Blazing high of 71....that one made me chuckle a bit. We haven't seen that as a LOW for a while now.

mark

Thanks for adding, Dave, we share a common taste in plants. Ours are also of similar age for the most part - it will be interesting to see how similar they are in a decade.

A handful more today:

Picea omorika 'Postorna'. I've seen great looking cultivars, especially one I believe in blue's garden. Here's my youngin', 3 years old probably.

Picea omorika 'Gunther'. Named after the legendary plant-man from Germany I believe. Nice looking dwarf.

'Frohnleiten'. Not much known about it other then it's a slow growing, compact dwarf.

'Hexenbessen'. Name means dwarf I believe in German. This plant is almost a decade old.

'Gnom'. Very unsual, like Wodan might not be pure omorika.

More to come!

-Will

Another one.

Picea omorika 'Freya'. Heading upright faster then I expected, an older specimen wasn't nearly this fast growing(!).

Does Hexenbessen mean Witches Broom in german? Joe

Yes sir it does Joe.

Some really spectacular plants you guys have (;)

Dax

Thanks for the correction Joe/Dax and the pic Clement!

Picea omorika 'Snezna Pendula'. I believe a large, irregular weeper?

'Buttermilk Falls'. A nifty new future introduction from Coenosium Gardens. An irregular, narrowish weeping spruce with splashes of white and gold present. I shoplifted it from Bob when he wasn't looking and ran for my car!

'Pancake'. A spreading omorika, I did cut off a leader attempt but it seems happy enough slowly spreading. 10+ years old.

-Will

Will, Are you first in line to buy Bob's garden when he retires?

You would be the perfect candidate.

You could call it Willnosium Gardens.

Seriously...nice selection of omorika cultivars.

Dave

Will, you're very lucky with that 'Buttermilk Falls', it's a real beauty!
Another one you wish for your collection is the 'Roter Austrieb' which means "Red new growt".
Imagine a Picea abies 'Cruenta' but then as a Picea omorika variety...
Picea omorika 'Roter Austrieb'

Hah Dave, Bob and Diane's garden is the garden that inspired me to grow a conifer garden in the first place. I told him I'd give him a half a million and he refused. I was going to up the offer to a half a million and my collection and see what he says!

On that note, a handful of omorika clones left in my collection:

Picea omorika 'White Tops'. Apparently has white or gold newer growth, mine doesn't yet. Strange plant, no idea which direction it's going.

'Karel'. No info. Slow growth so far.

'Elisabeth'. One of the best omorika dwarves in my opinion. Can't show a picture of my tiny thing without showing it's parent plant(Credit from Coenosium Gardens).

20ish years old? AWESOME.

Picea omorika 'Pimoko'. Had to double check no one posted this already. Considered a classic, a very small dwarf growing a couple inches a year with fantastic colors of green, silver and blue. Wonderful!

'Bruns'. Picked it up today for a clearance price and gives us a great plant to compare to the many confusing large upright omorika's.

'Compacta'. A big plant, need to find space - might not happen until this Fall.

Will. I see in the Bruns you picked up today a stake. My thunderhead had a stake and I asked the nursery guy if I needed to keep it in and he said no. So I'll be removing it once it's in the ground.

I love looking at all the photos. My back yard is teeny compared to most of you. I live near the water and you know how beach communities have houses on top of each other so my yard isn't large to really collect a lot but I do have a variety of great looking plants.

Hi Will,
Picea omorika 'White Tips' derived from Holland and came in the U.S. under 'White Top', but 'White Tips' must be used.
Because this cultivar is a variegated one and your's didn't show any variegations, there's a big chance that you have a reverted one.
Als yours shows 2 leaders, you have to cut the left one away.

The 'Karel' you show us isn't the right one.
The true 'Karel' derived from Belgium and is probably a Picea mariana cultivar.
It could be easy propagated by cuttings, just like all the other dwarf Picea mariana cultivars.
Picea omorika 'Karel'
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That Picea omorika 'Elisebeth' in Bob's garden looks very much the same as Picea omorika 'De Ruyter'.

Indeed, like Buddyrose mentioned, the stake of the 'Bruns' can be removed.

I never came across the cultivar 'Compacta', this is probably a compact seedling or witches'broom found by someone which had a lack of fantasy and gave it this name...

Hi Will,

Picea omorika Snezna Pendula is very similar to Pendula Bruns. Very stricta upright that needs a little help staking it to get it going up.

That's hilarious about Buttermilk Falls ! :-)

Dax

Picea omorica Virgata (location Szewczyknursery)

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Hradec Kralove

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Morava

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de Ruyter

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Alexandra

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labeled as de Buster

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Treblitzsch

Thanks for adding these great plants Rispetto!

'Zuckerhut'.

'Wodan'

'Hallonet'

-Will

Rispetto, 'De Buster' must be written as 'De Ruyter'.
It must be a badly written tag in the past.
It seems that you have a duplicate now...

Will, the 'Wodan' isn't a true Picea omorika cultivar.
It's a cross with Picea breweriana made by Kurt Wittboldt-Müller from Germany.

Picea omorica Marcela

Picea omorika 'Valenta'

This one came to me like Picea omorika 'Cinderella'

Maria

That's sure an interesting and quite-unusual color, Maria.

Dax

Looks like Picea mariana to me Maria, but my conifer eyes are young.

I have this 'Cinderella' also in my collection and always had in mind that it's not a true Picea omorika.
It's needle color isn't a combination of green and blueish silver, which is typical for this species and it's cultivars.
It could be a cross with Picea mariana, just like the Picea omorika 'Karel'...

Thanks for the information!
In any case, I like it.

Maria

Very nice and unusual colour.

Great plant.

Wolfgang

Is picea omorika "roter austrieb" available anywhere in the US? Have been trying to locate one for five years; since Coniferjoy brought up, absolutely eyecatching. Thanks

Hi Midnight,

The only place in the U.S. I've ever personally seen this cultivar is at Conifer Kingdom in Silverton, OR. However, I'm pretty sure that it's not yet for sale — they're building up a number of stock plants. This is quite normal for cool plants destined for commercial exploitation.

Based on traditional trading patterns, I can guess a couple of other growers who likely have this one.

There are a couple of "issues" with this plant and Picea abies 'Cruenta,' a Norway spruce cultivar which has a similar spring show. The major issue is that these trees get really big. In my opinion they are best suited for huge landscapes and arboreta. One day, 'Roter Austrieb' will create a witch's broom in which case I'll jump, just as I have with Picea abies 'Spring Fire.'

Another consideration is that the really juicy pictures that people post of these specimens are truly ephemeral shows. Depending on spring temperatures the red flush will last anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks before returning to typical foliage color (sometimes not at all). Personally I choose not to waste a large part of my garden for a lottery tree.

Please don't interpret my criticism as an attempt to knock the tree and bash your enthusiasm. I realize that you're new to this world and I hope to help to offer the fruit of my experience.

Glaciers_end,

Thank you so much for the info. and your knowledge of "Roter Austrieb"; from the way it was described by coniferjoy, I thought or had strongly hoped this might be a dwarf of Picea abies "Cruenta", I'm with you about wasting that kind of space for one tree. But from what you are telling me; it's another large, which I avoid for our home garden here in West Seattle. I have been admiring "Cruenta" for years; it takes everything from me to walk away every time I lay eyes on it, even with most dwarf in my collection --- if it exceeds a 18 ft high or 8 feet wide I bonsai it in a large pot (very large pot sometimes). I do appreciate your knowledge and heads up. Haven't been able to find much information on it (Roter Austrieb) but love the characteristics too much; worst comes to worst, I'll take it down to our 498 acres ranch in Monmouth, OR (30 minutes out of Salem).

Like you; I normally wait around for at least 10 years for new species out of country to hit US growers, and another 5 years for it to hit the market place. Unless I get a buddy to quarantine and clear customs for me from oversea (haha); I've only done that a few times with a close friend that's was the CFO of DeBeers, another conifer and gardening nut for the rare and unusual. My godfather in England was a secondary that I use to request for certain plants; but he is of an age that I don't make these request anymore, so I'll wait like everyone else.

It would have been easier if I had the time to heavily collect conifers; when I was working for Mitsubishi in Pulp&Paper/Log&Lumber business for 12 years, I guest I can still go back to some of them -- if I really got to have something (generous friends, old colleagues, and clients). But that industry kept me from even putting conifers in my yard back in those days; to many peoples jobs domestically and globally, it's hard when on occasion you actually fly over to inspect some of the fields of conifer being cut (in Canada, US, New Zealand, Australia, etc.). I did go on a management retreat at for a week to a famous nursery and bonsai (highly regarded place) for executives to learn the art of bonsai; Mitsubishi sent me on, but I was not allowed even to have one in my office. Hopefully this explains a little of my lateness to the party of conifer addiction and collecting --also a few other things that I don't want or can mention here.

Got the bug in my late 30's; now being 50 years old, I don't hesitate to pull the trigger most time for specimen size on some things -- keeps the economy going and people in jobs. It's more my husband when it comes to pulling the trigger for specimens than me thou, he wants to see and touch them in our own sanctuary (in our life time) --- because it's part of our home office he proclaims whenever I hesitate on something. My husband also teases me that I want to reverse the "Greenhouse effect" all by myself; I tell him there are lots of people like me, this forum confirms that to me and him.

Connections and contacts in almost 30 years of international trades and international finance; makes my passion of gardening or other hobbies gives me a little more advantages to others if I really want to take advantage of that, but I don't.

I also would like to apologize to you of earlier correspondences regarding the upcoming Sept. 2016 Regional Conifer Tour that you are hosting. It's just that I get enough out of the blue cold calls for everything. Bill Hibler knows that he has my permission to give you my contact information. If you read some earlier comments on thread "Conifer Addicts" after I posted a few pictures of my garden - also might explain my reaction towards you following your request.

Cheers,

glaciers_end; I forgot to mention that other conifers that have winter shows, that morph -- does the same thing (due to weather, temperature, amount of sun, etc.). But when it does have that perfect conditions; it puts on the show, no matter how short live --- I considerate it as part of it's unique and individual characteristics that we all work and toil so hard in the dirt to achieve in our gardens. We just need not take ourselves to task as to "what did we do wrong?"

Cheers,

Good morning,

the comments on the previous thread are water under the bridge. That was then. This is now.

Your observations about seasonal changes in our plants is spot on. In fact in some parts of the country there is now change at all. A good example is Bob Fincham's introduction, Picea abies 'Gold Drift' and its progeny, the various hybrids of it and 'Acrocona.' Here in the Pacific Northwest they are magnificent golden conifers, yet in the southeast, they are as green as the grass. It all has to do with the quality of the sunlight.

As for 'Cruenta,' 'Rubraspicata,' 'Roter Austrieb,' and the like. I still highly recommend you wait until dwarf cultivars of these arise. For example, Picea abies 'Spring Fire' is a miniature cultivar of 'Rubraspicata' found as a witch's broom at Iseli Nursery. Although Iseli never really released it, the ACS has auctioned it a few times and a few other nurseries are ramping up production on it. I have a couple of these in my collection as well (knowing how to graft one's own stuff is very helpful).

have a good day!

I also believe that if one is successful enough to make any plant flourish; if it outgrows one's garden space, you can give it to some that has the space or donate it to a park, arboretum, etc., etc., etc. Found several that are really temperamental; that it likes being potted, not in the ground (i.e.: "rimplar", cunninghamia k. "little leo", cryptomeria j. "ryokogu coyokyu", etc.). Trial and error; I will try these three in a rockery which would restrict their roots more, to see if I could be successful with it --- because the ones I have in small pots seem to thrive and l love their characteristics too much to completely take out of my garden. Cheers,

"Temperamental Conifers" would be a great topic for a new thread. The old-timers here get annoyed when we stray too far from the original topic. :)

Good idea; "Temperamental Conifers", I'll start one --- maybe others can chime in to help us to build a list before we make the investments on these critters. Have a great day too glaciers_end; and thanks for all the heads up and recommendation earlier.

I'll just put one of each of the three you listed earlier on the ranch when I get my hands on it; we can at least enjoy them, when we are down there. Maybe it will throw out a broom; but we can at least be a good steward to try to preserve some of these large species, the environment, and great micro-climates are hard to come by to create a good space for the wildlife too. Cheers,

Who keeps digging up these ancient posts? Houzz. Never happened on the old GW.

davesconifers: I know that I am one of the people that is digging up some of theseancient posts, but not the only one. I'm happy to admit it; sorry if it is not standard protocol, like I mention to Ken -- I'm new to join this last fall. But it helps me with the older members experience to provide info.; i.e.: glaciers_end knowledgeable and experience to reference and quickly send suggestions and advice. Cheers, midnightsummerdream p.s.: gave me the idea and great suggestion to start new thread of "Temperamental Conifers" to help one another

Not a problem. Was just curious. If it helps you, there is a lot of good information locked up here, go for it.