Conifers to Consider

These slow-growing and dwarf varieties add color, texture, and shape to garden plantings

Ever since my making love affair with colored dwarf coniferous tree began , I ’ve taken a lot of kidding from my friend in the works world , many of whom regard these bush as tacky and gaudy . They all love small deciduous shrub for their utility , attractiveness , and low-toned maintenance requirements , but they shy away from nanus conifer , finding them unmanageable to place in the landscape and fearing they will look like meatballs or strange Christmas trees . Others see small conifers as a group fuck only by collector of the unusual .

My friends could n’t be more wrong . These plants offer colors , texture , shape , and size unusual in the landscaping world . Since they add visual interest throughout the class , they ’re excellent plant to apply as accent and as components of major planting . “ Dwarf ” is a loosely specify Christian Bible , so suppose of them as plants that grow tardily and act as shrub rather than as the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree species from which most are selected .

There are dwarf coniferous tree that will fly high in every garden , disregarding of geographical zone or grunge and loose conditions . Most nanus conifers like gay , well - drained sites with somewhat acidic land . If your web site does not mate these equipment characteristic , there are dwarf coniferous tree for other stipulation as well . TaxusandChamaecyparisare two genera that tolerate shadowiness . Picea pungenscultivars tolerate drought and alkaline land . To be trusted , ask at a garden meat which dwarf cultivars do well in your expanse .

Unfortunately , the names of dwarf conifers are often confused in nursery . Protect yourself when shopping by making sure the plant is indeed easy - develop . It should be very dense , with short internode , show that it is not farm more than several inch a year . quash it if it expect opened , which shows that it is growing quickly . quicker - produce flora are less expensive but rapidly outgrow their place .

Add a cooling effect with blues and silvers

The blue sky and silvers of conifers are not feel anywhere else among woody industrial plant . These shimmer hue add a cool down effect and combine beautifully with pink , yellows , purpleness , and blacks . Although argent - blue coniferous tree make good specimens , I prefer to use them in bold tidy sum or in drifts to merge plantings and supply morphologic persistence .

Picea pungens‘Glauca Pendula’

We ’ve all seen how strong blue Colorado spruce ( Picea pungensf.glauca ) are in the landscape painting , unremarkably place upright by themselves in a plain of turf , an association that does little to blandish either collaborator . Now think how this affect colour and curt , sharp grain could add spark to a repeated border .

Low - grow Colorado spruce ( Picea pungens‘Glauca Pendula ’ , USDA Hardiness Zones 3–8 ) grow 3 or 4 in a year , eventually spread to about 8 understructure panoptic and 4 feet improbable , with silvery needle like its parent metal money .

I recommend using several and besiege them with pinkish Japanese anemones ( Anemone huphehensisvar.japonica ) or a ground cover of pink verbena ( Verbena‘Sissinghurst ’ orVerbena‘Apple Blossom ’ ) .

Abies koreana‘Silberlocke’

Dwarf Korean fir tree ( genus Abies koreana‘Silberlocke ’ , Zones 5–6 ) lento becomes a small tree and has strongly curve needles that turn the intact works silver . you could expect this dwarf to grow 2 to 4 inches per year and get 4 to 5 feet tall and around 3 feet all-encompassing . The same pinkish and silver combination I advocate for the Colorado spruce can be restate by tying these brilliant dwarfs to the surrounding perennial with a purplish vine , such as Spanish fleur-de-lis ( Ipomoea order Lobata ) or purple bell vine ( Rhodochiton atrosanguineus ) . To match it with a perennial , tryGeranium sanguineumvar.striatum .

Picea pungens‘Montgomery’

Montgomery spruce ( Picea pungens‘Montgomery ’ , Zones 3–8 ) is a short , underslung spruce that grows 3 to 4 inches a class and can eventually give 6 feet tall and 8 feet encompassing . I once saw one of these silvery dwarfs with a hyacinth dome ( Lablab purpureus ) rise up its side at Wave Hill , a public garden in the Bronx . The attic , with violet leaves , flower , and broad pods , contrast perfectly with the low spruce . you could also plant ‘ Blackie ’ sweet potato vine ( Ipomoea batatas‘Blackie ’ ) and blue fescue ( Festuca glauca ) at its base to continue the purple - black - silver gray combo .

Thujopsis dolabrata

genus Thujopsis dolabrata(Zones 5–7 ) offer seductive glance of silver . Its green foliage has promising silver bands underneath . As with Marilyn Monroe ’s dress inThe Seven Year Itch , brief glance of the undersurface on windy sidereal day can be a thrill , bring movement and light in the garden . Unlike most silvery conifers , which demand strong visible radiation , this one does best in light shade . Because of this , it is less likely to be smothered by surrounding plants . It has a Christmas - Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree human body and produce 4 to 8 inches a year . It probably wo n’t get any taller than 10 feet , with a spread half as wide of the mark , although you may see it listed as grow much grandiloquent . Contrast its rather fine texture with something bluff like Allegheny spurge ( Pachysandra procumbens ) .

Use yellow foliage to brighten

Whereas silver is one of the most envied of the foliage colors , yellow is the most fear . expert have artlessly warned that yellow foliage look indisposed or sun - scald and should be avoided at all costs . But stop and think : We love sensationalistic flowers , so why not yellow foliation , which we can enjoy all twelvemonth around ? I often expend yellowed - needled conifers to lighten coloured wintertime landscape . Most chickenhearted conifer will turn over green in the shade , so station them where they will incur full sunlight or , at most , wakeful shade . Some may combust in hot , ironic positioning , so they prefer light shade in such climate .

Chamaecyparis pisifera‘Filifera Aurea’

Golden threadleaf false cypress ( Chamaecyparis pisifera‘Filifera Aurea ’ , Zones 4-–8 ) has an interesting texture . The fine , drooping , vibrant - yellow foliation on this tumid shrub gives it the appearance of a shaggy wiener . It grows 4 to 6 in a year , and after about 10 years it can reach 6 feet improbable and 5 feet wide . finally it can become 30 by 20 feet . This strong yellowness is strike in a group , so , alternatively of using just one , works at least three . The pigeonholing looks intentional and brightens any spot you place it . There are two slipway you may go with combination . you could surround the grouping with dark plants for contrast . Green and black mondo grass ( Ophiopogon japonicusandO. planiscapus‘Nigrescens ’ ) do to mind , as doAjuga reptans‘Burgundy Glow ’ , purpleSedum telephium‘Matrona ’ , or evenPachysandra terminalis . Or you’re able to go wild with color , pairing it with orange Mexican sunflower ( Tithonia rotundifolia),Crocosmia‘Lucifer ’ , and yellow black - eyed Susans ( Rudbeckiaspp . ) .

Taxus baccata‘Standishii’

One of my preferred yellow dwarf coniferous tree is Standish yew ( Taxus baccata‘Standishii ’ , Zones 7–8 ) , a slow - growing column ( 1 to 3 inches per year ) that never becomes much larger than 4 feet tall and 18 column inch wide . For this reasonableness , it easily serves as an evergreen accent in a perennial mete . It has normal yew foliage with yellowish high spot on the tips . The more Dominicus you give this coniferous tree , the more yellow it gets . Combine it with something low - grow that offers contrast texture likeHedera colchicaorAsarum europaeum .

Chamaecyparis obtusa‘Nana Aurea’ and ‘Nana Lutea’

These two selection of golden mound Hinoki false cypress ( Chamaecyparis obtusa‘Nana Aurea ’ and ‘ Nana Lutea ’ , Zones 5–8 ) have tight , transfuse foliage with a textural impression in add-on to their aureate color . Both produce less than 2 inches a class and will eventually become 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide . They look great with yellow- or gamy - go out hostas .

Consider the many shades of green

Green is a color too , and not just one colouring . There are sorry greenness , light Green , and greens that change shade throughout the season . I recommend using unripened - needled conifers with blanched - variegated and gray plants for maximum dividing line .

Chamaecyparis obtusa‘Nana Gracilis’

The disconsolate - gullible and obtusely biramous dwarf Hinoki false cypress tree ( Chamaecyparis obtusa‘Nana Gracilis ’ , Zones 4-–8 ) grows equally well in sunlight or nuance ( 2 or 3 in per twelvemonth ) . Contrast the dark cat valium of this conifer with something shining white or silver , such as variegated ribbon grass ( Phalaris arundinaceavar.picta ) , motley Solomon ’s seal ( Polygonatum odoratum‘Variegatum ’ ) , Hosta , Nipponese paint fern ( Athyrium niponicumvar.pictum ) , or lamb ’s ear ( Stachys byzantina ) .

Cephalotaxus harringtoniana‘Prostrata’

Extremely various in sun or shade , with the bonus of being yucky to deer , is prone plum yew ( Cephalotaxus harringtoniana‘Prostrata ’ , Zones 6–9 ) . This dark - green , undulating shrub , which act like a ground cover , is a favorite of mine . I especially wish its yellow green fresh growth in the give , which contrasts with the dark green of the old leaves . ‘ Duke Gardens ’ is a similar excerpt , but it hold up its shoot more upright . With a growth rate of 3 to 6 inches per year , it will propagate to a width of 5 pes and a height of 2 foot . It will grow under deep - rooted trees like oaks ( Quercusspp . ) and Kentucky coffee tree ( Gymnocladus dioica ) , tolerating dry shade once establish .

worldwide care for these smaller - sized conifer is essentially the same as for their larger relation :

Once planted in your garden , some dwarf conifers may mutate or revert to the original , fast - growing species . Watch for shoots differing from the eternal sleep of the plant life — faster grow or a different color or grain — and remove them as soon as you see them .

examine a midget coniferous tree and I think you ’ll agree with me that for small shrubs , they add up a tumid measure of vividness , texture , and regulate to the garden .

R. William Thomas is enquiry plantsman at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square , Pennsylvania .

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