The Oldest Named Dwarf Conifer and a Recently Named Golden Conifer

Picea abies 'Clanbrassiliana'

The first dwarf conifer to be named

The mother plant was planted in 1798 in Northern Ireland by Lord Clanbrassil and first described in 1836. It was found as a witches' broom. The original plant may still be seen growing in Tollymore Park, near Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland.

It was first offered for sale in a catalog in 1820 .

'Clanbrassiliana' eventually develops into a squatly upright bush with a crowded branch system. The annual growth can be variable on a specimen, with some areas growing much faster than others. If these faster areas are not removed, they can eventually dominate the entire plant. The ideal growth rate is less than one inch (.5 cm) per year.

In America, the true dwarf form has been unavailable until Coenosium Gardens began selling it. I believe nurseries imported the true form but failed to maintain the dwarf habit by propagating faster growing shoots for a more profitable plant.

I had never seen the true form until my first visit to Europe in the early 1980's.

This 150 year old specimen was photographed at Pinetum Blijdenstein in summer and again in winter The other spruce in the pictures is a Picea abies 'Repens', also 150 years old. 

This specimen is also well over 100 years old and was photographed at Gimborn Pinetum in Holland.

The Holden Arboretum is home to this younger specimen that shows the accelerated growth rate typical of this cultivar in America.

The RHS Garden at Wisley in England has an outstanding specimen planted in its world famous rock garden.

Picea abies 'Gold Drift'

In 1990 I discovered three yellow branchlets growing on a specimen of Picea abies 'Reflexa' in my garden. They caught my attention but did not look special enough to cause any great excitement. I grafted them that winter and grew them in partial shade. They were essentially forgotten for two years until I noticed three, pale green weeping spruce along one wall of a shade house. When I read their labels, I thought I would give them some full sun to see what would happen. They turned bright gold in two weeks.

I grew these three original plants and made a number of propagations, all for evaluation purposes. After about  ten years I named the plant 'Gold Drift' and offered it for sale in limited quantities. In the few years since it was first listed, demand has steadily increased  and quantities are always in short supply.

Picea abies 'Gold Drift' has a number of uses in the landscape. It can be allowed to drape over a wall, spread along the ground, or be staked to any desired height. It grows slower than Picea abies 'Reflexa' with smaller foliage but may still grow up to one foot (30 cm) per year.

As a young plant it does have a tendency to burn in the full sun in the Northwest but loses this tendency as it grows older. I believe that it will not burn at any time in many parts of America.

The original sport of three small, golden branchlets that were propagated to produce Picea abies 'Gold Drift'.

On the left is one of the original plants photographed when it was about 6 years old while on the right is a picture of the same plant taken at about 12 years old. 

The picture to the left shows Picea abies 'Gold Drift' with its winter color while the picture on the right displays its summer color.

This picture shows an unstaked, young plant cascading over a low wall.