Thanks !

....I'm still confused about the nomenclature -- 'Inversa' vesrus 'Reflexa'.

I got two 'Invarsa' plants from Darren at Whistling Gardens.

His plants are more upright weeping types, with a definite leader, than 'Reflexa'.
I suspect he would put the plants in your photos into the 'Reflexa' category.
Darren's Picea abies 'Inversa' is originally from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton.

Where is the Winterthur Museum, and what if any claim do they have to the correctness of their cultivar name ?

Jaro:

Boy, I know nothing about these trees. The Winterthur Museum is not far from Philadelphia, PA, but it may actually be in Delaware. It is a very famous museum of American furniture and is in an old mansion of the Dupont family, which probably planted the trees. I never asked, but any provenance for these trees might be very hard to come by. But they had a label ÂInversa" on them.

They are growing irregularly upright on their own at this stage. It is hard to see in the pictures, but they weep with a leader turning over, and then another leader starts upward, etc. I have no idea what training they had through the years.

I have seen other trees called ÂInversa and these look like they could be the same cultivar. There are two in the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. and these are growing irregularly upward on their own, but with multiple leaders. There is another older one in a cemetery called the National Memorial Park, or something similar, out on Lee Highway west of Washington, D.C. It might be in Fairfax. This tree is a bit more upright than the others and may be a different cultivar. I think Dave has posted some pics of ÂReflexa and they donÂt look like these ÂInversa trees.

In any case, it seems these trees take a very long time to develop. I was told by the curator at the National Arboretum that the larger of the ÂInversa" trees there is over 90 years old. Those at Winterthur may be close to that age.

But I have never seen any kind of "garden" tree anywhere near as beautiful as these at Winterthur. But it was something like 10 years since I was there. If I ever get back there I will do a thorough "photo essay" on them and post.

--Spruce

Excellent ! ....thanks very much for the detailed reply: much appreciated !

Is this a purely N. American mystery, or is there a European perspective on this at all ?

"is there a European perspective on this at all ?"

My perspective . . . Yeeughk!

;-)