how viable are the blue ones.. in your area ... they die in mine ... ken

There are healthy blue atlas cedar everywhere here.

The name of the variety is Cedrus atlantica 'Aurea' or Cedrus atlantica 'Aurea Robusta'. The tree looks healthy and there's nothing wrong with the tree. If it were me I would buy it. It's a nice looking tree.

I have this variety, although it was fully golden when I bought it but has since turned to a more blue color except for the new growth which is golden. It was shaded in the beginning that could be why my tree turned more blue.

I will also add, the needles on the extremely gold/yellow one are much shorter than the others around it..

Yes, it looks stunted and there are indications of water puddling near it. In short, do not buy it. Or anything else that has been sitting in a puddle or does not otherwise look very good. As can be seen in your pictures stock that does not sell quickly after arrival often gets stored by retailers under inadequate circumstances, resulting in marked deterioration in quality. And greatly reduced ability to establish readily on final planting sites.

- If you buy something that has become infested with water molds due to inadequate drainage and sanitation in a sales yard then you can end up spreading the infestation to your own site -

'Aurea' and 'Aurea Robusta' are supposed to be two different things, with those shown on this thread being the 'Aurea Robusta' that is usually encountered on the market (typically as 'Aurea'). A convention that is present in the literature is

Small growing, green and yellow: 'Aurea'

Large growing, blue and yellow: 'Aurea Robusta'

Ball could be saturated and very heavy, messy and clumsy to handle, with burlap perhaps falling apart. All to get home a tree that is probably diseased, with the less yellow example immediately nearby showing what it is supposed to look like under the current circumstances.

Despite the dire warnings above, I'd buy it. It's not in as bad shape as Embothrium thinks it is. I don't see where it's been sitting in a puddle. Where's the remnant 'shoreline'? His warnings could be valid for any plant in a nursery. If the blue variety grows in your area the Aurea will too. As Stuart says, get a one year warranty.

Thanks. Is the fact that the needles are so much shorter on the yellow one of concern?

If I remember right, the aureas have shorter needles than the glaucas, but that may have been a cultural thing rather than genetic. Not one that I purchased had what I call a good B&B rootball. I had three gold Cedrus atlanticas at different before tossing them because of the local needle issue. None made it more than three years before they looked worse than good. Hey, I tried.

I'm envious that you can grow them.

What is different about my climate than yours? Other than being colder? FWIW, there are a ton of "glacucas" around here...but really don't see any "aurea"..

Sloping of paving toward tree, resulting lingering brown mud-like deposit or stain indicates a zone of puddling in front - right where it would back up behind the dam made by the sawdust bed, before soaking into it. As has also been shown in above photos much more viable looking examples of 'Aurea Robusta' are present a bit farther back in the bed, where conditions may not be nearly as wet. Or these are sitting mostly or entirely above the water table, in their pots.

As I remember it I've never seen anything that fits depictions I have read (and at least one photo I have seen) of the small growing (16 ft. or less) 'Aurea' with a forest green base color here - it appears to me they are all 'Aurea Robusta'. Which amounts generally to a blue Atlas cedar with yellow on top, at least when its characters are fully expressed. A. L. Jacobson, Trees of Seattle - Second Edition (2006) mentions examples* there with heights of 69 ft. (Kubota Gardens Park), 59 ft. (Seattle University), 56 1/2 ft. (Bagley School), 49 ft. (Beacon Hill School) and so on. So partly yellow colored ones certainly grow in this region.

What is different about my climate than yours?

I think what I am now seeing frequently in this area is cedar needle blight. Weeping blue Atlas cedars are those most noticeably affected, many have quickly become ratty. This condition has been said to be

More of a problem in years with prolonged wet, cool springs

Cedar (Cedrus spp.)-Needle Blight

https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/cedar-cedrus-spp-needle-blight

Otherwise I think I've seen that 'Aurea Robusta' can have some partial summer (?) burning of the yellow portions of the foliage, as is often the case with yellow (or white) foliaged conifer variants.

*Which he lists under the heading

'Aurea' and / or 'Aurea Robusta'

Yeah, the first photo does show that it was sitting in water at some time. Dumb me, I was just looking at the last photo.

I wonder if that one at Kubota gardens is in good shape now. I'm not too far from there. Maybe I can break away and see. I need to get out more.

Are you guys talking about how the first few inches of the trunk are slightly darker, suggesting its been in water? For what its worth, they move all of their stock around at least twice a year..

I was talking about the appearance of the pavement. How its top looks indicates there is something haywire with the tree, how often they move their plants does not take this fact away. And twice per year is a 6 month interval anyway, 3 times would represent sitting in the same spot for 4 months, and so on. Stock can pick up pathogens by merely being splashed with infested water. The water mold problem costs the nursery industry millions of dollars in losses and is surely not to be dismissed by anyone who really knows what is involved.

I see.. Just curious what is wrong with the top of the tree?

Well I went back today, still unsure of which I'd choose....Wouldn't you know the more golden one was gone and sold, lol. So...that made my decision easy..bought the one that was more green, and in a pot.