Larix laricina 'Girard Dwarf' / Girard Dwarf tamarack

Larix laricina 'Girard Dwarf' is an irregularly spreading slow-growing selection of tamarck with many upright, twiggy shoots, soft pale green deciduous foliage and bright red new seed cones in the early spring. Annual rate of growth is around 5 inches (12 cm) per year; somewhat wider than tall, resulting in an irregular deciduous shrub 5 feet (1.2 m) tall and 6.5 (2 m) wide after 10 years in the landscape.

This cultivar originated as a witch's broom found in the early 1990s by Pete Girard and introduced to the nursery trade by his namesake nursery in Geneva, Ohio. It has been seen listed in the nursery trade as 'Girard's Witch's Broom' or as 'Girard Nana' which is illegitimate because it was named after 1959.

Larix lariciana 'Girard Dwarf' at Michigan State University, Franklin, Michigan, USA.
Photo by F.D. Richards, via Flickr
Larix laricina 'Girard Dwarf' at the Harper Collection of Dwarf & Rare Conifers, Hidden Lake Gardens, Tipton, Michigan, USAI. Photo taken August of 2005.
Photo by Dax Herbst
Larix laricina 'Girard Dwarf' at the Mission Oaks Garden, Zanesville, Ohio. Photo taken during the ACS National Meeting June 25, 2016.
Photo by William Dunagin
Larix laricina 'Girard Dwarf' at the Dawes Arboretum, Newark, Ohio.
Photo by David Olszyk
Larix laricina 'Girard Dwarf' — a closeup of foliage detail.
Photo by David Olszyk

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