Conifers: Using Their Gift of Year-roud Beauty

Conifers are a large group of mostly evergreen trees and shrubs having usually needle-shaped leaves (i.e. pines) or scalelike leaves (i.e. junipers), primitive flowers and seed-bearing cones.

Pinus ponderosa
Item # 77720 		Pinus ponderosa
Ponderosa Pine

each $14.99
3 or more $14.79
Pinus bungeanum
Item # 77719 		Pinus bungeanum
Lacebark or Chinese Temple Pine

each $14.99

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Conifers are a large group of mostly evergreen trees and shrubs having usually needle-shaped leaves (i.e. pines) or scalelike leaves (i.e. junipers), primitive flowers and seed-bearing cones. However, this dry dictionary definition of conifers does little to inform us as to their usefulness, beauty and long lasting value to the garden. Indeed, they are an indispensable element in any well planned garden or xeriscape because of;

  • Pinus flexilis ‘Cesarini Blue’ their highly textural, colorful evergreen foliage,
  • their longevity,
  • the diversity of their sizes and shapes,
  • their usefulness in modifying the weather around our buildings and
  • their usefulness to wildlife, especially birds by providing shelter and seeds

Conifers take on added importance in colder climates with distinct winters and summer seasons. Ornamental annual and herbaceous perennial flowers disappear during the winter leaving behind empty flower beds. Deciduous shrubs and trees loose their leaves leaving behind empty branches. With much of the flowering and foliar elements of the growing season out of the way, conifers move visually to the forefront of the garden.

Placement of Conifers in the Landscape

Thoughtful placement of your conifers will enhance both the comfort and beauty of your property.

  • Large growing conifers like pine, spruce, cypress and fir are best used on the north and west sides of your property leaving plenty of room between them and the house. Thus situated the big evergreens help protect the house from prevailing winds (commonly out of the north and west) and provide a very permanent backdrop to the rest of your yard and gardens.
  • Resist the temptation to plant large conifers up close to the house, especially on the east and south sides. The warming rays of the winter sun shining through the windows and striking the south and east walls of a building are vital as a supplement heat and light source.
  • Big conifers shading the south/east face of a building will keep the walks icy and the structure in a dark deep freeze all winter.

Smaller growing dwarf conifers and conifers with distinctive growth habits (i.e. weeping, spreading or narrowly upright) can be used more readily because their smaller size makes them more easily used as companion plants.

  • They don’t dominate their space like their full sized relatives.
  • I particularly like to work small growing conifers into my perennial beds to provide winter interest.
  • I also recommend using them and around the house as foundation plants helping to define the architectural lines of the building and delineate the pathways and views into the surrounding yard.

Horticulture’s Influence on Conifers

As in all things horticultural, mankind has taken this large, diverse group of plants and selected them endlessly to create a huge number of different species and cultivars for landscape use. The Colorado Spruce is an excellent example of these efforts. I would guess that there are nearly one hundred cultivars (named selections) of this species.

  • Some have green, blue-green, blue or silver-blue needles.
  • Others mature to different sizes with some reaching only two, fifteen or sixty feet in height.
  • Many cultivars grow in different shapes with some going straight up and tight like a poplar, growing in a rounded mound or cascading to the ground with weeping branches.

As a result of all this cultivar selection, there is a Colorado spruce that will fit any sunny spot regardless of how large or small the planting site. Picea pungens ‘St. Mary’s Broom’, a dwarf form of native blue spruce, is small enough to fit in any garden. Growing only two to three inches a year, this beauty eventually forms a tight mound of very blue-gray foliage.

An Expanded Selection of Conifers for 2009

For spring ‘09 HCG is offering several new grafted miniature, dwarf and semi-dwarf conifers and distinct and desirable seed grown conifer species.

Read the complete article on Confers in our online library.

Be sure to visit our website to view the entire line-up of special conifers. More selections will be available soon!