The most beautiful is the 'Blue Surprise' but I went to a talk once where Larry Stanley showed a slide of it and said "The surprise is when it dies" - it can be a little delicate. Nevertheless there is a conifer collection near here where one is probably within your 7'-12' desired height - if not well above it! (I saw a picture of it in a newspaper, have not been on the garden site). The junipers should also be expected to grow above this range and also have a tendency to go scruffy and thin on this side of the mountains - this seems to be true of most Rocky Mountain junipers planted here, and for that matter blue Colorado spruces and white firs. The way these shine in the dry summer climates of the interior is not the usual outcome over here. Young specimens fresh from the nursery may look good but opening up and greening out (due to algae on the needles) after some years in place is common in this climate.

With any planting of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana these days you must be sure the drainage is excellent and be prepared for the possibility of losses to water molds even where it is. I would never be splashing dirty water or tracking mud near one I wanted to keep alive.

Another smallish compact juvenile that jumps out at you is 'Barry's Silver'. This fairly soon grew above my head before it was removed due to garden changes; like 'Blue Surprise' it is currently (recent years) at independent outlets.

Another popular type is blue cultivars of smooth Arizona cypress. You also get the opening up and fading with these but they don't tend to get so green and dead-looking, and they have interesting bark. But, again, not a mere 12' tall.

Unless you clip.

This post was edited by bboy on Mon, Jun 24, 13 at 15:54

Would Cham.lawsoniana 'Wissels Saguaro ' work for you?
I would be looking for disease resistant understocks on any of the Lawsons and especially 'Blue Surprise'.I've come to like Elwoods pillar quite a lot and have watched its heighth
accerate after whacking some tips on competing leaders.The Cotinus is a plant I generally prune harshly in fall as I'm not using it where I want more than a 6 or 7 ft.shrub.A back-lit 'Grace ' is quite a sight I would agree.D.

Buchholz sells C. lawsoniana on disease-resistant rootstock. AT this point (after too much heartache) I won't buy them unless they are thus grafted.

Is Picea pungens 'Fastigata' too coarse/aggressive for you? It's quite narrow and very blue.

C. 'Barry's Silver' is one of the loveliest plants in my garden - I would not relegate it to the back of the border. Its got fine, delicate, silvery needles that really should be observed up close. Here, at least, it's been a slow grower but we don't have the water that you have up there (despite the fact that it is POURING right now which is the equivalent of it snowing up there today!)

Sara

(3) Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns' will look great. Keep the leader straight, staking it as needed, until no longer necessary. 'Berliner's Weeper' is another you might like. Link below to good information.

Dax

Here is a link that might be useful: Coenosium Gardens: Picea omorika's

Larry Stanley showed a slide of it and said "The surprise is when it dies"

==>>> in my experience.. the surprise is if it LIVES .. lol ...

is juniper tip blight an issue in the PNW ... ????

ken

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

I actually have a Blue Surprise which I love but it is sooo slow. Would love to have that in just a little larger version. Also have a Barry's Silver which I may move to that position to see how it sits with the Cotinus.

Ogcon, I too cut my Cotinus back every year. Could care less about the smoky "flowers' , I'm after the foliage. I set mine so they would get back-lit and side-lit by the sun - just lovely.

Love the Ellwood's Piller if I could be sure it would get taller.
Checked out the Cham.lawsoniana 'Wissels Saguaro; ehm...don't think so.
Picea pungens 'Fastigata' - yep too coarse for what I'm after

Ken, I've read warnings about tip blight w/junipers but I don't know it it is "an issue" up here or just a caution. Went to Portland nursery to look at the J. skyrockets they had there - close up they looked different from the online photos. I think I prefer the texture of the Blue Surprise and well...it is such a lovely color.

Monrovia has the The Guardianî Series Disease-resistant Chamaecyparis.

Here is a link that might be useful: Monrovia's The Guardian® Series Disease-resistant Chamaecyparis.

Concept depends on infested soil never getting on the scion.

Hadn't really considered that to be an issue, though I noted your comment about splashing muddy water. So the pathogen can be absorbed through the leaves?

A reason to make sure that the area is well mulched, for sure!

Sara

Just curious - can one have soil tested for Phytophthora lateralis? Who would do it - local WSU ag extension?

I had a few that I had to continually prune side branches that flopped out. They were planted in a dry, sunny place with good drainage, but I think it was just too good a place for them and they grew too fast. Our climate doesn't favor some junipers.
I got rid of them after a few years.
Mike

The results with grafted resistant rootstock C. lawsonianas has been great. I would not hesitate to plant one in the PNW. Prior to these coming onto the market, 'Blue Surprise' was perhaps my number 1 returned plant at the nursery. Have not had a single one returned in the 3 years we've been carrying the grafted forms.

WSU does not test soils although they can refer you to a number of private testing labs that can test for all manner of issues including soil-borne disease pathogens.

Junipers can get tip blights in our climates due to our mild, wet springs but is most usually seen on lower, spreading junipers rather than the upright forms. I'd still be inclined to make sure they had good air circulation around them as the lack of that can be a contributing factor.

Why not just graft onto T. occidentalis for east coast, T. plicata for west coast?

Dying row of long-established 'Alumii' on Tacoma street were found to have several water molds belonging to more than one genus when sampled and tested by a lab. Results with one kind of water mold in one place or another may not apply to another site - the idea that Lawson cypress lost to water molds will automatically have been killed by Phytophthora lateralis is false.

Dying big-leaf maples in the Seattle arboretum were also discovered to be hosting a complex of root pathogens instead of one or two.

Well I did get two of the J. Skyrocket just to try out. I think I'll put them in large containers for now. I keep coming back to Blue Surprise. Thanks for the info gardengal - that is encouraging news.