I just saw Sester among the early christmas plants at the nursery. it is meant to be a pot plant or living xmas tree, I'm sure.this nursery would never carry it in its regular inventory. I also saw a "Hoops" blue spruce, highly recommended for it's blueness, but don't know that I have a place to put it... and gave up my week long struggle deciding whether I really had a space for a half price metasequoia "gold rush" the only place right now would be too close to powerlines, and the impending hurricane winds and some recent GW comments reminded it me it would foolish to put a beautiful expensive tree in harm's way. Having given up that dream, St. Mary's Broom may still be left at the same nursery. Dee- and others with conifer fright- screw up your courage. I have had arborvitae "smaarg" in my garden for 10 years and it is a perfect height, lovely shape, great color. Two anchor corners of the bed. I have had chamycypress obtusa in the center, also for ten years, and its lacy fronds make everything look better. I think I could have used something smaller, and this year is the first year I lightly pruned the tips a couple of inches. And it is highly unlikely that anything labeled "dwarf" will ever dwarf anything in your garden, even in 20 years, unless the perennials themselves are 5 inches high. At that height, weeds dwarf them more quickly and persistently than a dwarf conifer. It took me nearly ten years in this garden to add conifers; I think I understand the feeling of insecurity. In my case, moving into another plant group was an outcome of my maturing gardening skills and sensibility that paralleled the maturation of the garden. The garden NEEDED the solidity, gravity and permanence of conifers. A deciduous shrub, a big grass, or a big pot just wouldn't work. There were places where the garden needed to be "held down" and anchored. Keep us posted, especially if you get some conifers into your Edens. Marie/idabean

One of the yellow foliage cultivars of Lawson's Cypress. Resin

I guess I didn't do such a great job with photos especially for scale. I'm heading back there now to get a few more close ups. I think I have 3 spots for sure that will fit some mighty conifers. I'm thinking things that are well behaved in the garden. It's not the widest bed. I see many of the existing shrubs getting moved around... It's actually a bad habit of mine when I start playing musical plants. My thoughts were maybe an umbrella pine? Nootkas... But I already have a few and was hoping for something really unique. Oriental spruces but I know nothing about them... Wouldn't say I'm a rookie exactly but certainly no expert :) I like the idea of planting foreground space with weeping crawling conifers and perhaps having deciduous trees along the fence. I get really hung up on year round privacy dream... Atleast for the backyard.

"The Nootka Cypress belongs to the genus Cupressus." I don't believe that has been officially accepted. There are strong arguments for its inclusion as Xanthocyparis but currently officially included as Callitropsis. Taxonomic changes: Recently a new conifer was discovered in northen Vietnam, it was described scientifically in 2002 (Farjon et al.). The tree was classified in a new genus in the family Cupressaceae as Xanthocyparis vietnamensis (Golden Vietnamese Cypress), its closest relative appears to be the Alaska Cedar. Apparently a good deal of evidence justifies placing both species in the same genus, and hence Alaska Cedar was renamed as Xanthocyparis nootkatensis. However, there is more to the story. Little et al. (Amer. J. Bot. 91:1872[2004]), while confirming the above relationship with further evidence, pointed out that an earlier nomenclatural combination in the genus Callitropsis existed, as Callitropsis nootkatensis (D.Don) Oerst., published in 1864 but overlooked or ignored by other subsequent authors. Thus Callitropsiswould be the correct name for these species (Golden Vietnamese Cypress and Alaska Cedar) under the ICBN when treated in a distinct genus. The name Xanthocyparis was proposed for conservation, but until that is decided on, it is correctly classified in Callitropsis. It was thought that at decision would be made at 2011 International Botanical Congress, but for some reason the proposal did not make it to the committee which decides taxonomic conflicts (John Russell, 2011). However there is still more, Eckenwalder (2009) states that leaf chemistry and DNA sequences (Mao et al., 2012) show that Alaska Cedar belongs in Cupressus and hence Cupressus nootkatensis. "Although acceptance of the revised classification of this tree is widespread among botanists, inertia in the horticultural and forestry industries (both typically very slow to adopt the results of botanical research), mean the name Chamaecyparis nootkatensis is likely to continue being listed in many situations".