The Weeping White Pine

Today was another cold one although it wasn't bad enough to keep some from heading outside (I stayed inside of course).  It was sunny with blue skies and it looks like a warm up towards the end of the week.  Terry, Larry H. and Larry headed out to bring in more lights and cords from the Holiday Lights Show (HLS).  Gary B. and Peg L. worked on removing lights from our arches inside and Pat M. continues to do a nice job with packing up lights and utilizing our new "spool method" for wrapping and subsequent storage of light strands.  Del came in for some cleaning and Bill O. helped out later in the morning and in to the afternoon. Dick H. had various projects and the carpenters (Ron Y., Vern, Dave and Jim) all had tasks as well.  Bob K. helped with various projects and continues to work on an electrical project at the Horticulture Center.  Dr. Gredler helped wrap cords and Maury ran more supply errands for us.  Gary S. worked on some label research and we also saw Rollie and many others today.  Janice was in for some work regarding our Spring Plant Sale (Mother's Day weekend!).  I bounced between seed catalogs, plant orders and presentation preparations for the Wisconsin Public Television Garden Expo (www.wigardenexpo.com/) which is only five weeks away.  We'll again have our information booth for the gardens and I have five presentations over those three days.

This blog is dedicated to the always interesting weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') which I think can be quite a showcase in the garden.  The specimen above is at Longenecker Gardens at the UW-Arboretum (Madison, WI).  We have three at RBG and I have amassed some photos of specimens at other gardens (see below).  No two specimens are the same and while they can be trained and encouraged a bit, ultimately they'll get quite large and do their own thing!

 weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') at the Bickelhaupt Arboretum (Clinton, IA)

weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') at the Bickelhaupt Arboretum (Clinton, IA)



 weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') at Frederick Meijer Gardens (Grand Rapids, MI)

 weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') in Philadelphia

 weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') at Rotary Botanical Gardens

 weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') - same as above (note the lights!)

weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') at Frederick Meijer Gardens (Grand Rapids, MI) in 2009

 same weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') as above but four years later

 weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') at the Ball Seed Trial Garden (West Chicago, IL)

 weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Pendula') at Rotary Botanical Gardens