AusBonsai

Hi all. Normally I'm providing the Ids for others but I'm not particularly familiar with conifers so quite lost with the following.
As background, a (very long time ago) schoolmate contacted me to say he had acquired a large number of 'bonsai' turned out to be lots of dwarf? conifers in nursery pots but as the grower is deceased he has no clue as to the species or variety of these. I know there's not a lot to go on but I'm hoping one or more are distinctive enough for someone to give an accurate ID.

The majority appear to be spruces - Abies sp.

1. These have a distinctive growth habit and very small needles and shoots. The colour may be due to (lack of) fertiliser. Some that had been potted up into larger pots appeared to have similar shape but far more blue/green colour. Might also be 2 different varieties.

2. More upright growth habit but still appears to be a dwarf type. 3. Appears to be a prostrate variety. These may not be spruce but the foliage looks somewhat similar. 4. Finally what I think are Chamaecyparis. Some have quite golden tips while others are plain green. Could just be variations or maybe 2 distinct varieties. As mentioned, I'm not familiar with conifer ID so if there are other key features you'd like to see please let me know.
Thanks for the help

Picea Glauca dwarf Alberta Spruce ?
Last ones Thuja
Don't know if the prostrate one is a prostrate, the lower growth is struggling where as the top growth (needles and branches) are a lot stronger, maybe they wanted to grow a cascade but the tree doesn't

2. Ezo spruce?
3. Hinoki verdoni?

Number 3 looks like an Abies of some kind.

Number 2 does not look like a dwarf?

Number 4 either lawsoniana or obtusa. If obtusa, the gold one might be ''Crippsii''? Hard to say, partly because they do not display their mature form yet, and partly because it's bloody hard anyway.

Thanks for the help so far.
I considered Dwarf Alberta Spruce as a possibility. Does DAS grow upright like the second example or as a small round ball like the first?

Number 2 does not look like a dwarf?

That is absolutely possible Mike. They will all be somewhat constrained by the pots and the current sandy mix but all the examples of this variety have similar habit and more compact growth than I'd expect of a normal abies.

Number 3 looks like an Abies of some kind.

That's what I thought. Does anyone know of any prostrate Abies varieties that I can compare it to? The majority of the needles seem to grow toward the upper sides of the shoots on these ones.

Don't know if the prostrate one is a prostrate, the lower growth is struggling where as the top growth (needles and branches) are a lot stronger, maybe they wanted to grow a cascade but the tree doesn't

All things are possible but every one of these have been staked at some stage to hold the stem upright. Every one of them leans more or less horizontally where they are not supported by the stakes.

Hard to say, partly because they do not display their mature form yet, and partly because it's bloody hard anyway.

One of the reasons I've stayed away from conifer ID

I'll keep digging but feel free to offer more opinions if you have something further to offer.

Hinoki 2 is possibly chameacyparis obtusa kosteri, the silver around joints is one of it's identifiers

1 dwarf Alberta spruce Picea glauca Albertiana conica.

2 Norway spruce Picea Abies.(defineatly not a dwarf)

Hi Neal,
This may help?

https://www.conifer.com.au/

Cheers
Kirky

Thanks for all the help so far everybody.

Thanks for the link Kirky. I had already browsed the conifer gardens lists but there are several possibilities for most of these and I was hoping that someone would be able to help with a bit more detail of how to tell the different varieties apart.

Looking at the Conifer Gardens descriptions my #1 could be Picea glauca 'Alberta Globe' because of the strongly rounded profile. It looks like 'albertina conica' is very pyramid shaped which is also my memory of the ones I have seen, often offered as ' living Christmas trees' so I still doubt that that's the ID of #1. It is possible that #2 could be 'conica' but the growth does not seem dense enough.
I still think that the growth on #2 is far too small to be a full size spruce but will keep watching as it develops. all further opinions or hints welcome.
At least Conifer Gardens only has varieties from Picea abies and glauca. Searching dwarf spruce online gives a huge range of dwarf varieties from both these species and several others making it even more difficult. Hopefully we only have a limited number of varieties in Aust to make it a little easier.

Conifer Gardens only lists one prostrate spruce - Pivcea abies 'inversa' -https://www.conifer.com.au/our-products ... es-inversa No sites I have checked give a close up of the foliage or shows immature plants so it is hard to be definite but I am leaning toward that as a name for #3 If anyone can enlighten us further please do.

As for the Chamaecyparis, Conifer gardens lists 52 different varieties from 3 different species! Some are really obviously not correct for these (silver variegations, etc) but that still leaves quite a few possibilities. As Treeman said earlier it is often difficult to differentiate immature plants. Does anyone know the differences between Chamaecyparis species? At least if I can identify the species it should reduce the number of possible varieties.