Here are some conifers: Picea abies 'Nidiformis' - "Bird's Nest Spruce - Green Variation": Probably my top pick. This conifer is green with beautiful overtones in summer, but when the weather starts getting cold in fall it begins to turn yellow. Then come December or so, it's a bright school bus yellow. This is one of the best around. Pinus contorta var. latifolia 'Chief Joseph' (midsummer) Pinus contorta var. latifolia 'Chief Joseph' - winter Another with yellow winter coloration. Simply striking! Pinus mugo 'Zundert' Some blue-color: Picea pungens 'Saint Mary'/'Saint Mary's'/'St. Mary's Broom' - a million spellings out there. This is a special blue dwarf picea pungens that grows very slow but has some of the most beautiful color not usually captured by the camera. A larger specimen would need to be purchased... Pick up at any nursery: Picea pungens 'Globosa' And just something else for variety's sake. Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Silver Lode' All these are slow-growing. The 'Silver Lode' plant can simply be sheared. The other conifers to control growth, when they push their new spring growth and needles are extending from the growth (about 2 weeks in), simply pinch off the new growth where you wish and buds for next year will form at that point thus keeping the growth 'pruned for life'. Then of course this should be treated like a bonsai project if you really want to keep something say should you like it. You'll simply need to watch the root system(s) and prune them every so often replenishing while removing old garden soil from roots and root pruning at this time. Early spring would be a good time to to this anytime before the plants start growing. Your current mix of topsoil and compost is not a good mix for any container plant, honestly. Sure annual flowers, etc will do fine in this type of a mix, but really topsoil is like mud and should be avoided. I realize you are a gardener so I didn't push this topic earlier. But quite honestly, you need to get a better mix. Photos courtesy of some of my GW friends who really have beautiful stuff happening. Dax

Wow! What a treatI can't figure out how to update my member page with an e-mail, so that it can tell me when people add to a thread. Just realized a few minutes ago that Coralbelle and Dax had posted. Beautiful pictures are starting to form in my head. If I'm not real careful, I'll be throwing caution to the wind and going on a mail-order binge despite my best-laid plan to try to go local and do a trip to St. Louis area for more possibilities. Coralbelle- For me your several vignettes with 'De Groots' are a bonanza of ideas. SShhhhDon't tell Ken, but I'm awfully fond of fragrant hostas. Might have to tuck one or two in the shadier corner of this border. If Ken finds out, he might start tempting me with 'Stained Glass' or 'Diana Remembered', which I don't have yet. That would just add to the temptation you guys are giving me! "The third is again a trio of Spires with three Chamaecyparis pisifera (I forget the name - variegated yellow but very subtle) and a sweep of Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola.' This is a much larger vignette at the front of the house and I love it." Is this your grouping that's in the driveway border? Dax- "Make it look unusual! That's the plan right." You got it! And that's my weak point in terms of trying to resist the temptationsIt isn't clear to me yet how hard it will be to move from the notes and mental view into actual conifers found and planted in a reasonably artful way. 'Pusch' / 'Acrocona Pusch' -- Definitely a mail-order catch, right? But I do have a thing for red cones! 'De Groot's' Thuja -- This is one I'm hoping to find in St. Louis. Sounds like MBG likes it, too, but I still need to check their "Locate this plant" link. Where did you guys find yours? Okay, okay, on the Daphne. Maybe it's time to try one. Now, where am I putting it? Yesterday, I spent a little time at the ACS website, and I checked out all the Abies balsamea cultivars, thinking that these are pretty fragrant? Is that right? I think I noticed 'Weeping Larry', but I don't remember why. What's his growth rate likely to be? "Chief Joseph' sounds stunning. I think, however, you are trying to lure me into planting the whole border of my drive down to and into the hell strip. Why not, I say? Well, Hubby has to be slowly coaxed into these things, too! But maybe the Chief needs to be on my Must Have Some Day list. In my mind's eye I understand that the sharper breeds would add a hint of somethingcleannessrefinement? but for now I can resist the sharper needled forms. There's just too much I don't have. Now your hemlock suggestionwell, I just may have to have one of those. You called her a beautytwice. 'Gentsch's White' -- "soft. White-tipped and arching foliage in a globe form. A beauty." Sounds like she also needs to be on my "soft" list. Thanks again, guys. I'm wondering which I'll be able to track down. May have to give my two favorite local nurseries a call. They could "special order" for me and that might at least secure one or two of my choices or the 3 thujas that I'm still thinking might be a good start. You see, I have this gift card from Christmas And, yes, I'll keep you updated on where I go with this. Wellspring

Dax I am laughing right now because I had the same conversation with husband. He is from OK and had never heard of our type of irrigation before. He said in the east and midwast water falls from the sky because God loves them more lol ;) We get zero rain for about four months in the summer and not much rain year round. The only moisture we get is snow in the winter. So the original settlers dug a series of trench systems to channel the water (as it melts) from the mountains into the valley. There are large irrigation ditchs all over that feed into smaller irrigation ditchs that feed into our yards. The back fence line of our property is a ditch about three feet deep and wide. When we want water, we open a gate (hatch) that causes the water to flow into our yard. We had to dig a series of even smaller ditches to channel the water where we want. The garden is rows about 3 feet wide with a 12 inch ditch on either side of each row. But for the lawn we have a ditch that runs along the east fence line and overflows onto the grass. We have the gate open for about 1.5 hours twice a week in the hottest time of the year and it keeps everything watered just right. We are lucky enough to still have water rights since most places have done away with it and use city water. I hope that makes sense. Here is a pic, not a great one but it shows the ditch on our back fence. and some of the smaller ditches in our yard.

Well, I like pushing things that aren't supposed to grow here, but I also like the very narrow tall habit of these Fir (sub)species. Douglas Fir obviously isn't a true Fir and I was looking at true Firs only. I haven't seen White Fir that was very narrow and upright like A. lasiocarpa/bifolia/arizonica etc., but maybe there are some? I made my guess as to A. lasiocarpa possibly being more heat tolerant based on an old taxonomy which called all of A. bifolia and A. lasiocarpa merely A. lasiocarpa and that towards the Southern end of it's(Abies lasiocarpa subsp. bifolia under Resin's treatment) range it grows at a lower elevation than A. lasiocarpa subsp. arizonica. One odd partnership with Opuntia cactus I came across here in Eastern Kansas is a gravel "sand" bar which must of been very old because the tiny little stream nearby(about 1' deep and 2' wide at the wettest of times) never has enough water flow to deposit this big and deep of a gravel bar, which was covered with Opuntia cactus and an over-story of Pecans(Carya illinoensis). Normally the 2 Opuntia species found here grow on exposed dry South and West facing hillsides in shallow soil laid over bedrock. The deep gravel must dry out very quickly to allow the Opuntia to grow there, but there must be some wet subsoil deep down for the Pecans to get their roots into at the same time.