Sophora japonica 'Pendula' - Weeping Pagoda Tree

I was aimlessly riding my bike one day and stumbled across this interesting and unique small weeping tree. Sophora is an older name but I'll stick with it for now. Trees develop a rounded to blob shape with very interesting branches. Trees grow to about 15' so this one much be old.

Leaves are deciduous, alternately arranged, pinnately compound to about 10" with 7 to 15 or so leaflets. Leaflets are medium to light green, narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 1-2" long. 

Stems are green until mature. The black buds are hidden by the swollen base of the petiole.

This cultivar seems not to flower or fruit (no kidding, can't have fruit without flowers.) If it has them they are off white and pea-shaped in large clusters.

The branching is very cool, twisted branches with some grafting to one another.

 

Misidentification? Foliage wise, lots but with this habit I don't think you can find another one with leaves like these and a habit like this one.

New name: Styphnolobium japonicum

Location:

Santa Cruz - I forgot, I have to get on my bike and aimlessly take a ride. Went looking for it a year or so ago but could not find the tree or the house.

Populus tremuloides - Quaking Aspen

I was a bit surprised to see a Quaking Aspen here in Santa Cruz. Also a bit disappointed, they are adapted to growing from one plant into hundreds. Pando, is a grove of Quaking Aspen in Utah that is considered to be one of the largest organisms on earth. The grove is one clone, connected to 47,000 trees by roots (suckering) and covers over 100 acres and is considered to be over 1000 years old. Think what it can and will do in your yard.

They are medium sized trees, 20-50' with an upright narrowish crown. Where there is one…..

Having seen many planting of Quaking Aspen in Spokane, I quickly came to the conclusion that this is a beautiful tree in the fall or windy, with rustling foliage They are very short lived. Luckily (?), but when one dies hundreds show up.

Leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to triangular, slightly crenated margins, dark green in summer, turning a beautiful gold in fall. Like many poplars, they have a flattened petiole, which causes the leaf to flutter or quake in any light breeze. (The doctrine of signatures suggested that this plant was the cure to shaking palsy.)

Trees are dioecious, male and female plants. Males in long catkins.

Stems are smooth, with a large terminal bud.

And the bark is one of the reasons people like it. Silver, smooth with dark branch collars.

And best of all is the fall color. Bright yellow to yellowish orange.

Misidentification:
Other poplars, perhaps. You are not likely to encounter P. tremula in SC but if you are reading this from colder climates you might encounter a columnar form.

Location:
Capitola 

301 Fanmar. Pretty sad looking specimen. 

Malus ioensis ‘Klehm’s Improved Bechtel’ - Bechtel Crabapple

I like this late blooming crabapple with beautiful pink double flowers. The trees are small to medium sized 15-20' with a rounded and dense canopy. It's a pretty old-school tree but easily identified by the large flowers.

Leaves are deciduous, simple, alternate, ovate shaped, 2" long with slightly serrated margins mostly near the tip of the leaf. The trees are susceptible to several fungal diseases and this one gets black spot yearly.

Flowers are large, double, pink, and fragrant. Did I say they were late? Compared to most of the other crabapples that bloom early here (before the cherries) this one blooms late Mid to June.

Fruit is pretty non existent, if any show up they are pink to green and a little over an inch in diameter.

Another name - Malus coronaria ssp. ioensis 'Bechtel' 

Misidentification: Almost any crabapple not in bloom. 

Location

Aptos 309 Martin Dr.

Magnolia Xalba - White Champaca

Magnolia Xalba a slowish growing 'smallish' evergreen tree, to about 20-30'. They might look like a large bushy shrub. (What is the difference between a small multi-stemmed tree and a large shrub?)

Leaves are evergreen, simple, alternate, about 8" long, widely lance-shaped with smooth margins, light green color upper with slightly lighter below. They are folded upwards from the midrib while the tip and base are arched downward. I am sure there's a word for this but I either forgot it or never knew it.

Young stems are green with lots of white spots (lenticels). Older branches are light tan. Flower buds are covered with copper colored hairs. They are smaller than most other magnolias.

Flowers are white, very fragrant and seem to be produced year round here. Off white color, with narrow strap-like petals, usually 8 of them.

This magnolia has several common names, White Champaca, White Sandalwood, and Fragrant Himalayan Champaca. It is also in the genera tug of war with Magnolia split into Michelia and Magnolia and back again? Monrovia is sticking with Michelia. Other synonyms include: Magnolia alba, Michelia × longifolia, Michelia longifolia, Sampacca × longifolia, Sampacca longifolia

Location:

Aptos

553 Cuesta Dr. Shrubby version

1701Calypso Dr. Tree version

Thuja plicata 'Zebrina' - Variegated Western Cedar

This cultivar of our native Thuja brightens up almost any landscape. The trees are quite large, perhaps to 50' in our area. They form a nice tight pyramidal form with branches to the ground if grown in the sun, I have seen them used as hedges in the UK.

Kew Gardens

Leaves are small, scale-like and in pairs covering the young stems. The branchlets are long and feather like in arrangement with short narrow lateral branches coming off of the main branches. The lower surface of the branchlets shows bands of white stomates. This cultivar has creamy yellow bands of leaves interspersed with green leaves

Reproductive structures and bark like the species.

Locations:

Aptos

748 Encino Drive on the side of the house up the hill a bit. 

Agonis flexuosa 'Burgundy' - Burgundy Peppermint Willow

This is a newer cultivar of the Australian Willow and seems to develop a fuller canopy than the dark purple 'Jervis Bay Afterdark' which has been planted all over town. Reported to grow to 25' by about 15' wide with a weeping habit. One issue I have seen is the very narrow crotch angle formed on the trunk which might be a structural issue as the trees mature.

A nice specimen at Sierra Azul Nursery in Watsonville.

The new leaves come out in early spring with a beautiful burgundy color. The color fades by the end of winter but the new foliage comes out quickly with another flush of color.

 

This is the issue I see with all of the trees I have seen. The trunk splits into two co-dominate leaders with a very narrow crotch angle. As those stems increase in diameter they will push the other away and eventually split.

Misidentification:

Not sure what you might think it is.

Location:

Aptos

280 Baltusrol Dr

Santa Cruz

36 Rockview Drive

Watsonville 

Sierra Azul Nursery

Hesperocyparis macrocarpa 'Saligna Aurea' - Golden Weeping Monterey Cypress

This is a pretty cool cultivar of our Monterey Cypress tree. Growing to 25' or so and about as wide, the thin lateral branchlets are long and thin, sort of like the thread branched cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filiera Aurea'). Trees have a strong central leader with upright arching lateral branched. 

This unbelievable specimen is in a private garden in town.

These are located at the old Suncrest Nursery on Casserly Rd. Now Griggs Nursery

Another great one across from the K-9 clinic.

The foliage is scale-like, opposite, sharp pointed, and diverging from the stems. The internodes are elongated making for thread-like stems. They remain green in the shaded part of the plant so be sure to put them in a sunny location.

Fruit is the same as you would see on the species.

Misidentification: When young they might look like a Chamaecyparis pisifiera 'Filifera Aurea' form though Hesperocyparis macrocarpa 'Saligna Aurea' has a much more open habit with a strong central leader and long ascending lateral branches.

Older name is Cupressus macrocarpa, with a Callitropsis thrown in and then out.

Location:

Corralitos - Pioneer road across from the K9 clinic.

Watsonville - 400 Casserly Rd (Griggs Wholesale Nursery - near the office)

Quercus x ganderi - Gander's oak

 I have been looking at these two Oaks for years and I think I am close to getting to the correct identification. I always guessed they were hybrids between the Coast Live Oak and California Black Oak but the difficulty was (is) the amount of hybridization and genetic studies that Q. agrifolia has been part of makes it difficult to come up with the name. Additionally, the experts are not in agreement.

My favorite old book "Pacific Coast Trees" by McMinn and Maino lists one hybrid, Q. morehus. More recent publications suggest there are more. But, perhaps the botanical variety oxyadenia is not really a distinct variety which eliminates the hybrid group.

Regardless of the name, I will continue.

Large semi-evergreen tree growing to 50' with a broadly oval outline. Often with multiple main branches. For those local, this one is on Bonita close to the Fire Department end.

This one has a different shape due to it growing up against a house.

The leaves are alternate, anywhere from 2-1/2" to 5" long. Most leaves have lobed margins with a short prickle at the end of the lobe. Semi-evergreen and lobed due to Q. kelloggii parent. I read somewhere they called the tree reluctantly deciduous, which fits some years.

You can see the variability in leaf size and depth of the lobes.

Lower surface usually has tufts of hairs in the axils of the main veins.

Some leaves showing the fall color.

Stems are gray colored, terminal buds sharply pointed with imbricate scales, and clustered.

Fruit is an acorn, ripening during the first year. Found only the cap this year and forgot to shoot a picture last year of the fruit.

Trunk develops a nice furrowed look.

Younger trunks are pretty smooth.

Misidentification: Quercus kelloggii though those leaves are bigger, broader, more deeply lobed, and the acorn cap is different.

Synonyms:

CalFlora calls this tree Q. Xchasei.

There was a species originally named Q. chasei (McMinn, 1949)

Kew Gardens considers the proper name as Q. Xganderi with Q. agrifolia var. oxyadenia and Q. kelloggii as the parents.

Cal Poly SLO does not mention Q. Xchasei

https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/1727

Observers on Inaturalist refer to Q. XChasei as a synonym of Q. Xganderi though some use the prior as the proper name.

Location

Aptos

406 Bonita Drive, across the street on the freeway side.

416 Dorsey Ave

Aloe 'Hercules' - Hercules Tree Aloe

There are several tree aloes around and I am not sure which is which, but according to the owner of this row of trees, these are 'Hercules'. Hercules is a hybrid between A. barberae and A. dichotoma (San Marcos Nursery). They are faster growing than the parents with beautiful bark. They should grow to 25 feet or more depending on their location. My guess is on the shorter side since our climate is a bit cooler. They do grow pretty fast though. Very beautiful regardless of the name. (Also reclassified into a new genera,  Aliodendron.)

The leaves are dark green, broad clasping at the base and 16" or so long. This leaf is getting pretty old.

The lower surface look nice as well.

The bark is described as peeling tiger striped. 

Misidentification: Just about any other tree aloe unless you are well versed in these groups of plants, which I am not. Some people include Aloes such as A. speciosa, A. ferox and others like these but hard to compare them with Hercules.

 

Location:

Aptos - 290 Beach Pines Dr. along the RDM Blvd side of the house

Santa Cruz - 

621 41st Ave. 2 double trunk plants.

321 Anchorage Ave. (Not 'Hercules' but "might be" Aloe barberae.)

181 24th St. (Not 'Hercules' but "might be" Aloe barberae.)

Acer x fremanii 'Jeffersred' - Autumn Blaze®

The hybrids between the red (A. rubrum) and the silver A. saccharinum) have been around for a long time but they are not very common in our area. The two species overlap in their natural habitats so the hybridization has been occurring naturally as well as controlled hybridizing. The red maple parents provide the fall color and the "better" branching structure while the silver maple parents provide the leaf shape and fast rate of growth and perhaps tolerance to adverse conditions. There are a handful of cultivars. This particular cultivar grows into an upright oval shaped form to 60'. The Autumn Blaze® is the trademarked name but used interchangeably with the common name.

This image is really 3 trees in a row so they look a little wider than a single tree.

Fall color is one of the reasons people plant these trees.

Leaves are opposite, simple, 6-8" long and almost as wide. The leaves look more like the silver maple leaf than a red maple leaf. The lower surface is white like the silver maple.

The branch structure needs work when young or you end up with several co-dominate leaders. I mentioned better structure, but they usually end up with co-dominate leaders that result in splitting the trunk.

Oregon State University Horticulture department page and a nice writeup on these and red maple cultivars. They have been given various names, sometimes as a red maple cultivar or as a hybrid. 

OSU Hort

This image was published by The Journal of Aboriculture years ago showing this cultivar listed as a red maple cultivar.

Misidentification: Silver maple most likely. The leaves look more Silver but the Silver leaves have a deeper dissection. Silver Maple

Location

Aptos 

404 Townsend Dr.

407 Ewell Ave.