can't stop wanting more conifers

15 years ago

Hi everyone, I just recently joined this forum. I love reading the posts everyday. I learned alot so far about conifers here already. I became interested in conifers about seven (7) years ago when my wife and I purchased our first home. As new homeowners there was plenty to do. After working on the inside we wanted to re-do the landscaping on the outside. The landscape was overgrown and not at all well maintained and we felt it was outdated. We began by removing all the old trees and shrubs and prepping the soil for planting. We went to our local nursery and started looking for new plantings. I loved all of the different textures and colors conifers have. The ones I absolutely had to have first were a hoopsi blue spruce, a weeping norway spruce and a weeping blue atlas cedar. After buying these, over the past six (6) years, I have added quite a few to my collection. Right now I am learning more about the rare and unusual conifers. It seems everytime we take a ride to a nursery I'm wanting to buy another one to bring home! And I know they're not cheap (I feel like a conifer addict). My wife says "honey we have alot of bills to pay, stop spending all your money on trees!" I end sneaking them behind the garage to hide, and then when she's not home in the garden they go. However, I have a small yard and I'm running out of room to plant. So I began purchasing miniatures. Conifers are great!

Also thanks to Dave for the link on posting Pics, I appreciate it. Will start posting some pics soon.

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Comments (19)

firefightergardener
15 years ago
I'm sure a good many of us can relate. I started with just a few dwarf norway spruce then I was searching for 'golden conifers' online and ran into Coenosium Gardens. After visiting their huge arboretum chalk full of amazing conifers - most of which are mature - it was all over, as they say. My addiction has strengthened the more trees and kinds that I have. First I stuck mostly to gold intermediate and large trees, not interested much in mini's or very small dwarves and ignoring everything not a fir or a spruce, but the rest soon followed. My poor UPS lady(they actually send two out now in the same vehicle - I suspect solely because of my house!), the Fed Ex and USPS are daily visitors to my porch and my budget went from $50-60 a month for conifers to lately which has been a ridiculous number I won't print here. Now I am removing 'scraggly' mature bushes and trees from my property as my collection increases and my lack of space becomes obvious. 1,000 conifers and 300 Japanese maples later, I still find myself browsing over inventory lists of online companies and placing orders - many of the conifers will just 'get in line' behind the rows of conifers and maples waiting to be planting this Spring.

Recently I started(and am close to finishing) four more really large projects that will give me a whole new area to plant(the sideyard and backyard) and I regularly work outside in cold rain to get the project finished so I can plant more and more conifers and maples.

It's an incredible hobby, one that has largely taken over my life but it's such a healthy hobby and even acknowledging the 'addiction' I wouldn't get rid of it if I could - at least not until my property is transformed into .6 acres of arboretum.

Sorry if I hijacked your post, I felt this was along the same lines and I imagine you can probably understand most of what I just wrote.

Conifers are great, they have character, uniqueness, all different sizes and colors and shapes, don't require much water once established and of course, best of all, I can go out into my garden in the middle of January and see colors and shapes *enchanced* by winter - deciduous trees just can't compete. They still have a place on my property, but it's certainly backseat to the king of the garden - conifers!

My splurge has some reasoning to it. Conifers can be expensively little guys, even for small plants, but if you want to see expensive, go and try to buy a 4-5' tall Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns'. Then you'll think the gallon pots you're buying are terrific bargains. Simply put, conifers( and all things growing) are an investment in time. By making the majority of my conifer purchases in my first year or collecting, I'll have larger and more mature plants in the years to come from which other collectors can enjoy and take grafts from.

As they say, the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is today.

Will
dcsteg
15 years ago
strictweeper1...Thanks for joining the forum. It's always interesting to know the story on how another regular guy/gal will finally come to the realization they are a conifer addict. I think your wife already knows this. Soon she will admit she is one also.

I have been one for 10+ years. When your yard gets full you can always grow them on standards. Post some photos when you have time. We always like to know what the other person is doing. We are not short on suggestions or compliments around here.

Dave
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For the most part deer dont eat my conifers (exceptions of course, like the emerald green arborvitae in my pic 6 posts up - that “hourglass figure” is bc of deer). What the deer do is thrash 1-4 conifers every late november/early December when they rub their antlers on trees(go into their “rut”) and unfortunately they pick out my planted conifers, not the native deciduous junk trees to do this on. They usually do it early evening after the sun goes down. I caught a/the deer nearly in the act this year and had him frozen in my headlamp(conifers had been thrashed 1-2 days earlier, i was out back early one night in the same spot, turned my head and there he was). Thing is I dont hunt and I wasnt about to mess with a deer with a good sized rack. In addition to a 15 foot Canaan Fir that now has 4 feet of blank trunk in the mid region, I also had a 4 foot Norway spruce snapped in half, a Techney arborvitae thrashed real good, and a juniper get half its bark rubbed off over two foot region(lots of broken branches as well). Rabbits will eat conifers as well and in particular enjoy my smaller Serbian spruces. The bottoms of my small 2-3.5’ Serbian spruces (where the branches should be the longest) have mostly been nibbled down and Im pretty sure by rabbits.
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tunilla
15 years ago
Hi. Whatever you do,don't let your hobby bankrupt you and your family.Sometimes it pays to valorize what you already have,by clearing up the litter,turning the beds or by putting some nice stones/gravel or woodchips between the plants.THEN you can stand back and see what's lacking . T.
kaitain4
15 years ago
Welcome to Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder Heaven!! Sounds like you're about to earn your wings! :-)

Like Fire said, it doesn't take long to go completely berzerk and fill every nook and cranny of your property with expensive plants. I started with Japanese Maples early last year and the disease spread to conifers later on. Much like Fire, I feel like I'm making up for lost time. I bought over 220 Japanese Maples and about 20 conifers last year. I just finished placing my first conifer orders for THIS season. The list includes:

Abies koreana ÂOberonÂ (Grafted onto A. firma)
Abies nordmaniana ÂGolden Spreader' (Grafted onto A. firma)
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ÂGreen ArrowÂ
Picea omorika 'Bruns Pendula'
Picea omorika 'Peve TijnÂ
Picea orientalis ÂNutans'
Picea orientalis ÂProfessor LangnerÂ
Picea orientalis ÂSilver SeedlingÂ
Picea pungens ÂDonna's RainbowÂ
Picea pungens 'Ed Woods Blue'
Picea sitchensis ÂPapooseÂ
Pinus Contorta 'Chief Joseph'
Pinus densiflora 'Red OD Burke'
Pinus Mugo ÂZundertÂ
Pinus strobus 'Squiggles'
Sequoiadendron giganteum ÂGreenpeaceÂ

This was about 1/3 of the list I started off with, but I'm making myself cut the orders back by at least 1/2 in order to ward off imminent bankrutcy!! Hopefully my control meassures will last long enough for me to get some planting beds prepared. Confidence is low, however, given my previous binges!!

Good luck! We're here for support whenever you need us! :-)
in ny zone5
15 years ago
K4,
I remember you once wrote that you have a large lot to plant.

Weeper,
you live on Long Island, and I went there once with my son finding an apartment for him. Houses were small and lots were small. In case this is your case too, many baby dwarf conifers then would lead to a packed small yard where conifers interfere with each other years from now. I like some space personally, and interplant with heathers. Good Luck!

Bernd
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
15 years ago
"I've seen the needle take another man..."

tj
kaitain4
15 years ago
Bernd,

Large lot, yes (22 acres). Two problems - First, the entire place is covered in mature hardwoods, necessitating a lot of surgery with the chain saw to make room for the new arrivals. Second, the lot is WAY larger than the 'ol wallet, if you get my drift. Still, I am making progress. At least I can plant something that gets enormous without worrying I'll run out of room; as long as Mr. Chain Saw keeps those Oaks and Hickories in check.
Embothrium
15 years ago
Just so you don't start pining.
firefightergardener
15 years ago
I could have a lot of fun with 22 acres! lol... room for everything, twice over!
kaitain4
15 years ago
Yes, wonderful fun and wonderfully expensive! :-(

It all hits you when you have to start paying for the basics that come included with a normal suburban home. Like burying the power lines so you don't have to worry about them entangling with your trees. Not a big deal on a small lot, but when you have to buy hundreds and hundreds of feet of conduit, wire, etc. it adds up quick. Then there's getting a water supply. You drill a well (180ft. deep), which sounds nice, but then you have to run water lines ALL OVER the place so you can keep things from frying in the summer. And the real kicker is the driveway. Mine is 1200ft. long, and since I'm on a VERY steep hill it all had to be paved. Ouch!! Just to give you an idea, we had to have a bulldozer pull the gravel trucks up the hill because they couldn't make it up on their own. And it took a total of 660 tons of gravel.

So, pros and cons. I think the pros outweigh the cons, or I wouldn't be living here.

K4
karinl
15 years ago
Hey Strictweeper, I've been sneaking plants in behind my husband's back for years! Nice to have some company here. It's the only way to enjoy plants in peace, who needs the abuse??? When the yard looks fabulous (and it WILL, someday honey, really, as soon as I find a place for all these plants), you'll be a hero!

KarinL
kim_dirtdigger
15 years ago
Welcome Strictweeper. Yes, we can all relate. And go ahead and admit it -- you ARE a conifer addict. We could start a Conifers Anonymous (but who wants to), as we all have a story to tell about how the addiction began. And what a wonderful addiction it is!

Hope you get your wife addicted too -- makes it so much more fun to have someone who is in there with you on it (but twice as expensive!). My husband resisted and thought I was crazy for a while, but he soon got hooked as well.

Looking forward to seeing your photos.

Kim
dcsteg
15 years ago
Will, Your quote: "I could have a lot of fun with 22 acres! lol... room for everything, twice over!".

Wouldn't we all. Better have a wheelbarrow full of greenbacks. Maybe two would be better.

Expect a big price jump this spring at the local nursery. Transportation costs are a big factor that are driving the prices up.

Dave
firefightergardener
15 years ago
""Wouldn't we all. Better have a wheelbarrow full of greenbacks. Maybe two would be better.

Expect a big price jump this spring at the local nursery. Transportation costs are a big factor that are driving the prices up. ""

22 acres would take basically my entire life to 'landscape'. Since most of it could be large 'natural' settings, I would probably go haywire with Japanese maple purchases(a stand of different colored Japanese maples can be breathtaking in fall - and spring) and huge mass plantings of conifers, starting short and getting ever larger towards the back(or center). And sure it would be a TON of work and more money then I have but then again if I bought 22 acres I'd already be in a pretty good situation!

My own collection has shifted from wanting every new conifer I see to wanting every new Cedrus I see. Since it wasn't realistic to have 2500+ conifers on my .6 acres, I figure I can at least have a several hundred and most of the beautiful Cedrus species. After all, for me they are the most attractive conifers and come in a huge variety of colors, textures and shapes. It also gives me a fiscal goal since buying conifers can get expensive, if I stick to mostly just Cedrus, there won't be dozens of plants I am looking for each month, maybe just a couple. Like K4 said, I am *making* myself cut back or else I'll have hundreds of conifers sitting in pots or crowding the heck out of eachother and no place to put them.

Will
kaitain4
15 years ago
If you want 22 acres just move to Tennessee. Land is cheap here, as long as you're outside one of the larger cities. I'm less than an hour from Nashville, and you can get land for under $3,000 an acre. When I bought my property 15 years ago, I only paid $1,025 an acre. So my 22 acres cost less than a 1/4 acre lot in Nashville!

We have a lot of people from California and New England buy up huge old farms here because they can have 300 acres for the same price they paid for their 800 sq. ft. bungalo in LA or Boston.

K4

P.S. The mature hardwood trees on my property are almost worth more than the property itself! Kinda crazy when you think about it.
Embothrium
15 years ago
The best manure is cash. These days 50 bucks will buy you one specimen.
ic_conifers
15 years ago
It has been almost a year since I posted here (I spend most of my free time on Dave's Garden) but I could not help chiming in here too! I grew up in Queens, NY and my parents still live in the house I grew up in (as does my brother, who cannot afford to move out, though he better figure that out soon since he is getting married next year). My mom is always trying to convince me to move back - never!

My house is on a quarter of an acre and it feels like a hundred acres compared to what I grew up with! That said, after two years I am out of space for anything other than very slow dwarf and mini conifers. I ordered a bunch of things for 2009, I cannot wait for spring!

Elizabeth
klavier
15 years ago
At least you do not walk around with a scissor in your pocket in case you are offered cuttings. I ran out of room so I started a program to plant public lands so that the whole city is an arbotetum! I get a sick sort of thrill out of growing from seed or cutting as opposed to buying, so my wallet got fortunate, though I spend about a hundred a year in seeds if you can imagine that. Now I grow thousands of trees each year. I ran out of windows so the dinner table is home to my cloners and flourescent lights. I am waiting for the cops to break down my door only to find conifer cuttings/seedlings and not marijuana.
-Werner J Stiegler
Director Binghamton Memorial Tree Program
www.binghamtonmemorialtree.webs.com
gardener365
15 years ago
I know how ya feel. I want more too.

Dax

can't stop wanting more conifers

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