Help me like conifers

17 years ago

I'm a complete novice to using conifers as garden elements and I'm beginning to recognize that I'll need to beef up my knowledge about them some as I am looking at buying a house within the next 3 years, and I'll be designing my new garden there (wherever "there" ends up being).

I keep getting stuck on "not liking" conifers in the garden. Maybe this is because I grew up in a neighborhood full of native Douglas fir and that is what I think of when I think "conifer" -- something large, sweeping and graceful that a smaller conifer is only a pale and clumsy imitation of.

Then, too, I haven't had a lot of exposure to good landscaping involving conifers, which I understand to be expensive to buy. So I think "conifers in the landscape" and the picture that leaps to mind is cheap and ugly upright stick-looking things in a soldier line, or cheap and ugly flattish prickly things that crawl across the ground in lieu of any variation of texture, height or form.

What I feel like I need to begin appreciating conifers as a garden element is exposure to the kinds you can't get at Home Despot or Slowe's. For my purposes, since I will never afford a yard big enough for large species that aren't already planted there, conifers should be small (6x6' footprint absolute maximum), suited for the mixed border. I have a strong preference for organic form -- hah, what tree isn't organic? But I don't tend to like plants that look like topiary even if they're not. Graceful and easily integrated is the ticket. Especially attractive to birds, whether as shelter or seed, is a plus. I'm in the Pacific Northwest maritime zone 8.

Please, would you tell me about your favorite garden conifer? What makes it special? How do you use it? Where does it like to be and what kind of soil does it like? Do you have any pictures? Can you recommend any books or websites?

Thanks,

Kristin

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Comments (10)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
17 years ago
start at the American Conifer Society ... link below ... study the entire site .... review all pix ... pix are also contained in the database ....

when you find something you like.. copy the Latin name to google.. and use their IMAGES page ...

there is a good book by Adrian bloom .... among others.. all the books are previewed at the ACS site ...

come back here often .. once spring picks up ... we start posting pix ....

once you ID something you like.. the key is growth rates ... something that grows 1 inch a year fits anywhere .. if it grows >18 inches per year.. well you grew up there.. lol ...

most of the biggest conifer sources are out in OR and WA ... which means there has to be some awesome gardens and collections out that way .... day trips to arboretums and growers would be spectacular ...

good luck.. ken

Here is a link that might be useful: ACS
girlndocs
Original Author
17 years ago
most of the biggest conifer sources are out in OR and WA ... which means there has to be some awesome gardens and collections out that way .... day trips to arboretums and growers would be spectacular ...

I can't believe I didn't think of that! There have to be at least half a dozen arboretums and plant collections close enough for a day trip. Great idea, thanks!
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I have this lovely retaining wall ... and i want to .... cover it year round. ==>>>> well i surely dont understand why you want to cover it.. its magnificent ... ----------------- *Weeeping Alaskan Cedar 'glauca pendula' - I asked the nursery guy specifically if this was going to get too big and he told me that this one would not. True? ====>>>>> he is delusional ..... see link below for size potential ..... if it were me.. i would put in about 20 MINI conifers ... something like will had on his hillside .... most of those you list.. will grow 1 to 1.5 feet per year .. once established .... and will easily outgrow that spot inside 10 years .... where are you.. what zone 5 ... summer temps make a difference ... any adversity to mail order of smaller stuff .... is your local supplier able to order from iseli now for fall delivery.. or in spring ... look into CHAMAECYPARIS nootkatensis 'Green Arrow' .. for somthing EXTREMELY narrow .... and tall .... maybe two on each end .... with something yellow in between .... copy paste this into your browser: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=l4N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&&sa=X&ei=KL92TLPwNoGxnAeW0uWcCw&ved=0CCMQBSgA&q=chamaecyparis+nootka+green+arrow&spell=1 i would go to great lengths.. to avoid covering any of that great wall .... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link
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iog-6
17 years ago
I just want to second Ken's important point above in recommending the Adrian Bloom book 'Gardening with Conifers.' Its brilliant. I've shown it to an English friend who, like many English people it seems, has an aversion and even basic hatred of conifers. Even she was impressed, thought much of what he's done is beautiful, and admitted they have possibilities. Whether or not she incorporates any into her own English garden remains to be seen.

IoG
erniew
17 years ago
Black and White makes it more apparent.

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Color: Picea glauca 'Mac's Golden' Will get taller than 6' but still nice.

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A mystery Colorado spruce, limitedly available

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Blue Japanese White Pine- pick your favorite dwarf

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Juniperus horizontalis 'Mother Lode'

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Cones can be interesting: Abies fraseri 'Prostrata'

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They even look good dead: Juniperus osteosperma in Arches National Park.

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I'd better quit before I get going through the files.

Regards,
Ernie
picea
17 years ago
Hi Ernie,

The Pungens, is it 'Spring Ghost' or Brotzman's? David
ademink
17 years ago
That first photo is stunning! WOW. Where is that??
girlndocs
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you for the photos, Ernie.

I have the Adrian Bloom book from my local library.

Kristin
botann
17 years ago
In my opinion, dwarf conifers 'suitable for the mixed border" doesn't work. They get lost or appear disjointed in the design. Conifers look best in communities of conifers with deciduous plants taking a minor role.

Black and white really shows off their form if not mixed with a lot of shrubs and out of scale perennials. A strictly 'nothing but conifers' garden seems cold to me. Adrian Bloom spices his up with a lot of heaths and heathers. Plus, he uses form and scale rather well.

Most people think of small conifers as having very little color and boring to look at. That's because they see them planted in rows like soldiers around the house and down the driveway with all the character annually sheared out of them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Some conifers in my garden.
erniew
17 years ago
David,

That is Brotzman's plant. I haven't checked in here lately. Has a name manifested itself yet?

Ademink- the picture is from around Dax's corner of the world, the Bickelhaupt Arboretum in Clinton, IA. It's my second favorite place in the Midwest to look at dwarf conifers, after the Dawes Arboretum. A couple more for those who may not have seen it.

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Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns'

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Kristin- I don't know that I've really convinced you yet so I'll have to keep trying til you cry "uncle." Unfortunatly time to do this is short this time of the year so I have time for only one picture this morning.

Picea omorika 'Berliner's Weeping'

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I'll bet that Dax will be along shortly to finish what I started. I give him full rein to use pictures off of my cd's to convince unbelievers :)

Regards,
Ernie
karinl
17 years ago
I too grew up in the conifer-rich pacific northwest and have (I blush to admit) always sort of yawned over the local flora. My early gardening years were entirely focussed on perennials and deciduous shrubs and the like.

I began to be interested in conifers as several things happened at once. First, I tripped over Garden Web and found myself particularly stuck in the landscape design and conifers forum; second, I was becoming frustrated at how amorphous my plantings and my yard in general looked. Third, I had a problem bed, a foot wide along a sidewalk that needs to be kept clear, with which I had been struggling for years, and when I applied conifers to this problem, it suddenly became a snap to design something nice that didn't reach out and trip someone.

Conifers have improved all my plantings, and are gradually reducing my interest in other plants, as I absorb the same aesthetic that leads Botann to say that "Conifers look best in communities of conifers with deciduous plants taking a minor role." I've even come to admire shearing, though I don't do any yet, as I realize that some people (like Botann) shear character into conifers, rather than out of them.

I don't know that cultivating a certain garden taste in advance of a house purchase will serve you well, though. Although it may help drive your choice, it tends to be more likely that you will be looking for a style to fit whatever conditions you land in.

Help me like conifers

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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

girlndocs
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