Buchholz & Buchholz Nursery in Gaston may have these on a wholesale basis only. Have one of your local retail nurseries or garden centers to order them for you.
Marshall

say hey dave .... HEY!!! .. welcome to GW ...

lol ... anyway.. what strikes you about these in particular???

if you are looking for a small blue ... there might be dozens of the type available under other names ...

give us your parameters ...

otherwise.. as noted.. go to the nearest high end conifer nursery.. and ask them to order them in for you .... for spring delivery ... or fall if its too late already, for the spring order ...

are you sure pungens will do OK in your z7???

ken

Ken,

Still bumping around and learning how to use forum properly. Spoke with Buchholz (since I live in Salem, OR). They had 10 Lucretia and sold 1 in California; they pulled and disposed of the other 9; no further plantings anticipated. [Maybe some weakness in the cultivar?] Never have had Yvette planted; Iseli has some small Yvette but no plan to sell this year.

Blue spruce grows great here in Salem. I have a few other cultivars. Looking for "bun" shapes with, hopefully, silver/blue color with 10 year forecasted growth size of 2 x 2 feet as I have a very small front yard.

the most common.. is probably st marys broom ....

and the guys here have a few others.. though frankly.. i cant tell them apart ...

a lot of 'name collectors' .. and catalogs.. always talk about the 'newest'.. and the 'improved' .. and frankly... the old timers are much more plentiful.. and frankly not all that much worse.. as long as you do your homework ...

is lucretia another small blue????

FFBoy-Will ought to have a couple hundred suggestions .. and where to buy it on your coast ...

thx for the private note.. you are welcome ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: well within your size .. for a decade or two ...

Ken,

Yes, Lucretia is a small blue. Buchholz has a picture, size and notes on same at their website (that you can view).

I've looked at St. Mary's but don't know. First, it's more steel blue than silver/blue and two, these "brooms" seems to be somewhat similar to "prostrates or weeping" and I'd like a little more height in a bun shape than pictures and data has suggested. One mature St. Mary's was pictured with a 5 foot spread on a web site.

One mature St. Mary's was pictured with a 5 foot spread on a web site.

===>>> will you be around in 40 years when that is a problem???

lol ...

check out the link and see what else is out there.. buckholtz is not the end all and be all of picea pungens ...

and its FFB Wills post.. go figure ...

and dont get too wound up about bluespruce English plants.. or any plants over the pond on the continent ... they are probably rarer over here, than those you are looking at ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Here's a hedge of Lucretia.
Trees4david, if you'd like to discuss this tree a little more, feel free to send me an email.

Picea pungens 'Lucretia'
{{gwi:637641}}

Sluice,

Your photo is amazing. Would like to discuss Lucretia with you more.

I may well that retail customer who ended up with that lone Picea Pungens Lucretia that Buchholz sold in California. I bought it in late 2012 from a nursery in northern California that specializes in dwarf conifers. The nursery is located in Cotati and is called Pond and Garden Nursery. Lucretia caught my attention because of its BRIGHT, almost sky blue color. It was the brightest and deepest blue in his large selection of picea pungens.

You were one lucky person. Buchholz destroyed all the others, no explanation supplied - made me ill, what a loss.

However, I was able to finally obtain 1 and it's great. Very beautiful as you say. A GardenWeb member offered me a tiny one in a 4 inch pot but in corresponding with him personally he let me know that this tree was a Jerry Morris find and that the tree was named Lucretia after his daughter. So very cool!

Thanks for the email.

drk

That's worrisome knowing now that my beautiful Lucretia is irreplaceable. I want to preserve my Lucretia by propagating a couple of spares in case mine dies. I read that picea pungens can be propagated by rooting cuttings. I will have to give it a try.

This post was edited by potbelly_gardener on Sun, Apr 7, 13 at 3:34

Don't think too harsh of thoughts toward Talon Buchholz and his nusery. What you've seen here is simply how the business is run. After product (tree) are propagated and grown, it has a specific shelf life. If they don't sell, they become a liability and are dispatched to the compost heap without remorse. I'm sure Buchholz has a few stock plants around from which they could rebuild an inventory of 'Lucretia' if they feel it is appropriate to do so.

In the meantime, be happy with the fact that you have a collector-quality plant with a good story behind it. @Potbelly, create some more plants yourself through rooted cuttings or send some scions to grafters next winter in order to keep specimens floating around indefinitely. That's one of the cooler sides of this hobby :)

~Dave

Somehow I missed this thread when it first appeared. I have two 'Lucretia', both purchased in October 2010 from Pond and Garden. They likely came from Buchholz - most of what he gets comes from either Buchholz or Iseli.

They are wonderful plants because of their clear blue color and diminutive stature. I have one in full sun and the other in partial shade and they both look great.

The photo on the link is the one in partial shade, and, if anything, understates the impact of its color. I have a lot of gray, green and white foliage nearby and this thing just pops!

Too bad it is not more readily available. That hedge that Sluice posted is stunning.

Sara

Here is a link that might be useful: Picea pungens 'Lucretia'