ROFLMBO, Ken, you're gonna get me in trouble at work. I'm not supposed to be laughing when looking at my computer screen. It makes it look like I'm not hard at work! That would drive me insane! I have a pack of "wild" (as in not fenced in) dogs that come through my property. They love to dig around my small trees. They are about as bad as deer. How large is your property? How much area do you think you have mulched? You must spend quite a bit on mulch. As I told you earlier, I'm very impressed with your place! Everything is spaced out nicely, and I don't think I saw a single weed! I do see remnants of giant wooden weeds (logs). I like your name tags also. At least in a few years, you should be able to charge admission!

On the subject of companion plants, my conifers actually started off as companion plants to the rest of my garden, which was a mess of perennials and deciduous shrubbery as well as a pretty big collection of hostas and ferns (note to Steve: try ferns!). For me, moving to conifers has been part of a move in my gardening to a more controlled, formal look as my gardening to that point seemed to be having the effect of uglifying, rather than beautifying, our yard. My experience of mixing conifers with other plants is that (a) anything deciduous or herbaceous messes up the look, and (b) my preference for intertwining/layered foliage doesn't always result in the healthiest conifers. A tall hosta or ligularia for example will shade out a conifer behind it and then, in fall, smother it by plastering it with wet dead leaves. I'm still determined to somehow grow conifers and other plants, but I'm finding it takes a good understanding of plant shapes, and some careful plant training, separation/grooming, and pruning depending on plant size at time of planting. And some things just DON'T work in my tight space, for example arching ferns just don't work next to certain types of conifers because planted as close together as they need to be on my little property, they try to occupy the same airspace. And a word for Firefighter about Rhodos: "boring?" You're looking at the wrong rhodos! If you really start looking at rhodos for foliage, you'll go weak in the knees and forget that they ever flower. I have a couple of plants on which I don't even like the flowers and grow them solely because of the beguiling foliage. I look forward to the emergence of new leaves way more than I do to the flowers, with very few exceptions. I'll try to get out and snap some photos, once it's gotten less cold and the leaves are looking good again. My ideal combo: conifers, rhodos, and Japanese maples. KarinL

It's not a true golden weeping form, it's colour is more of a green yellow...

Welch/Haddow, World Checklist of Conifers says 'Inverleith' came from a creamy-white variegated tree at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Same publication cross-references 'Hillside Gold' Douglas fir to 'Hillside Yellow', notes it was listed by Hillside Gardens, PA in 1970. Your plant looks like it is getting too much exposure. Some colored foliage forms are quite delicate.