Mary,

It all boils down to the look you want.

Some like a dressed down area with yards of mulch featuring stand alone specimens.

Others like to duplicate the natural gowning environment of conifers with rock formations, stones, deciduous additions and ground covers.

Both ways of presentation are acceptable.

I prefer the latter.

There are hundreds of ground cover color combinations you can use for the effect that is pleasing to you.

Here are two examples.

Juniperus horizontalis 'Monber' inter-mixed with Thymus pseudolanuginosus 'Wolly Thyme'

Juniperus horizontalis 'Mother Lode'. Begins at the railing and ends up down at the bottom of the hill and still growing. I am thinking now 20 ft. long after it finds its way through Cedrus deodara 'Prostrate Beauty', Picea pungens 'Procumbens' and Pinus sysvestris 'Hillside Creeper'.

Dave

This post was edited by Davesconifers on Sun, Sep 22, 13 at 18:12

Exactly what Dave said... Everything in my garden is young, it isn't as developed as Dave's. But where I have smaller plants close to the house, I like to fill in the gap with low growing ground covers. Out in the field is another story. I just plant the conifers spaced so they can get very large. I just wouldn't have the time to plant hundreds of ground covers and weed them out each spring/fall. That's why I keep the ground covers around my smaller plants and close to the house.

Even if you have large spruces with ground covers around it, it wont harm neither. The ground cover may try to crawl under the spruces, but it won't matter.

Thanks to both of you for the answers. The pictures were lovely! I do like your garden look. You replied even if you have large spruces with ground covers around it, it wont harm neither. The ground cover may try to crawl under the spruces, but it won't matter. Thanks for that statement. That is what my main concern was so now I feel better. What about something like a sea green juniper planted near a Colorado blue spruce? I don't know why but I thought I heard if you have a Colorado blue spruce and let low lying shrubs etc grow into them that the Colorado blue spruce tree quits growing where it touches the other shrub hedge etc. Do I need to be concerned about that? Can various evergreen shrubs of various sizes be planted in the bed with the Colorado blue spruce trees? And yes they will no doubt in time grown together. Is this all bad? Or do you remove the evergreen shrubs as the trees and the shrubs get larger and closer together? Thanks again!

What kind of a spruce are you planting and how close together?

I actually think stuff looks better as the plants get larger and start to grow together. Just look at Dave's photos above, especially that spruce in the last photo. But that's a small spruce that doesn't grow very fast. If you get just the generic blue spruces sold at the big box stores, they could get very large pretty quick. The spruce may end up swallowing sea green juniper lol. The larger spruce will be ok, but the others may need to be moved in time.

When I posted my last message above, I was thinking of a spreading or vine like evergreens or shrubs. The type that just crawl on the ground. So they are able to just crawl under or around the blue spruces without a problem. The sea green juniper will probably have to be moved as the spruce gets larger. Otherwise it may end up under the spruce given enough years.

I really appreciate you guys helping me with this. Your answers have been so helpful and I much better understand this. I will let the blue rug juniper remain in the beds but take the sea green juniper out. I have a spot in the back for the sea green juniper. And yes large Colorado blue spruce trees. So your answers were so timely as I was wondering all day if I should move the taller juniper. Thanks again to all who helped out on this question.