Hi Jaro-

Love the Bethlehem order. It looks like you picked up a couple Abies koreanna 'Ice Breaker's. Also like the Sciadopitys- appears to be 'Perlenglanz' and 'Green Star' among the 4 you received(?).

Enjoy them,
shannon

Jaro, really nice cultivars. All are exceptional and healthy.

I ordered two Ginkgo biloba 'Munchkin' and 'Mariken' from Dennis and they were quality plants and packaged well.

Enjoy your new acquisitions.

Dave

Hi Jaro, great photos. I especially like the Pinus parviflora 'Miyajima'. I can see why it's your favorite this Spring. I picked up a few things from Bethlehem for the first time this year. Nice, healthy, well-packaged plants just like you said. Thanks for posting the photos, Dan

Nice stuff Jaro!

Dax

What are all the Sciadopitys cultivars besides Perlenglanz?

Thanks everyone for your comments.

For shannon and coniferophytus, the Sciadopitys cultivars are the following:

Sciadopitys Verticillata Gold Star
Sciadopitys Verticillata Grune kugel
Sciadopitys Verticillata Perlenglanz, and
Sciadopitys Verticillata Sternschnuppe

I also asked for a S. v. Picola, but apparently it wasn't available.
These are my first ever Sciadopitys plants, so any suggestions for success are welcome !
I have been reserving some prime spots in the garden for a couple of years, in anticipation of receiving them, but its still a bit of an experiment.

The other grafts in the box were:

Abies Concolor Lavita
Abies Concolor Masonic Broom
Abies Koreana Ice Breaker (2x, as shannon noted)
Abies Pinsapo Marokko
Picea Pungens Porkupine, and
Pinus strobus Sea Urchin.

I also wanted an Abies veitchii Rumburk, but Dennis didn't have any this year.... It seems awfully difficult to get one of those, anywhere.

Any suggestions for next year's order ?

Cheers,

Jaro

Hi Jaro-
Here are some pics of plants I've gotten from Dennis-

Pinus parviflora 'Little Hedgehog'
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Pinus strobus 'Green Twist'
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Pinus sylvestris 'Skjak'
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Pinus cembra 'Kohout #3' new this year

Pinus thubergiana 'Ogi matsu' new this year
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Abies koreana 'Ice breaker' new this year also

Ideas for next year(myself included)- I've been trying to get Abies concolor 'Igel' for a few years, hoping for next year now. Any of the concolor minis are nice. Abies lasiocarpa brooms are good also.

In my experience, Sciadopitys are about the most trouble free conifers. No insect or pest issues with them so far. Completely hardy in my tough zone 5 winters.

shannon

Wow !
Thanks for the pictures and detailed reply shannon !
The good news about Sciadopitys is especially encouraging !
Which of the cultivars do you have, if I may ask ?

Pinus sylvestris 'Skjak' and Pinus cembra 'Kohout #3' sound like they're central-European origin -- perhaps even from our good friend Jan Slama ? ('Kohout' is Czech for rooster).

Jaro

Jaro - I also found Sciadopitys to be trouble free and easy to grow. I have this 6' tall and 1' wide 'Joe Kozey' plus 2 new grafts of 'Feuerwerk' and 'Sternschnuppe'..

Great stuff ! ....thanks very much.

Mind you, your "Z6 Pa" is significantly different from my Z5b.
Shannon's "z5 MI" is a closer match :O)

Anywho, I'll report on how my little experiment turns out, next year....

I suspect it will do at least as well as my Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Korean Gold', although so far it has been covered by snow during winter (the plant even has a superficial resemblance to Sciadopitys....)

What other plant might be considered a good hardiness analogue to Sciadopitys ?

Shannon, thanks for posting the pics. I just got P.p. 'Little Hedgehog' and it's nice to see what it will look like in a couple of years.
Coniferophytus, You've been holding out on us : ), your backyard looks great. Love the S.v. 'Joe Kozey'. thanks, Dan

Hi Jaro-

I have S.v. 'Sternschnuppe'(which I received as Sternschnuppe 1 at the time), S.v. 'Sternschnuppe 2(which has done very little growing and does not appear to have any interest in resembling the fine plant pictured on Dennis' website-see link below), S.v. 'Picola'(a very slow grower-1/2 to 1" per year average so far), And received S.v. 'Gold Star', 'Green Star', 'Perlenglanz', and 'Jeddeloh Compact' this year.

You bring up a good idea about conifers that are similar to Sciadopitys. In my mind(not a particularly deep or quick moving place)they could be compared to Metasequoia, although sciadopitys are not deciduous of course. They are definitely hardier than the miniature Cryptomerias that I have('Tenzan', 'Kilmacurragh', 'Koshyi'- they all suffer some degree of burning from winter temps). I can not really compare it to my Cephalotaxus haringtoniana 'Korean Gold' because any part of it that has been above the snow line in winter has been grazed heavily by rabbits, this winter I am going to cover it with a new cage that should/will make it impervious to their dam%ed attacks.
An example of how tough they are- once this past winter we received a very heavy/wet snowfall. By the time I saw what used to be my 30" tall 'Sternschnuppe', it was doubled over and the top was almost touching the ground. I hurriedly knocked off all the snow but my poor sciadopitys did not spring up, it was frozen in that doubled over position(and temps only slowly warmed up over the next 45 days, so it was like that for a long time). And now it is nearly arrow straight again and pushing growth normally- none the worse for the experience(next winter it will get some staking support- not going to push my luck).

Interesting about "Kohout" being Czech for rooster- I thought that it referenced Jorge Kohout of E. Germany(the Abies koreanna 'Ice Breaker' discoverer).
Side note- I believe Silvervista said that Echiniformis was Latin for "hedgehog".

Dan- Yes, I like Pinus p. 'Little Hedgehog' too. And no, I do not like the quality of the photo I put up earlier(my top of the line 3mp camera from 6 or 7 years ago is really starting to irritate me). So if you like that crappy photo you are really going to love your plant. It seems to have a sort of clumpy outline that is not discernible in previously mentioned crappy photo.

enjoy your gardens,
shannon

Here is a link that might be useful: Sternschnuppe II

great pix guys...

redwing... wish you didnt bury your pix in this post .. i nearly missed them ....

keep up gods work folks... ken

"They are definitely hardier than the miniature Cryptomerias that I have('Tenzan', 'Kilmacurragh', 'Koshyi'- they all suffer some degree of burning from winter temps).colr>"

Even more encouraging !
But somewhat strange at the same time, considering that in my Z5b, miniature Cryptomerias get through winter completely unscathed (albeit protected by snow cover, so far...)

"Interesting about "Kohout" being Czech for rooster- I thought that it referenced Jorge Kohout of E. Germany(the Abies koreanna 'Ice Breaker' discoverer).color>"

That could very well be -- lots of Czech names in Germany, and vice-versa in the Czech rep.

PS. Would you mind, please, revealing some details about you plant cage ? ....perhaps in a separate thread, so that others don't miss it, as Ken said.
I'm considering using something next winter too -- not necessarily against animals (I use the helical plastic tubes that you can see in a couple of the photos above, to protect the trunks), but more for protection against heavy snow load damage.....

Thanks again,

Jaro

Sciadopitys verticillata 'Sternschnuppe no 2' is also called 'Maxi Sternschnuppe'. It is a slow growing form that tend to produce several leaders (tops). Could be staked to keep a single leader. My ordinary 'Sternschnuppe' is pretty old and 4 m tall...

I have a friend who uses old birdcages to protect some of her plants and also to keep some of her perennials upright. She picks them up at garage sales.
Mike

How good this forum used to be.

Just a clinic now.

severnside...yes, I was thinking the same thing yesterday. If you want to hook up with most of the old group go here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/planetconifer/

Dave

I do read there every day Dave both big and mini. But I don't want to join, just to stay private. I see yours and everyone's pictures and it is what this place was like, a rolling conifer celebration.

Keep up the good work.

Severn

You too severnside.

The best to you.