Will, That is one sweet little tree! Nice progressive photos.
AL

Love the shape and color but what I also noticed is how the backround evolved. The mulch type changes then lots more conifers in the pictures. Love it!

Robyn

It just gets better & better!
Thanks for sharing. :)
Here is what I believe to be the original plant at Iseli Nursery.

-Sam

Is that Iseli plant reverting or was it sheared early in life?

tj

Hey, tj.

It was cut for scion wood, and it was slow to develop a leader, but there is no reversion there.

-Sam

Hi Will,
The correct name the Iseli Nursery gave to this plant is Picea orientalis '# 1 Sdlng Skylands'.
The compact habit was grown natural, not from taking a lot of cuttings.
It will grow faster later on when a strong leader will appaer.
Also this one is susceptible for needle burn.

Great pictures of a beautiful plant.

Does anyone know, is this the same clone as that referred to as Picea orientalis 'Lil Sky'?

This post was edited by maple_grove on Fri, May 31, 13 at 5:54

Will I really enjoy your progressive year conifer pics. Things are always so well grown and become showpieces in the garden so quickly. Thanks for sharing them.

Dan

Alex, do you've a 'Lil Sky' in your garden?
If so, can you show us a pic of it?
Thanks!

Anyone familiar with Picea orientalis 'Skylands Prostrate'?
Is this just a grafted side branch taken of a 'Skylands'?

No, I don't have 'Lil Sky', though I may get one this fall :0)

Coincidentally, I had just e-mailed Dennis a few days ago to ask if it was the same as '#1 Sdlng Skylands'. Am still waiting to hear back, and thought someone here might know about it.

Looks great, Will. I'm kind of surprised at how big this grows. I bought a P. orientalis 'Iseli Skylands Seedling' from Don Howse three years ago and it has been growing less than 2 inches per year. Perhaps it still is getting established. To me the growth rate of yours isn't much different from 'Skylands' itself.

Alex and Edwin, I just received a three year P. orientalis 'Lil Sky' from Dennis Dodge. I could post a picture here but honestly, it's not much to look at. Its old growth is a dark green (probably from the stress of grafting) and its new growth is lime green. It seems to have grown about 3 inches per year so far. Dennis described it to me as a dwarf seedling selection of 'Skylands'. The only place that has is listed on the internet is Buchholz. Perhaps it originated there?

Will, do you grow Bob Fincham's P. orientalis 'Sunrise'? I have one on order for the fall. It seems to grow more slowly than the Iseli seedling.

Matt

Great time progression pics. I like the color!

The Iseli #1 Seedling is one of several seedlings that were being evaluated for a number of years at Iseli Nursery. #1 has not yet been distributed.

Some of the same crop of seedlings were donated to the ACS and auctioned several years ago. It is extremely unlikely that Will has the (as of yet unnamed) #1 seedling. It is very likely that his is a clone of one of the others that were distributed. Looks like he has a great plant, but with all the nomenclature problems already in our world, let's not get this one mixed up too!

The #1 seedling is growing about 6-7 inches of leader growth per year now. 'Skylands' in our gardens grows 12-15 inches per year. The #1 Seedling is definitely a more dwarf form. It does also appear to be a brighter yellow than 'Skylands'.

Ed gives a pretty good history in one of his articles and in the comments following the story.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ed's 'Skylands' seedling story.

While we're on the topic, how about the Conifer Kingdom offering of Picea orientalis 'Iseli Seedling'? Is this one '# 1 Sdlng Skylands' or is it a clone of one of the others?

Alex

This post was edited by maple_grove on Mon, Jun 3, 13 at 12:48

EDIT: remove duplicate post

This post was edited by maple_grove on Mon, Jun 3, 13 at 12:01

The Picea orientalis seedling of 'Skylands' referred to as #1 Seedling at Iseli (and pictured above by Sam and in the link I provided) has not been distributed.

Someone with Conifer Kingdom would need to answer your question as to the origin of their plant. It may have been one that was donated to and auctioned by the ACS as mentioned above.

Re: While we're on the topic, how about the Conifer Kingdom offering of Picea orientalis 'Iseli Seedling'? Is the '# 1 Sdlng Skylands' or is it a clone of one of the others?
-------------

Our scion came from the same plant as Wills in the post above.

-Brent

Thanks Randy and Brent for this information. I have seen Ed's story before and enjoyed reading it again. It looks like there are a lot of interesting seedlings of Skylands hitting the market, and it'll be interesting to see if and how they distinguish themselves.

Sorry, Will, if I've steered this thread OT. These questions developed naturally out of my admiration for your fine plant. :o)

Alex

Not at all, the history behind plants, particularly if it helps naming, identifying and doing some detective work, is very very relevant to this thread.

I *think* I can speak to Conifer Kingdom's Iseli Seedling offering, as a few years ago, I sent grafts to Brent with that labeling, and so thus, they are almost certainly NOT the same plant '#1 Sdlng Skylands', but rather a clone or another seedling that will need more research to determine it's exact origin. I can say that the plants from Conifer Kingdom, if they are grafts that I sent, are from the specimen I've posted at the top.

Maybe someone with a lot more experience than I have can step in and offer some more suggestions or evidence to the plant I have. It was sold from Coenosium gardens in about 2008/2009, so Bob can probably shed some light on things if he wanders through.

Cheers.

-Will

Re: I can say that the plants from Conifer Kingdom, if they are grafts that I sent, are from the specimen I've posted at the top.
---------
Yes, they are. We are selling the variety Will has posted photos of at the start of this post, as Picea orientalis 'Iseli Seedling' - this is what we received the scions as.

-Brent

Hey guys,

are you sure that what we're looking at here isn't one of Bob's own Skylands seedlings that he did at Coenosium Gardens. There is one that he has just named and will start selling in the fall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Picea orientalis 'Sunrise'

This is not Picea orientalis 'Sunrise' which we have had from Bob for the past year or so. Bob had never propagated 'Sunrise' until I requested it around November 2011 and he named it.

The photo in the link you included is the original plant, in partial shade. No plants exist that are larger than 2-years old.

This is what I recall from discussions and meetings with Bob in the past.

-Brent

I got my original plant from Don Howse as Iseli Seedling and listed it with that same name. I do not know how Don got it. If it was one of the ACS donations, then perhaps it should be considered a varietal name rather than a cultivar name?

Bob

Randall said "Looks like he has a great plant, but with all the nomenclature problems already in our world, let's not get this one mixed up too!"

This is Iseli's own fault, because THEY donated some seedlings without a name to an ACS auction.
How stupid can you be to gave it a cultivar name ahead of an auction.
Any name is ok, even when it was the name of your neighbours wife, it NEEDS a name before it get spread!
Even a varietal name will not work, this also will give confusions.

Now there are a ton of 'differend Skylands' seedlings availlable and another bigg mess has started...man, what is this a very sad situation...

Matt, look what I got here, I just found it after taking pics of the Picea glauca var. albertiana 'Crestwood Kenny':

Picea orientalis 'Lil Sky'

Another one in the same bed:
Picea orientalis (Skylands sdlg. Robert Aebel)

Picea orientalis (Skylands sdlg Robert Aebel), original seedling

Picea orientalis 'Skylands Prostrate' (5 years old)

That 'Lil Sky' looks great. Do you know where you got the scion wood from, Edwin?

I have a feeling we're going to start to see a bunch of different seedlings from 'Skylands' soon.

Hey guys. I have a Picea Skylands 1 gallon. Am I supposed to stake a leader of just let it develop one on its own. I staked one for about 6 months without any new growth and am wondering if I should remove the stake? Thanks so much everyone!

Hey Jim, If you could post a photo or two and let folks know your general location that will help you get some good responses...is your one gal. planted out or still in its pot?

need pix...

many conifer have only a spring growth spurt.. and thats about it for the season.. so its not surprising you havent seen any growth in 6 months...

i killed about 4 of there... well .. actually... they were suicides ... lol .. it will help us help you.. if we know where you are.. big city name...

what ever happened to firefighter.. and his garden?

ken