Cultivar - Page 4 of 12 - Cascade Conifers

Picea sitchensis ‘Cliff Hanger’

Sitka spruce cultivar, bicolored — **Picea sitchensis ‘Cliff Hanger’, 3 year old graft, April 2022, lots of buds!**

Some healthy scions left on this ancient appearing Sitka spruce broom. — **Beautiful & healthy scions on this Picea sitchensis broom**

Picea sitchensis ‘Cliff Hanger’ is a new cultivar from a very compact Sitka spruce broom that was discovered on a tree that was undermined and hanging on the edge of a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The broom was discovered in late January 2019 during a long weekend vacation in Newport, Oregon. Our vacations always ultimately turn into broom hunting expeditions. We arrived at the hotel at dusk, with just enough time for a quick walk on the beach! And instead of looking at the ocean, Mike was looking at the Sitka spruce trees on the edge of the bluff. Mike spotted a dark blob of dead wood and said “I bet that’s a broom”. Sure enough, the next morning, not only a broom, but a Sitka broom, with beautiful tiny healthy clusters of growth mixed in with the broom’s gnarly dead wood. The owners of the property were delighted and kindly allowed us to harvest some of the branches. They had never noticed the broom (outside of their picture window and deck) before we pointed it out to them! The broom is ancient looking, like it has been growing for many years. There were numerous clustered buds and the growth rate on the broom was less than 1/2 inch. We did not want to spoil the appearance of their newly discovered treasure, and it was quite warm, in the 60’s, so we took only a few scions. The scion wood seemed dry and we were surprised that nearly all of the grafts pushed beautifully! The new cultivar is named Picea sitchensis ‘Cliff Hanger’!

**“Is that a broom? Up on the bluff?!”**

Harvest time! Picea sitchensis 'Cliff Hanger' — **Mike is eagerly harvesting some healthy branches of scion wood on this ancient appearing broom**

Close up of ancient appearing Picea sitchensis broom with some healthy growth remaining. — **Fortunately some of the Sitka spruce broom is still alive and healthy!**

nice new growth on Sitka spruce graft 'Cliff Hanger' — **Picea sitchensis ‘Cliff Hanger’, first push!**

2 year old graft of new Sitka spruce cultivar 'Cliff Hanger' — **Picea sitchensis ‘Cliff Hanger’, 2 year old graft, spring push**

Abies

Abies amabilis ‘Pulsar’

Abies amabilis ‘Pulsar’, is a new cultivar from a Pacific silver fir broom that was discovered in the eastern Cascade mountain range of Washington at an elevation of almost exactly 1 mile (5276 feet per our Altitude app!). It is an extremely dense and old appearing broom. So we decided to name it ‘Pulsar’. We harvested a few scions in the fall of 2018 and they pushed nicely, and developed multiple new buds! We gathered more scions in November 2019, to share with other enthusiasts! While harvesting this “Star” broom, we also found a tight little broom that we named Abies amabilis ‘Stellar’! At present, there are only 1 or 2 Abies amabilis cultivars commercially available, which includes the beautiful and sought after ‘Spreading Star’ which originated as a seedling in the Netherlands before 1960.

Very old appearing broom on a Pacific fir tree. — Abies amabilis ‘Pulsar’
Nice green foliage in the summer!

Close up of Abies amabilis broom 'Pulsar' — **Close up of a portion of the Pacific silver broom ‘Pulsar’**

Abies amabilis 'Pulsar' cultivar graft producing numerous buds. — **Abies amabilis ‘Pulsar’ grafted in the Autumn 2018 and pushing in the Spring 2019**

Mike holding a newly harvested branch of Abies amabilis ‘Pulsar’ — **Nice healthy looking piece of Abies amabilis ‘Pulsar’**

Pinus

Pinus strobus ‘Gitche Gumee’

About Pinus strobus ‘Gitche Gumee’, a columnar white pine broom, one of our favorite discoveries! While hiking the beautiful North Country Trail just outside of Marquette, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, we spotted a very dense columnar broom on a white pine high on a sandy knoll. This Pinus strobus broom, named from the classic poem by Longfellow, is located along the shores of Gitche Gumee (Lake Superior) next to the “Gitche Gumee” campground! The Ojibwe translation of “Gitche Gumee” loosely means “Big Sea”, referring to Lake Superior. Our friend, Brandon, in Marquette, Michigan, loves to climb trees, and he uses a method where he does not have to use spikes. This adventure to reach and harvest ‘Gitche Gumee’ branches was one of his more challenging Midwest climbs. Near the top of the tree, the broom gets battered by direct winds right off of Lake Superior. Parts of the broom looked freeze-dried from the subzero temperatures in the winter. The winds in this area can be fierce, reaching sustained speeds over 50 miles per hour! Some of the scions looked pretty shabby, but the grafts all pushed beautifully, with a nice blue-green color. And the new Pinus strobus ‘Gitche Gumee’ cultivars are keeping the unique upright columnar growth habit of the parent broom. A bonus attribute is that the new cultivars are producing paired miniature cones. Another interesting white pine broom we found along the shores of Lake Superior was Pinus strobus ‘Nokomis’, also part of Davison Gitche Gumee collection.

White pine 'Gitche Gumee' broom in tree — **Pinus strobus ‘Gitche Gumee’**

**Brandon venturing up the white pine tree to harvest some cuttings of ‘Gitche Gumee’**

Brandon enjoying climbing white pine tree to retrieve broom scions — **Love it!**

Newly harvested Pinus strobus white pine 'Gitche Gumee' branch — **A branch of the dense columnar broom, ‘Gitche Gumee’**

Pinus strobus 'Gitche Gumee' with a frosty coat for Christmas! — **Natural flocking just in time for Christmas!**

Abies

Abies procera ‘Skunk Tail’

About Abies procera ‘Skunk Tail’, a Noble fir. We were walking along an old logging road at dusk, on our way back to the car, and there was an opening along the trees along the side of the road. Dusk is the best time to spot variegated trees…there it was! So beautiful from afar! Mike looked through the binoculars and exclaimed “It’s striped! Looks like a skunk tail!” We scurried down the hill to get a closer look! Sure enough, beautiful variegation, and with cones, some variegated!

Nice striped pattern of variegations on Noble fir 'Skunk Tail' tree — **Skunk tail?!?!!!…I call ’em as I see ’em!** 👍

Noble fir, healthy and vigorous, with nice variegation throughout the tree! — ‘**Skunk Tail’! Many of the variegations had an interesting striped pattern!** **And cones!**

Many of the variegations on Abies procera 'Skunk Tail' had an interesting striped pattern! — **Noble fir, healthy and vigorous, with nice variegation throughout the tree!**

Harvesting scions of Abies procera 'Skunk tail' — **Harvest time!**

Noble fir graft 'Skunk tail' pushing! — **Abies procera ‘Skunk tail’ first push!**

Pinus

Pinus contorta ‘Hexe Fingers’

Pinus contorta ‘Hexe Fingers’ (“Witch fingers”) is a new cultivar that was grown from a seed obtained from a Pinus contorta witch’s broom cone that was found in the wild, up in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The broom itself was in poor health so we only retrieved the cones to obtain the seeds. We chose this lodgepole pine seedling because it has an interesting miniature growth pattern and witch’s finger-like buds from late summer until it pushes the following spring! It is a very nice looking cultivar that is taking on a natural bonsai like habit!

Lodgepole pine "Witch" fingers reaching for a bug for dinner. — **‘Hexe Fingers’** **grabbing a bug for dinner! Yum!**

Numerous clusters of "Witch" finger buds on cultivar Pinus contorta 'Hexe Fingers'. — **Pinus contorta ‘Hexe Fingers’ cultivar with numerous clusters of “witch fingers”!**

Pinus contorta 'Hexe Fingers' spring push with natural bonsai form. — **Pinus contorta ‘Hexe Fingers’, a natural bonsai habit with a nice spring push**

Pinus contorta 'Hexe Fingers' new growth — **Pinus contorta ‘Hexe Fingers’ new growth**

Picea

Picea engelmannii ‘Shrunken Treasure’

Picea engelmannii ‘Shrunken Treasure’ is a dwarf Engelmann spruce tree found in the Pacific Northwest. It was first discovered while hiking in the lower elevations of Washington’s Cascade Mountains in 2015! It has not changed much in 4 years, still about 5 feet tall. The area is populated by mostly Pinus contorta and Picea engelmannii with a typical growth rate for the species! During our last visit in early November 2019, we took cuttings for grafting and sent some scions to others. This dwarf Engelmann spruce has pleasing shades of blue and green! Hopefully the scions take, and if so, Picea engelmannii ‘Shrunken Treasure’ will be a beautiful small specimen, especially when part of a landscaped alpine garden.

**Nice color, small needles and growth pattern on this Engelmann spruce tree found in the wild! ‘Shrunken Treasure’!**

Engelmann spruce ‘Shrunken Treasure’, a dwarf chance seedling with small blue green needles and a slow growth rate! — **Picea engelmannii ‘Shrunken Treasure’, a dwarf chance seedling occurring in the wild!**

Abies

Abies “PNW” ‘Topper’

This nice Abies fir broom cultivar, ‘Topper’, was labeled “PNW” (Pacific NorthWest) because the tree was nearly dead with missing needles and dead branches, making it difficult to identify. The broom was the only viable looking part of the tree when we discovered and harvested this fir broom. We thought it may be an Abies amabilis broom since there were many amabilis growing in the area. But since we could not conclusively confirm the identity, we labelled it “PNW”, along with another Abies fir cultivar ‘Pacific Pearls’, with similar circumstances. The ‘Topper’ broom had a beautiful miniature tree configuration, situated on the top of the tree, like a Christmas tree ornament. Only a few grafts survived, probably because the broom itself was also in the process of dying. When we returned the following spring, there was not a needle remaining on the tree!

'Topper' fir broom — **Abies fir ‘Topper’ broom from the Cascade Mountain Range of the Pacific Northwest, Washington.**

'Topper' fir broom harvested, looks like a miniature tree! — **Abies fir ‘Topper’ broom with cute miniature tree configuration, with a height of about 3 feet.**

Abies

Abies “PNW” ‘Pacific Pearls’

This nice Abies “PNW” (Pacific Northwest) fir broom cultivar, ‘Pacific Pearls’, was one of our first discoveries of Abies in the Cascade Mountain Range of the Pacific Northwest. The ‘Pacific Pearls’ fir cultivar appears to be from an Abies amabilis broom, but the parent tree died before we could confirm the identity of the species. Some experts question whether it could be a lasiocarpa or a cross between 2 fir species because of the unusual needles, buds, and growth pattern. Therefore, we thought it would be most appropriate to label it as a Pacific NorthWest (“PNW“) fir cultivar until otherwise identified.

Fir broom Abies 'Pacific Pearls' — **Abies (fir) ‘Pacific Pearls’ broom**

"It's the REAL THING!" — **Abies** **‘Pacific Pearls’ broom showing small growth pattern…It’s the REAL THING!**

Pearly buds on 'Pacific Pearls' fir broom — **Close up of** **‘Pacific Pearls’ fir broom showing numerous pearly buds.**

Pacific Northwest fir ‘Pacific Pearls’ cultivar — **Abies “PNW”** **‘Pacific Pearls’ cultivar**

Abies

Abies lasiocarpa ‘Christmas 2018’

About Abies lasiocarpa ‘Christmas 2018’! We found a perfect Christmas tree for the 2018 holiday season, a very tall and narrow subalpine fir (about 20 feet tall by 5 feet wide at its base) with a beautiful blue-green coloration and large thick needles! It was at an elevation of about 4700 ft, among a mix of healthy younger firs, also including amabilis and procera. In fact, we found a colorful variegated Noble fir, Abies procera ‘Skunk Tail’, a couple years prior, in the same area. We were so excited about the structure and color of our new Christmas tree, that we decided to do an experiment, to graft it! We came up with the idea to graft it as we were decorating it, about 3 weeks after it was harvested, and the scions took! So hopefully, many years from now, we will have another “perfect Christmas tree” if the new cultivar stays true to form. This may become a new holiday tradition for us!

Mike getting ready to harvest subalpine fir Chritmas tree! — **Mike is revved up to get our new Christmas tree!**

Christmas tree made it home in 1 piece! — **The next morning, after a nervous ride home from the mountains in the dark, with multiple stops to check the tree along the way!**

Pinus

Pinus parviflora ‘Ooh La La!’

About Pinus parviflora ‘Ooh La La’! This Japanese white pine broom was discovered on a Pinus parviflora ‘Glauca’ at the Yakima Arboretum in Yakima Washington.

The cultivar from this broom was named such because our Pacific Northwest gardening TV celebrity Ciscoe Morris says “Oh, La La!” whenever he is excited about a plant! He was visiting the Yakima Arboretum to give a presentation, and we wanted to present him with a tree specimen of this unusual broom cultivar Pinus parviflora ‘Ooh La La’!!!!

The scions from this Japanese white pine broom graft well, and the plants grow vigorously, with lots of cones! Sometimes the branches form tufts of tight growth. Candle pruning is suggested for a more compact specimen. This unusual broom cultivar is available for sale in several countries in Europe, and at the Conifer Kingdom tree nursery in Silverton, Oregon.