Cher, I've been thinking about the difference in color between this one and Ken's and I remember when I was shown the second tree at the nursery that was the fuller version of what mine is 'supposed' to look like, it was not golden either. I remember clearly that the person helping me said it was a Golden Korean Fir a couple of times. Mine didn't have a label, but he had another one that looked just like it that had a label and he looked at that before telling me that. I actually believe he might have been the owner of the nursery too. Ken, aside from whether the tree will become the pretty gold color or not, that would be unfortunate, if it ended up not being a cultivar and became much too large for the space. Thanks for trying to figure it out. I am going to take some time to think about it, at least until the weekend. I'm also going to call the nursery and try to determine from them what happened to the labeling. Maybe send them a representative photo of an Abies koreana 'Aurea' and a photo of my tree planted. See if they can get more information to ID the tree. tsugajunkie, we soaked it really well when it was first planted. Filled that moat up three times, and it is deep, and it drained pretty quickly actually. Then I put the sprinkler on that whole area for 2 hours. Yesterday, when I looked at it, I thought I heard a 'sigh' when I passed. (g) Even those pollen sacks/baby cones, whatever they are, looked plumper. But -- I share your concern about the roots. Is your concern that the tree will not remain stable even after a few years in the ground? Or that the roots will never grow out into the surrounding soil? I normally work with perennials and shrubs and rarely buy a tree, and this was my first conifer purchase, so I have no experience in what to expect as far as what happens to 'root bound' in a tree. My nearest experience to this, was a 6ft Princess Holly, that was B&B and left too long and was sparse & pale. It was on sale for $30. and I brought it home and when I went to plant it, half of the rootball was like cement. Three years later, it is full and green and seems to have recovered completely. I would love to know if anyone has bought a 'pot bound' conifer and how it worked out for them? And I'm wondering, how this tree would grow if I kept it. Will it actually sprout new branches along the trunk in places where branches have broken off, or will it only produce new growth on the branches that are left and at the top? As for staking....I thought the general consensus now, was that trees that are not staked, will more quickly increase their root mass to stabilize themselves, if they have the challenge of wind to deal with? Ladylotus, thank you for your encouraging comment. :-)

Midtn: Oh, sorry, I forgot--the Abies concolor. I have not seen many of these planted around here in Northern VA, but the few I have seen apparently did fine for a while, but then they seem to get sick from something and die. I have seen maybe two or three about 50 feet tall, 12" in diameter, with sap bleeding out of their trunks and then losing their foliage. I am sorry I have not had a chance to examine any of these trees to find out what was the problem. It could be that when they get larger they are attacked by sapsuckers, and maybe that is compounded by some kind of fungal infection. I am sure someone belonging to this forum has the answer. Anyway, I won't bother to plant one here, and with so many other good choices, I would not advise you to plant any either. But Abies concolor grows across a wide area of the western states in areas that might have significantly different climates, so there may be some difference in the strains available, and some may do much better than others. I just don't know. But at my timberland in Western MD, elevation 2,700 feet and Z5, they do much better--I think. I have not seen any older ones planted anywhere in that area, but I have one about 20 years old and about 25 feet tall, looking perfect so far. The best one is near my house trailer there, and a couple of people have remarked about how pretty the tree is and wanted to know what it was. --Spruce

I put in 2 little 18" 'Golden Spreaders' last year. Fried one, and the other is in a mostly shaded location and doing very well. Dax, I see a lot of these with a lighter lime green push around here but yours is almost a cream color. Very dramatic and pretty contrast. How long does it hold? mark

Hmmmm, I'm trying to think who that could be. (the nursery) Nice looking plant at any rate. If I may be so bold, your other post on the trees forum about moving 2 20' Parrotia suggests you either have a bit of money to throw at this project or have a friend with a massive tree spade. In either case it's a shame you weren't around a couple summers ago when Dilworth Nursery in Oxford started going out of business. You could have gotten yourself some magnificent conifers for a song. The one that stuck out to my eye was a 15'+ Abies pindrow, bold and glistening in their field...needles so long they look fake. Had to be one of the largest on the east coast as I think they are relatively new to cultivation here. There were other easily spotted rarities like some 'Skylands' spruces. Sadly even though I have great google-fu I only found an auction of their easily moveable assets...it appears a 2 or so acre area of rare conifers was just torn out of the ground and chipped. I hope I'm wrong. If your nursery owner friend is connected feel free to ask him/her if he/she knows what became of their plants. This post was edited by davidrt28 on Sat, Aug 9, 14 at 17:21