Picea pungens 'St. Mary's Broom', in my garden.

Picea pungens 'Gloria', also in my garden.

isnt naming a broom a broom redundant????

regardless... i agree .... the proper name of this one includes the word 'broom'

ken

Yes...I think you are right. A better cultivar all around.

Dave

Dave

This is what Bob says about 'Gloria' on his website: "Picea pungens ‘Gloria’ is a plant that originated in England and is similar to ‘Saint Mary’ in shape and growth rate. It does not seem to have the tendency to develop dead terminal buds that afflicts ‘Saint Mary’ and thus does grow with a bit more open branch structure."

BS,
Do you think you may get more compact growth due to the cool summers in the UK? Do you know what tree/cultivar 'Gloria' was found on?
Thanks,
Mike

Dave

Dr. Landis was the name originally given to the plant. Joel Spingarn and my father collaborated on the name in honor of Dr. Landis who was on the Queen Council in Canada. He was a prolific collector on Parvifloras and after he died his sister sold the whole collection to my father and there was the golden Parviflora without a name and that is how Dr. Landis came into existence.

Dave

Picea pungens 'Gloria' originated as a witches' broom on Picea pungens 'Koster' and I believe that Don Hatch found it.

The Picea orientalis 'Tom Thumb Gold' was arbitrarily renamed to 'Tom Thumb' by some ACS people when they offered it as the Plant of the Year. When I complained the response was in effect- so shoot me. Instead, I just ignore what they did. John Verkade had Aurea in the original name so the gold has to stay in it.

The Pinus parviflora from Dr. landis sure looks a lot like 'Goldylocks'. I suspect it is the same plant and it came into North America a couple of different ways under different names.

Picea pungens 'St. Mary's Broom' has a tendency to produce a number of dead terminal buds each year which causes lateral buds to dominate on the affected shoots, tightening up the plant a bit. 'Gloria' doesn't seem to have that problem. I didn't see that problem on the 'St. Mary's Broom' at Bluespruce's. That could cause the different appearance in his garden.

I have seen hundreds of plants of 'St. Mary's Broom' up to 25 years old and never a sign of an upright shoot. Perhaps one grafted onto pungens was being overtaken by the understock?

When witches' broom or HB or hexenbesen is part of the name then it should be kept. However, I am very happy it is seldom done since so many dwarf and miniature selections have that origin. In fact, you are probably correct 90% of the time guessing wb origin on dawrf plants since that is how most originate. Most of the ones that arise as seedlings are probably wb seedlings as well.

Bob

Someday I might make a trip up to northern Jersey to see if St. Mary’s W/B is still there. It was pretty ratty looking the last time I saw it and that was about 20 years ago.

Goldylocks and Dr. Landis might in fact be the same plant but I do remember talking with Dr. Landis and I know that his whole collection came into Canada during the 70’s. He had a friend in Japan that sent him the plants. There were no tags (labels) on this plant like the rest of them had and all the other tags were in Japanese. So as I have written before and will say again my father and Joel went to the UN to have them translated. Joel had a Japanese interpreter friend who did the job.

I can not speak for the origin of Goldylocks.

Dave

I suspect that is what mine was doing although I didn't recognize it as such. What I thought to be a central leader cumming on was actually the first stages of pyramidal growth.
I cut it out now I wonder if I shouldn't have. I would guesstimate my plant to be 12-15 years old.

I also read where they are rare in the trade. I see them all the time for sale in the Midwest. So what's so rare about them? It could be a regional thing I suppose.

Dave

Good to see you're back... I've missed all of your knowledge...

Eliot

Dave

Dave