Very nice, Dave. I wish I could grow the C. obtusa cultivars.

I have a C. p. 'Silver Lode' that is producing a leader. I think this plant will be cool as an upright-growing plant. I'm going to take some cuttings this winter of the side branches to get a few more of these and plant them in the garden.

Do you grow C. p. 'Filifera Variegata'? Not exactly a rock garden plant, but very nice none-the-less. The first few years the variegated part of the foliage burned quite a bit, but as the plant has become more established, the burning has become less and less.
Thanks for posting the pics.
Mike

Here (this area) white-variegated Sawara shrub forms looking like the one called 'Silver Lode' on this thread have thrown up leads and made conical trees. In Seattle there is a street-front rockery that has a row of shrubs retaining the characteristic habit with one or two that have become trees, right in the same planting.

"There is a group of useful garden forms which make low, spreading bushes with adult foliage that can be distinguished by size (hence 'Compacta', 'Nana' and 'Minima') and colour ('Albovariegata', 'Aureovariegata', 'Variegata'). But they have probably all arisen by mutation from a common source, since the different forms are only relatively stable. The names used are those widely recognized in the trade, but the distinctions are somewhat arbitrary and must be maintained by careful selection of propagation material. It is not unusual to find several distinct 'cultivars' on a single plant."

--WORLD CHECKLIST OF CONIFERS

Since rock gardening tends to emulate the natural more than other realms the rock garden may actually be less welcoming generally to clownish variegated forms and other abnormalities not seen much in nature.

It's all in what you like. Nothing clownish about variegated forms in rock gardens if it flows and you like it. I happen to like it.

Your comment:
"Since rock gardening tends to emulate the natural more than other realms the rock garden may actually be less welcoming generally to clownish variegated forms and other abnormalities not seen much in nature" is probably right. In fact my whole garden is something that would not be growing naturally in nature. Clownish I don't think so. More like hodge podge. I think that was a comment you made about my garden a month ago when I posted a new design drawing I was contemplating. My garden is just an extension of my personally not meant to please you or anybody. Just an informative piece of information for anybody to read and then discard. I enjoy the mix and beauty of all the different cultivars brought together in one setting. I don't expect you to like it. You have never liked anything I did.

If I thought the same as you bboy I would probably just be growing grass because I could never get anything to fit. So why bother. What would be pleasing to you is way beyond me. I respect your broad based knowledge on conifers and related plants. You are very gifted but you lack the ability to be gracious and complimentary to people. With you it is definitely your way or the highway. Come to think of it I believe I said that once but that doesn't put us in the same boat. Completly different subject matter.
Why not take time to post your garden so people like me can see how a professional does it. I have never seen 1 photo from you. I am sure I would be impressed. I promise all my feedback will be positive.

Still you friend even though the insults keep coming,

Dave

Clown-like is merely away to describe how plants speckled and splashed with white or yellow look. If you study rock gardening you will soon see that there is a tendency shown by those practicing it to emulate naturalistic scenes where variegated conifers and other variegated plants would not be welcome. Of course, there is a spectrum of approaches being undertaken under the heading "rock gardening". Some consider the rock garden proper a different critter from the rockery. However, as with other garden scenes borrowing from nature if certain key elements do not bear a certain minimum resemblance to how these same components appear in nature it's likely to be bothersome. With rock gardening a common problem is highly unnatural rock work. Another incongruous element is plants that do not look like anything you would see on a mountain top, on a bedrock outcropping, or in an alpine meadow.

Gardens packed with diverse plants are more collections than landscaping. One friend calls scenes populated with weeping, variegated, purpleleaf and blue tree and shrub variant forms "aberratums". Another term I have heard used is "plant zoo". When you use more than a few arborescent aberrations in the same spot a certain tone is rapidly established. "Horticultural indigestion" may result if a conscious effort is not made to blend the diverse specimens used together into a cohesive whole. The larger the space involved, the more easily this is done. Small plots packed with all different kinds of plants are just going to have to be collections and nothing more, there isn't enough room to make them into anything else.

bboy, well said. A collector is what I am. Nothing more nothing less. I think a lot of us fall under that category in this form. I see some very nice collections on this forum. A lot of interesting designs and expressions come into play here. We all have to appreciate what the other guy or gal is doing and support their cause with positive and helpful responses to their questions. I have come some distance since the first conifer I purchased and I didn't do it by myself.

Please post a photo of your garden. I am sure it must be something special. How could it not be.

Dave

There are three ways to respond to comments made by others:

1. Consider them

2. Ignore them

3. Object to them

The first option has the considerable advantage of providing the greatest possibility of learning something that may take you farther in a direction you would enjoy going in.

No argument there.

I surmise you are going to follow #2. in my request that you post a photo of you garden. I am really hoping you are considering #1. and a photo will be forth coming. #3. seems to be out of the question as you have not objected to my request.

How many plants do you have in your collection?

Dave

I haven't taken any photos of anything in years, let alone my garden.

Since some kind of argument or other unpleasantness appears to be, in fact your primary goal here I will have no additional comment at this time.

Sorry, I will not press you again. I never intended to have you think I had an unpleasant goal in mind. That was simply not the case. As a collector I just wanted to see your garden. I was just sure with your broad based knowledge of conifers and deciduous plants there was probably a master piece of a garden lurking in the back ground that would have been pleasurable to see.

I apologize if that was not the case. I had know idea.

Dave

I had to look twice when I saw 'Moonlight Lace'Â the white on it is stunning.
Does 'Squarrosa Aurea' get yellow in the winter? I have to wage a daily battle between wanting to plant it all and wanting to not use only one of every plant! You should have seen my first try at perennial borders...

Dwarf conifer cultivars are defiantly not something that would come to mind when I think of contentious issuesÂ

"Dwarf conifer cultivars are defiantly not something that would come to mind when I think of contentious issues".

You wouldn't think so would you. Opposing opinions do arise around here. When you post on a world wide forum you never know who is going to show up to voice his or her thoughts right or wrong.

The 'Squarrosa Aurea' reverts to green in winter with the tips of the branches retaining a slight tinge of gold.

The 'Moonlight Lace' is exceptionable. The photo does not do it justice. For some reason my camera does not want to take a good photo of it.

Dave

That's funny Dave! In fact, I think Bob Fincham might have another idea of what a "rock garden" would look like. Books are written by people who too voice opinion so there's A LOT of leeway to be decided upon who's sense of gardening/alpine gardening/bright rocks/colorful rocks/dull rocks/living on top of the Alps... or whatever - (NOT right or wrong) "works."

Anyway, Ron won't budge but you tried. In fact it is only natural to see more than one way! How about we put a "Label" on everything. Gosh, I wish I wasn't sexually-abused as a child for ten ODD YEARS... maybe life would be a LITTLE BIT EASIER FOR me. Maybe then I'd have a wife or a girlfriend and not live all alone all the time. Up yours world.:=)

I either need a cocktail this morning or a good blasting of the blues! I think I'll choose the blues and a nice fire in the fireplace. Then a sledgehammer over me noggin' which now will have two holes blasted through me thinkin' cap.

Later gentlemen,

D.

You all wonder if 'delusional disorder' is real! IT IS...

Laugh all you want. I take the pills for all you idiots.

I won't be posting on here anymore. Try feeling like even your computer is 'out to get you' or 'your family' or 'your friends' or 'your dog' ---- makes my teeth shake an my eyes water.

I'm inherantly intelligent and would NEVER under any circumstances harm myself in any manner. NEVER! Nor would I go after anyone who has harmed me. I just want to be left alone.

LEAVE ME ALONE.

Dax

I'm a little confused. Dax- I hope you are okay. I've learned a lot from posts from you as I've searched the archives.

In any case, I guess I respectfully disagree with the idea that colorful foliage = plant zoo. Then again, I'm not sure if you are using that term only in context of rock gardens or landscaping in general? Personally, I'm a huge fan of well-used colorful foliage, be it variegated or otherwise. I think it is most certainly the direction more and more people are chosing because of the appeal the landscape has irregarldless of flowers. The nursery industry is certainly going this way. The main 'new introductions' these days are either plants with interesting foliage colors OR those that grow on a smaller scale to fit our smaller yards.

That said, it can certainly be poorly done. I guess that's why I have a job- I know how to do it artfully. The design work I do for clients is based largely on mixing foliage types to develop a landscape that is interesting and colorful without relying solely on flowers. Whether or not it is good or bad is, to some extent, in the eye of the beholder. I get paid pretty good money for my design work so I guess there are people who agree with my premise.

I also fully expect to have those clients who want a more subtle palate. How wonderful to have so many options to chose from that there is something for everyone. A more limited color palate relies more heavily on texture to be sure. I have had one client who hates the combination of blue and red (no blue spruce + barberry). I don't often group those colors (I much prefer blue + yellow) but there it is.

And I do understand that just because someone will pay for a design, it doesn't mean it's all good design. Oh- and in my own yard, I'm sort of more of a collector. I use my yard for experimentation and it's a pretty new (thus still largely empty) landscape. I hope I can pull off a cohesive design for myself but I have no discipline in my yard OR I'm paralyized by indecision- if I have one spot and 5 possible plants to fill it, I struggle to choose. Easy to choose for a client- if I don't use plant x on this landscape, I can use it on the next. Not so in my own yard. Sigh.

Dave,

Nice collection of plants...what looks good to you is all that matters, no matter who gets their underwear in a bunch:-)))..........

Schmoo

This forum has gotten crazier in my absence. Some things have not changed...Dax is still dark and cryptic (hope you're ok)...Dcsteg and Bboy are still flirting (ya'll should just get married)

In all seriousness though. I like looking at the pictures, but don't see why someone's constructive comments are taken so personally. And my garden is defintely an "aberratum." I'm ok with it. That's a clever pun by the way. I'm more of a collector than a gardener.

Hello,

For me, your Chamaecyparis obtusa "Saffron Spray" look like a chamaecyparis pisifera than obtusa.
My plant are different.
Clément - Belgium -

Can you post a photo?

>I like looking at the pictures, but don't see why someone's constructive comments are taken so personallyThankyou. I'm trying to participate in a discussion forum here. It's not a personal blog. There is validity behind my observations, and there isn't acrimony or targeting; the hostile reactions and comments about the two of us having some kind of battle ("flirting") all come from a place I haven't been to.

Quoting from books etc. shows where the information came from. It doesn't show I don't know what I am talking about or have no personal experience. If anyone is born with everything there is to know about something in their head already, with no need to make use of the findings of others, then they are truly blessed.