ARBORETUM DE VILLARDEBELLE

• conservative
  to help the conservation of endangered species.
  scientific

  to study the environmental requirements of most species and to have at hand a wide choice of material.

  educational

  to reveal the diversity of the conifers.

  aesthetic

  to build a green cathedral.

  environmental

  to protect the soil from erosion.

  experimental

  to enlarge the choice of valuable species to be planted in the region.

Main trees planted for timber in the surroundings are :
Fagus sylvatica, Quercus sp., Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pinus nigra laricio or calabrica, Cedrus atlantica, Pinus sylvestris, Picea sitchensis. A plantation of Abies grandis died when 30 years old.

The arboretum (created since 1994-95) is mainly dedicated to conifers with today more than 130 different species or subspecies of Gymnosperms (quite a few cultivars are not being taken in that count). A second hundred is waiting in the nursery. Fast growing species : Sequoia sempervirens, Metasequoia, Cryptomeria, Cupressus torulosa.

Conifers in the arboretum

Emphasis is brought on rare and/or endangered species.

The Arboretum is ready to study any cooperation program with others institutions pursueing the same goals.

To ensure the genetical diversity of the trees, the plants are as far as possible grown from seeds and a sufficient number of trees will be installed. Several trials will be conducted in the Arboretum to find the best place for each species.

As far as the different types of soil and exposures will allow it, the planting will be organized into biogeographical sub-units.

Nursery of the Arboretum

• Soon after the creation of the Arboretum, it became obvious that the choice of species and the quantity of plants available in the nurseries were too limited or too expensive. Growing the plants from seeds has the following advantages :
  • there is a much wider choice of species to be obtained as seeds;
  • all trees will be geneticaly different (no clones), which is of special importance for dioecious plants;
  • it is usually much easier to get provenance information (altitude, latitude, locality) with seeds than with plants purchased in nurseries;
  • in most cases (that is : if the quality of the seeds is good, and if the germination's process is mastered), it will be possible to plan the quantity of the seedlings needed to meet the requirements;
  • the quality of the seedlings will be under control by using professional material as in the forestry nurseries (the main problem is to avoid spiralling roots - air pruning using deep pots or tubes is the solution);
  • after the first investments, the expense for each plant will be fairly low;
  • a first control of the nature of the seeds (size, color) might be important to avoid a species identification error (quite rare, but still possible);
  • there is the pleasure - among many other things - to see the birth of a huge tree from a tiny seed (Redwoods are the most spectacular example);
  • a better knowledge of the plants and their biology will be developed.
  
  
• The main required quality for growing some species from seeds is patience. If it is possible to see a Metasequoia, a Pinus canariensis, a Pinus massoniana or a Pinus patula close to 1 meter high after 18 months, it will need far more time to see most Abies species or a Pinus aristata reaching 10 cm, or even 5 cm. Some seeds (Juniperus, Cephalotaxus, Torreya, Taxus, Prumnopitys) are also long to germinate : up to 18 months.

Web Site

The site is maintained directly by the Arboretum.
The site is optimized for Internet Explorer 4.0.
The 'text only' page will not be updated as quickly as the full color version.

NEWS

3 January 1999

During the last week of 1998, 80 trees were planted in the different Units of the Arboretum.
Here is the list of the species introduced for the first time (* species grown from seeds in the nursery) :

1. Abies fraseri
2. Abies gamblei
3. Callitris tasmanica *
4. Cephalotaxus harringtonia koreana *
5. Cryptomeria japonica sinensis *
6. Cupressocyparis notabilis
7. Picea gemmata
8. Picea montigena
9. Picea smithiana *
10. Pseudotaxus chienii
11. Tsuga chinensis
12. Tsuga diversifolia

Other species planted to complete the collection :

1. Cupressus dupreziana (4x) - a gift from the INRA Antibes, Mrs Andreoli - France.
2. Metasequoia glyptostroboides (4x)
3. Pinus attenuata (3x)
4. Pinus edulis (10x)
5. Pinus koraienssis (3x)
6. Pinus leucodermis (2x)
7. Pinus resinosa (3x)
8. Sequoia sempervirens (4x)
9. Sequoiadendron giganteum (2x)
10. Taxus baccata (6x) - a gift from the Arboretum of Freiburg - Germany.
    ...

2 November 1998

During the last week of October, some 63 trees were planted in the different Units of the Arboretum. Here is the list of the species introduced for the first time :

1. Calocedrus formosana
2. Cedrus brevifolia
3. Cunninghamia konishii
4. Cunninghamia lanceolata (type and 'Glauca')
5. Picea alcoquiana (= P. bicolor)
6. Picea engelmannii mexicana (= P. mexicana)
7. Pinus jeffreyi
8. Pinus lambertiana
9. Pinus mugo mughus
10. Pinus mugo pumilio
11. Prumnopitys andina (= Podocarpus andinus)
12. Taxus brevifolia
13. Torreya taxifolia

More and more seedlings are planted that were grown in the nursery of the Arboretum (with the number of seedlings) :

1. Cupressus cashmeriana (5x)
2. Metasequoia glyptostroboides (3x)
3. Pinus coulteri (2x)
4. Pinus edulis (4x)
5. Torreya californica (3x)

Four different clones of Cupressus dupreziana (the Cypress of the Sahara Desert) - a gift from the INRA Centre d'Antibes in France, Mrs Andreoli - were also planted.

After a rain deficit during the Winter, Spring and Summer 1998, the months of September and October were quite rainy : 105 mm and 86 mm respectively, allowing most of the young trees to recover at the very end of the growing season.

Books on Conifers

1. Gerd Krüssmann, MANUAL OF CULTIVATED CONIFERS
   Timber Press, 1985, 361 pages, 455 black-and-white photographs, 231 line drawings
   ISBN 0-88192-007-X
   
   D.M. van Gelderen & J.R.P. van Hoey Smith, CONIFERS, The Illustrated Encyclopedia

   2 Volumes, with Indexes, Timber Press, published in association with the Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society, 706 pages, 2347 color photographs, 113 drawings
   ISBN 0-88192-354-0
   

   Keith Rushforth, CONIFERS

   Christopher Helm, 1987, London, 232 pages, color photographs, line drawings
   ISBN 0-7470-2801-X
   

   Mirko Vidakovic
   CONIFERS, Morphology and Variation

   Graficki Zavod Hrvatske, Croatie, 1991, 755 pages, black-and-white photographs, line drawings, tables, maps
   ISBN ?
   

   G. Callen
   LES CONIFERES CULTIVES EN EUROPE

   Editions J.-B. Bailliere, France, 1976, 2 volumes, 875 pages, black-and-white photographs, maps
   ISBN 2-7008-0012-5
   

   Peter Schuett, Hans J. Schuck, Gregor Aas, Ulla M. Lang
   ENZYKLOPAEDIE DER HOLZGEWAECHSE, Handbuch und Atlas der Dendrologie

   ecomed, Landsberg am Lech, Germany, 1994, evolutive book, two bands so far, color photographs, line drawings, maps
   ISBN 3-609-72030-1
   

   Books on Conifers by Geographical Region

   John Laird Farrar
   LES ARBRES DU CANADA

   Fides & Service canadien des forêts, 1996, 502 pages, color photographs, line drawings, maps
   ISBN 2-7621-1824-7
   This Book is published in English under the name Trees in Canada by Fitzhenry and Whiteside Limited
   

   E.C. Pielou
   THE WORLD OF NORTHERN EVERGREENS

   Comstock, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1988, 174 pages, line drawings, maps
   ISBN 0-8014-9424-9
   

   Neal J. Enright & Robert S. Hill (Ed.)
   ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHERN CONIFERS

   Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., USA, 1995, 342 pages, black-and-white photographs, figures, tables, maps
   ISBN 1-56098-617-4
   

   J.T. Salmon
   THE NATIVE TREES OF NEW ZEALAND

   Reeds Books, Auckland, New Zealand, 1996, 384 pages, color photographs, figures, maps
   ISBN 0-7900-0104-7
   

   David Alan Charlet
   ATLAS OF NEVADA CONIFERS, A Phytogeographic Reference

   University of Nevada Press, Reno, Nevada, USA, 1996, 320 pages, line drawings, tables, maps
   ISBN 0-87417-265-9
   

   M.J. Brown, J.B. Kirkpatrick & A. Moscal
   AN ATLAS OF TASMANIA'S ENDEMIC FLORA

   Tasmania Conservation Trust, 102, Bathurst Street, Hobart 7000, Tasmania, May 1983, illustrations by Fred Duncan, 110 pages, line drawings, maps
   ISBN 0-9599816-8-3
   

   Books on Conifers by Genus or Family

   Tang-Shui Liu
   A MONOGRAPHY OF THE GENUS ABIES

   Department of Forestry, National Taiwan University, Taipe, Taiwan, 1971, 609 pages, black-and-white photographs, line drawings, tables, maps
   ISBN 0-88192-174-2
   

   S.S. Negi
   HANDBOOK OF FIR AND SPRUCE TREES OF THE WORLD

   Indus Publishing Company, New Dehli, India, 1996, 232 pages, line drawings
   ISBN 81-7387-051-9
   

   Jesse P. Perry Jr.
   THE PINES OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA

   Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, USA, 1991, 231 pages, black-and-white photographs, line drawings, maps
   ISBN 0-88192-174-2
   

   David M. Richardson (Ed.)
   ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF PINUS

   Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1998, 527 pages, black-and-white photographs, figures, tables, maps
   ISBN 0-521-55176-5

   Jeremy Joan Hewes
   REDWOODS, The World's Largest Trees

   Smithmark, New York, USA, 1995, 192 pages, color & black-and-white photographs, figures, maps
   ISBN 0-8317-7381-2
   

   Michael P. Cohen
   A GARDEN OF BRISTLECONES, Tales of Change in the Great Basin

   University of Nevada Press, Reno, Las Vegas, USA, 1998, 308 pages, black-and-white photographs, color paintings, figures, maps
   ISBN 0-87417-296-9
   

Propagation Books

1. James A. Young & Cheryl G. Young
   SEEDS OF WOODY PLANTS IN NORTH AMERICA
   Dioscorides Press, Portland, Oregon, USA, 1994, 407 pages, black-and-white photographs, line drawings, tables
   ISBN 0-931146-21-6
   
   Bruce Macdonald
   PRACTICAL WOODY PLANT PROPAGATION FOR NURSERY GROWERS

   Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, USA, 1986, 669 pages, black-and-white photographs, line drawings, tables
   ISBN 0-88192-062-2
   

   Michael A. Dirr & Charles W. Heuser, Jr.
   THE REFERENCE MANUAL OF WOODY PLANT PROPAGATION, From Seed to Tissue Culture

   Varsity Press, Athens, Georgia, USA, 1987, 239 pages, black-and-white photographs, line drawings, tables
   ISBN 0-942375-00-9
   

LINKS

1. ARBORETA
   
   
   1. Lovett Pinetum
      All you want to know about Pines, you will find it here.
      
      
   2. Arboretum Freiburg Günterstal
      Great arboretum in the South of Germany; display a complete collection of Abies.
      
      
   3. Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden
      The Garden is "devoted to the collection, cultivation, study, and display of native California plants". .. Its "mission is to make significant contributions to the appreciation, enjoyment, conservation, understanding, and thoughtful utilization of our natural heritage." Index Seminum : seed source for other Botanical Gardens.
      
      
   4. Arboretum Waasland
      Kriekelaarstraat, 29, 9100 Nieuwkerken, Belgium.
      Tel: +32.3-775.93.09, Fax: +32.3-755.36.50
      Michel Decalut, Director.
      Situated in Belgium, near St Niklaas, this arboretum presents all kinds of trees. Also a very good source for plants.
      
   
   
   
2. ASSOCIATIONS
   
   
   1. American Conifer Society
      Join the ACS ! A quite friendly association whose aims are to encourage the development, conservation and propagation of conifers, with emphasis on those that are dwarf and unusual, to aid in the standardization of conifer nomenclature and to educate the public.
   
   
   
3. SEEDS AND PLANTS SOURCES
   
   
   1. Sheffield's Seeds
      Very good seeds source, with a tremendous Web site that will inform you directly on prices, availability, pre-sowing treatments, etc. You can order 2 grams and higher !
      
      
   2. Sandeman Seeds
      A quite complete catalogue of Trees and Shrubs.
      
      
   3. Semillas Montaraz
      High quality service; the seeds are thoroughly test1ed for germination.
      
      
   4. AustraHort
      AustraHort Pty Limited, formerly M.L. Farrar Pty Limited.
      Australian seeds source. Also seeds from around the world.
      
      
   5. Pieter Zwijnenburg jr.
      Halve Raak 18, 2771 AD Boskoop, Holland
      Tel: +31.172-21.62.32, Fax: +31.172-21.84.74
      Plant source for all kinds a trees. Highest choice and highest quality of the plants.
   
   
   
4. NURSERY MATERIAL
   
   
   1. Stuewe & Sons
      Do you need tubes and containers to propagate your favorite trees ? This is the address !