Botanist needed
 

We've got this weird tree on our patio and we have no clue what it's called. I've tried searching for "Dr. Seuss Pine" but to no avail. Anyone know?

I've seen them before, but I don't know what it is. If I had to guess, I'd say it looks like it might be some kind of cypress.

What's that plant that Garfield loves to eat? It looks like one of those.

That, my dear, is a Norfolk Pine. How it got that far from Norfolk Island, I shall never know.

They signal the location of most Australian Beaches.

:cheers:

Oh, and they grow up to 213 feet tall, on average.

They used to use them to make Ships Masts. :eek: You may want to reconsider having one. :p

Yes, Norfolk pine. Too bad I'm too late to look all smart and stuff.

They won't get that tall as long as you don't plant them in the ground, but they do get quite tall. My mom used to have several until they got too tall to keep inside the house.

Yup, that's what it is.

I had one in my front yard. It was about 60 feet tall but was too close to the hous so the landlord took it out. It had a few annoying habits like when the pine cones got ripe they exploded and the seeds with a shrp end went flying everywhere. And the "leaves" dropped quite a bit year round.

Very pretty though. Mostly while they are young.

They've become quite popular here in OC, I'm seeing them everywhere. Ours is planted in the ground, in the small strip surrouding our patio, ~20ft tall. I don't expect it to become a problem before we move out of here, so I will happily enjoy it and let the next owners deal with root damage.

I always heard them referred to as star pines. They apparently aren't even a true pine. I have seen some bent branches and trunks on them but you guys seem to have a real wild one there probably because its pressed up against the building.

Whatever it is, it's beautiful.

star pine is what I was told as well. be careful where its planted. we had one in our front yard when I was growing up. its easily 3 stories tall now with a 2' trunk and was about my height when we moved in. I was 3.

We agree, such a fun and funky tree.

Whoever planted it must not have known how big they get. I've seen huge ones around here, many in public parks, so I totally believe you guys.

Thanks for the info. I totally underestimated you guys - I thought no one here would know. :)

the wind took that sucker down and out today. whacked a truck parked at the curb, crushed the front fence...I warned him. /shrug no one got hurt.

...but on a brighter note, I bought a new sawzall today! :D

Funny to see this thread bumped - I ended up buying one for my parents. I have to find out how the planting went.

Cool! New toys!

I used a Sawzall for the first time a couple of weeks ago (rented from Home Depot). I gotta get me one of them - great catharsis!

I now have a Norfolk Pine on our patio. It was our Christmas Tree this year (but it didn't have too many duties). I somehow missed this thread and wondered why, when I bought it, Chris was afraid it was going to become ginormous. Now I know where he got that idea. :)

I'm so offended. I feel like one of those cave men in those commercials....


;)

Hold on, I'll go get one for you. I had no idea you were interested, Bob.

;)

well it was either that or a ton of grunt work with manual saws chopping up the remains. I've needed one forever anyway, so it was a ready made excuse. now Im searching the yard for stuff to cut up or down. :cool: