Catching up on post. LOL, Flat Stanley. My son had that project in 1st grade, and Stanley traveled! Love the pond visit. Very cute! D

You all are welcome to visit here and also see the new site any time you like. The new place is more of a drive-by, since there are no buildings there yet. But grading, irrigation, planting of California native plants on the periphery of the area, roads and building pads are all finished: so the place looks like something. If you come up to the present abbey, and I know about it and am around, I'd give you a tour. Best time would probably be from mid to late March through May. Wait...I actually do have some photos a friend took in April of '16...lemme see if I can post them on this new format of the forum....

Jan, congrats with your very nice additions to your garden. Beside Milan I've also some misspellings to tell: Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Silver Thread' Must be written as Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Silver Treads' Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Elwood Pygmy' Must be written as Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Ellwood's Pygmy' Both these cultivars ('Silver Treads' and 'Ellwood's Pygmy') were found as a mutation on a Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Ellwoodii'. Abies concolor 'Pigelmee ' Must be written as Abies concolor 'Piggelmee' This one is found as a witches' broom by the Draijer Nursery in The Netherlands. Pinus parviflora Kinpo Must be written as Pinus parviflora 'Kin-po' This one is also found as a witches' broom. Picea glauca 'Blue Planet' Must be written as Picea mariana 'Blue Planet' This species mistake we see still to often... I hope I helped you with this info.

Nice tour at my friend Bob's garden! Thanks for the nice pics of the beautiful speciments. Back in 2004 I saw many of those I saw myself, only then they were a little bit smaller :0) Some comments to these nice pics: Abies pinsapo 'W.B. # 7' doesn't exist. There were only 4 brooms found in Spain by my friend Guenther Eschrich... Picea abies 'Witches' Broom' is the wrong cultivar name for what is Picea abies 'Witches' Brood', formerly named as 'Millstream Broom'... Yep, that Abies veitchii 'Rumburk' is right to the name. In the beginning it will grow as a flat topped broom, later on a leader will develop... Pinus parviflora 'Kinpo' Must bin written as 'Kin-po' That Picea jezoensis 'Nana Kalous' isn't the right one for sure. The true 'Nana Kalous' was found as a witches' broom in the Czech Republic and will grow only about 5 cm/year. Will, if you've the same one then you both have the wrong one in your collections. May be it reverted or it's just the species Picea jezoensis... 'Marianske Lazne' and 'Marienbad' are synonyms for the 'Nana Kalous'. Abies borisii-regis 'J.K. Greece' is also written in the right way. Till now it's the only witches' broom found of this species. The J.K. means Joerg Kohout. Picea omorika 'Gunther' must bin written here as 'Guenther' becuase the double dots here at this forum will give us some troubles... Lucky Bob, again he found a light coloured mutation in a Picea omorika cultivar, formerly in a Picea omorika 'Pendula Major' and this time in a Picea omorika 'Frohnleiten'. Did he spray some special stuff at these plants so they made these mutations? :o) The Abies koreana 'Witches' broom at the left of the Abies procera 'Blaue Hexe' is indeed the 'Kristallkugel'. It's recognizable because it's flat topped... Till recently I always thought that both were German cultivars but I found out that one of them is an U.S. selection...breaking news! Abies procera 'Popisil' Must bin written as 'Pospisil'. Sam is right about the Pinus mugo var. pumilio 'Verijeken Seedling' which was only a temporary cultivar name. The proper cultivar name now is 'Milky Way'. That last pic of the Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns' isn't the right one, it's Picea omorika 'Bruns' which isn't the same as 'Pendula Bruns'. They even didn't derive from the same nursery... The full cultivar name of the Sequoiadendron giganteum 'Curtis' is 'Philip Curtis'... it's one of only a few witches' brooms of this species... I hope this is good helping info :O)