Acer tataricum subsp. ginnalaMaxim. Amur Maple. This clonal selection was propagated from a 13 year old 8' tall by 6' wide shrub, grown at the North Central PI Station in a population of remnant seedlings after a 1986 NC-7 plant distribution. This particular tree has a compact dense form, slow growth, very uniform spherical habit, and a wine red fall color. It also will be of interest to see whether the traits present in the stock plant will be exhibited by the propagules presented for distribution.
Ames 23254 is a clonal selection out of a remnant seedling population of a 1986 distribution of PI 477992. The plants distributed in 1986 were collected in Canada in 1968 and were evaluated at the Bismarck, North Dakota USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center (ID# T 5645). Probable hardiness USDA Zone 3a.
Betula pendulaRoth. European White Birch. Leaves of B. pendula are about 3 to 8 cm long, broadly ovate, doubly serrate, glabrous, and dark green. The whitish bark of younger trees does not peel as much as Paper Birch. With age, trunks become increasingly black. Pyramidal in youth, trees become oval pyramidal to oval as they age. It grows from 12 to 16 m in height under cultivation. The plants offered were clonally propagated from a seedling planted in North Dakota State University research trials in 1967. While other birch at the NDSU research site have died due to infestation by bronze birch borer, this particular plant has performed exceptionally well for 30 years and is now a large tree. Nevertheless, no claims can be made concerning tolerance or potential resistance to the bronze birch borer without further evaluation.
Ames 23249 was tissue-culture propagated from a seedling planted in NDSU research trials in 1967. The plants were donated by Dr. Dale E. Herman for testing in the NC-7 Regional Ornamental Trials. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 3b.
Celtis laevigataWilld. Sugar Hackberry. This tree has 6 to 12 cm long, 4 cm wide, long-acuminate, entire or serrate, medium to dark green above, glabrous leaves. Bud and stem characteristics are similar to C. occidentalis. The bark is generally quite smooth and silvery gray on older branches. It can grow from 20 to 26 m in height with a similar spread. The habit is rounded to broad rounded, often with spreading pendulous branches. It is resistant to witches broom. The sweet fruit is orange-red to blue-black and enjoyed by birds. Though its native range is from southern Indiana, Illinois to Texas and Florida, the plants offered are from a fairly northern source.
Ames 19049 was grown from seeds donated by the Dawes Arboretum, Newark, Ohio in 1992. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 4.
Cornus sericea L. 'Ruby' Redosier Dogwood. This deciduous shrub grows 1.8 to 3 m high. The ascending outside stems root at the nodes in contact with the ground and ultimately form thickets. Leaves are a lustrous dark green and appear to be resistant to leaf spots even under the high humidity of a summer shadehouse. The leaves turn a brilliant wine red in fall. The summer fruits are a creamy white. We did not see canker on the stems of plants we held over the summer. The stems are a brilliant red in fall and winter.
PI 443229 was a clonal selection originally made from a single plant near Painted Post, Steuben County, New York, in 1975. This accession was donated by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Big Flats Plant Materials Center in 1996. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 3.
Juniperus horizontalis x scopulorum orx virginiana. This vigorous selection grows 30 to 55 cm tall with a dense, spreading, ground-cover growth habit. It has primarily brilliant green, slightly tufted, mature scale-like foliage. Some attractive gray to blue-green juvenile awl-like outer foliage also is produced, creating a bicolor effect. The foliage takes on a purplish-brown winter color in late October to November. It is a female clone and silvery-blue berrylike cones contrast attractively with the foliage.
Ames 23250 is a clonal selection of a female hybrid received at North Dakota State University in 1970 from the late Glen Viehmeyer who was involved in woody and herbaceous plant improvement research at the University of Nebraska, North Platte. The upright parent is either J. scopulorum or J. virginiana. The plant has performed very well in North Dakota for over 26 years. It was a selection from the Pine Canyon, located slightly east and north of Arnold, NE. If interest is demonstrated by commercial nurseries this selection will be introduced jointly by NDSU and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Plants propagated by hardwood cuttings were donated by Dr. Dale E. Herman for testing in the NC-7 Regional Ornamental Trials.
Probable hardiness USDA Zone 3b.
Parthenocissus tricuspidata (Siebold & Zucc.) Planchon. Japanese Creeper or Boston Ivy. Leaves of adult plants are slender-stalked, broad-ovate, 10 to 20 cm wide, 3-lobed with acuminate coarsely serrate lobes. However, leaves of basal shoots and young plants are 3 to 8 cm wide, and have partly 3-foliate stalked leaflets that are glossy dark green above. Stems are squarish, with 5 to 12 tendrils that are shorter than those of P. quinquefolia. P. tricuspidata typically has more lustrous foliage that P. quinquefolia but can be used in the same situations. The plants offered have a nice red fall color.
Ames 13198 was donated as seed by the Czechoslovakia Academy of Sciences, Pruhonice in 1990 and collected at Lyonakan near the northwest part of Pyongyang city, North Korea at an elevation of 230 m. This accession may be more hardy than many populations of P. tricuspidata now cultivated in the North Central region. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 4.
Rubus arcticusL. 'Kenai Carpet' Nagoonberry. This ground-hugging plant has three-foliate, pubescent leaves. Flowers are solitary with pink petals that do not overtop the leaves. Fruits consist of numerous red drupelets but these will not develop without a second clone for cross pollination. The plant is best suited as a ground cover and is recommended for use under large upright trees or shrubs and slopes. It has performed well on acidic soils and may not be well adapted on calcareous or alkaline substrates. It also has been prone to defoliation by an as yet unidentified caterpillar. In our experience, Bacillus thuringiensis gives effective control when applied at the earliest signs of leaf chewing.
Ames 21661 was donated to the Station by the Alaska Plant Materials Center in Palmer, AK. The original collection was made on the north side of the Tustumena Lake Road on the Kenai Peninsula. The plants were growing in a sandy loam soil. Rubus arcticus is found in arctic and alpine tundra, heath bogs, wet meadows and open spruce-hardwood forests. It grows in full sun or partial shade. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 2 (with snow cover).
Salix integraThunb. 'Albomaculata' Willow. This willow is a multi-stemmed shrub having an open, fine-textured appearance. It can grow up to 3 m tall but, once established, is at its best when cut back to 15 cm each fall. It is most attractive in late spring, when new shoots and leaves are salmon pink, giving it the appearance of a flowering shrub. This is followed by bright silvery white variegated foliage which lasts all summer. Winter buds are a dark red. The range of adaptation of this plant is not well understood.
Ames 13709 was a cultivar selected in England and entered the National Plant Germplasm System in 1987. Probable hardiness USDA Zone?.
Sorbaria. False-spiraea. A number of sites asked us to distribute more Sorbaria accessions in an effort to compare different populations to one another and identify superior types. As a result, we are offered five accessions of Sorbaria for the 1997 trials. There are three accessions of:
Sorbaria sorbifolia(L.) A. Braun. Ural False-spiraea. This species is a tough, disease-free suckering shrub. Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound with 13 to 25 doubly-serrate leaflets which are lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, long acuminate and 2.5 to 9 cm long. The leaves resemble mountain ash foliage. It has a striking midsummer floral display of creamy white inflorescences. The three accessions offered are from wild populations and should be adapted to the Midwest.
PI 597614 (Ames 13199) was donated as seed by the Czechoslovakia Academy of Sciences Pruhonice in 1990 and collected from the Myohyangsan Mts., North Ryongan Province, North Korea at an elevation of 105 m. This accession has particularly large inflorescences.
PI 597618 (Ames 20178) is a population of the variety stellipila. It was donated as seed in 1993 by the Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia and was collected from South Korea.
PI 597619 (Ames 21773) was collected on a NACPEC expedition to China in 1993 from understory plants from a moist wooded valley in Jian Shan Jiao, Heilongjiang Province at elevation of 544 m. Probable hardiness likely variable. Ames 21773 may be hardy to USDA Zone 2.
Sorbaria sp. This accession is a suspected interspecific hybrid between S. kirilowii and S. sorbifolia. Individuals of this accession that have flowered thus far were sterile, perhaps reducing its potential invasiveness. The plants offered have a dark red to bright orange fall color which should be expressed at sites south of Ames.
PI 607439 (Ames 10741) was collected from a cultivated garden population at the Botanical Garden of Marie Curie University, Lublin, Poland. Probable hardiness USDA Zone ?.
Sorbaria tomentosa (Lindley) Rehder. Lindley False-spiraea. This species tends to be larger (reaching 2 m in height) than S. sorbifolia Its habit, while variable, can be coarser or as fine in texture as that of S. sorbifolia. It tends to have larger, pendulous inflorescences. Considering its native range (discussed in detail by Rahn, Nord. J. Bot. 8:557-563, 1989), it is probably more drought tolerant, but less cold hardy, than Ural False-spiraea.
Ames 10743 was collected from a cultivated garden population at the Botanical Garden of Marie Curie University, Lublin, Poland. Probable hardiness USDA Zone 5a.
Please send questions or comments to Mark Widrlechner at nc7mw@ars-grin.gov