Ok, what is it with these plants - more often than not, I see a nice photo of a beautiful evergreen and it takes my breath away! I'm liking the looks of Chamaecyparis nootkatensis 'glauca pendula'. It doesn't look particularly blue in the photos I've seen. Any thoughts on how it will look next to this pyramidalis stuff? Gosh I would love to get rid of those (they don't take my breath away!). The textures seem like they could be too similar. Green arrow is probably a bit too narrow - but maybe it is just because I am seeing pictures of juvenile plants? I will definitely have some mini conifers in the area in front of the house. I have been known to leave the nursery with those cute little ones that fit great in a winter pot (but get quickly buried in a summer pot). Maybe someday my 6" dwarf hinoki nana lutea will be big enough to go in the garden... I saw a Picea Omorika "Riverside" a few weeks ago. It was a nice tree, but it looks like the spread is up to 15, which might be a bit much for me. A lady I was talking to at the nursery said she really likes the Vanderwolf Limber Pine. It was a very soft tree, 15-20 high x 8-10 wide the tag said. I've been looking for pictures of some of the cedrus deodar narrow forms - in particular, quiksilver was one I read about but haven't seen anywhere. What about cedrus atlantica's here in the PNW? Do they do ok? I see the weeping blue atlas cedar everywhere, but fastigiata looks interesting... So, I have to laugh about the "how to move a rhody" discussion. I have never been "gentle" to them when moving them. I stick that shovel in wherever I can get it through the roots and then lever them out and drag them across the yard by whatever means I can to a better spot. I started out moving them in the fall or spring, but have done a couple in the height of summer. I swear you can't kill those things here. One of them blew over in an ice/wind storm while I was out of town and was sideways for a couple weeks before being put back in the ground. It didn't even blink. I have to believe there are people in the PNW that consider them weeds they are so tough! And I love them for that!

Where it is different from Britain here is there are very few examples of these of any serious age and size. Even the typical green parental tree is quite rare - although somewhat incongruously, large examples do exist here - so there is not an environmental condition that excludes the species entirely. Whereas the green ones in particular are ubiquitous south of here, in northern California coastal communities. Brown patches often appear on the recently planted yellow forms here. Recently I noticed that the browning of one near me was on the north side, implying winter injury. Otherwise last summer was hot (yellow foliage variants of conifers are often prone to sun damage), and the species is limited to outer coastal areas in the wild by disease pressure. Another yellow one I used to drive regularly got maybe as much as 8'-10' tall - and then fell open under a snow load, was cut down. An 'Aurea'? 'Donard Gold'? more than 24' tall (ca 2005) in Seattle (USDA 8) is quite exceptional for this area, the only other anywhere near comparable example reported (2006) from there being a 20' (ca 2005) 'Fine Gold' that was planted 1999 or earlier.

Here's a quote from that site, lol: "The myth of Ceanothus being short lived is primarily spread by incompetent gardeners that insist on applying drip irrigation, summer water and soil amendments. Upland native plants hate all three. Expect a 25+ year life in most well tended (no overwatering, no soil disturbance, no fertilizing, no drip, no application of soil amendments) gardens." Although we will have drip, our landscape company is going to put in deep watering tubes (I don't know if there is an "official" name for those) for the trees. Sounds like it otherwise thrives on neglect...sounds like my kind of tree. LOL!!! Don't get me wrong, I know all these things we put in are going to require some care, but with the size of our lot, I need some things I don't have to do much to so I have time for the things that do require care. And so I can spend time in my veggie garden. So since the guy at the nursery pointed out that Saucer Magnolias aren't messy like the Southern ones, I've spent the morning looking for a good variety of it that stays smallish (not 20 feet wide...maybe 10) and truly isn't messy like the Southerns. Any suggestions? The nursery has Vulcan but I'm not sure that's the best choice. I just wonder if what he said about Saucer's not being messy is really true of all the Saucers...

Charles Metroz, polyantha, Schwartz, France, 1900. Not in commerce in the USA which is a shame, he is a lovely rose. Shown here draped over his pot neighbor, Sunny Day. I got Charles Metroz from Eurodesert in 2011, and he is still in the same pot I brought him home in, and that is because he is grafted on something with a TAP ROOT. Never seen anything like it. Bought 2 plants from Eurodesert of Charles Metroz. The first one I brought home with a group of other roses I'd purchased. I thought I had seen what looked like a tap root when he was dug up, but then thought I was crazy, roses don't have tap roots do they? But when I got that load of roses home (approximately a 90-mile trip IIRC), only CM was wilted, and I mean bigtime wilted. Huh. Watered thoroughly and soon planted. He died. So when I went back for the second plant I paid close attention while he was being dug up. Sure enough a whopping big tap root. So I zipped home and rushed him into the shade. He was very, very wilted. I doused him with water, and kept spritzing him frequently. Didn't even think of replanting and disturbing that root again. He recovered fairly quickly but I haven't dared take him out of the pot. So he lives in a pot on my front porch along with some other small roses, Renny, Memory Lane, Sunny Day, and Sequoia Gold. Jenny Duval, gallica, Duval, France, before 1846. Maybe it is the real Jenny Duval. I got her from Heirloom in 1994, but Heirloom wasn't sure if this ID is correct. Is it JD or President du Seze (or something else). Whatever, she is beautiful and one of my favorite roses. A garden thug, she spreads everywhere! Very fragrant and healthy. Shade tolerant. Drought tolerant. Thorny. Mutable too. This year she is looking pinker than usual, but her flowers go more into purple/grey tones as they age as seen in the shots above, all taken tonight. Felicite Parmentier, alba, Parmentier, Belgium, before 1836. My favorite rose. Extremely fragrant, and this scent is the most heavenly of all my roses. It wafts through the air. I could find her in the dark with my eyes closed. Healthy, floriferous, drought tolerant, and shade tolerant. Blooms packed with petals. That pushes all my buttons.;) Paul Ricault, centifolia, Portemer (pere), France, 1845. Own root from Heirloom in the mid 1990s. Shot taken from below. He probably normally doesn't get this tall, but he is next to Cl. Cecile Brunner and she is such a massive grower, she has strangled out most of her neighbors over the decades, she has a trunk like a tree. Any rose that couldn't hunt for the sun by growing above her clutches simply was smothered. He has survived by getting very, very tall. Between 15 and 20 feet I'd say. Renny, miniature, Moore, USA, 1989. Happily growing in a pot shared with lemon balm on my front porch. Such a cheerful rose and rarely without flowers.