New Addition to the Collection

Italian Stone Pine - Fall '25

 We have a new tree to add to our growing collection..please welcome the Italian Stone Pine (pinus pinea) as the newest member.

An evergreen, and also one of the only pines with a canopy that resembles an umbrella. From the Mediterranean, this is an excellent pine for beach gardens and coastal planting, as well as for use as a street tree. While it's an excellent evergreen tree for a wide variety of landscape applications, it's an especially good choice for homeowners looking to create a Mediterranean landscape.

This Italian Stone Pine is drought tolerant and performs well when planted in full sun. A dry pine, it's a moderate grower and will require low to moderate watering, once it's established.

Birds are attracted to this graceful giving tree. In fact, if you love pine nuts, then you know how expensive they can be. Plant a thriving Italian Stone Pine and save money - it's the source of the edible, nutritious pine nut! Fun fact: this is the pine depicted in many of the famous Italian Renaissance paintings.

Follow his growth & development as time goes on, at https://www.jerryspatio.com/p/italian-stone-pine-pinus-pinea.html or look on the "Tree Inventory" menu (r-side of page) & click-on the name.

How evergreen trees shaped human history

By Beth Saulnier - Cornellians 

In the early 1770s, American colonists furious over British meddling in their trade of a key agricultural product finally had enough and rose up – an act of rebellion that would ultimately spark a revolution.

But this wasn’t the Boston Tea Party.

It was the Pine Tree Riot – a bit of rural lawbreaking by some New Hampshire residents that would inspire their Massachusetts brethren a year later. And it’s just one of the myriad ways that evergreens have played a transformative role in human history – chronicled in “Evergreen,” a new book by Trent Preszler, M.S. ’02, Ph.D. ’12, a professor of practice in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

 “It’s like the courtroom drama that would unfold if you brought evergreens onto the witness stand and swore them in,” Preszler said. “They kept the receipts about everything, from world wars to religion to construction booms. I basically just wrote down everything that they’ve been trying to tell us for 365 million years.”

Click here to read full article

UPDATE: Fremont Cottonwood (Populis Fremontii)

"the Fremont" seems to have fully-recovered from what ever was causing his leaves to blacken & die. In fact, he is growing a bit & "putting-on-some-weight" as he is beginning to build a canopy of side-branches & shoots, although he will never grow much taller than he is, right now.

But no one told him that this is December, when deciduous trees are supposed to change colors & lose their leaves..I wonder if this California native observes the seasonal changes like his Eastern cousins? Perhaps someone out there can answer that question?

If you're interested in learning more about this tree, you can access his Photos/History page here.

UPDATE: Madagascar Dragon Tree (Dracaena Marginata)

Dec. 11 -Update: "the Dragon" was looking a little scruffy, having been beaten-up by the wind & exposure, over time, so I decided to give him a fresh start by cutting-back his foliage. Winter weather is yet to come & he will handle it better with less foliage to get damaged.

Am also looking ahead to when his brachts won't all be at the same height. I initially trimmed each shoot to 4" from growing base to tip as this photo shows.

  But, in the end, I gave-in & trimmed him evenly, as it may be the last time it will be possible for him to grow a unified "fan"..foliage that looks like a single plume.

What I did was to even-out the 4 shoots, leaving 'the Dragon' with a "flat-top'.(for those of you too young to know what a "flat-top" was, ask your grandpa)

If you want to know more about this tree, you can access his Photos/History page.