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Fast-growing conifer for my area: please help!

13 years ago

Hi everyone,

I've never posted here but lurk around and usually am to be found on the holiday forum.

I've looked at so many conifers for our yard. We are in Southern Oregon with warm-hot summers, cool and rainy winters (with some, but not much, snow) and some rain in fall and spring (USDA zone 8).

I need some conifers to plant near our new home. We have Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine on our property (native). In the same article I read that Doug firs need summer watering where summers are hot and that they are drought-tolerant. We haven't watered ours at all for a year; it's still thriving. The catch is that one of the firs on the street succumbed to (I think) fir beetles, and I'm worried about investing in a fir if it's going to be attacked and probably killed. I also need a tree that can be limbed up over our paths.

The Ponderosa pines limb up naturally and would be all right if I can find nothing else.

Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks so much!

- Magpie

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Comments (5)

theforestprimeval
13 years ago
I would recommend some of the native California cypresses, but I am biased. Baker cypress is a really cool cypress "native" to your area, grows slow in the wild but much faster in cultivation with infrequent summer watering (it receives no water in the wild during the summer). Cupressus stephensonii would also do well where you are, I can tell you where to get both (U Idaho forest nursery). Both will need full sun, however.
georgeinbandonoregon
13 years ago
the native to your area incense cedar (calocedrus decurrens) would do just fine for you. as mentioned cypressus would do fine for you---c. arizonica/glabra are available from mail-order nurseries like forestfarm in williams and some local retail nurseries. they have silvery foliage and in the case of glabra smooth, colorful, peeling bark (both the baker siskiyou cypress---forestfarm sells this one--and stephensonii also have this feature).
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above i wrote this: conifers are trees.. and frankly they NEVER stop growing.. presuming they dont die ... the important thing to learn is the sub-heading Conifer Sizes .. and learn all about annual growth rates .... it should have read this way: conifers are trees.. and frankly they NEVER stop growing.. presuming they dont die ... CHECK OUT THE LINK BELOW ... the important thing to learn is the sub-heading Conifer Sizes .. and learn all about annual growth rates .... [and the link is in the prior reply] you said in reply: As you can see, my lot is pretty small, and I wanted to frame my house a bit with the trees. How tall and wide does the Bakeri usually get? check out the new link below .... especially the pic there.... bakeri can grow up to one foot per year ... and unless you want to be cutting it down in 10 years.. it better be planted.. 8 to 10 feet from the house.. MINIMUM ... which again.. is why you need to define the garden bed.. before you start choosing plants ... while at the first link.. look into the definition of a DWARF plant.. and should you want a plant that lasts in situ for more than 10 years.. you will HAVE TO get.. mail order... a conifer that grow less than 6 inches per year ... ken ps: if you insist on a large picea pungens.. look into Hoopsi ... and forget about the real old cultivar bakeri ... mine below with yearly growth notated ... Here is a link that might be useful: link
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Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica 'Glauca Nana' is a good one but it may become larger given time than say Abies concolor 'Archer's Dwarf' which makes a pyramidal shape sort of similar to Picea pungens 'Sester Dwarf'. About the red and yellow twig dogwoods. They form colonies with their roots and are better used for projects such as erosion control or on large properties where they are beneficial to nature. They are a burden, otherwise... and often do they succumb to leaf diseases. Substitutes for consideration might be hollies with persistent red-berries; Acer circinatum ‘Pacific Fire’; Hydrangea quercifolia; Regarding a smaller flowering tree, the problem with crabapples, again, are leaf diseases. I'd probably stay clear of those and use Stewartia pseudocamillia or another species. I won't mention it again, but Cornus officinalis is a great candidate. Dax
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Yes, yes, to the above statement. While I'm no advocate of the logging out of the few true remaining old-growth stands-a concept fraught with much confusion-these and most any other forest stand which has been logged-and no, I'm not at all opposed to all logging-are chock-full of the seeds, seedlings, and root sprouts of the new forest. In the tropics, dumb people are calling all land which has been logged off a total loss. Yes, we need to retain the enormous trees of these stands, but to say all is lost when they've been logged is exactly the ridiculous premise upon which is based the idea that it is then okay to go ahead and convert these sites to palm kernel oil plantations. so very, very foolish. Even here in the Western Great Lakes, a much shorter growing season area, the regeneration of cut-over land is amazingly rapid. +oM
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theforestprimeval
13 years ago
Please...don't plant Cupressus glabra/arizonica....nooooo!!!! I say this jokingly, of course, it is a fine species, but grossly over-planted. Why not plant some native cypresses that are rarer, look just as good, if not better, and would do well to be planted more? Plant Oregon Nursery in Talent, Or. has some rather large Baker Cypress for sale. Not sure how near to you that is, though. Incens Cedar is a nice tree, but unfortunately does not grow fast at all. It is very drought tolerant, however. Baker cypress has a nice columnar form, and Cupressus stephensonii, a.k.a. Cuyamaca Cypress has a wider form, both have smooth, bright, peeling bark.
georgeinbandonoregon
13 years ago
forestprimeval, c. arizonica may be overplanted where you are but it is not in the rogue valley so its not quite the trite choice you might think. all trees (including incense cedar) will grow faster with additional water during the growing season especially during the first few years (no news to you i'm sure but don't know where the o.p. is knowledge-wise). comparitively few drought tolerant trees in the conifer group are both fast growing and drought tolerant from the get go (tho tecate cypress/c. forbesi has apparently a good rep if not over watered in warmer parts of california. if the trees will actually be growing in a lawn situation and he wants fast growing he could just as easily invest in a screen made up of leyland cypress (a REALLY overused tree).
valleymagpie
Original Author
13 years ago
Some great suggestions, all!

I like cypress, although I think the C. stephensonii is probably too broad. The only one I have looked at before is the incense cedar which I think would be wonderful. The tree doesn't really need to be drought-tolerant, but it will probably be in partial shade until it grows tall enough to poke out of the small oaks we have.

Forest, thanks for the tip on Plant Oregon Nursery. That is relatively close to us and I will look at the Baker Cypress there. George, Forestfarm is also close to us and although it's not a retail nursery you can make an appointment with them to see their stock.

I am excited now to travel to the nursery! Thanks both of you!

- Magpie

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