“To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely.”- -Reflections on the French Revolution, by Edmund Burk
Pearson Creek unit
“What does he who plants a tree? He plants, in sap and wood, In love of home and loyalty,
And far-cast thought of civic good.” —- The Heart of a Tree, by Henry Cuyler Bunner
The Lovett Pinetum now (as of Spring 1998) occupies three sites. The original site in southwestern Missouri is called the Pearson Creek Unit. The project in Southeast Texas is called the Angelina Unit. The land on the western slope of the California Sierra Nevadas is called the Alder Springs Unit. For maps of the pinetum units, please see Pinetum Maps-All Units.
Pearson Creek Unit: The original 14 acres was all planted in pine trees which vary from 30 year old loblolly and eastern white pines up to 80 feet tall. There are currently about 23 species and subspecies of pine in situ. Approximately 80 species have been tested at various locations in this area of the pinetum. Presently the great majority of these pine species are from North America. In addition, there is one area in this part of the pinetum which has soils unsuitable for pines (”Wilderness soil”). In this location we are experimenting with various species (7) of junipers. This area, the original 14 acres of the Pearson unit, is located on the south side of farm road 213 hence we refer to it as the “south side”.
In June of 2008, the pinetum acquired an additional 46 acres just north of the original 14. Since then 5 areas have been planted in about 69 species of 17 different conifer genera. These genera include: fir (Abies), spruce (Picea), false cypress (Chamaecyparis), baldcypress (Taxodium), hemlock (Tsuga), arborvitae (Thuja, Platycladus), larch (Larix), false larch (Pseudolarix), cypress (Cupressus), plum yew (Cephalotaxus), dawn redwood (Metasequoia), giant redwood (Sequoiadendron), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga), Incense cedar (Calocedrus), Atlas Cedar (Cedrus) and Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria).
Pearson Creek Unit
The Pearson Creek Unit is located in Greene County Missouri, on the Springfield Plateau and has an elevation of 1350 feet and Koppen Climate type Cfa (C = coldest month average temperature between 27 degrees F. and 65 degrees F.; f = sufficient precipitation each month; a = warmest month average temperature above 72 degrees F). The Hardiness Zone is 6a (annual average coldest temperature 0 to -10 degrees F.). The year round average temperature is 57 degrees F. The average annual precipitation is 42 inches (& is increasing) and is fairly even in distribution (driest month is January and wettest month is May). The average seasonal snowfall is 17 inches. In summer there is 70% of possible sunshine and in winter 50%. The average first frost is 25 October.
This geographic area is generally undulating karst topography and the pinetum itself is in the Pearson Creek Valley T-2 and T-3 terraces and mostly flat with some gentle east facing slopes and very small area of south and north facing slopes.
Pearson Creek Unit
There are five different soil units in the pinetum, a remarkable diversity considering its area. About 1/2 of the pinetum has a soil unit known as Peridge silt loam, one of the two “best” (in terms of water capacity and drainage) soils in southwest Missouri. This soil has a depth of 72″ with average water capacity of 12.7″ and therefor it never completely dries out in normal years, but yet it has from 0.6 to 2.0 inches/hour water permeability. The pH varies from 4.5 to 6.5, organic matter is 1 to 3%, few rocks, 19 to 20% clay in the upper level increasing to 40 to 60% at 72″ deep. The other major soil unit is Goss cherty silt loam which is shallower, rockier and has more variable and less water capacity (average is 5.26 inches to 72″ depth). Water permeability is 0.6 to 2.0 inches/hour, but some lower areas seem more prone to water-logging than the Peridge soil unit. Also it tends to dry out during periods of drought and there is normally a short water deficit period the last two weeks of August. The third most prevalent soil unit, called Cedargap silt loam, is along the Danforth Spring branch and Pearson Creek and tends to be intermediate between the first two. The Gasconade unit is very limited and represents the steeper slopes of the Goss type soil. The Wilderness unit is a tiny (fortunately) area of extremely poor “hardpan” soil that has not sustained pine trees.
The major pests and diseases encountered so far at the Pearson Creek unit include bagworm, sawfly larva, pine webworm, flathead (cerambycid) borers, pinetip moth, aphid, pine needle scale, needle cast (probably Lophodermium), probably tip-blight (Diplodia), red band (Mycosphaerella, possibly Coleosporum). Control of these has been achieved in some cases with appropriate fungicides, although pruning, thinning, hand-picking or passive observation has always been the first resort with use of chemicals only when it seems imperative.
Pearson Creek Unit
Other pineculture problems encountered include focal chlorosis (treated by soil acidification with granular sulfur) and deer and rabbit damage. However these (except the deer) have been very minimal and quite tolerable, at least so far. Icestorms are the major problem because the massive weight of the ice bends the trunks. Often, it is necessary to straighten them. Also limb breakage by ice is problematic. Recent recollection suggests a frequency of about one ice storm per two years. The single most common cause of mortality in newly planted pine species is the coldness and duration of our winters.
“Established” (defined loosely as several individuals which have been there 10 years or more and currently look O.K.) species and subspecies currently growing at the pinetum include: Pinus——taeda, echinata, palustris, virginiana, rigida, banksiana, resinosa, pungens, serotina, ponderosa ponderosa, ponderosa scopulorum, jeffreyi, washoensis, edulis, monophylla, remota, aristata, strobus, strobiformis ?&/or flexilis reflexa, cembra, wallichiana and peuce.
A more tentative position (several complete growing seasons with one or more individuals) is held by: Pinus—— sabiniana and glabra.
Angelina Unit:
Angelina propagator's cottage
In April 1998 and again in June 2008, the Lovett Pinetum completed the aquisition of a new unit about 3 miles west of Lufkin, in Angelina County, Texas. This 43 acre site has a caretaker’s house and is composed of sandy loam soils typical of that supporting the great East Texas pine belt. The soils include Keltys fine sandy loam, Kurth fine sandy loam, and Alazan very fine sandy loam. These soil types provide an excellent range of available water capacity in the upper 5 feet of depth (ranging from 6.16″ in the Keltys to 8.27″ in the Kurth to 9.78″ in the Alazan) and vary from moderately well drained (Keltys and Kurth) to poorly drained (Alazan). All have site indices (expected height growth for Loblolly pine in 50 years) of 90 feet. This unit should provide the pinetum with a fairly full spectrum of the varying degrees of wetness in S.E. Texas soils.
The hardiness zone is 8-b and the site is only about 60 miles north of the border of zone 8 and 9. Annual rainfall is about 46 inches.
Meadow and lower pond-Angelina Unit
In contrast, the Pearson Creek Unit in S.W. Missouri is in hardiness zone 6-a and only about 30 miles south of the zone 5/6 border. The Pearson Creek unit has slower draining loam and clay loam soils and annual rainfall of about 42 inches. Both units are in the Koppen Climatic Region Cfa (humid mesothermal, sufficient precipitation each month).
The initial planting of many trial conifer species in these two units has been aggressively underway since the time of acquistion. For further details of the history and current status of conifers growing in the Pearson Creek and Angelina Units, please refer to the Pearson Creek Database and the Angelina Database (under the Pinetum Units headings).
Alder Spring Road
In June 1998, the purchase of a 30 acre parcel of land about 50 miles N.E. of Fresno CA. was completed. This site is known as the Alder Springs Unit because it is adjacent to the south boundry of a summer home community called Alder Springs. Its elevation ranges from 4700′ to 4800′ and is in the junction of the Transitional and the Canadian (a.k.a. Montane) Life Zones (of C. Hart Merriam).
It had indigenous digger pine, ponderosa pine, sugar pine, and concolor fir. Despite the heavy logging that occured in the Sierras in the early 1900’s, there are a few examples of each of these species on this site. Its soil unit is Auberry coarse sandy loam, derived from granitic rocks which form prominent outcroppings in some areas of this unit. Available water capacity to 5 feet depth is 9.72 “, although most of this soil is probably no deeper than 42″ to bed rock (available water capacity at this thickness would be be 6.84″, and less for shallower soil areas). This soil is well drained.
The land is relatively flat and well adapted to planting, once a dense Manzanita cover is removed. It is situated on the dividing point between the San Joaquin River (to the North) and the Kings River (to the South) drainage basins.
The Koppen Climatic Zone is Csa (humid mesothermal with uneven pecipitation distibution), typically called Mediterranean Climate because of the dry summers. The Hardiness Zone is 8b (minimum annual temperature 15 to 20 degrees F.) Zone 9 begins a few miles West and 2000′ lower elevation. Annual precipitation is around 30″.
We believe that the Alder Springs Unit, located as it is in the Transitional/Canadian interface, will support many of the Sierra conifer species.
Preliminary site development, including road improvements and manzanita clearing, was begun in January 1999 and there was a small experimental planting of westerm U.S. species in November 1998. Although there has been a high survival rate in this initial planting, many of the trees are not actually thriving. Presently we plan to concentrate on our effort in growing California endemic conifers at Alder Springs.
Looking up a Sugar Pine-Alder Springs Unit