Buchholz Plant Introductions (Part 18)

Today I'll discuss various conifer introductions, some recent and others from time immemorial. The common denominator is that I didn't get rich from any of them, but I had a little bit of fun with their discovery.

Mt. Hood

Tsuga mertensiana

I'm often asked if I have a favorite conifer, and the question always gives me pause. I want to impulsively reply, Abies – the “True firs.” Or, I might reply “Ginkgo,” but then that would confuse most questioners who don't understand why the broad-leaf deciduous tree is technically considered a conifer. Ultimately, though, if I have any girlfriend of the forest it must be Tsuga mertensiana, the “Western Mountain hemlock,” and just an hour's drive from my home I can be up at elevation amongst the slender sylphs in the cool, thin air. The mountains of the world are where I'm most happy, regardless the continent, but veritable heaven on earth is located in the Cascade Range of western North America.* On the flanks of Mt. Hood at about 4000-5000' elevation one encounters large families of hemlocks; sometimes hundreds of members where the soil is to their liking, but nary a one where the conditions are not suitable. Unlike the gardener, the trees in nature get to choose.

*The Cascade Range extends for about 700 miles, from southern British Columbia to northern California. Prominent volcanoes include Mt. Baker, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams all in Washington state; Mt. Hood in Oregon and Mt. Shasta in California.

Dr. Bump

Tsuga mertensiana 'Bump's Blue'

Tsuga mertensiana 'Bump's Blue'

A good friend and great plant mentor was Dr. Bump of Forest Grove, Oregon. I would visit his large garden once a month, and he mine, and we would both discover treasures that were new to us. Usually we left each other to wander alone, but once I remember encountering a 10' mountain hemlock with exceedingly blue foliage and I hurried back to his house to ask about it. He reported that he dug it himself about 20 years previous from the shallow, rocky soil of Mt. Hood, and he was proud indeed that it actually survived. His harvest was illegal (of course) from a national forest, but many plantsmen, such as he and I, answer to a higher authority than the government. Dr. Bump was delighted that I asked for scions, and years later when I was able to sell the first crop (about 1992) I introduced it as 'Bump's Blue'. My 35-year-old specimen that graces the waterfall section at the nursery is from the initial propagation, while the original tree itself continues in the late doctor's garden of wonders. How apropos that Dr. Bump's first name was Forrest – certainly a name this plantsman covets – and I remember one time when someone didn't quite catch his last name he replied, “Bump...like a bump on a log.”

Tsuga mertensiana 'Mountain Light'

Tsuga mertensiana 'Mountain Light'

In about 1998 I purchased 3-year bare-root seedlings of Tsuga mertensiana. One year later while preparing them as understock for grafting I noticed a seedling with portions of cream-white, and I've never seen another variegated form before or since. The Royal Horticultural Society's Encyclopedia of Conifers is accurate to describe the color as white in a shady location and light-yellow if grown in full sun. I watched the seedling for a number of years, then named it 'Mountain Light' when I decided to propagate. I concede that it's a wimpy little mutant that would only appeal to a curious conifer collector, especially since the T. mertensiana species is not suitable for most American gardens anyway.

Sequoia sempervirens

Sequoiadendron giganteum

I began a nursery in 1970, a full decade before I founded Buchholz Nursery. It wasn't a commercial undertaking at all, just a collection of various conifers that I planted on the empty lot behind my parent's house in Forest Grove, Oregon. So, I established my own little grove in the Grove, like I was destined to collect trees from the beginning. I purchased bareroot seedlings from a real nursery located in the Cascade foothills above Silverton, Oregon, and the proprietor allowed me to trial three of this and three of that. One purpose was to clear up my ignorance about the difference between the genera Sequoia and Sequoiadendron, as most amateurs (like me then) assumed they were synonymous. I drove up into the mountains on a Saturday morning to pick up the goods, and the nurseryman agreed to leave my package at the edge of his driveway since he would be absent. A three-legged male dog hobbled out to greet me, and after sniffing his visitor he proceeded to piss on the package, which he accomplished without raising a leg. I wanted to kick the mutt – which he sensed – but he hurried off to avoid me.

Tsuga mertensiana

I returned twelve years later because I wished to wander the grounds, for there were a lot of mature conifers and I was anxious to learn about them. I never did meet the original nurseryman, but his son allowed me to visit. He was rather ignorant – a university professor from California – and he announced that he would soon be selling the property. I was smitten with a collection of mountain hemlocks whose blue needles glistened in the gloomy fog. I estimated the trees to be about 25 years old, and each one had a unique personality that appealed to me. I inquired if I could purchase a dozen of them, and I offered $35 apiece with me digging and loading the lot. The Professor agreed and even offered use of his tractor to lift them onto my rental truck. I had my own property by then – the beginning of Buchholz Nursery – and I was quite pleased that I could plant out something mature on my otherwise empty property. Thus was established the Blue Forest section, and some of the Tsugas still hover the grounds at about 65 years of age.

Tsuga mertensiana 'Blue Dancer'

One of the Tsuga mertensianas that most impressed me was notable for its slender profile that featured drooping branches with terminal tips arching downward. I likened the tree to a ballerina, and as an avid aficionado of the art form I named the beauty 'Blue Dancer'. I didn't invent that dancer concept, rather I copied it from the elegant prose of the famous naturalist Donald Culross Peattie (1898-1964) in A Natural History of Western Trees. He wrote that “A young Mountain hemlock is all feminine grace...Long and slender, the arms are held out like a dancer's, and the smaller branches curve gracefully out and away and down, like the fingers of a hand extended but relaxed...” My harem has been reduced over the years due to crowding and old age, but the remaining appear healthy and happy. Sadly, 'Blue Dancer' herself succumbed in our hellish heat dome of 2021 when temperatures rose to 116 F and higher in certain locations. Though totally scorched I knew that she still had some life in her, but she pleaded to be put out of her misery since she could no longer perform. In tribute I planted a younger 'Blue Dancer' in her stead because “the show must go on!”

Other “Mountain hemlock” introductions include 'Blue Spire' and 'Bonnie Blue' from the late 1990s, but neither remain at the nursery any more. I don't remember what happened to them and I regret their absence, so I plead for a return if any Flora Wonder Blog reader is in possession.

Tsuga mertensiana 'Powder Blue'

Tsuga mertensiana 'Powder Blue'

The final Tsuga mertensiana that I'll discuss is 'Powder Blue', a seedling selection from about 1998. The RHS Encyclopedia claims that it “originated in 1982 by Buchholz and Buchholz Nursery in Or. USA,” but their timing is way off for sure. The term “powder blue” is commonly used in the trade to describe “shiner” Colorado blue spruces with glaucous foliage. The “glauca” word is from Greek glaucos meaning “gleaming” or “silvery,” and doesn't refer to blue, although most nurserymen think of it that way. Powder means a “dusting,” as in my blue hemlock being dusted with a glimmerous silver cast. I was annoyed when another conifer (Sequoiadendron giganteum 'Powder Blue') was introduced from Washington state a few years after my hemlock but one should excuse the redwood namer for he was unaware that my 'Powder Blue' had already been established.

Thuja plicata 'Filifera Nana'

I collected a thread-branch form of the “Western Red cedar,” Thuja plicata 'Filifera Nana' at the beginning of my career. Prior to that (about 1980) I saw it growing at the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, a large, low-sprawling mop of green, but the UBC tour guide mistakenly referred to it as a Thuja occidentalis. I tried to find a label but couldn't locate it, for I was positive that the specimen was T. plicata. So be it. I produced the old European cultivar by hardwood cuttings in winter, while sometimes we top-grafted on 3-4' standards, but it never was very popular; that it had a poor trade name is probably why.

Thuja plicata 'Whipcord'

Thuja plicata 'Whipcord'

Eventually a doppelganger entered the market that was called 'Whipcord', and it originated as a seedling from Drake's Crossing Nursery, located east and above Silverton, Oregon...not far from the Tsuga mertensiana nursery I mentioned earlier. The original 'Whipcord' is large and ugly now, or so I thought when I last saw it about 10 years ago. But it makes for a wonderful container plant at a smaller size, and Buchholz Nursery has sold a few thousand over the past decade. 'Whipcord' is hardy to USDA zone 5 and it is problem free in my experience, but the important lesson here is that a catchy name is very important in the nursery industry.

Thuja plicata 'Whipcord Variegated'

In about 2014 I noticed some variegated twigs on one Thuja plicata 'Whipcord' that were colored cream-white. Sometimes the entire “thread” is variegated, but better yet are the ones that are half-and-half. I have grafted some onto T. plicata rootstock in recent years, and now I am trialing to determine if the mutation will be stable. I have already given one away to Jason Hupp, the grandson of the Drake's Crossing owner, so from that perspective it has been “introduced.” It is temporarily named 'Whipcord Variegated', but I should come up with a better name (soon) before any others leave Buchholz Nursery. I'm fully aware that my discovery will likely prove to be a failure as a viable cultivar, but maybe not, though it serves as an example for how new plants come to exist.

Daniel Luscombe with Pinus contorta 'Mt. Hood Variegated'

Pinus contorta 'Mt. Hood Variegated'

Pinus contorta 'Mt. Hood Variegated'

I was touring the Mt. Hood area in about 2010 with Daniel Luscombe of the Bedgebury Pinetum, the English arboretum with the largest collection of conifers in the world. On our descent from the Timberline Lodge we proceeded east, then north to make a loop around Hood, and finally travel west down the world-famous Columbia River Gorge. We were two conifer lovers – with he the expert – and the flora is unsurpassed for its coniferous species. A few miles below Timberline Daniel blurted out that he spotted a variegated pine located about 10' above the highway, a route taken by at least a thousand vehicles per day. I made a U-turn to check it out, and he began to apologize in case he was wrong; happily for both of us we really did encounter his pot of gold, and Daniel scampered up the bank to more closely inspect. Later that winter I returned, and in the snow I harvested a dozen scions, but leaving some variegated shoots intact. I was quick to cut since I wasn't sure about the status of the protected land. The species was Pinus contorta var. latifolia and I called the discovery 'Mt. Hood Variegated', a rather poor name actually. While the original tree was growing in full sun at about 5000' elevation with beautiful, clean color without scorch, back at the nursery some of the white needles burned when we reached 100 F. Hoping that it would fare better in more benign climates, I sold all except one tree, but I can't report on how the others are performing. It is no longer in production at this time, but I haven't written it off completely either.

Thuja orientalis 'Locogreen'

In Conifers, The Illustrated Encyclopedia by DM Van Gelderen and JRP van Hoey Smith (on page 652) is the introduction of Thuja (Platycladus) orientalis 'Locogreen'. Unfortunately it is misidentified as 'Lisa', but it was never so-designated. When visiting one summer vHS noticed it in the garden. A plastic label was at the base of the tree with the “Lisa” name and rooting hormone rate, but that name referred to the propagator while the metal label on the other side correctly said 'Locogreen'. It is described as “A dense cylindrical plant,” but strangely, “with greenish-yellow foliage, turning yellow in spring.” Actually the foliage is medium-green, per vHS's photo in summer, but with light green new growth in spring. 'Locogreen' looks similar to the old Euro cultivar 'Athrotaxoides', or so thought vHS, while the latter is said to be “Difficult to propagate and hence rare.” 'Locogreen' is rather easy to propagate, at least for me, but the “difficult” suggestion rings true when this grower attempted to sell his propagules.

Thuja orientalis 'Locogold'

A twig mutation developed on T.o. 'Locogreen' which was bright yellow in color and I predicted it would be a cheerful, worthy cultivar, and I named it 'Locogold'. It too struck easily from rooted cuttings, but unfortunately it looks rather drab when grown in full sun, kind of like a nutritionally challenged 'Locogreen'. Nothing is worse than a conifer that is only “sort of gold,” and while a couple are still in the collection, we no longer have it in production. The 'Locogreen'/'Locogold' tree in the photo above is no longer with me either, as it flopped apart and broke in a snow storm and I dumped it...so if anything remains of the selection, you have the green version, not me. To conclude: 'Locogreen' is gone, 'Locogold' is no good, and 'Lisa' – also my ex-wife's name – is invalid.

Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd'

Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd Variegated'

Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd Variegated'

Buchholz Nursery has propagated thousands – certainly over 100,000 – cuttings of Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd' over the years. Some are sold in small pots for other nurseries to grow on as hedging plants, or others for the use of rootstock to graft Chamaecyparis and other like genera. The nurseryman would have to be blind to never notice a variegated mutation, and naturally one has an urge to propagate the colorful stems. Numerous cultivars have been introduced over the years from the promiscuous 'Smaragd' such as Thuja occidentalis 'Janed Gold', 'Filip's Magic Moment', 'Smaragd Witbont', 'Starstruck', 'Smaragd Variegated' and probably dozens more. In the RHS Encyclopedia the 'Smaragd Variegated' is described as “A slim pillar-shaped plant with mid-green leaves that are cream-variegated at the tips...Listed by Kenwith Nursery, UK in 2003.” Unaware of the latter listing, I too introduced a 'Smaragd Variegated' in about 2015 that is slightly different than the European form, but I regret releasing mine into the trade with a name already taken. What to do now? Probably I should discontinue my version, or at least call it something else, but the mix-up has already occurred, and sorry about that.

Pseudotsuga menziesii 'Skyline'

The late Otto Solburger of North Plains, Oregon was a Christmas tree farmer, but atop his remote mountain he also housed a world-class conifer arboretum. I never met the man but I befriended his widow who was pleased that I (or anyone) had an interest in her husband's “pine collection.” One tree of interest was a snake-branched form of Pseudotsuga menziesii that was identified as 'Skyline', and I always assumed that it originated from nearby Skyline Blvd in Portland, Oregon's west hills. I used to drive slowly up and down the road hoping that I could rediscover the mother tree, but never did. Solburger had three specimens of 'Skyline' on his property, so I supposed that he or someone else produced the grafts, and I was thrilled that Mrs. S. allowed me to dig one of the trees (photo above). I never learned if the original 'Skyline' was of seedling origin or the result of a branch mutation. To further confound the issue the foliage of 'Skyline' is blue-green – like the Rocky Mountain form of Pseudotsuga – but all the natives from western Oregon display green needles. To my knowledge, the 'Skyline' clone had not been distributed beyond Solburger's property, so it was unknown in the trade. Naturally I changed that by propagating and selling it in the late 1980s, so I (hesitantly) take credit for its broader introduction. It was further popularized in van Hoey Smith's Conifers with a photo of a row in a Buchholz Nursery field. The brief description says, “This form has an extremely open habit, like that of Picea abies 'Viminalis'.” Indeed it does, and I always think of a Dr. Seuss-like character when I see a tree of 'Skyline'.

Again I admit that none of the introductions mentioned in this blog have led to any commercial success, but they provide personal satisfaction in my quest to understand and appreciate Flora's wonders.