China's gift

China's gift-hopefully it keeps on giving.

Cathaya argyrophylla

I'm back and will try to be more attentive to this blog.  Bogged down while trying to retire from the nursery biz.

Often during the daily toils of operating a plant nursery, one comes across unusual and hard to find plants that are not generally available to the public.  In a recent post, we referred to the Wollemi Pine out of Aust.  So far two of the original plants are steaming along in my landscape.  Kind of surprising actually.

Today(6-10-12)I will write about Cathaya.  My original plant was gifted to me from Iseli in Or. I promptly planted it and forgot it. Big mistake.  Later efforts to obtain this tree and install it in a culturally correct and careful manner so far have resulted in success.  The first effort was to place the tree in a large concrete planter in a sterile planting mix. I situated it in full southern PM sun and maintained a methodical water regimen. Almost every day in the summer months.  The plant prospered and grew to a large size relative to the pot, which was huge. Lesson:  it will take a hefty dose of sun. The pot experiment lasted a couple of years while I operated the nursery.  I will admit that the plant generated a great deal of curiosity and interest in having one.  Not possible at this stage because of no availability.

The plant ultimately had to go in the ground for obvious reasons.  I was able to locate a few growers who had had success.  With proper moisture in the soil, I knew that it would tolerate sun.  Next, drainage seemed to be a must so I selected a sand / clay site and added some organic matter.  The tree grows in China in areas where  the soils are limestone.  I can't offer that here in Ga. but the addition of  magnesium lime and phosphorous into our 5-6pH soil produced excellent results.  The tree was glorious this spring and lived up to its moniker, the silver fir.  Thanks to Tony Avent for this tip. I now have three; two in ground and one in a 100 gal landscape pot. The tree is getting out there a bit which is good.  It will do well here in Ga. Hopefully going forward.

If you can find one and if you grow conifers as a hobby, go for it.  Yin Shan. Cathaya.