Though I've received notice from Houzz of 3 or 4 comments, the only one I can see is gardengal48's. I can't read any of the other comments in the email either as they only send you a few words of it. I've come to this forum both by clicking on the emails and the regular way I come to Garden web. Not sure what to do at this point. Perhaps the other comments will show up later.

Still unable to see any other comments, but now I'd like to know if I could use Gebelle's Golden Spring in that same spot.

Sometimes folks remove comments and sometimes for some reason, perhaps flagging by other users or certain key words, posts take days to appear.

i see all the replys.. i hope it straightens out for you ...

i think 3 of these committed suicide for me.. in my MI .... of various sizes.. and well into my learning curve ....

imo .. skip it.. unless you are desperate... or one of those peeps who thrives on the challenge... success be darned ... lol .. been there.. done that ... and perhaps with this plant ... [also with cham laws in z5 MI]

ken

Just to clarify, Ken, was it 'Golden Spreader' that kept dying or my second choice, "Gebelle's Golden Spring"? I don't want anything fussy, just something gorgeous.

According to Robert Fincham's book Small Conifers for Small Gardens (2011, Coenosium Press, Eatonville) 'Golden Spreader' burns primarily when young only. And sometimes when older during the spring, right before new growth hides the damage. With the problem being solved by planting it in part shade, where it will still color up during winter.

He also says to expect a size of 6 ft x 8 ft in 20 years.

The other cultivar is a Colorado spruce selection that has yellow tips during spring only:

http://conifersociety.org/conifers/conifer/picea/pungens/gebelles-golden-spring/

There are numbers of partly yellow garden forms of various conifer species, what is less usual about 'Golden Spreader' is how pretty much all the leaves turn entirely yellow (except for the yellowish white bands underneath) for months at a time.

>I don't want anything fussy<

What you should do is find out which conifer species do well in your area and then look for yellow forms of those.

Abies nordmanniana

==>> i dont think there are many variations on the A.n. theme .... i think you ought to look toward native range and conditions as a guide .... i would consider it fussy in MI ... but i have no idea where ever you are..

my experience was with GSpreader .... i THINK i tried from fresh graft.. to one year old.. to 3 year old plants ... i do recall a friend who bought a huge plant and had some success with it .. though i lost track of him.. and have no clue as to how long it lasted for him ....

i agree with embo ... find a local conifer collection and see if they grow it ...

ken

I'm in SE West Virginia--the idea of a "local" conifer collection is simply laughable. I guess I'm going to skip these two.

This recommends Chinese juniper and shore juniper:

Problem-free Shrubs for Virginia Landscapes

http://digitalpubs.ext.vt.edu/vcedigitalpubs/5776382787547192/MobilePagedReplica.action?pm=2&folio=1#pg1

Otherwise a listing of links to Virginia Cooperative Extension tree, shrub and ground cover information sheets including ones on multiple other species of conifers is here:

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/tags.resource.html?tag=pubs_ext_vt_edu:trees-shrubs-groundcovers#

Already just in their yew article - only the first conifer piece in the list - the 'Watnong Gold' cultivar comes up.

Pictures of 'Watnong Gold':

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=watnong+gold+yew&qpvt=watnong+gold+yew&FORM=IGRE

I don’t know how useful the Virginia cooperative extension will be for you in West Virginia, but colleges with technical/agricultural programs have been very helpful for me.

Often they have plant collections/arboreta, and though a lot of these collections are cultivar limited you can at least see what species have been/are growing in your area. Then just dig around into the cultivars of that species.

I know Yew Dell Botanical Gardens outside of Louisville had at least one nice Abies nordmanniana, and that area is more than likely a 6a/6b hardiness zone with higher humidity and summer temps.

I know Cox and Ruter, who wrote Landscaping with Conifers and Ginkgo for the Southeast (critical to every southern conifer lover’s collection); list Abies nordmanniana as being hardy as far south as zone 7b. They say ‘Golden Spreader’ has performed well with afternoon shade, and on A. firma rootstock.

Coniferkingdom.com normally has that combination (‘Golden Spreader’ on firma), but I don’t see it. However they are awesome enough to place the firs on firma stock in their own tab:

https://www.coniferkingdom.com/search.php?Search=&search_query=%22firma%22

Firma rootstock is critical to success/longevity of firs here in my NC foothills zone 7a/b, and Cox and Ruter suggest firma stock across the board for Abies success for southerners (I’m lumping your SE West Virginia in with us)

I’d say buy small, and give any variegated or yellow cultivars afternoon shade.

The other benefit of buying small is that you can take gambles that won’t hurt your pocket if they die on ya.

My Golden Spreader gets too much afternoon sun and burns so I would say it definitely need afternoon shade. It's a very slow grower in my garden.