Hi Bob, this sounds like another simular story :0)
It was the same with the Picea engelmannii 'Bush's Lace which was also found in a field of only Picea pungens.

Indeed, your's look like a Picea engelmannii because it's needles are standing in another angle, more closer to the branches.

You showed us this plant last winter when henk and I visited you.
I guess it's also interesting for our other forum friends to tell them some more about this special one...

Bob, does it have pubescence on the young shoots when viewed thru a magnifying glass?

Surely it looks like engelmannii, however, there are radical events that take place in nature.

Dax

Needles look too slender & forward-swept for pungens. Looks like engelmanni.

It'll surely be a premiere selection if it is. Nice semi-compact growth habit too.

Do you let the parent be for evaluation or do you graft as well for evaluation?

Very nice indeed Bob .. well done :o)

Look who's here again!
Hi Stephen, how are you?
We didn't see you here for quite a while.
I hope you can show us some pics again of your nice garden and conifers!

Hi Bob,

I bumped this one forward. Take a look at the link and the pictures posted by Mr. Sluice in the last post. Get some magnification on 'Silver Threads' and we'll (hopefully) have the answer.

~Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: close up of what they mean

Now, I am certainly no expert on species ID, but I see tremendous similarities in the foliage - the way the needles appear thin and sort of "lacy" - on this plant and one Stephen posted a week or so ago. Also the way the needles are held on the branch looks very similar. Of course bud shots on both plants would be helpful as well.

Could the species on this be Picea smithiana? If not, please explain the characteristic differences.

Here is a link that might be useful: Picea smithiana 'Sunray'

Randall, I guess that Picea smithiana (Zone 8 actually; marginal in zone 7) is not winterdy at Bob's place...

Bob, did you the "hair test" in the meanwhile?

Edwin, I would have thought Bob's place is Zone 7b-8 easily. Maybe he'll pop in.

Hey guys,

Bob regularly offers Picea smithiana 'Ballarat.' I have a very happy specimen in my collection. I have also seen 'Himalaya' and 'Pakistan' on his grounds. They all seem to have done well at Coenosium Gardens.

~Dave

That's good to know but he found this one in a batch of about 5,000 Picea pungens understock.
It would be very strange to find a Picea smithiana between them :0)

I managed to get out between rain showers with my magnifier. It is as bald as Telly Savalas. That makes it Picea pungens.

I checked 'Bush's Lace' and 'Blue Angel' and both are as hairy as Aunt Matilda's moustache.

Waas I di carefully cut scion wood to build up numbers while being selective so as not to affect the overall growth habit of the original. Then I plant a grafted plant next to the original for comparison purposes. If evrything goes as planned then I start to offer it for sale. Too many plants have been sold without proper evaluation. I wouldn't have offered 'Buttermilk Falls' for a few more years but some scion wood got out and it is getting into circulation. I wanted to evaluate its stability for a few more years. I still question it.

I can grow smithiana here but sometimes I get winter damage. I lost a nice 'Ballarat' over a two winter span that was in the ground. 'Silver Threads' doesn't fit with that species for a variety of reasons.

Being a collector I would like to try 'Sunray' but I suspect it is less hardy than the green forms and would not survive here.

Bob