Went to Edwin this Saturday to buy a first batch. Here is a photo of the plants I bought taken on Edwin's nursery: (From left to right: ) Abies koreana 'Verdener Dom' Pinus cembra 'Lilliput' Juniperus communis 'Goldschatz' Abies nordmanniana 'Filip's Perfect Column' (Edwin told me I'm the first person ever who bought this beautiful cultivar! :) ) Abies balsamea 'Jamie' Pinus mugo 'Milkyway' Pinus parviflora 'Regenhold' Abies pinsapo 'Ronda Mountain' Sciadopitys verticillata âÂÂMeckiâ Pinus banksiana 'Banská Stiavnica' Pinus strobus 'Horsford' Abies alba 'Schwarzwald' Abies veitchii 'Kramer' Pinus koraiensis 'Blue Ball' Pinus heldreichii 'Smidtii' Picea sitchensis 'Pevé Wiesje' Not all of them are decently visible on the photo, I've more detailed photo's from all of them but I liked the setting of this photo. If you want any of them more detailed, ask away. ;)

Interesting, I've questioned rates as well on my "mariken." It's putting on 6"-9" this year and was closer to 12" on the dominant branch last year. Am I sure it's " mariken?" It came from Iseli 4-5 years ago and looks like every picture I've seen of this cultivar. I'll be moving or starting to prune it next year. It must be very happy where it is since it grows nearly as fast as my "autumn gold."

growth rate determines the type mini.. under 1 inch per year dwarf ... 1 to 6 inches .... etc.. see link below ... but as an exaggeration.. if momma is 365 feet tall.. in theory.. a DWARF of her.. could be a mere 250 feet tall ... given enough centuries .... there is an annual growth rate ... it will grow at that rate.. for your lifetime.. your childrens life time.. and their childrens ... NOTHING stops magically growing at some predetermined size ... MOST size estimates are at 10 years ... and they will grow at the annual growth as noted above ... find something that makes your toes tingle.. forget about native stuff ... and enjoy the heck out of it ... and then.. when it outgrows the space.. get rid of it .. rather than 'settling' on something that will allegedly fill a given space .... i dont understand your reference to grey owl.. i have some on the driveway that are 15 feet tall.. and 20 feet wide.. i dont know why you brought that up .. and that is why i am referring you to the ACS website ... also at the link... go the the database page ... and in cultivar name.. insert grey owl.. to find its annual growth rate .... and some reference pix ... all that said.. ID'ing the perfect plant.. leaves ONLY the problem.. of finding someone who actually sells the darn thing... lol ... there are many mail order stores for the rarest of plants.. google any of the following: girards nursery COENOSIUM GARDENS CATALOG rich's foxwillow pines and a bunch of others that are escaping me right now ... while you are at the ACS website.. look through all the pix... and do some good learning .... we want to help.. but your questions are not limited enough to lead you in a good direction ... i do want to help BTW.. north piedmont????? how about a state??? and a zone ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thank you, I'm going to be spending a lazy afternoon looking up all those plants and links. My next question would have been where to find them, I'm not sure there are any readily available around here, but I'm going to look in the spring. I did find Fairweather Gardens online for pines. I don't want to pay high prices for really big plants, but I don't want to get seedlings in 3" pots, either so it's hard to know where to order online. My beginning choices for pines were Pinus parviflora "Arnold Arboretum Dwarf", or "Banshoho" Dwarf Japanese black pine. Any ideas or experience with those two? I know black pines will grow in this area, we had one at our former house. I also found Chamaecypris Hinoki "Rigid Dwarf", and arborvitae "Holmstrup" which looked as if they might be promising for upright varieties, I might have spaces for two or three upright conifers. The rest should, I think be lower shapes. Blue Spruce and dwarf Albertas are about the only spruces that seem to live and do well here, but neither are suitable for my garden. I do love the look of spruces so I will consider the ones listed. I do understand about the difference between dwarf and mini, and the 10yr growth estimate, which is why I always look at the ultimate height. I don't want to be cutting anything down in 15 years and they can't be too big because of the cypress. I've been trying to look at more than one description of each one at different sites as I find that the sizes vary depending on who is telling it, lol! We don't have clay soil here, btw, it is upland rocks. There is a saying here that if you don't see the mountains (the Ozarks) dig down three inches and you'll find them. I do have pretty good soil with lots of compost(between the rocks) but it is very dry in July and August. We are in zone 6b with microclimates of z7.