sunshine cedar

Students of South are lucky to have the Arboretum right here — a classroom that just happens to be outdoors. The first course I took in the LHO program was Winter ID, which involved searching out trees and plants, in rain gear, with my clipboard tucked under a plastic bag. We followed our instructor Peter throughout the gardens, getting to know the conifers. The Arb's Coenosium (lit. 'plant community') has one of the best collections of dwarf conifers in the nation. 

There are handsome evergreens of every kind here, and the Incense Cedar, Calocedrus decurrens ‘Berrima Gold,’ is a must-see in winter. It lives just outside the Coenosium, on the path across from stands of tall Emerald arborvitae. It’s pretty now; a soft, faded chartreuse. But in the cold it develops sprays of bright butter yellow-to-orange gold foliage that look good enough to eat. On a gray damp day, this tree glows like sunshine.