Keep the pics coming! Those are phenomonal specimens.

I'm patiently awaiting the pic of the 'Golden Ghost'.

Keeping the forum busy right now.

Damn dude, some super photos. Largest Burkes I've seen (no apostrophe).

Dax

Ken, have you officially converted to a gold freak or still a blue freak?

I see your varigated V. lantana is there as well. Did I get that right!?!

I'm going to second the WOW, my fav would be the Abies koreana 'Aurea', great color. So many plants to gather and so limited of space.

oooohhh WOW. All three are gorgeous. I love the unusual growth of Pinus parviflora 'Brevifolia'. But the color of Pinus densiflora 'Burke's Red Variegated' is incredible and makes my heart pitter patter a bit faster.

Do you think these three are hardy to my area?

Thank you for sharing all the wonderful photos Ken. I really appreciate seeing your conifers.

wow is right!!

Here's a little conifer envy from the northwest for you guys. That Burke's Red is stunning. Mine is a solid shade of green; same with my Golden Ghost. In fact, the OD pines are notorious for not coloring up in the northwest.

Thanks for posting Ken!

~Dave

nice hat trick!

Ken the specialty conifer nurseries should pay you! By the time I look at a couple more posts I will be making up a spring order.

Absolutely stunning Ken! Way to hang in there with the Burkes Red Variegated. How long did it take yours to finally settle in? Mine suffered a long slow death.

I also killed an Abies koreana 'Aurea'. After seeing yours, I may have to give that one another try.

Your trees are all maturing beautifully.

Ken, very nice colourfull pics of very beautiful mature conifers!
We will never get the colours here in The Netherlands.

Dax, 'Burke's Red Variegated' is correctly written.
The founder was Joe Burke so using an apostrophe is right...
Pinus parviflora 'Burke's Bonsai' was also one of his selections.

i thought the apostrophy was right.. it was mr burke ... and it his plant.. possessive.. so its burke's plant ...

as to this: have you officially converted to a gold freak or still a blue freak?

===>>> the trust comment would be: ANYTHING BUT GREEN ... i am a variegation-aholic .... and dont forget.. blue is a wax on top of a green..

thanks to the rest of you .. i dont know about how it will do elsewhere ... the a k aurea.. has been bullet proof ... in my cold windy sandy meadow ...

the burkes.. lost all of its needles for many years running... and frankly.. i never expected it to surviive.. but each spring it simply bursts out new needles ...

as to the brev ... well i got finagled into buying a bunch of blue pines as such.. hard to tell them apart.. but they are getting pretty cool ..

surprised no one noticed the p. glauca pendula peeking out in the second to last pic
ken

The Picea glauca is easy to spot so perhaps no one mentioned it.

I thought spotting the variegated V. lantana was impressive.

sorry.. of course it was.. i was impressed ...

sorry for not giving you that glory ... now that is one stinkee flowered plant ... i wonder where i sorted pix of those leaves??? i bet they are in the thousand pix i need to sort, name and file .. bummer ... unless you can find an old shrub forum post on it.. so i can find the super secret code.. lol .. i will look for it..

good work sherlock

ken

hey will.. hit the link for the old post.. ion viburnum ... i reloaded the pix

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

"surprised no one noticed the p. glauca pendula peeking out in the second to last pic"

I noticed it Ken, just didn't know what it was. Love it though. Of course I truly enjoy many of your conifers! =) Thank you so much for sharing them. Please do share some more? I am trying to convince my DH to allow me more purchases, to allow me to take them to the farm and plant them. So that when we retire to the farm, they'll be fairly well grown. LoL We'll see how that turns out eh?

~Tina

What happend to the leader of the Picea glauca 'Pendula'?
Did some bird sit on it?
Now you've to stake on to continue the straight form...

robins and blue jays are notorious for needing to land on the highest perch they can find ... and that is usually the leader of a pungens ....

but there is no pungens near this bed.. so that is probably the best guess there is ...

ken

I just wanted you to show off the pics of the plant.

I know folks aren't big fans fo V. lantana (invasive in areas) but the varigeated one is quite special IMO as its quite stable and consistent. Sorry...totally off topic but I did appreciate the upclose pics of the foilage.

burkes pix contrast adjusted.. and one of them cropped .. original followed by edited

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Splendid! T.

I rarely edit color unless it's way out of whack. About the only thing I use is: (sharpen) when photos are blurry or have some blur. It saves an otherwise one of a kind photo of a cone as being an example for (its) use. Otherwise I scrap photos right to the recycle bin.

I use what came with my computer:
Microsoft Digital Image Standard Editor 2006

It's a super easy program. That's why I continue to use it.

I actually think your photos that aren't altered are much more preferable.

Dax

good point dax ...

i flip my camera from pix taking to view the pix on the camera .. and use the zoom to see if i have the focus right.. i have been known to take 4 or 5 pix of the same thing... throwing all but one into the recycle bin.. truly ... this is the beauty of digital.. no waiting for developing.. and the ability to immediately throw them out ...

the one thing i can not control.. is the ambient sun/light.. so it doesnt bother me to adjust light/contrast ..

BUT I NEVER ADJUST COLOR...

ken

That's what I meant - not color! contrast/brightness - very rarely!

And see I learned something from you. Never in a million years would I have thought of .. seeing if I had the photo in focus or not. Heck all I got to do is zoom in as you say and then look.

Life's a bietch when you're dumb or isn't it? ;-)

Dax

no dax... life is all about learning.. and i know you have a great quest for such ..

that is why i widened the conversation to include camera work ....

on my camera.. a canon .... if you press the trigger button half way ... a box shows you what/where the focus is .. and that tells me to back up.. mover forward.. sideways.. whatever ...

ken

On my cell I can touch parts of the screen and make it zoom there. Does wonders for auto adjusting the brightness.

Any of the higher end cameras have that feature yet?

Ken, can you upload the pics of the Burke's variegated again? Just got one myself and trying to get a feel for how much space it will need? What growth rate are others seeing in the Midwest? Although Ken with your sand might be getting better growth rate than me with my clay soil.

Getting a little concerned that it might outgrow its space faster than expected.

It's 'Burke's Red Variegated' instead of 'Burke's Variegated'.

It's not a slow grower, it can grow over one foot per year...

sorry it took a bit of time.. very busy weekend ...

this is a splendid plant... but i want you to see this pic.. so your head doesnt explode IF it happens ...

in MI ... all yellow .. towards white tissue.. can burn off.. in a bad winter.. especially the one after transplant... NEVER FORGET.. life is all in the buds.. and even if it goes nudey .... if the buds stay hard and brown ... it will reflush ... its never going to be a dense pine ....

i swear to God i loaded all the BRV pix.. but they arent showing for me right now..maybe tomorrow ...

look at the leader growth on a pic of the whole.. looks about 12 inches to me .... so it is a bit less than a standard green dens pine ... side shoot growth looks a bit less at maybe 8 ...

this could easily be candle pruned.. to make it fuller .. denser.. and more shapely ....

ken

Thanks Ken, the pics show up well. What a spectacular specimen. My own 3ft specimen arrived yesterday and it just glows in its spot especially with the background of some blue upright junipers. I also appreciate the last pic you posted so I can be well prepared. Been reading up on candle pruning and got some advice on pruning specific to BRV from the folks at Conifer kingdom. Also got my bottle of "wilt pruf" handy.......wish me luck. Maybe will post some pics later.

We have been hit with a beetle that attaches Red Pine in N.H. and large plantings in state parks etc have been devistated and are being removed would the Burke's Red be suseptible to these beetles? Have put in two this year.

So surprised the would be experts haven't come to the rescue.