Picea abies 'Acrocona'/Picea abies 'Gold Drift' Project
UPDATED AUGUST, 2009 WITH PROVISIONAL NAMING OF SELECTED PLANTS
During the spring of 2001, I noticed that one of my Picea abies 'Gold Drift' garden plants had a male strobilis about to produce pollen. I collected the pollen in a plastic bag as soon as it was ripe. Then, using a fine brush, I applied some of the pollen to several cones on an older Picea abies 'Acrocona' growing in another area of our gardens.
I collected the seeds in the fall and stratified them in a refrigerator. I germinated the seeds Spring, 2002 in a seed flat. I potted the seedlings Spring, 2003 with a repotting Spring, 2004. Then I selected a number of golden seedlings, which I planted into a special garden area Spring, 2006. There were 27 golden seedlings out of about a total of 200.
Picea abies 'Acrocona' produces cones at a young age as evidenced by a seedling from 'Acrocona' that I grew from seed collected in 2000 that produced cones in 2004.
This past summer (2009) I made eleven preliminary selections from the seedlings and gave them provisional names. This winter I will propagate a significant plants with the idea of introducing these in the spring of 2012.
I may decide to discard a few of these over the next few years so the names are truly provisional. However, most are definitely going to be available. I expect narrow it down to between 5 and 8 finalists. First I have to determine how the grafted plants perform. Two years ago I grafted 3 of each numbered plant. Most are doing fine and will be compared to their parent plants over the next three years.
More complete descriptions will be forthcoming in a year or two.
The descriptions and pictures below are from August, 2009. The number in parentheses is the original seedling number.
THERE ARE TWO BASIC COLOR GROUPS OF SEEDLINGS
Group 1- very bright yellow with a tendency to burn. New growth is yellow and stays yellow through the summer. No coning at six years. These all have 'Lemon' as part of their name.
Group 2- flushes yellow, then becomes lime green before turning yellow on the sunlit surfaces, they color up similarly to ‘Gold Drift’. Coning is taking place on several of these.
Group 1- very bright yellow with a tendency to burn.
Picea abies ‘Lemon Drop’ (#10) - Dense, dwarf and globose
Picea abies ‘Lemon Zest’ (#19) - Shrublike, conical
Picea abies ‘Lemon Flare’ (#23) - Broad weeper, tips turn up
Picea abies ‘Lemonade’ (#12) - Slow upright
Group 2- flushes yellow, then becomes lime green before turning yellow on the sunlit surfaces.
Picea abies ‘Dandylion’ (#13) - Broad and pendulous with evidence of good coning for next year
Picea abies ‘Gold Finch’ (#14) - Dwarf and spreading with pendulous branches, brighter yellow than ‘Dandylion’
Picea abies ‘Dazzler’ (#24) - Slow growing and upright
Picea abies ‘Glowing Embers’ (#27) - Densely branched and broadly conical, producing cones; had over 30 buds on terminal shoot and everyone pushed
Picea abies ‘Summer Daze’ (#20) - Large upright, typical ‘Acrocona’ habit with small needles and good color
Picea abies ‘Honey Pot’ (#17) - Slow growing and broadly spreading
Picea abies ‘Midas Touch’ (#2) - Fast growing and broadly spreading, several partially developed cones with shoots through them
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Counter Set February, 2008