Picea sitchensis 'Bentham's Sunlight' - the famous Sitka spruce of 'Haida' lore. Amazingly bright, even in part-shade.

Abies sibirica var. alpina - acquired from a roadside nursery in Oregon. We'll see how it likes being spoiled.

Abies koreana 'Gelbbunt' - Bright variegation.

Picea abies 'The Blues' and 'Gold Drift' dancing.

Pinus mugo 'Pal Maleter' - VERY unusual candle color that lasts all growing season - and this plant is in 75% shade.

Abies koreana 'Gait' - with cones maturing.

Abies grandis 'Aurea' - SLOW growing so far, reputed to be faster with age, like so many firs.

Pinus sylvestris 'Inverleith' - Brilliant variegation though I waited too long to begin candle pruning.

Closeup.

Calocedrus decurrens 'Maupin Glow' - A rather attractive conifer all year but particularly beautiful in Spring/early Summer when the new growth pushes electric shades of gold.

Pinus contorta 'Taylor's Sunburst' A keeper of a pine and this color lasts in the Pacific Northwest for 5-8 weeks. This plant, originally a Coenosium Gardens product, has been in the ground now four years and doesn't seem to want to speed up at all - a good trait if you ask me!

Pinus mugo 'Sunshine' - Keeping with the spring variegated forms, a beautiful somewhat dwarf mugo with needles of green and gold. This is the first year it has really colored up well, a product of our sunny Spring.

Abies concolor 'Hosta La Vista' - need confirmation of the spelling, this is the Hidden Lakes broom.

The maple of the week, Acer palmatum 'Ryusen' - An EXTREMELY fast growing, completely weeping(or in this case prostrate) form with palmatum leaves and stunning fall color. My plan is to train/prune it alone the entire creek bed, fifty+ feet into the forest... Should be fun!

As long as folks enjoy this 'enabling', I'll keep on keeping on. :)

-Will

I love 'The Blues' and 'Gold Drift' dancing. Did you plant them root ball to root ball and let them play?

The blue and gold spruces are a wonderful pairing indeed.
Also, it's Picea pungens 'The Blues' but you probably know this.

'Hosta La Vista' is correct. I believe this plant was named as such because it was found as a witch's broom at Hidden Lake Gardens, and the tree was near a bed of hostas.
So they gave it a name that literally means "a view of the hostas": a pretty clever play on words, in my opinion. :0)

-Sam

Taylor has surprised me this year as its still fairly yellow. Perhaps its due to the fact its in part shade. Going on about 5 weeks now and will probably last 7 or 8 weeks.

Nice Abies concolor 'Hosta La Vista' as well. Mine is looking subpar for sure.

Thank you Sam also for more backround info on 'Hosta la vista', which is indeed a great combination name both of it's location and a common saying. The former Governator would be proud. :)

Thanks for showing us all the potential of this monster Clement, THAT is a monster, but beautiful tree. It seems likely mine won't want to stay in it's pot too long!

Sam, my graft was acquired from a local nursery that, if you haven't, you HAVE to visit. Dragonfly farms is run by Heidi Kaster out of Kingston and besides several thousand other varieties, her conifer offerings are well over 1,000 varieties. Yeah, as in three zero's behind a one. She gets stuff from all over, Iseli, Buchholz, R&R, some newer smaller nurseries in Oregon and she's been a great enabler for me over the last few years. She's less then a half hour from you I think. :)

More soon, as I'm back from vacation and just starting to get back into the swing of things.

-Will