do hemlock trees loose their foilage in the winger

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I need to cut some cedar trees in my grandmas swamp next weekend, anyway, there are a few scruffy cedars and windfall cedars that will work well, but there are a bunch of what I thought were hemlocks, about 50' tall and 14" at the base, except there is no green on the trees. There are small cones(about 3/4" long) on all the branches, the trees are alive, and they smell like cedar or hemlock? Do hemlock loose the leaves(green stuff) in the winter in Northern Wisconsin? What else would it be? Thanks a bunch, Craig

-- craig swanson (cswanson@lasermachining.com), February 24, 2002

Answers

No, hemlocks do not lose their needles. I believe tameracks (sp) do.

-- george nh (rcoopwalpole@aol.com), February 24, 2002.

Craig....Larch trees loose their needles in the fall. They have small pine cones like a Hemlock does,so some people mix them up. Hemlocks do not loose their foilage,but Larch does. Good Luck Ralph

-- Ralph in N.E.Ohio (Roadapple@suite224.net), February 24, 2002.

Those leafless conifers in that swamp would be Tamarack, also known as Eastern Larch. Scientific name: Larix Laricina. They lose their needles in autumn but not their cones. At one time, they were also common in parts of Southern Wisconsin but draining swamps for farmland has them few and far between now. However, still quite common in the north half of the state. Their range in the US is restricted to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River regions but common throughout Canada from coast to coast.

-- Martin Longseth (paquebot@merr.com), February 24, 2002.

Craig, they're also called Hackmatack trees. (Same thing as Tamarack or Larch.)

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), February 24, 2002.

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