Well..you are right about the summer maximum but to call this a monsoon....BEtween 2000-3000 m etres, where P. martinezii grows they get 680mm on average. So the circulation may well be that of a monsoon but the result is unlike what the word monsoon in general seems to imply. I also found out that the average temperature is a staggering 14 C (annual average). That is really high for a spruce. The climate is classified as oceanic. Okey, more like Southern France oceanic or NW Portugal Spain Oceanic. But than with less rain. Summer precipitation is probably 200-300 mm but the growing season is much longer. Probably all year round or at least march-november. This means that growing season precipitation is lower than that of most parts of NW Europe (much lower). It may succeed in the eastern US, but not where temperatures can drop to -20 or lower I think. I guess this spruce is may be a zone 9 one. But unsure.

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)

Terrible winter Johnny!! I collected scions yesterday for Alex and I was shocked that every other nordmann seedling and most all my Picea orientalis were burned. They'll be fine, but I haven't seen anything like that ever. I didn't walk past the single survivor Picea torano of the (2) you sent a couple years ago but if I muster up the courage, I'll suit up and go look. Good news is less ticks this coming year and significantly less Japanese beetles and a minor wipe out of Emerald Ash Borer. I've heard that up in MinnEsota they're expecting 75% of the EAB population to be killed. Dax

Lets throw a "martinezii" in the maze at Denver Botanical Garden which is reportedly doing wonderfully! I donated the specimen which Tom Cox graciously "forwarded" to it's current "home"! Johnny