This past Saturday, I got up at 5:30 am and made the almost 4 hour drive to Gee Farms to take their annual grafting class. I know a few from the forum are going next week, but I have to work, so I went this past weekend. Unfortunately I showed up 35 minutes late because I forgot to take into account the 1 hour time difference. Nevertheless, I don't think I missed too much, and got a chance to graft 15 scions that Gary had collected. I'll probably go again next year and bring a few of my own scions. The best part is that they do the aftercare of the grafts, and you get to keep whatever makes it. We'll see how well I actually did in a few months, but after a few akward first grafts, I felt like I really got the hang of it. Only time will tell.

The best part of it was getting to talk to other conifer enthusiasts and the arboretum tour. I had a very nice conversation with Don Wild who is an extremely nice person and was there taking photos of the event.

Kary and Gary couldn't have been nicer and Gary was kind enough to give us a guided tour of his arboretum. He really went all out to make it a great experience.

Mark and Matt if you're out their lurking, I also really enjoyed our conversation and you made the tour even more enjoyable by sharing your passion for plants.

It was an extremely wet and gloomy day and my photos turned out pretty crappy, but as it is January and there is not much going on visually on the forum right now, I'll share them anyway.

(didn't check the tag but am assuming this is) Juniperus squamata 'Star Dust'

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Cedrus libani var. stenoma (Gary said planted in 2000)

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Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns'

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Picea orientalis 'Skylands' (mine have a long way to go before they look like this puppy, wish the lighting was better)

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A conifer lover's entry way, two Pinus strobus 'Pendula' formed over a greenhouse hoop and tied in the middle.

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Abies lasiocarpa X koreana (one of the conifers we grafted, definately favors lasiocarpa)

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another zone-buster Cedrus deodara 'Eisregan'

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Abies concolor 'Conica' (I'm liking this one more and more and it's officially on my list)

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(Resin may appreciate this one) Abies procera 'Glauca' cones

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I want to live here.

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And finally a few golds,

Pinus virginiana "Wates Golden'

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Pinus sylvestris 'Gold Coin'

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Pinus contorta 'Chief Joseph'

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Sorry for the dark pics, I'll go back in May or June to pick up my grafts and hopefully will be able to share some better photos. Dan

(P.S. thanks again to Kary and Gary for a fantastic day)