picea pungens are seed grown ... of every 100 seeds.. you might get 60 green ones ... 39 blue ones ... and one super blue ... in theory.. they are all different based on genetics ... its all in the seeds most super blues have been named ... and if you want that super blue one.. you buy that named variety .... and they are all exactly the same.. because they have been grafted ... vs seed grown ... so that is why they are different. ... now.. if we presume.. that a tree is twice as big underground as above ... then you can understand that 90% of the roots were cut off your 6 footer ... it should be rather understandable.. that it may not flush out new growth as heartily as it might otherwise ... and i smaller transplant ... will be proportionally less effected .. i would give them about 2 to 3 years to re-establish their root mass.. before i would start worrying about them.. your only goal.. is to get them to live... so.. its possible they may never look exactly the same ... if you care to post a pic of the other... then maybe they can compare .. below is a specimen of picea pungen Hoopsi .... planted from one foot tall .. allowed to grow naturally.. rather than shearing it into a xmas tree form ... i would suggest you forget about them being twins of each other as to form.. and just let them do their own things .... ken

Keeping a dawn redwood inside during the winter is a very bad idea for two reasons...first, without winter dormancy induced by change in photoperiod and especially temperature, your d.r. will simply stop grwing around january and begin to look sick and ugly. You can remedy this by throwing it in the fridge for three weeks once it has stopped growing, and then taking it out and placing in a sunny window. If it is already dormant, it will need a good three to four eeks of cold temps and low light levels. However, experience dictates that unless you have a brightly lit greenhouse or expensive sodium light, than growth indoors, with low indoor light conditions (even a bright sunny south facing window is still pretty low on light energy required for growth, light drastically tapers off as distance from the window increases) is always going to be far inferior and unhealthy looking to full bodied light outside. The seedling will only grow on the side that faces the window, will be weak and leggy and more susceptible to croaking in the first year, etc. My advice is to just plant it out, mulch, maybe some grate fencing, and wait for spring. Then water non stop. It is IMPOSSIBLE to overwater this species and it will thank you for it.

I haven't seen Chestnuts over here in Utah -- I assumed they just liked the East better than out here. I highly recommend the Lindens -- they do well in our climate and soils, but they are fairly slow growers. Sycamores (or the common London Plane variety) are fast growers that will live a long time and do well here in the Rockies. I'm really enjoying mine. Also, I have a Chinese Elm (also called Lacebark Elm) that is a moderately fast grower and is resistant to Dutch elm disease. It's a great tree, with a semi-weeping shape. Many of my neighbors mistakenly think Chinese Elms are the weed tree that infests much of our area, but those are Siberian Elms -- a tree with a similar leaf but much different shape and many bad manners, including brittle branches and tons of seeds that sprout everywhere. Most oaks are slow growers, but I hear that Burr oaks are a little faster and grow well here.

hi ken! Yes, it was definitely exposed to cold, spent 4 days in transit being delivered in 5-10 C degree weather. I'm hopeful it could recover on its own as you suggested. I tied it up because I couldn't keep an eye on it today and wanted to avoid the leaves falling down where our senior cat might try to chew on them. no chance him jumping up on the counter on his own :D When you said fert you meant fertilizer right? did you mean the fertilizer won't help it recover from the shipping stress or that the fertilizer won't stress it to this point? the seller is notified, also asked them for advice in case they have any suggestions too. cheers! patricia