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Torreya taxifolia
in Cincinnati, OHIO
private landowners, Sandy Rhoads and Tom Haffner
The couple volunteered March 2026 to plant Florida torreya. Both are members of the American Conifer Society.
Sandy wrote the article directly below that was published by the American Conifer Society in the Winter 2026 issue of
CONIFER QUARTERLY. The article reported Florida torreya's ability to grow in Ohio and Michigan:
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"The Conifer that Time Forgot: Torreya taxifolia, by Sandy Haffner (Cincinnati, OH).
The article features a pair of 7-foot tall torreyas growing well at the home of Julia and Eric Hofley of Bloomfield Hills (near Detroit).
Dawes Arboretum (central Ohio) is reported as having provided the plants as potted seedlings in 2018.
At the time the article was written, the Winter 2026 results were not yet known. But -10F as the low, along with temperatures at night "in the single digits for 10 days straight" were reported for the Hofley torreyas.
Fortunately, the article mentions Fred Bess near Cleveland Ohio as our established grower of seed-producing torreya this far north.
As of May 2026, new requests from avid conifer growers in Ohio and Michigan are coming to Torreya Guardians, thanks to the article.
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Chronological Reports
• 7 MARCH 2026 - SITE INFO: Our canopy tree species: We have beeches, a large tulip poplar, an oak, a few maples, a dying ash. Our lot is 1/2 an acre with a flat front yard and a sloping rear yard. We do have deer and we protect our plantings from them, using tomato cages and deer mesh. We use some other products like Plant Skyd as well.
• APRIL 2026 - FRED BESS sent Tom and Sandy 15 seeds double-winter stratified, so they were ready to germinate.
• 30 SEPTEMBER 2026 - SANDY reports: The seeds we received last spring were packed in damp sphagnum in a bag. We kept them in the fridge until April 15, and that's when I planted them in plastic tall pots, using the soil mix I found as part of the Torreya Guardians site.
At the time of planting, 4 of the seeds had sprouted (PHOTO below right), and I marked those pots. I planted all 15 seeds. To date, we have 1 seedling (PHOTO below left), which we will choose a spot for and put it in the ground in a week or so and protect it from critters, etc. That seedling did not arise from one of the sprouted seeds.
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