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Pinus Gold???

14 years ago

As promised some pics. First the pinus strobus 'secrest' I said I would post.

and

Pinus densiflora 'Jane Kluis'

Picea Pungens 'Hoopsii'

Finally I bought 14 of these little gold grafted conifers that were thrown at the back end of my local garden centre as a job lot as they had been there for ages and nobody knew what they were. I have planted them all, some look healthier than others although they are all in poor condition (brown needles and sparse needles). From my research I reckon they are either Pinus sylvestris gold coin or pinus contorta chief joseph. What do you all think given they are not good specimens due to mistreatment???

I got them in September 09 and they were as gold/yellow then as they are now. I am a zone 9 (an irish one which means no high temps but also rarely below zero deg C.)

From dec 09

From dec 09

From dec 09

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Comments (9)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
how many needles per bundle????

first decide if its densiflora... strobus ... sylvestrus or contorta ...

then look up aurea for each of those ...plus a few other names once you get this far ...

i can post pix at that point ...

the needles look to fine to be contorta ..... and there isnt a aurea strobus [hillside winter gold] ...

otherwise.. great plants ..... great pix.. thx for posting ....

a pic of the bud with needle bundles will get you an ID here ... but not from me ...

ken
tunilla
14 years ago
Hi Dub 2 . Nice meeting you on the forum.
I found a picture of P. strobus 'Secrest' in Van Hoey-Smith & Van Gelderen's encyclopedia on Conifers. They must have been in a hurry that day because their short comment "a shrubby form" , for what clearly appears to be a good looking plant, doesn't do justice to it - in my opinion, anyway.
Your yellow Pines could also belong to one of the clones of P. sylvestris 'Aurea'. I have a 'French' 'Aurea' wich is a pale yellow, and a 'Dutch' one wich is a deeper golden yellow, pretty much the same as what you're showing.
'Gold coin' and 'Gold Medal' ,being rarer in the trade it seems, are said to be more compact and slower to develop.
Hope that's a start. T.
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Heya fellas. I'm still compiling my photo galleries for 2012, which is probably for the best since many of my pines, alphabetically look the best in Winter and after growth has hardened off. I have several of the gold pines, like you fellas, and I guess I would say I am evaluating them. I don't have photos quite yet, but of the large growing pines, my top 5 list would probably go something like this, considering health, overall appearance and gold coloring in Winter: 1. Pius contorta 'Chief Joseph' 2. Pinus sylvestris 'Gold Medal' 3. Pinus virginiana 'Wate's Golden' 4. Pinus mugo 'Winter Sonne' 5. Pinus sylvestris 'Gold Coin' This is simply my opinion and it's also not encompassing every gold pine, just the larger ones that I grow. :) As with most of my plants, in 5 years, about half of them will be moved to the arboretum, friends/family yards or the wood pile, in 15-20 years, 80% of my current plants won't be here. Since I planted early, and tried a great variety, one luxury I certainly have obtained is the ability to keep those that look the best under the conditions they are grown in. I move plants around as I can, but naturally, there's no room for so many plants on a shy acre.
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expect all the yellow to burn during the winter .... its normal ... and as long as the buds are ok.. the plant will be fine ... they say that once they are 'established' it wont burn as much .. and mine arent old enough to prove that right or wrong... it will all depend on your micro-climate ... and its affect on winter wind and sun .... as well as your soil .. mulch and general care ... the best advice i can give.. is that conifers continue growing roots until the ground freezes solid .. which means even though you want to put the hose away in october.. you probably should be watering until mid november.. depending on the weather.. and what your finger tells you at 3 to 6 inches into the soil ... but NEVER let them freeze into an ice cube that late in the year ... good luck ken
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Thanks Gibson, the conifers in the second picture are Picea abies 'Pendula' with spring flush in the back, a row of English roses (Golden Celebration) in front just getting started. There is a lilac planted to the right, I have the name written down somewhere but its a very dark purple. The conifer in the foreground is Pinus sylvestris 'Nana'. In the third photo: Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Golden Mop' and the ground cover is candyturf or Iberis sempervirens, a spring bloomer. Quickfire Hydrangeas behind the conifers and along the front porch. The Iberis needs to be moved away from the false cypress..amazed how fast these plants have grown in my Central IL clay. Amended the whole area with horse compost and hay and then hardwood mulch on top, not dug in, just laid on top. Seemed to work, I planted some bulbs there last weekend and the soil improved dramatically.
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dublin2
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for your replies. I will look at the needle bundle and see if I can identify them. Tunilla, is 'gold coin' unusual in europe and are my gold conifers more likely to be sylvestris 'aurea' either french or dutch??
dublin2
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for all your help. I had a look at the needles and it is definately a strobus (five needle). My guess is they are pinus strobus louie. Very gold but maybe that is because they are a bit poorly?? Anyone ever seen a louie that gold?
tunilla
14 years ago
Well, if they're five-needled...forget about sylvestris.
From what I've seen being offered in France,Belgium and Holland, the 'Aurea' forms would seem the more common.
A British nursery on a French plant-show recently had a 'Gold Coin' on offer (and I regret not having bought it!) T.
PS: Whatever it turns out to be, those yellow pines are definitely a must in conifergardens, IMO .
bluespruce53
14 years ago
The gold conifer look like Pinus strobus 'Louie' from these pics
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
here is my 'louie' .... over the years .... i dont recall the good years .... i was surprised to see pix of it that yellow... in recent years.. it has never turned that yellow again .... planted in 2002 ....

something seems wrong with the dates of the pix... so they might not be in proper sequence.. but you get the idea...

ken
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dublin2
Original Author
14 years ago
Great photos ken, the first most yellow photo of yours looks exactly like my babies. Hope they grow as well as yours. What height is your eight year old louie currently??
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
its near zero F today so i am not walking out back.. but somewhere between 8 and ten feet ....

if you look at the whorls.. they are about 2 feet .....[61] meters the last couple seasons ...

ken

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