I'm almost certain the ones with the gold/yellow new growth are 'Sundance'. The straight species is really very green, even the new growth, although that is more of a grassy green as it emerges and then darkens. Depending on how much shade it is sited in, Sundance can also be quite green except for its newest growth.

There are not that many cultivars of choisya on the market or at least sold at regular retail nurseries here so options are limited - the straight species (C. ternata), 'Sundance' and the narrow leaved hybrid form, 'Aztec Pearl'

Gardengal hit it on the nail. The yellow forms are 'Sundance'. The straight species never presents with that bright yellow, in sun or shade, whereas 'Sundance' will always at least have new growth that is bright yellow, and in good light will retain the color. The leaves of 'Sundance' are fairly short and blunt, as shown in your photos.

C. 'Aztec Gold' is another yellow form, but the leaves are very narrow, as one of its parents is 'Aztec Pearl'. 'Aztec Gold' has very distinctive leaves, and none your yellow Choisya are it, for sure.

C. 'Gold Fingers' is a lot like Aztec Gold, but is a newer cultivar, and the last set of leaves on each branch are arranged palmately. They really do look like spread fingers. The habit is bushier and denser than some other choisya, also. It's my favorite of the ones I grow, though it's also the youngest. I don't know what it's final size will be.

One I don't have, but covet, is 'Gold Star'. It's by far the brightest yellow of all Choisya, but I haven't seen it for sale in the US. It's a British hybrid.

As far as I know, that's all of the yellow Choisya in commerce.

Wow! I'm surprised choisya even flourishes in TN, let alone that you have access to cultivars that I have never seen available in this country or certainly not in this area!

To be honest, I am not a huge fan of the gold leaved versions unless they are sited to receive only morning or filtered sun. I find their coloring in full sun to be more chlorotic than attractive :-) Even healthy plants look like they are on death's door!!

And while I personally grow all 3 easily obtainable varieties (species, Sundance and Aztec Pearl), I much prefer Aztec Pearl. It is denser and more compact, blooms much heavier and I prefer the finer, more delicate foliage texture. Too many other big leaved BLE's around here :-) It is the cultivar I most often spec for design clients.

Thanks y'all!

I agree with @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) about the gold leaved versions looking kind of chlorotic. That's why I'm confused. It may not be totally clear from my photos, but on the ones that I photographed around town, the new growth is definitely a bright limey green. I find the color gradient from the old growth to the new growth to be quite lovely. Meanwhile, the 'Sundance' in the nursery had a distinctively more true yellow/gold leaf. I wish I had taken a photo so you could see the difference.

Perhaps the ones I photographed are the Sundance and have just become less yellow over the fall and winter.

The yellow ones would be expected to be less yellow in shade.

Notice how both of the words 'Lich' and Sundance appear on the linked to Plant Delights page (post immediately preceding this one). British references show Sundance as a trademarked name used to sell 'Lich'.

USDA zones are based on averages and not extremes. So, individual temperatures have no significance to zoning designation unless they start to affect average low temperature.

Embo, I'm quite familiar with how zones are calculated. I was speaking only of the 25 year trend and conditions in my garden and local area, which has allowed me to grow many plants that are not considered hardy in Z7. That's all. As for missing the synonym for 'Lich', yes, I see now that it is there. Excuse me, I'm human. I humbly and abjectly beg your doubtless sterling self for forgiveness.

It's not a synonym, it's a trademark. At least as presented over there. And the way Avent shows it on his page it's like he thinks/suspects it's the same situation here. He also has on his site at least one extended rant about how commercial horticulture went into coming up with often nonsensical (and taxonomically improper) cultivar names some years ago, to produce a mess. (With 'Lich' being the example in this instance). All to reinforce the use of associated trade names (like Sundance - which we can all understand and remember - unlike the obscure 'LIch', which means nothing to anybody who does not know the back story, whatever it is).

Methinks you missed the tenor of my last post. Re-read with a little more snark and a LOT more shade.

I'm done. Finis. Goodbye, good riddance.

@fig_insanity Z7a E TN, the fact that those are all mail order nurseries may have something to do with it :-) Because of the number and quality of retail nurseries in this area (and the close proximity to many wholesale growers increasing availability) I almost never use mail order. Really only twice in my gardening lifetime! Both Heronswood and Far Reaches are within a short drive so no need to do mail order there either (yes, Heronswood is no longer a nursery but the garden is thriving and hosts periodic plant sales with many regional vendors).

And as I do not really favor any of the yellow leafed forms, I would not go seeking them out. Aztec Pearl offers all the features I look for and it is easily available from local retailers.

ps. don't sweat the pedantism :-) It pretty much comes with that territory and most of us just ignore it.

Yes: with mail order there is always the problem of not being able to see the specimens being purchased beforehand - I continue to be sent a percentage of junk when resorting to this method of acquisition.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) You have no idea how I envy your access to quality nurseries. I would probably be bankrupt, rather than just "overextended". The NW seems to be a plant paradise. So many, most even, of the specialists in rarities seem to be based up there. Color me green. Here, there are only two nurseries within a day's drive that I can depend on to feed my addiction, one of them being where I found 'Aztec Gold'. And if you're surprised at my small collection of choisya, I could talk all day about my aucuba collection, lol. I have 17 cultivars, at least five of which are so rare I'm among a handful of people in the US to own them. I'm a very proud aucuba daddy.

So today I came across the Choisya below which is exactly the color of the Sundance at the nursery. Now I'm thinking the ones in the photos in my original post are not the Sundance as was suggested in this thread, but are actually ordinary Choisyas.

A Sundance in full sun will be that gold.....until it scorches in the summer :-) But a Sundance in only partial sun will have bright chartreuse-y gold new growth and darker green mature or undergrowth,

Straight Choisya ternata will be green, period. New growth is a lighter, grassy green but still green.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) Ok so that description of straight Choisya does seem to fit the one I'm looking for that I've been seeing around. The one in the first photo in my original post has similar exposure to the one in my last post which leads me to believe the one in my original post is straight Choisya.