Ignore my first sorry post attempt.

Can anyone identify the green-gold conifer to the left? I haven't had a chance to ask Bob yet.

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For backround, Coenosium gardens is a five acre paradise for any conifer afficianado with several *thousand* conifers and japanese maples. It is literally jam-packed with trails meanering through a conifer-wonderland. Most of the specimens are about 15-20 years old. Bob and Diane Fincham live there and also operate a mail order nursery.

Check out the site if you're interested or if you live in Washington(state), definetly take a visit!

http://www.cnos.biz/index.htm

Enjoy!

-Will

Beautiful pictures Will. I wish I lived closer so I could visit. I placed my first order with Coenosium last winter and received beautiful healthy plants last spring. Planning my next order now. It's nice to see where they came from. (I'm sure they were a lot happier there!) I'm afraid an in-person visit would totally blow my plant budget for the entire year.

Thanks for sharing.

Kim

Looks like 'Walnut Glen' Picea pungens. I've seen a 'Walnut Glen' grow sideways like that one but 30 feet across and low to the ground (10ft.?).

Dax

looks more like p. pungens sunshine to me .. the key .. for me ... is that my WGlen has the same color all over.. where as sunshine is more of a new growth yellow color ...

man i hate the advert with image shack ...

i thought we trained you on photobucket ... rotf ....

bob pops in here infrequently .. perhaps he will settle the bet .... is there a bet ... lol ...

ken

I saw my name, saw lots of nice pictures, and noticed a question.

It is Picea pungens 'Lutea'. It had good color this year, almost as good as it consistently got when we lived in Pennsylvania. It is a nice golden to orange yellow where the sun hits the foliage and it maintains that color into winter. It is like a golden frosting that fades into the green under the branches.

I don't know the origin of this cultivar but it is very nice and very unique, although it seems to have trouble developing a nice conical shape here in my Northwest garden.

When I got the plant in 1977 from Layne Ziegenfuss, it had an AA number after the name. That meant it came from the Arnold Arboretum, but they had no record of it and I have never seen it there. Other than the ones I have sold over the years, I have never seen this plant in any gardens or arboretums.

We started selling it in 1979, when we began the Coenosium Gardens business, and stopped 5 or 6 years ago when the demand dropped off.

Bob

Heya Bob! Good to see you around. I sent you an email regarding a desire for another visit to Coenosium's.

Also, consider demand increasing for Picea Pungens 'Lutea AA'! What a beautiful specimen.

Welch/Haddow, World Checklist of Conifers (1993, Landsman's Bookshop, Buchenhill) attributed the name P. pungens 'Lutea' to "Hort. Amer. 1986" and noted that it was

An illegit. listed name*. Said to be paler yellow than 'Walnut Glen'

Jacobson, North American Landscape Trees (1996, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley) for unstated reasons listed P. pungens 'Lutea' as a synonym of P. pungens 'Aurea':

Raised by W.F. Niemetz, nurseryman of Temesvar, Romania. Named in 1905. In North American commerce since [before or during]1927. Rare. New growth gold, changing to blue-green

*Being Latin yet apparently coined post-1959

The Hort. America 1986 was a Coenosium Gardens Catalog (1 of many references to our catalog in that book).

Jacobsen must not have seen one or the other because they are very dissimilar and easy to tell apart. The 'Aurea' is a sickly, chlorotic yellow color.

Layne was always careful with his names and told me he had cut an older plant, so I considered the name to be valid Even though I don't know its origin.

The Niemetz reference could very easily be the valid name for 'Aurea' and the 1927 date possibly referred to a plant at the Arnold Arboretum or to the Durand Eastman Collection at Rochester Parks, both of which have/had many old conifers from that time period. There is also an old 'Aurea' at the National Arboretum.

Why is it when I lived in the Pacific Northwest I didn't know about any of these wonderful places? It's only NOW that I've moved away that my list of places to visit up there is growing longer, and longer.

Personally, I'm hoping to get my hands on one of Bob's Picea 'Gold Drift' conifers, amongst many others. I'm not sure why I'm so totally enamoured of the yellow hued conifers but I am. I love looking out the kitchen window and seeing my 'Skylands Oriental Spruce'. I'm slowly adding to my collection but this site certainly feeds the addiction.

gary gee has a great lutea .... to my eye.. in mid MI ... much yellower.. than the ghostly pale walnut glen ... but my plants are young ... size does matter ... in the conifer world i mean .. get your head out of the gutter ...

bought my WGlen as a tiny, tiny plant... and being new to the conifer world.. thought for sure .. it was chlorotic and dying for the first three years .... lol.. but getting bigger each year... its finally 3 to 4 feet tall .. and i finally understand the coloration ...

i took a grafting class at gee's a couple years running.. i MIGHT have a spare lutea .. do you want it fireboy ????

i potted it in late spring.. gave it away.. and it boomeranged back to me because his wifey said no ... as far as your collecting goes ... be glad you are single.. lol

i did not replant it ... and fear it will die in the pot in what we call MI's real winter ...

i will send it to you for the cost of postage.. if you want ...

it will be tagged.. but not labeled.. and i will have to remove it from my database ... to bring such full circle to the other post ....

carp .. its frozen solid in the pot ... i wonder the odds of success .... if it thaws naturally .. since we are to get a bit warmer .... enough so i can package and send it .... bob .. any idea.. moving it to your warmer climes after full frozen dormancy????

if we cant do it now.. off to the north side of the pole barn.. and see what happens in spring ... remind me in spring ... i would be glad a duplicate had a good home ...

let me know.. ken

Here's my little 'Lutea' in winter color. Complements of Ken. Grafted in the winter of 2006...right Ken?

Put on good growth this year.

Dave
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For Bindersbee,

I too LOVE 'Gold Drift' and have been lucky enough to get my hands on a couple nice specimens from Bob. He's always 'hooked me up', probably seeing that crazy-eyed glow in my eyes of a conifer-maniac. For your winter viewing pleasure, here are a few photos of 'Gold Drift' I took during my last visit To Coenosium Gardens. Great stuff:

I love how they just 'amble about' if you don't stake them. Perfect for a rock wall like this.

Bob pointed out that this one wasn't staked, but is forming a small leader(to the right) on it's own. Gorgeous.

This one is not the greatest shot, I needed more sunlight to better show it's gold hues, but you can see it's growth habit if staked high.

Lastly, one of my specimens, all set to 'drift' over a rock wall:

Yes, I figured the 1986 reference was probably to a Coenosium catalog. They should have indicated that.

I knew Humphrey quite well. Sometimes he gave Coenosium credit for listing a plant and other times he just listed Hort. America and didn't give anyone credit. I am not sure about his reasoning since the book is intended to be a listing of names and when they first appeared. Often the originator and the first appearance of the name are the same, but not always.

Ken, I would wait until late winter or early spring to ship the plant. It should be hardy in the pot if you put it against the north side of a building and push some leaves around it. Shipping it frozen can lead more easily to breakage. Also, we are still relatively mild here in the northwest and it might break root dormancy when it arrives. That could cause problems for the plant here when we turn cold after Christmas (usually then).

Bob

Hey Ken....You can always send your duplicates my way!

Barbara