Aesculus pavia L. Red Buckeye. This conical, clump-forming shrub or small tree grows from 2 to 6 meters tall with a spread equal or greater than the height. Leaves are glossy with five leaflets. It blooms in late May, June, or July depending on the location. Flowers are bright crimson borne in panicles 15 cm long. While best grown in full sun, it can tolerate shade; best conditions also include moist, well drained soil. Red Buckeye loses is leaves early and there in no appreciable fall color. Fruit is poisonous to humans and livestock. Native to southeastern U.S.
Ames 22071 was purchased from Oikos Tree Crops in Kalamazoo, MI in 1994. The seed source was from near Ann Arbor at the estate of the late Walter N. Koelz, a plant explorer for the USDA. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 5a.
Betula platyphylla Sukachev. 'Fargo' Asian White Birch. This tree is allied to B. pendula. Leaves are about 3 to 8 cm long, and though shaped like those of B. pendula, they differ in being broader with axillary tufts beneath, and in having more veins and usually single toothing. It grows from 12 to 15 meters tall under cultivation, and is known for its almost pure white, exfoliating bark. The accession is a clonal selection having a pyramidal-columnar habit, dense canopy, dark green foliage, and manicured appearance. The clone also is noted for its cold hardiness, drought tolerance, and relatively rapid growth. This accession may be worthwhile to test for birch borer resistance in those areas where borers limit the use of white-barked birches. The species offered has a wide native distribution over China, the Korean peninsula, and Japan.
Ames 22552 was a clonal selection made from an open-pollinated seedling population grown at the North Dakota State University Arboretum in Fargo in 1986 by Dr. Art Boe. Propagation was achieved by using shoot-tip micropropagation. The plants were donated by Dr. Dale E. Herman for testing in the NC-7 Regional Ornamental Trials. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 3b. This plant was introduced in 1997 by NDSU under the trademarked name Dakota Pinnacle®.
Diervilla x splendens (Carriere) Kirchner. A cross between Southern bush-honeysuckle (D. sessilifolia) and Dwarf Bush-honeysuckle (D. lonicera). This clonally selected hybrid shrub combines many of the best characteristics of its parents. It has short-petioled leaves and produces sulphur-yellow flowers during much of the growing season. The new foliage is glossy and under most field conditions is an attractive wine red color. Many leaves have this rich color in the fall as well. Its mature form is wide-globose to 1.5 meters tall. Its is somewhat stoloniferous, making it valuable in naturalistic landscapes.
Ames 19145 was donated in 1992 by the Dawes Arboretum which acquired the selection from Dr. Ed Hasselkus at the University of Wisconsin. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 4a.
Forestiera neomexicana A. Gray. 'Jemez' Desert Olive. This a highly branched, spreading shrub which may sucker from the base. It can be used to make thickets and dense hedges to 4 meters tall. Leaves are oblong and grayish-green and the bark is smooth and light gray to brown. Flowers appear in March to May in dense sessile clusters. In some years, the flowers appear before the leaves and briefly give an effect similar to the flowering of Cornus mas. Plants are dioecious. Bluish-black fruits ripen between June and September and are attractive to birds. The plants are drought tolerant. The species is found along streams, hillsides, and mesas at elevations between 910 and 2,100 meters in pinyon-juniper, southwestern woodlands, and desert grassland of northern and central Arizona and New Mexico, of southern Utah and southwestern Colorado; and of the Mojave desert, chaparral, and oak woodlands of Arizona and southern California.
PI 596380, formerly Ames 19065, was grown from seeds harvested from a seed orchard maintained by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Plant Materials Center , Los Lunas, New Mexico and donated in 1992. Original seed source was collected in the vicinity of Jemez Springs, Sandoval Co., New Mexico in 1939. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 5a.
Nyssa sylvatica Marshall. Black Tupelo. This tree can grow 9 to 15 meters or taller in height with a spread of 6 to 9 meters and is pyramidal in form when young. The dark green foliage of summer turns bright yellow to orange to scarlet to purple in the fall. The dark gray to black bark is broken into irregular ridges and blocks and has been referred to as having an alligator hide appearance. Flowers are inconspicuous. The primary ornamental values of this tree are its form, fall color, and bark. It makes a good specimen tree. Prefers moist, well drained, acid (pH 5.5 to 6.5), deep soils. N. sylvatica is native to the eastern U.S. and southern Ontario.
Ames 22072 was collected from the wild by Oikos Tree Crops in Kalamazoo, Michigan near the northen edge of its range in Saginaw Co., Michigan. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 4b.
Physocarpus ribesifolius V. Komarov. Currant-leaved Ninebark. This is a profusely branching, dense shrub with arching branches and exfoliating bark. This species differs from P. amurensis by having glabrous leaves with simple and stellate hairs only along the veins below. In addition, follicles are glabrous and slightly shorter than or as long as sepals. Flowers occur in May, fruits in August. Flowers and fruits are similar to our native Ninebark, and the shrub was particularly attractive at the Denver Botanical Gardens in 1988. This species occurs on stony slopes in east Asia including portions of former USSR, China, Japan, and North Korea.
PI 607435 (Ames 10078) was grown from seeds collected and donated by the Denver Botanic Gardens in 1988. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 4.
Spiraea miyabei Koidz. Miyabe Spiraea. This multi-stemmed upright shrub to 1 m tall has branchlets that are slightly angled and puberulous while young. Leaves are dull green, ovate to ovate-oblong, acute or acuminate, rounded to broad-cuneate at base and 3 to 6 cm long. Downy corymbs of white flowers borne along the previous season's arching branches occur in early summer. We have noted flowering on new wood as well. The corymbs on new growth were often more than 10 cm across. For cooperators in zones colder than Zone 6, S. miyabei may be a useful dieback shrub.
PI 578119 (NA 61766) was collected and donated by the National Arboretum from seeds collected from plants in the wild along a trail in an open woodland on the road to Osaek, Route 44, Kang-won Do, South Korea (latitude 38 o05' N; longitude 128o25' E; elevation 700 m). Specimens were found growing with Magnolia sieboldii, Taxus cuspidata, Quercus, Abies holophylla, Ulmus, Betula, Acer pseudosieboldianum, and Stephanandra. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 6.
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