Not at all. Guy's were chasing witches' brooms early on and people I know living today were doing it in the 50's. It's just that these are now the predominant brooms featured in major collections.

There's a new breed of hunters now though. Several of which preside here on the forum that you might not even realize are here. This is true for The America's just as it is true for the guy's in Europe chasing them more in terms of numbers of people.

I think that's a fair assessment.

Dax

my theory ....

BI ... before internet. .. you bought what struck your fancy.. and you were happy ....

now in the generation of info overload.... nobody is happy unless they can 'see' it on the web ...

but the bigger problem .. is the peeps who have the mature specimen .... dont own a computer.. dont have a digital camera... and frankly is older than the dirt he planted his conifers in 30 years ago ... lol ....

the only odds that a picture will ever be taken.. is if one of us turns off the computer.. and starts calling the old timers from the ACS directory .... and go visit and take the pics ... and get permission to post them ..... [as an example.. the only pix i ever saw of chub's personal garden.. was from dax .. may he rest in peace]>>chub not dax... yet anyway>>

that and all the new wave stuff.. that just hasnt been around long enough to have 'old' stock

its the same in the hosta world.. the newest stuff.. was just never 'grown out' to maturity ... before release to the public... and as you note .... there are no pix of 'mature' plants ...

ken

Varies on a case by case basis. Photos of older examples of some cultivars are present in print and on the web.

Ken,

I thought about the net too. I just didn't combine my thoughts.

Anyways, you're right. And as always, humorous to me.

Dax

Good thoughts guys.

Here in Oklahoma it seems there were waves as new varieties and looks became available.

1) First, there were the native conifers to Oklahoma that are huge.

2) Then there are a block of planted basic conifer varieties that are now pretty mature plants from the 50's-60's timeframe. Lots of ponderosa pines and arborviteas.

3) The next wave seems to be in the 80's when all the colorful trees came in....Picea Pungens and Cedrus Deodara came to Oklahoma. They're all reaching maturity now and looking really beautiful.

4) Lastly, in the last 5-10 years there are tons of unusual species...all the weeping Atlas, and variegated and colorful varieties. Most are small and I'm dieing to know how they'll all turn out.

mark

While I enjoy to see mature specimens, It always scares me. Makes me realize that I have planted a lot of fancy conifers way too close together. I am 51 and this problem probably won't manifest itself in my lifetime but fear sitting up in heaven watching my prized collection being thinned with a $39 chain saw from Walmart.

beans,

I hear ya. People have said to me that "oh my what I could do with just a small portion of your land" but, I'm 36 in a few days.....and I plant for a minimum of 25 (years) if not for the entire life duration of my conifers. Seedlings I've spaced for competition and I've concluded I'll probably remove some but, maybe not. I know one thing, and that's my plantings will be able to grow to enormous sizes......what most people end up HAVING to compromise, and, it's very unfortunate. But, you do what you can and still plan ahead as best as you can.

Dax

First thing I thought when I read this title was that almost NO conifer cultivars have been seen in mature versions as these plants live hundreds of years. A 30-year old specimen is but a little adolescent, just starting to grow into it's own. Just makes me glad I started planting conifers at 30, if I make it to a ripe 70-80 years old, I'll have some neat and enormous plants to gaze upon.

Personally I still don't see a big problem or visual detraction from having conifers overlapping. Some of the most amazing specimens of conifers and pictures of conifers I have posted from visits to Coenosiums through the last year or two are often pictures of conifers who are encroaching a bit on eachother and 'mesh' into a single image, not seperated by mulch and rocks.

My plantings are continually remarked as too close, but ultimately I'll either prune, remove or let all of those plants grow into each other as I see fit.

I'm not creating my gardens to be attractive to the lady down the street or even necessarily to people here on this forum. I see them every day and as long as I find them beautiful and the setting relaxing, I'll be happy no matter how crowded someone else might think they are.

-Will

Many dwarf-ish varieties may lose their charm/looks after 30 years, and they get cut down. Many may also revert back to a more normal tree, to poor effect.

When I saw this thread had come back up I wanted to take the opportunity to say I didn't really write it to put down people's desire to have lots of small samplings in their gardens, or anything like that. I just was really pointing out that many times people are taken back when they see how some of these specimens are going to look 20-30 years down the road.....not meaning size per say, but appearance.....their colors, branch confiurations, etc. It's like those pics I put up of the mature Cedrus. Many had not seen what some of those trees will end up looking like.

I can say personally I'd love to see how a 25-30 year old Picea abies 'PerryÂs Gold', or Picea pungens 'Maigold', or Pinus parviflora 'Ogon Janome', or Pinus thunbergii 'Shirome Janome', or Picea abies 'PerryÂs Gold' are all going to look. All of these are on my specimen list I'm buying this spring. And while I can speculate size for planting, etc, I really don't know what any of these will look like later.

Not a bad thing.....just wish there were more photos of these newer varietals to view with more maturity on them.

mark

Heya Mark,

I am pretty sure Coenosium gardens has a few of those in 20-30 year old size specimens. I'll take a bunch of photos in a visit or two this winter and post them here.

If you want to make specific requests, just list them and I'll try to take pics of those specimens(and get their approx. age from Bob Fincham) when I make a visit.

-Will