We Grow From SeedGolden Bough Tree Farm

RARAFLORA 2010

Our nursery is a research station disguised as a business. For decades now we have been browsing the north temperate world for plant material strong enough for our climate and fine enough for our customers.

Is a plant rare because it's hard to find in Nature or because it's seldom offered? We have both.

RARE MAPLES

Acer argutum
SHARP-TOOTHED MAPLE Z4/6m
This graceful dwarf Asian maple is similar to Amur Maple with small leaves and limbs coloured white to gray. Much hardier than conventional Japanese red-leafed maples that do not survive north of Zone 6.

Acer palmatum
JAPANESE MAPLE Z5b/3m
One of the world's loveliest small trees with its bonsai form, deeply cut leaves and bright fall colours. A fine Palmatum Mall exists on the Yonge St. side of Toronto's Mt. Pleasant cemetery. Native to Korea and Japan where it always stars in ornamental gardens.

Acer pseudoplatanus
SYCAMORE MAPLE Z5/16m
Biggest of the maples, it's far reaching branches carry a cloud of broad sycamore like leaves. Smooth grey bark turns to armour plates with age. Enjoys sea-sides and exposed moors (Great in the Maritimes & Scotland!). Lots of lime-yellow flowers in early spring. Leaves yolk-yellow in fall.

Acer capillipes
SHIKOKU MAPLE Z5?/9m
Shade tolerant striped maple from S. Japan. Unusual bright red leaf stems and pagoda-like seed clusters. Forms a tree or large multi-stemmed shrub.

Acer miyabei
MIYABE MAPLE Z5/12m
This robust medium-sized maple from Japan resembles the globe form of Norway Maple but has smaller, dark, incised leaves; yellow in fall. Difficult to germinate. We know of only one tree in all of E. Canada.

NUT TREES

The Buddah taught that everyone should plant and tend one tree at least every five years. As long as this was observed, the whole large area of India was covered with trees, free of dust, with plenty of water, shade and food.
E.F. Schumacher
'Small is beautiful'

Juglans sieboldiana
JAPANESE WALNUT Z4/14m
This gorgeous import combines the wood & dye qualities of Butternut. Immense, frond-like, elliptic leaves seem almost tropical. Will hybridize with native walnuts. Vigorous grower, immune to canker. High landscape value.

Pterocarya stenoptera
CHINESE WINGNUT Z4b/28m
Massive Asian ornamental related to walnuts and hickories and named for its curious winged nutlets. Drought tolerant. Leaves dark and lustrous. Fine examples within the Niagara park system.

Corylus colurna
TURKISH TREE HAZEL
Outstanding ornamental food tree from Asia Minor. (Turkish's steep Black Sea coast is the world's HDQ for Corylus species.) N. America candy makers import tons of its crisp round kernels. The only tree-hazel (along with a Chinese cousin), its strict pyramidal form, curious corky bark and drought tolerance make it a landscaper's dream.

EXOTIC ASIANS

One of the great wonders of nature is why similar trees grow in eastern North America and North Central China, and nowhere else. The answer involves continental drift, the Pleistocene Ice Age and Miocene Weltwald or World Forest.

Catalpa erubescens X japonica
HYBRID CATALPA Z5/7m
This cross between Asian and American species of Catalpa produces a large 'tropical' leaf and hanging clusters of purplish foxglove-like flowers. Formerly called Indian Bean for its long dangling seed pods. Exotic.

Caragana turkestanica
TURKISH PEA SHRUB Z3/3m
Drought tolerant toughie from Central Asia. Suitable for xeriscaping and reconditioning poor soils, but like all transplants, it must be watered for two summers to get established. Yellow flowers.

EVERGREENS

Pruning evergreens

Abies lasiocarpa
ALPINE FIR Z3/15m
Grows in impenetrable monocultures around alpine lakes in the Rockies. Prefers damp, mineral soils. Its narrow spine-like form of considerable interest to landscapers. A cluster of Alpine Fir around a wetland always attracts attention.

Picea koraiensis
KOREAN SPRUCE Z4/15m
Narrowly pyramidal in habit with horizontal branches uplifted at tips. Exfoliating bark. Rarely offered. Korea's flora resembles that of S.E. Canada.

Pinus monticola
WESTERN WHITE PINE Z4/16m
More drought tolerant and less spreading in form than eastern White Pine. Needles long, slender and flexible, bluish-green in tight bunches. Disease resistant. Excellent Christmas tree or lawn specimen.

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