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firefightergardener

Hobbiton conifers of the week, July 23rd

A baker's dozen this week as I have had the entire day to work in the garden, take photos, remove the dead and dying(Lost two pines). As per Will's(Waas) request, I have tried to include the source for each plant.

First a curiosity. Last year, these three plants: Abies veitchii 'Rumburk', Abies procera 'Blaue Hexe' and Abies koreana 'Kohout's Icebreaker' all put on tremendous growth, almost three inches on each of their fastest branches. This year they have grown even faster! Apparently they are very happy with their spot. These three cultivars will eventually be allowed to grow into and around eachother, my own design plan, similar to what people do with perennials. Time will tell how bad of great this idea is.

The overall planting:

Abies veitchii 'Rumburk'. That upward leader is over four inches long. Source: (Coenosium Gardens)

Abies procera 'Blaue Hexe' - Robust in all directions, a few of the branches are three inches or so. (Coenosium Gardens)

Abies koreana 'Kohout's Icebreaker' - Massive terminal growth of the leader, over five inches(13 cm!). (Coenosium Gardens)

Maybe these plants will tighten up when they get more crowded or with age. Maybe they just love the 12+ hours of direct sun and plentiful water/fast draining soil. In any case, needless to say, I'll have plenty of scion-wood for trades soon.

Cedrus libani var. atlantica 'Horstmann' - A *slower* growing blue atlas cedar, which in our climate here in the PNW, means just a very fast growing cultivar, not an enormously fast growing cultivar. 5-6 years old. (S&S)

Pinus parviflora 'Fuku-zumi' - One of the best, most of this shape is natural. (Local nursery)

Picea mariana 'Aureovariegata' - One of the best colored conifers I grow, IMO. Golden-blue-green needles. Perfect form. (Bonsai Bob-Ebay, four years ago).

Closeups.



Pinus densiflora 'Pendula' - All over the place and very fast growing. Fourth year in the ground. (Local Wa. state nursery).

Pinus strobus 'Sara Rachel' - A lovely, conical plant. Similar to a hershey's kiss. (Coenosium Gardens)

Pinus sylvestris 'Jeremy' (Coenosium Gardens)

Crytomeria japonica 'Sekkan' What a great plant, remarkable color with no burn at all. (Local nursery)

Sequioadendron giganteum 'Powder Blue' - An enormously fast growing, hazy blue giant redwood. Over seven feet of growth in two years despite horrific, compacted soil and dry Summers. (Local Nursery)

Sciadopitys verticillata 'Ossorio's Gold' - One of the best. (Coenosium Gardens)

Pinus thunbergiana 'Kotobuki' (Local nursery)

Picea pungens 'Montana Ave.' - Now here's a great example of sunlight desires of conifers. These are the same plants, planted the same year(3 years ago), from the same source and looked identical when I planted them.

Moderate to heavy-shade(and in a pot). Struggling ugly-ducky.

Part shade.

Full Sun. Doesn't even look like the same cultivar.

Pinus parviflora 'Tenysu-kazu' incorrectly known as Goldilocks. Brilliant varigation, mostly gold, full sun. (Local nursery - Boyko nursery origin).

Tenysu-kazu(Goldilocks)



Closeup.



And the planting - my signature 'chaos'.

A maple for the week. Acer palmatum 'Kotomaru' - Tiny red new leaves contrast well with the older golden-red-orange-green foliage for great effect. Mildly 'trimmed' each year but slow growing and about eight years old. An interesting tidbit, about three years ago I literally ran this tree over in a snowstorm trying to get out of my steep driveway. It was stuck under my car for a few hours, bent to hell. I finally righted my car and then the next day in the same snow storm I ran it over again. Tough little bugger and amazingly beautiful despite dry, full-sun conditions.

Hope you enjoyed, and fire away questions, I'll do my best.

-Will

Comments (19)

  • Garen Rees
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Your Picea mariana 'Aureovariegata' always looks fantastic in your garden... drool

    Sorry, I should have asked this in your other post, but where did you get the Juniperus communis 'Horstmann'?

  • sprucebud
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great photos and very interesting to see the effects of shade too.
    Thanks.
    Richard

  • mesterhazypinetum
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Will,
    I'm a fan of your yellow Picea mariana, great shots.
    Zsolt

  • Cher
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Beautiful shots Will. Everything is coming together for you and looks great. The acer is beautiful.
    Cher

  • gardener365
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I like 'Sarah Rachel', but I like many others!
    I think... maybe I'm wrong... that Bob Fincham is the originator of Sarah Rachel.

    Dax

  • coniferjoy
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Will, beautiful specimens in colour and shape!
    With keeping the leader at your 'Rumburk', it will grow into a little tree.
    The same will count for your 'Kohout's Icebreaker'.

    Pinus parvflora 'Fuku-zumi'
    Must be written as 'Fuku-zu-mi'.

    Your Picea mariana 'Aureovariegata' is a real beauty.
    The pic was taken at the right time!

    No, Dax, the 'Sarah Rachel' was found as a seedling selection by Sidney Waxman...

  • maple_grove_gw
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice beds Will, everything is thriving, as we have come to expect from your garden.

    What's the other golden spruce behind Picea mariana 'Aureovariegata' - lime-gold in hue? They look great together - each gold bringing out the tone of the other.

    Alex

  • sluice
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice! The Crytomeria japonica 'Sekkan' is incredible!

  • arceesmith
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Will, I love your regular updates from 'Hobbiton' - always a delight to see your collection. Years from now, your collection and your yearly updates will be a tremendous resource for so many conifer enthusiasts, new and old.

    Keep it up! :^)

  • alley_cat_gw_7b
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dude, That spread was real enjoyable!

  • firefightergardener
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you for the compliments. Perhaps what my gardens lack in design, flow and traditional garden aspects will be more then made up for in historical documentation, attention to detail and scope. My gardening goals(year-round color/texture interest, ease of maintenance and display of various plant collections) are coming together and while things will be ever changing and plants coming and going, I will be happy to have a shovel and pruning saw in my hands for the years to come.

    Thank you for the info Edwin and I've made changes to Pinus strobus 'Sarah Rachel' as well as Pinus parviflora Fuku-zu-mi.

    Alex, the Golden monster spruce is Picea abies 'Aurea' - and it grows very fast! I am glad the colors contrast well as for now, I haven't decided if I am going to remove either. They are about four feet from eachother, so someday they will be married. :)

    Garen, my source for Juniperus communis 'Horstmann' was S&S nursery though I don't know if it's still in production. I haven't seen it anywhere else.

    Maybe we should start a database of our own with cultivars and their sources. It would be neat to be able to find sources for plants easily just by going to an online database.

    -Will

  • Garen Rees
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I believe that d@vesg@rden.com provides this sort of resource in some sort of way (Gardenweb has banned any mention of d@vesg@rden.com due to spamming on the forums, hence the replacement of the (a) with an (@). I have found sources for a few cultivars through their site but it requires the vendors to enroll with a yearly enrollment fee and that probably won't happen. Could be a cool resource.

  • Garen Rees
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I believe that d@vesg@rden.com provides this sort of resource in some sort of way (Gardenweb has banned any mention of d@vesg@rden.com due to spamming on the forums, hence the replacement of the (a) with an (@). I have found sources for a few cultivars through their site but it requires the vendors to enroll with a yearly enrollment fee and that probably won't happen. Could be a cool resource.

  • dcsteg
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Please explain the connotation "Hobbiton" and how that relates to your garden?

    Dave

  • whaas_5a
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Best thread of plants yet!

  • dcsteg
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Will,

    Nice spread on your cultivars.

    I was wondering aboutour Cedrus libani var. atlantica 'Horstmann'.

    A photo of mine. Same cultivar? Maybe Edwin can chime in.

    Dave

    {{gwi:747847}}

    Foliage.
    {{gwi:747849}}

  • davidtree
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A great garden enjoy the new pictures every week.

  • firefightergardener
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the additional nice compliments, we all like flattery for our hard labors of love.

    Dave the naming of my garden wasn't something I was very comfortable with originally but it makes it easier then saying the gardens of that firefighter gardener guy.

    Hobbiton is a fantasy realm from the world-wide acclaimed masterpiece novels by J.R.R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings(also wrote The Hobbit). It's one of the greatest pieces of literature I have ever read and my parents read it to me as a very young child. It's deep in my heart and my tribute to the books are naming my garden after the green, happy, gardening-heavy and friendly neighborhood of most of the hobbits in the books "Hobbiton". Additionally with the focus on miniature plants, some even carrying names like 'Hobbit', 'Pixie Dust', 'Troll', 'Elf', 'Goblin' and plenty of Dwarves, it seemed appropriate.

    As to 'Horstmann', I would say that we have the same cultivar but yours was trained, staked and pruned early in life, whereas mine is a side-grafted specimen that hasn't figured out a leader yet. I haven't decided whether I will prune it or not - and in either case, I think it will spread eventually. Cedrus libani var. atlantica are generally wide-growing plants, narrow being the very rare exception. Your specimen is beautifully narrow now but may require some pruning to keep it tight over the years.

    Out to water I go!

    -Will

  • coniferjoy
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dave, I also think that the both of you do have the 'Horstmann', but like Will said, yours was trained, staked and pruned in an earlier time which will give it another appaerence...

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