XPleet,I do not think your long render times are in the polys so much as the shadows themselves.I have an 8800GTS with 640 onboard and 2G DDR2 with core 2 DUO and they load fine,but the render times are slower due to the shadows in the complexity of the leaves,expecially with conifers.

"Many are willing to suffer for their art. Few are willing to learn to draw."