Pining Away for Winter Color; A Tale of Two Trees

In September 2012, I posted about Pinus contorta v. latifolia 'Chief Joseph' AKA Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine here .  I'd seen them at a local nursery and at a few specialty sales. The chief is an expensive tree which I wouldn't have bought for myself but my sister and niece read my post and bought one for me.   I've heard that it's pricey because it's difficult to propagate and grows very slowly.  It was found in Eastern Oregon, needs extremely good drainage, and can be quite finicky about being moved, thus mine is still in a pot.    Oh yeah, Chief Joseph needs full sun to color up nicely but if it gets too much sun, the needles will burn.  Also, it can't stand anything growing on it.  I let a vine crwl through the bottom branches of the one you see on the left of the picture and the needles turned brown and a couple of bottom branches died.  Make no mistake, this pine is a prima donna in every sense of the world and wants you to know that!  To learn more about the chief go here.  Anyway, I've not yet killed my Chief Joseph but I'm wondering about this growth.  Is this a bad thing or just something that happens to pines? 

 

 

 I've been enjoying the gorgeous golden color of Chief Joseph all winter although it seems in the last week or so to be starting its transformation to green a little earlier than last year.   Last Saturday, Alison and I saw Pinus sylvestris 'Gold Coin' at the Tacoma Home and Garden Show. I suspected that they'd introduced another expensive, slow growing, nicely colored prima donna.  Imagine my surprise when I looked at the tag and it was less than a third of the price of a Chief Joseph.   It wanted to come home with me and the nice gentleman from Bark and Garden said I should buy it. Chief Joseph on the left and Gold Coin on the right.

I know that Gold Coin has been exposed to the perfect amount of light to cause it to color so nicely.  Plant sellers want to show plants at their best! We'll see what it will do over the course of a few years.

 

I should have found something deeply green  to use as a background so that you could see that both plants are quite gold.  Gold Coin is a much faster grower than the Chief and according to the person from whom I bought the tree, the needles won't burn in the full sun.  I'm glad to have both of these lovely pines but I'm thinking that  P. sylvestris 'Gold Coin' might just give you more gold for your buck. To learn more about Gold Coin, go here.  Hey northern gardeners, this one is hardy to zone 3a!

Do you have experience growing either or both of these pines and if so, do you have a preference? 

Greetings from the Evergreen State

Washington is called the Evergreen State for good reason if you live in the western part of the state.  Those in eastern Washington experience  an arid climate (Desert) with very hot summers and winters much colder than those in the west.  There's this big mountain that keeps all of the clouds on this side.  In the Western parts of Washington and Oregon, we have beautiful cedar, hemlock, and douglas fir forests and we are spoiled by nurseries that are open year round.  Many of you have expressed  good natured envy of the nurseries, teeming with plants, that I've shown.  To help you feel better, here are a few shots of a local nursery I visited recently.

 

I wonder if they store all of their stock off site or if they have some sort of a deal with some vendors that they'll take stock back at some point.  They may have cleared things out in January for inventory purposes.  Are you feeling a little better now?

Ian from the Desert Northwest would call this a plant store rather than a nursery because they produce any of their own stock.  That's o.k. with me because when all of this space is filled with plants, it's pretty fun to see what the growers have brought in.

Although this isn't the place to find a lot of perennials, grasses, etc. during the winter, it is the place to go to find a nice array of evergreens at this time of the year.  While I revel in trying to grow plants that are not at all suited to our climate, I'm also still amazed at the staggering number of plants that grow here with no coddling!  And I must admit that evergreens thrill me in their variety of color, shape, size, and habit!  Taking center stage is this lovely pair of Pinus contorta ‘Chief Joseph’ or Chief Joseph Lodgepole pines.

I've never met a Taxus I didn't like and the winter coloration on  this Taxus cuspidata 'Dwarf Bright Gold.' sure feels warm.

 Maybe tropical even. I may go back to get one of these.  What can I say, I'm weak and there's a gift certificate waiting for me here. 

Chamaecyparis thyoides 'red star' is no slouch in the color department, either!

 

 

Abies pinsapo glauca and Abies nordmanniana 'Golden Spreader' are working the blue and yellow combination 365 days of the year. 

 

 

Do you remember Butch Wax?

 

 



 

Seems  it works pretty well on pine needles, too!

Pinus longaeva (Great Basin Bristlecone Pine) "Sherwood Compact" 

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Nana' or True Dwarf Hinoki Cypress

If  Chief changes from green to gold in the winter, is it still an evergreen?  Oh, who cares, look at that color.  Also notice the always sharp 15 foot hedge  behind.

 

Dr. Seuss let loose with a spruce.  What the deuce?

 Silly Goose thinks he's Zeus.  Where's that noose?

Have a splendid weekend everyone!

Tricks and Treats for Halloween

My newfound friend and I wish you a happy Halloween!  We saw each other at Watson's Nursery and fell in love. Alas, our time together was not to last as there's only room for one b witch in any relationship.

She is spectacular, standing nearly 15 feet tall and with fabulous bat-like wings which make me wonder why she needs the broom.  Well she is, after all, a Watson's witch and that place is always squeaky  clean so maybe she has to pitch in with the housework.

She must have quite a sense of humor as these guys always seem to be laughing.

These glittery pumpkins are kind of cute! O.K. let's have a little chat: Lavender/purple has always been a  color present in the autumn garden with ornamental kale, mums, asters, colchicum and others all putting on their violet show and adding a light pastel foil to the screaming warm colors of fall foliage.  When, however, did this jewel-toned purple and chartreuse start creeping in on Halloween's traditional orange and black palette?

Don't get me wrong, I love color and have a "the more the merrier" attitude about it but was just wondering about the change.

The zombie garden gnome atop the pillar on the right caused me to laugh audibly.

These tree ghosts are always present in the garden but at this time of the year they look especially spooky.

And speaking of tree ghosts...  

Suppose you keep this year's Christmas tree, let all the needles fall off while storing it over the summer, spray paint the remains metallic silver or gold and use it again the following year?

So much for tricks, here are a few of the treats I saw.  This year is the first that Watson's has had Chief Joseph lodgepole pines.  This one is starting it's color shift from green to bright yellow for the winter. I no longer lust after this plant as my Sister and Niece gave me one in September.

Walking a little further and what to my wondering eye should appear but lots of  baby Chief Josephs.  See the cute little yellow tufts of needles?

The $40.00 price tag on these little ones is quite reasonable as one sometimes sees this size at specialty plant sales for fifty to eighty dollars.

This visit was full of reminders of my eldest sister; for instance, this other old bat I saw.

Speaking of the old bat, one of my students made this one.  I asked him what the cute little critters were and he said, "those are all the happy people."  Seems that everybody knows that the old bat brings happiness to those around her. 

Lest you think that I'm the meanest brother on the planet, 1) It is the job of the youngest sibling to be spoiled, irresponsible, and to irritate his family  2) We lovingly called my mother the old bat and upon her death, the niece and I declared, "the bat is dead, long live the bat."  The torch had been passed. 3) My sister's birthday is very near Halloween so she's a natural.

Meanwhile, back at Watson's,  the Acers were putting on holiday colors.

Coprosma 'Evening Glow' dressing up for winter.

Speaking of evening glow, this shot is from later the same evening.  I've never mooned anyone before but there's a first time for everything. 

Tricked ya! (Thank goodness!)  Happy Halloween everyone!