The 'Sweet Gumball' is nice, and I like the color on 'Mighty Mushroom.'

Also, don't think you can get away with not telling us about the variegated pine behind these!

Let me know the next time you're coming to Michigan.

Very nice Edwin. Maybe they might make their way back home someday. Also, only crazy people go to the UP of Michigan in the winter! Jay

Thats a cool story with great results. A good example where hard work pays off! Congrats Edwin!
Al

Very interesting story, and nice finds. It's really something that all those brooms were just out there waiting to be discovered, maybe for the reason Jay suggests. How long will you keep them under observation before deciding which ones are worthy of release? 'Sweet Gumball' is an obvous winner, I also favor 'Madie G.' and 'Nemakegan'. 'Manestique' is an oddball with what looks like two different types of new foliage.

Alex

you just harvested those last January. How did you get that much growth in a single season? It's quite amazing.

In your initial statements, you mentioned that prior to your work with Joe and his crew in the north woods there were only 2 known broom forms of Larix laricina. In my own collection I have Larix laricina 'KBN WB' from Greg Williams and 'Newport Beauty' from Sidney Waxman. I believe that these also came from brooms. RHS Encylcopedia lists several others, many of which are easilly available in the trade.

However, I don't mean to demean your work, Edwin. A few of these will surely be winners. I especially like 'Sweet Gumball.' Once again, nice work.

~Dave

There are lots more in cultivation in the U.S. Dr. Sid Waxman (late) of UConn in Storrs, Connecticut selected many from seed from WBs. I found many when I lived in Minnesota and also from the southernmost stand of tamarack in Ohio. Joe Stupka has also propagated quite a few in PA. You have some nice ones there! This winter I will begin grafting many WB from southern pines - Pinus clausa, P. elliottii, P. taeda and P. palustris. Sadly, no larch will grow here - but Taxodium is king.

Thank you guys for your nice comments!

Jon, I also like the 'Sweet Gumball' most of all.
It's the most tight one of all and I remember well that the scion for grafting was very small, only 1 inch long!
It has a very good potential for using in small gardens and it will even look very good in a rock garden as well.
The 'Mighty Mushroom' has a very bright blue colour indeed.
I can see now that it's shape will become like the original witches' broom which was huge with a very nice shape!

The variegated pine in the background is a Pinus peuce 'Aureovariegata'.

Jay, don't worry about plants comming back home someday.
The same ones were also grafted in the U.S. but I don't know what their grafting results are at this moment.
I know you've to be crazy to go to the UP in winter time.
But remember, at the end we collected a nice amound of brooms of several species which will have a great value for us witches' broom hunters.
All together it was worth the cold and effort to collect scions of them, and ofcoarse the fun we had together which was the most enjoyable thing if I'm looking back to these expeditions...
If you're sitting at home on your bud you will never find a nice witches' broom for sure :0)

Al, you're right, the hard work payed off into a nice variety of Tamarack witches' brooms which will be availlable for collectors very soon.
The whole proces was fun: First you've to spot the brooms, then the scion collecting begins which is most of the time far from easy.
The grafting results are very various from eachother, this is differend per broom.
It's also very possible that the growing habit of a grafted broom is much differend from the original one, that's why research is very important!
The good ones will be selected for a furthur propagation which will be most of the time much easier then from scions of the original broom.
This is because they're growing in much better circumstances so scions are thicker and full of energy.

Alex, I remember one of my U.S. fellow broomhunter friends says to a reporter of a radio station": "you don't have to be crazy to do this kind of thing, but it will help for sure" :0)
The brotherhood of witches' broom hunters are all people with the same interest, from which there are only a few dozen in the world.
Maybe the witches' brooms were hanging there in the trees as toys waiting for us to find them :0)

The ones planted in my Pinetum will be observed for 2 years.
This year they will be observed without any pruning, next winter they all will get pruned heavy like a pollard-willow to see how they will develop into a nursery way of growing which are nice plants with a good saleable shape.
I think all will be released, but I want to find out which broom is suitable for which garden which are divide in categories; big garden, small garden and rock garden.

The ones you mentioned are having allready a nice shape without pruning them.
So far the 'Manestique' is weird with it's two different types of new foliage which will be very interesting how it will develop in future time...

Dave, the ones shown here are not from last January.
Like you observed well, I've a very good growth on them which is the result of a combination of several nurseriemen tricks ;0).
Prior to our work only the 'Hartwick Pines' and the 'Arethusa Bog' were availlable in a commercial way in Europe.
This is because the Horstmann Nursery introduced them here in the 80ties but now they're faded away and are rarely seen in collections nowadays...
Also in the U.S. true broom forms of this species are rarely seen at nurseries.
This is because of a lack of interest but also the grafting result isn't that hight if you don't do it in the right way.

The 'KBN W.B.' from Greg Williams is also a rare one among collectors.
That you have it in your collection will not say that its easy to find, this is because the main sources are gone.
The same counts for the other broom forms which are mentions in the RHS books, you see them rarely in collections nowadays...

On the other hand there are several Larix laricina witches' brooms seedlings selected by the late Sidney Waxman.
He selected several good ones like:
-'Beehive'
-'Blue Sparkler'
-‘Deborah Waxman’
-'Nana' seedlings only numbered.
-'Newport Beauty'
These are much more common in the trade and more easilly available because as witches' broom seedlings they're way easier to propagate then true witches'brooms which were collected in the wild at first.

Thanks for your complimnet for the nice work!

Josan, you're right about the seedlings from Sidney waxman, like said before they're more common in the trade because of much better propagation results.
I visited Joe Stupka last winter, but he didn't mention something about a Larix laricina broom.
Do you know the names of the ones he found?

You mentioned that you found many Larix laricina brooms when you lived in Minnesota.
Finding them is one thing, to collect scions of them is another ;0)
My buddy Erik spotted over a 100 brooms of Larix x marschlinsii (L. decidua x L. kaempferi), but most of them are hanging way too hight to reach them by ladder and pole pruners, but several nice ones were collected last winter and are succesful progated as well.
Next year I'll show a topic of this result.
I wish you good luck in grafting the brooms of the southern pines and hope you'll show us your results as well later on here at this forum.

This post was edited by coniferjoy on Sun, Aug 11, 13 at 16:45

Wow! 'Sweet Gumball' is a winner for sure. If I ever come across it, would love to have that one in the garden. They are all very nice looking cultivars, thanks for sharing the photos.

Dan

Is there cultivars available on market of larix sibirica?

Nice finds in a great location. Say yah to da U.P., eh!

Thanks Dan and Nate!
Dan, I guess in a few years it will be availlable in a small number in The U.S.

Jari, Larix sibirica is difficult for me to grow because they will start to flush in spring 2 weeks earlier then all the other ones like Larix decidua, Larix kaempferi and Larix laricina.
Because of this earlier new growth the chance is big it will freeze off because of late night frosts which cost heavy damage or they even get killed.

The others will do fine for your climate too...

Wow! A wonderful job!

I admire such people and they inspire me.

I had the honor and pleasure to see all these plants this summer at Edwin nursery! In life it looks even nicer than the photos:)

I can not wait until they become available. Then I should desire them all :)

Generally Edwin's garden and nursery is like a dream land!! I soon will be able to share with many pictures that I have done there. This is a must see!

Ireena

Great job, Edwin! I really like 'Mighty Mushroom' but 'Sweet Gumball' is my favorite. Let us know how the brooms you collected this winter in the U.S. turn out.

Thanks Ireena and Matt!

Ireena, I'll put you on the list for obtaining these brooms for next year, because I've some spare plants availlable at the nursery :0)

Matt, later on I'll make another post how the one's from this winter are developing.
We didn't only found brooms, but also weeping- and narrow forms of this species.

'Edelweiss Weeping'

It was grafted on a low standard because I wanted to find out first if the weeping characteristics from the mother tree would remain.
Next winter scions will be grafted at a higher standard which will turn out then in very beautiful specimens.
Also low grafts will be made which will be staked to create a nice weeping tree.