Latin name of the genus and species: Thuja occidentalis.
Variety denomination: ‘SMNTOBAB’.
The new cultivar, hereinafter referred to as ‘SMNTOBAB’, was discovered by the inventor, Timothy Wood, in a commercial nursery in Grand Haven, Mich. This new discovery is the result of an open-pollination of the seed parent Thuja occidentalis ‘Brandon’(unpatented) with unidentified pollen parents conducted during 2003.
The new variety was first identified as an interesting new plant during 2007 at the same commercial nursery in Grand Haven, Mich. After identifying the new variety as a potentially interesting selection, the inventor first organized propagation of ‘SMNTOBAB’ by softwood cuttings at the same commercial nursery during 2007. The inventor continued controlled testing and propagation, assessing stability of the unique characteristics of this variety. At least five generations have been reproduced and have shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type.
The cultivar ‘SMNTOBAB’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, day length, and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype. The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of ‘SMNTOBAB’ These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘SMNTOBAB’ as a new and distinct Thuja cultivar:
‘SMNTOBAB’ is similar in most horticultural characteristics to the parent variety Thuja occidentalis ‘Brandon’. Plants of the new cultivar ‘SMNTOBAB’ however, differ in the following way:
Thuja ‘SMNTOBAB’ can be compared to the commercial variety Thuja ‘Anna Von Vloten’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 25,868. Plants are similar in most horticultural characteristics, however, plants of the new variety differ in the following:
The accompanying photograph in
In the following description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart 2015 except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used. The following observations and measurements describe ‘SMNTOBAB’ plants grown outdoors in Grand Haven Mich. Plants are approximately 2-3 years old, in a 3 gallon nursery container. Measurements and numerical values represent averages of typical plant types.