen in an urban setting.  I think some were about 200 years old.  The huge trees were right next to waterside restaurants and bars.  Very picturesque.

Jerry

[swamptreenelly]

Bald cypress look better with age, They can grow in water or on dry land. They almost create their own environment. I think bald cypress would be great for pretreatment ponds in shopping and commercial centers. Bald cypress help remove phoshates and nitrates from water,

they shade the water and are like living islands hosting a wide range of wildlife. They grew in California before some of the last ice ages and are restablishing themselves again very well.

[DoomsDave]

Wow!

That is pretty!

I knew they were deciduous, but not colorful like that.

Thanks for the pics!

dave

[fastfeat]

Vastly under-utilized in So Cal. They are common (native) here in S. FL; frequently planted in man-made retention ponds in shopping centers, HOAs, etc.

Dave--are the ones along Lambert Rd near First Ave (railroad ROW) in Whittier still there?

[fastfeat]

Jerry--I agree on San Antonio's downtown--definitely topnotch. Drank too much last time I was there to remember tree specifics though. I wonder if they may have Montezuma cypress Taxodium mucronatum there as well? I brought some seeds of this from CA; I think it may well thrive here in S FL. Got them going over at Jesse Durko's in Davie.

[Dave-Vero]

Taxodium in Flora of North America.  Looks like there may be only one species of Taxodium, ranging from Delaware to Guatemala (with some gaps, apparently).  I think it's widely planted in China.

[swamptreenelly]

Montezuma Cypress grows faster than Bald Cypress and can take seasonal inundation. I have a flat growing in my greenhouse. I heard this is the international tree of Mexico called the sabino and the Montezuma grows along streams in Mexico. They don't lose all their foilage in the winter. Very underutilized tree in California. I plant them all the time. Search online and type in Montezuma El

http://images.google.com/imgres?....rl=http

[swamptreenelly]

Bald Cypress is the Municple Arborist Tree of the year 2007 in USA.

[swamptreenelly]

http://news.yahoo.com/s....6074129

Archaeologists discover 8-million-year-old forest in Hungary

[swamptreenelly]

Bald cypress  Tree of the Year!

http://forestry.about.com/b/a/256568.htm?nl=1