Siberian Larch @ Morton Arboretum

We wandered around for a bit in the China/Japan section of the Morton Arboretum this weekend and while much of the plant-life is in dormancy, one of the standouts was a couple of Larch trees that were in full bud-mode.  There were a few different Larch trees - Larix X - that are in a stand together.  This section is close to Route 53, so without foliage on the trees, you get a little bit of road noise, making this part of the Arboretum a little less 'remote-feeling'. 

Here's a couple of not-so-good photos of the tree buds:

North Dakota State has a .pdf up about the Siberian Larch here. They point out this tree is hardy down to Zone 2 - which...I think the name "Siberian" implies, right?  Zone 2 is negative fifty degrees.  The Morton Aboretum folks won't have to worry about this one not surviving one of our Winters.  That has some appeal.

I've been thinking of Larch trees for a number of years and covered a few of them here including a Japanese columnar Larch tree, a weeping Japanese Larch and even bought (online) this tiny, tiny, tiny weeping, contorted tree that eventually was destroyed by rabbits.