Possibly rich dark green background of Hinoki might make dogwood summer leaves look more anemic, whereas bluish conifers could set them off. Think of it as a yellowleaf form and place accordingly. The autumn foliage is definitely a nice yellow, so regardless of how it looks in summer a backdrop that makes a good setting for yellow would be the ticket with this plant. Brighter yellow of fall color would certainly stand out against Hinoki. By the way, there are two of these types: 'Midwinter Fire' (= 'Beteramsii'?) and 'Winter Beauty' ('Anny', 'Anny's', 'Magic Flame', 'Winter Flame'). According to Cappiello/Shadow (DOGWOODS, Timber Press) they differ in 'Midwinter Fire' being a less red plant with more horsepower, making a taller, suckerous specimen that spreads to form a thicket.

Ken Adrian wrote: "i am not happy about your monoculture.. and i have gotten rid of most of my upright juniper.. because of tip blight in MI ... IF IT WERE ME.. i would return 50% of them.. and plant something other than a juniper.. every other plant ... " Ken, I appreciate your comments and I understand your concern about a monoculture. I would prefer more variety, but there is a limited selection of conifers that will thrive here due to our secondary irrigation water which can become a little saline during dry years. Other challenges include alkaline clay soil, strong winds, and zone 6 summers and winters. I ruled out various other conifers because they grow too large or not large enough, grow too slowly, are not dense enough for a screen, are too wide, would be at the limit of their range in zone 6, are not drought tolerant, are not available in large sizes at local nurseries, or are too prone to diseases or pests. Junipers grow wild just a few miles from my house and in many other areas in Utah. They don't seem to be troubled by anything except wild fires, and people who remove them to provide grazing for cattle or deer. Cultivated junipers are about as trouble-free as any conifer in this climate. If someone in the Salt Lake valley has a problem with a juniper it is frequently from root rot due to excessive irrigation, or from too much shade. I chose Spartan junipers because we had three of them at our previous house for over 25 years--they were vigorous and problem-free except for two branches that I had to remove due to snow damage. I'm not planting Spartans exclusively. I have also planted some Taylor junipers and Wichita Blue junipers. Bob

fire island dulls up pretty fast.. its only claim to fame.. its early bright color... later.. its just another yellowish-green hosta with a white edge ... BTW ... a yellow hosta the stays yellow .. with a white edge is nearly terminal.. no chlorophyll ... it either has to green.. or it dies ... bet you cant name 3 hosta that are yellow and white.. and stay a vivid yellow ... proceed to make a liar of me.. lol ken

I just bought a June - really cheap at a local store! I'm so glad I did! Might have to get the Fire Island, which was a bit more expensive, but was larger. Actually, I just remembered what I did last year for slugs that really helped - I bought a package of those copper scrubbies, and I cut them up with scissors all around the base of the hostas that were getting chewed up the worst. I also have several worms in each shovelful of dirt, even with the clay, and I'm always in the dirt, so I use non-chemical measures as much as possible. I put the cut up copper scrubbies and egg shells and some barberry trimmings around the hostas that looked like Swiss cheese. And since I've always got my hands in the dirt, I got poked and scratched by my own slug deterrents!!!