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To people who do not like say classical music, all classical music sound more or less similar to them. Similarly, for people who have not played with conifers, all conifers look more or less the same to them. Growing conifer can be addictive. In fact, the idea of collecting plants never existed in my mind until I came across a nursery (Vineland Nursery) by chance more than 20 years ago, and picked up a 1 gallon pot of Taxus cuspidata 'Aurea'. ( I am sure the kind of magical charm that hit me is likely the same one that hit other conifer collectors. ) The beauty of conifers is not showy to the point of static like the annuals. To me, they have the wholesome, stately and subtle elegance that sets them apart from perennials and oriental maples (of course in the eyes of the beholder).
Unfortunately, I got busy and neglected my little collection until last year. The few that are left are either in odd and miserable shapes, or overcrowded by other plants. Some are just propagations of the original plants that have since disappeared. Starting last year, I am trying to salvage the few that are left, and acquire more gradually. Since I am no longer a 'real' conifer collector, the use of conifers in my garden is more towards using them as part of my garden composition elements. That is enough fun for me (for now).
I have been neglecting taking pictures of my conifers so far. What you see here are only my futile efforts to scramble and piece together bits and ends for now. I hope to do better next year.
One of my biggest disappointment in gardening is to accept that I cannot grow Cedrus atlantica and deodara in my weather zone. (Although if I can find a source for Cedrus deodara 'Eisregen' and 'Karl Fuchs', I would like to give them a trial. ) For now, I am happy that I have Cedrus libanni 'Stenocoma' doing well here. It does not look nearly as delicate or ornamental as 'atlantica' and 'deodara'. but better than nothing.
We have about six of them around for more than 10 years. Unfortunately, due to neglect, only a couple of them may be worth looking at. The tallest one is about 10 m, and the small ones are still struggling at about 2.5 m eventhough they were acquired as the same batch.
This is one of the most ornamental groups of conifers; at least for me; the textures of the intricate fan shaped branched of obtusa and of the fluffy pisifera. It requires far less maintenance effort than the commonly used boxwood and yew, and has far higher ornamental attributes. It is useful in both shade and sun. Unfortunately, many of the varieties and some of the subgroups are not hardy to this area.
A group of falsecypress that is reliably hardy to this area.
One of the most common chamaecyparis in this area. It is more than 15 years old, and is probably about 6 m high. It was grown from a 1.5 m stock.
It looks promising eventhough I only have a very young plant. This is its third year in the garden from a one gallon stock.
This is a reliably hardy group for this area.
I have this one labelled as Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray' for many years without questioning it, but recently I started to wonder this is more likely 'Crippsii'. It is about 3 m high and is more than 12 years old. Over the year it gets more and more crowded by the surrounding shrubs and trees, looses its nice dense structure.
I believe the plants I have were mislabelled by the nurseries...
One of my favourite conifers for use in the perennial border. We have 12 of them spread around the garden. They are more than 15 years old, and remain nice and reasonably compact. They are doing well in locations ranging from full sun to about 80% shade.
I have probably three of these left around the garden. They were purchased from Hortico Nurseries. They are more than 12 years old, and remain about 0.4 m; much more compact than the 'Gracilis' relatives.
This is a group that contains some of the most ornamental conifers that are hardy here.
This one is relatively commonly available in the nurseries around here becasue of its relative hardiness.
This is a group of conifers that are barely hardy here, but they are worth the fuss for their elegant looks.
The one cryptomeria left in the garden was repeatedly killed back year after year. Now I finally get around to rescue it by giving it a more protected location.
Junipers are over-used around here because they are death-proof. I find most of the junipers commonly available in the nurseries are of little ornamental values. However, there are junipers that are as ornamental as chamaecyparis, but are not easy to find here. There are some that I like but others may not share the opinion.
I like this juniper, but no one else seems to. I like its graceful look, but it needs to be controlled somewhat to maintain a reasonably neat shape.
I like this juniper mostly because of its dwarf upright habit that makes it suitable for perennial bed use. This one is more than 10 years old at about 0.8 m.
Larix are graceful trees with very attractive lush spring green and splendid bright yellow fall colour. They look attractive even with their bare branches in winter.
This is an elegant tree, but it seems to be short-lived in our garden. We still have one left plus a self-sown baby growing up nicely.
This tree looks better a few years back, but is deteriorating gradually because of overcrowding.
Who would not like a tall and majestic dawn redwood?
I have planted six dawn redwood in my garden more than 18 years ago. There are five left. One of them is probably about 10 m high, and the others range from 4-6 m.
This 'Goldrush' was nearly completely destroyed by the rabbit two years in a row, but it struggles back nicely. (More recently, it has been identified as originated from Japan where it was call 'Ogon' meaning Gold Coin', and has been renamed as such by ACS. The name 'Gold Rush' was given by a Dutch nursery man who imported the plant into Europe.)
Unlike pines, the relatively young spruce trees do not have very different look from the mature ones. It is fairly easy to get a mature looking spruce in a garden quickly. However, unlike pine, it has very shallow and dense root sytem that make it quite difficult to grow smaller plants like oriental maples and perennials with them as companions.
It looks like a regular picea abies except the new spring growth can be quite yellow. It is a very fast grower; this was 2 m high when I planted it more than 10 years ago. It now probably stands at about 8-10 m.
A dwarf dark green spruce that is good for background against perennials; maintenance free like picea g.'Albertiana' but better green colour.
I used to use this as bonsai, and the remaining stocks were spread around the garden everywhere. As it turns out, this is one of the most useful plants for use in garden composition. It can take full sun to full shade, grows slowly, hardy and requires no maintenance. It can get winter burn from extreme cold wind facing south in full winter sun, but usually it manages to recover in a couple of seasons depending on the severity.
I have three picea omorika x breweriana left. they were imported from the US more than 15 years ago as one gallon stock. One of them stands straight as a very narrow column (approx. 1 m spread) and is probably 8-10 m tall; a perfect tree for city garden composition use. It has been crowded by other trees and slowly losing its dense structure. (The crowding trees will be removed next spring.) All the rest need to be staked to avoid crawling on the ground.
I used to be fascinated with blue spruce. They are around here and there in the garden but the ones that I have are not the latest fashion blue spruce....
Unless you are fortunate enough to have tall and majestic pines in your gardens when you arrived, it is not practical for a gardener to grow a specimen to those stately looks that many of them eventually become. So for gardening purposes, the options will be either choosing those varieties that are naturally dwarf, or be happy and contented with the looks of young pines, or spend big money to have a 'not too young' one planted.
I imported this pinus mugo 'Aureum' more than 20 years ago as a first year graft. It was high grafted, The yellow colour is most prominent in spring, but sometimes it persists into fall.
This is a popular fashion pine. This one is only a baby.
This pine is commonly high grafted and pruned to a stupid looking 'Table Top' pine popular in the nursery trade. The few that I have around the garden were not high grafted, but they seem to be subceptable to individual branches dying back gradually.
We acquired this pinus flexilis 'Pendula' as a mature specimen more than 10 years ago.
This is an elegant dwarf pine suitable for garden composition in perennial beds.
The pine was neglected in it training, and now it is difficult.....
This pine is not as delicate looking as Pinus stribbus 'Nana', but it is also an useful object for garden composition with perennials by providing a strong structure anchor.
I only have one plant in this group; a good one though.
I imported these from the US more than 15 years ago as. The biggest one is about 1.5 m spread and 0.5 m high. There are a few that are neglected somewhere in the garden and are much smaller.
This is a very versatile group for garden composition. The group that has borderline hardiness problem is the baccata group.
This group is very reliably hardy and useful for landscape purposes.
This is one of the two original acquisitions that is left. It was labelled baccata, but I didn't believe it. Many of its offsprings are spread around the garden.
This is similar to Taxus cuspidata 'Aura' except that 'Aurescens' remains a low bun shape, and 'Aurea' can grow quite large.
A family that is mostly hardy to our area.
This Thuja occidentalis 'Filiformis' has been planted here for more than 15 years. It is one of those that has out grown the space allocated for its cute look and is too big to move now.
This Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold' is a favourite of mine; good colour, compact and hardy.
This Thuja occidentalis 'Rosedalis Compacta' has been adopted for my garden for more than 18 years. However, all that's left in my gardens are from propagations over the years. Its distinctive ornamental characteristics are the three seasonal colours; lime green in spring, blue green in summer, and purple green in winter. I don't have good pictures for them for now.
It is one of our favourites, but the ones that we have in the garden vary widlye in height (1.5- 3.5 m) and golden colour brightness. All are more than 12 years old
Tsuga is native to our area, and is a graceful and highly ornamental condifer. Sadly, it is way under use here.
This hemlock has irregular branches and yet form a natural good looking structure ideal for garden composition.
This poor hemlock has been struggling for years; time to give is some help.
This was given as a gift from the owner of Canadale Nurseries; a classy gentleman Bill. I lost the variety name over the years. It is more than 10 years old, and is about 0.5 m.
All religions, arts, and sciences are branches of the same tree.
Albert Einstein
