Their web site (link, below) has a picture of what is apparently a different yet also more advanced specimen of this variety as well (It's the 10th one down).

Clearly yours needs a bigger planting site.

http://www.cadysfallsnursery.com/Conifer%20Collection%202015.html

Now that is quite the specimen. I especially like when there is a human in the photo for size comparison. Now if you could only put your head or foot down by yours. ;-)

Your little guy is looking great. Very nice bright blue. Thanks Ron!

http://conifersociety.org/conifers/conifer/picea/pungens/skyline/

had trouble with link yesterday,,,(illiterate)

embo , plenty of room,,,,surounding plants gotta go,,,were put in as shelter

after I killed the leader , I thought it was fragile (Italian

ron

embo , the same plant,,,that pic is like 5 yrs. old or more

ron

It will be someone else's problem, anyway. ;-)

the same plant

Compare planting sites - these do not look the same. So if it's the same specimen they must have moved it, somehow. Or made changes to the planting site. So that in the one view there is a fence and pine etc. right there and in the other the spruce is in the center of a planting of heathers and so on.

Thanks for the link Embo. Wow, that's a beautiful garden.

I'm pretty sure that's the same plant unless they have two planted next to the same fence with the same picea cultivar planted next to both of them. Like Ron said, the photo on the website is from years earlier. It's taken at a different vantage point from behind and to the right of the Pinus pumila if your looking at Ron's photo. You can see that the fence direction and the fat looking picea would all line up correct perspective from this vantage point.

What the heck, maybe they do have two. Ha ha, we are silly. Cool plants, great gardens!

It will be someone else's problem, anyway

sara , are you referring to the Averys retiring ? awesome place they have

ron

Okay so both shots do have a fence in view but the plantings around the tree are definitely different. And it's not a matter of different perspectives. So they must have made some changes. The spruce certainly has the same shape in both shots.

"Somebody else's problem" I took to be "it doesn't matter if a poorly placed tree is left behind that just has to be cut down later, by a future user of the site". I think it's too bad when decades old garden conifers are destroyed because they were planted in ultimately unsuitable spots. Including collection plantings where everything was jammed together originally, as if little, if any thought was given to growth and development.

they are indeed retiring from sales

mine will have plenty room to grow,,,,7 ft from house,,,4 ft clear of eaves

ron

btw don says his is 16 or 18 yrs old

So what is the alternative? We don't get to enjoy what we plant while we're alive? I'm not planting a garden just for whoever comes along 50 years later. I've overplanted, yes, and someone will have to edit later. But that's life when you're dealing with species that live, in some cases, centuries longer than humans do. It's akin to saying that we shouldn't have dogs because they just die on us. And if I were Henry Hoare, maybe I'd feel differently about posterity. But not being a member of the landed gentry, I will eventually have to sell this place (whether I leave vertically or horizontally) and it is entirely possible that the new owner wants a putting green and a tennis court and bye bye garden. We don't have control over what happens after we're dead.

Cool cultivar Ron, yours looks happy where it's at.

I agree with Sara. Designing for a 50 or 100 year landscape is likely going to result in a rather boring garden. For many of us (me anyways) it's more about the gardening and getting your hands dirty. Where's the fun if the garden never changes or evolves. And I think a collector garden is a lot different than designing something for a typical homeowner that doesn't want to work outside. Those willing to work in the garden can edit when needed.

Once I saw 'gardening' defined as 'labour-intensive farming' and yes, one shall certainly enjoy the fruit of one's work, but the average homeowner like me can certainly not enjoy anything (does not have to be gardening) if there is too much work involved, ouch

ALL THAT OTHER STUFF ASIDE , the great thing about this plant ( and the reason for this post ) is it's a blue weeper you don't have to train !

ron

So where do we find it?

got mine from conifer kingdom,,,don sent cuttings out there couple years back

ron

update , this is how it looks in 2023

ya know what , it doesn't suffer from needle cast

Looks very nice, Ron.

tj

Cool thread...

Really impressive Ron!

Thanks for the memories, Ron. This is my treasure from Cady’s Falls: Pinus strobus ’John’s Find’

OOO , I like that

I find it difficult to take a pic that really shows it well. The branches start to turn up, and then take a turn downwards…it undulates quite nicely 😊. So, the branch I’m showing here will begin to turn up at the tip, and then head down again. (Presuming it continues in the same way.) This came from their closing sale.

I am not going to spray with fungicide this year

ron

That is one gorgeous tree Ron. I am so jealous. I just can’t grow Picea pungens anymore due to the needle cast. I wish yours a long, needle cast free, life. Also so I can enjoy your photo updates.

Garen Rees

Wow, a blast from the past! How's your beautiful garden doing these days, post pictures!

Edit: I seem to remember from an old photo that you have a Thuja occidentalis 'Jantar' in your garden that I am interested in. I like the gold color in summer, but I am afraid of the amber color in winter. Do you have a winter photo of it?

The top of your Jantar looks more than OK in the photo, the rest of the tree looks great to me :-)

As to possibly differing seasonal color variation in different climates, the USDA plant hardiness zones in Poland (where the cultivar comes from) ranges from 6a to 9a (I looked up) and that's quite different from my USDA zone 4b. Perhaps other growing conditions play a role too.

(from the ACS website: This cultivar originating as a branch mutation found in 2000 by Jakub Jablonski of Lysomice, Poland on a specimen of T. occidentalis 'Smaragd.' "Jantar" translates into "amber" in the polish language and is an accurate description of the plant's captivating winter color.)

I think I will buy a container grown specimen and keep it somewhere in my backyard to watch the winter color and if OK, I will plant it in my front yard :-)

Thanks!

Garen, the tops of some of my 30 ft Green Giants were killed by bagworms, but those critters have moved on, and the tops have recovered slowly.

Oh, thanks. That’s great to know. =)

Garen , I'm thinking the 'Skyline' is immune to the cast..that is why I am not going to spray it this year just to prove it

ron

It’s absolutely gorgeous, I’m jealous! Wish I’d have gone w this instead of my ‘The Blues’…