I have a couple of problems with this plant. First of all the name is illegitimate and second, it is indistinguishable from 'The Blues'. When it was first shown at the Farwest Show in 2005, Larry Stanley was beside himself. There was another nursery that tried the same thing at the same time but they have dropped off of the radar. You cannot base any conclusions on one or two specimens. Look at nursery rows of each and then make a preliminary determination. Eshragi applied for a trademark of the name and did not do any followup. That is a bit suspicious. Look at the four pictures on this site and see how different these plants look from each other at the nursery. The top left picture looks like Larry's original plant. Bob Here is a link that might be useful: trademarks

Yeah that would drive me crazy... I had a few light colored Jap maples that I took out... just because my mid summer nearly every leaf was brown. You just never know until you try something out. Actually, I don't really have anything blue to fit this location. Most of my blues are small ground hugging conifers with the Exception of 'Hoopsii'. Although the perfect color, it would outgrow the space fast. If you look close and I mean very close, you can see the 6" 'Hoopsii' in the photo above Actually, you can't see the plant itself... just the white nursery tag lol. I do have 2 picea pungens 'Sester's Dwarf'. One of them is in a bed by itself that I decided to put on hold for a couple of years. This bed doesn't have an mulch or other trees... just a little dead grass from the roundup I used to outline the bed. This could be another option. I'm thinking to much about it, I know... but it looks like my options are: 1) Picea pungens 'Sester's Dwarf' (right now it's about 2' tall) 2)Picea pungens 'Glauca Pendula' 3) A red Japanese maple such as Acer palmatum 'Skeeter's broom' or similar. Japanese maples offer the best red colored trees IMO, but I would hate to buy one until I see how my current 6-7 will do over the next few years. 2 of them hate sun, and the rest suffer slight dieback in the winter. So I'm still testing the water on these. I've just never been a fan of other red maples or other trees that may revert to green in the summer like my crab.

Ask and you shall receive on this forum ! I really liked this blue guy and it's located in a prominent spot, walking to my door. Does this blue color fade with the season? Of course I want to make sure it is tagged correctly as that is the correct thing to do too. Should I change the label stake? Whaas, great info! I was hoping that I would be able to keep it where it is. I plan on staking it for a year then checking out what it wants to do to itself. I could handle a little freestyle!

By the way, 12 cedar trees from BB HD a year earlier also turned brown and died. ==>>> so if i understand correctly... EVERYTHING you have bought.. from bigboxstore has died.. or is dieing... and you want us to tell you why?? am i with you so far???? well... wait for it... its because you are buying carp stock from a freakin hardware store.... buy quality stock.. and avoid these problems... you cant turn a bad plant.. into a good plant with fertilizer.. good soil... or anything else ... just stop buying bad plants... especially end of the year bargains .... this is a case of trying to make a bargain work... and with trees.. it doenst work all the time.... mail order some quality stock from some place like conifer kingdom... or any local SPECIALTY conifer nursery .... and 99% of your problems will be solved [. this will not help the one planted 6 inches from a wheel-less car.. next to an 8 foot wall ... well it looks like a cinder block there ...] and with your desire.. and limited space.. you need to look for mini conifers... so you can collect a few .... and use very little ground .... below is a pic of 15 or so mostly mini conifers around my patio .... i admit i screwed up on putting a few small dwarfs there .. but one thing for sure.. you wont find these at the hardware store.... ken