Podocarpus salignus

One of a number of exquisite and rare conifers from southern Chile, this upright, forest dweller with weeping branches and gracefully hanging foliage looks for all the world like the bamboo you always wanted. Particularly beguiling as it grows in several places with the Chilean native Chusquea culeou, a combination we observed during our first collections in Chile some years ago. Nothofagus and luma are other associates in this moist cool maritime environment. Unlike some other rarities, it has become quite at home in cultivation, adding a graceful subtropical effect in our courtyard and having remained undamaged in temperatures in the low teens F in several gardens. A plant for reasonably moist soil and average fertility, bright light to dappled shade (weeps a bit more in dappled shade). Eventually to 25-30 ft, more reasonably to 15 ft in the garden. Frost hardy in USDA zone 8.

?...piles of glossy evergreen willow-like foliage? (Hillier) on drooping branches give this elegant shrub/tree a tropical look; from the Notho- fagus forests of Chile, it?s worth a sheltered spot. PSh-Sh/M

Native to Chile. An elegant small tree or large shrub, with drooping branches and long narrow, blue-green needles. When grown as a specimen it creates a tropical effect. Container or landscape.

This species from Chile is one of the most exciting conifers for gardeners, and a personal favorite. It resembles one of those soft, weepy, tropical Podocarpus species, but - what's this? It actually likes the Northwest's climate! In the wild it may grow into a tree of 40' or more, but in gardens a size more like 15 - 25' is to be expected: it is probably best thought of as a large, conical or rounded shrub covered in weeping broad “needles” which really suggest angiosperm leaves rather than needles. These are bright green when they emerge, then mature to a fabulous shade of deep green on rich brown stems, and are about 2” long and up to 1/4” wide. It seems to appreciate regular irrigation. This has been intermittently available from specialty nurseries for a while, but it remains very rare. It seems hardy to at least 5-10 °F and may go lower than that.

Very graceful as a mature evergreen tree with fibrous peeling bark and pendent branches. Can reach an altitude of over 50' if conditions are favorable.