Bob Fincham, a founding member and the first President of the American Conifer Society, has been actively involved with every aspect of the conifer world since 1974, and here writes about the expansion of conifer collecting in the United States. He also shares his own insights into the world of Picea abies as described by Hornibrook in his 1938 book on dwarf conifers. Bob also gives the complete story behind his work with the hybridizing of two cultivars of Picea abies to produce twenty-eight new golden cultivars. He then visits the freaks of the conifer world in the last chapter of the book.