My Arrowhead Alpines order arrived today!!!

I went to the front of the house before work this morning to take pictures of the daffodils blooming, and my husband noticed two large boxes on our front porch. We assumed it was some camping gear he ordered last week, so he went to bring it into the house and I left for work.

When I am FOUR BLOCKS from the house, Andy called and told me that it was not his camping order but my Arrowhead Alpines order!!! He took the babies out of the boxes and put them on our enclosed back porch. Like the excellent husband that he is, he took pictures to send me as teasers!!! Now I have to get through the next SEVEN hours thinking about my order...sigh. Andy told me that the order was immaculately packed, no damage that he could see (he did not unwrap tubing from the plants, so if there is damage it is low), and everything smelled wonderful. Andy also said everything looked HUGE - much larger than expected!!!

I am so excited!!!! Here is what arrived (everything that I ordered, looks like they did not need to sub anything in):

Pinus contorta 'Spaan's Dwarf'
Pinus parviflora 'Tani Mano Uki'
Pinus parviflora 'Hagarumo'
Pinus sylvestris 'Pixie'
Pinus parviflora 'Ara-Kawa'
Pinus parviflora 'Goldilocks'
Picea abies 'Gold Drift'
Picea omorika 'Bruns Pendula'
Abies normandiana 'Golden Spreader'
Pinus mugo 'Aurea'
Picea abies 'Witches Brood'
Pinus uncinata 'Braska #3'
Picea abies 'Perry's Gold'
Pinus parviflora 'Goy Kurl'

Gotta love Xmas in spring!!! Looks like quite a haul!

I just have to post the cutest story. Andy emailed me from work today and is hoping that most of these guys will remain potted, he is worried about them living year-round outside : )

The plan is to pot a number of them, but they will live in the garage over winter, not in the house!

Elizabeth

Oh my gosh! Evergreens? Outside? Horrors!

I can see Biosphere MMIX in the offing...

Well, they will overwinter in the garage more to protect the pots than the plants, with the exception of a few of the pinus parviflora, everything could probably make it through zone 3 without so much as a sigh.

In reality, we'll probably be looking to move up to a different house in about 5 years - I don't want to leave everything behind just as it is starting to "get good!"

Most of the babies far exceeded my expectations - the only thing I was not completely happy with is the 'gold drift.' It looks like it was attacked by a tiny machete. However, the other things more than make up for that one "not so good looking" tree. I am a little confused by the 'bruns pendula.' It has a side branch that kind of looks like it wants to grow upwards. I want to chop it off but will probably wait and see what it does. The side branch is actually thicker than the leader being trained upwards (it arrived staked).

I had no idea Andy was so excited about the Arrowhead Alpines order arriving. I have a list of everything I've ordered for the year, with tips and habit information and apparently he's read it more than a dozen times!

Elizabeth

I've had that happen before. You pick the most likely branch to train for the leader, and the plant has other ideas. I figured maybe the stress of unnaturally bending the leader-to-be caused the plant to "change its mind". Since those first couple of times, I have purposely been very gentle in leader traing. Results seem to support my theory.

I cut off the "wanna-be" second leader on the 'bruns pendula.' So far it looks fine, I just snipped it right off. I suspected it was going to become a problem if I left it there. The area looks a little ugly now, but I'm sure in a year or two of growing it will fill in with cascading branches from higher up. This is one of the cultivars that is supposed to grow 6" a year.

Elizabeth

Can we see pics of the area? We can get an idea of what it's going to look like. ☺

Sorry that it took a few days, but here is the Picea omorika 'Bruns Pendula' after its haircut. It is looking pretty good, in my opinion. It is a three year old graft.

Elizabeth

Here it is hiding behind a weeping cherry.

It does look pretty good. I love cascading anything. I have four different trees that do that.