Conifers - Spruce Up Your Winter Garden
Whether the weather outside is frightful or the raindrops of summer are falling on your head,
it’s never too early or too late to start planning for your winter garden. Haven’t done a lot of winter garden planning before? It’s ok! Now may be just the best time to start! Conifers come in the picture as a solid way of adding life to your winter garden. Sure, they may be very much the ‘slow and steady’ type of winter garden plant, but there just isn’t a whole lot that can beat lining the edge or filling the heart of your winter garden with a beautiful conifer.
So let’s learn all about them!
The Benefits Of Conifers
Conifers have spectacular needle patterns and distinguished shapes and sizes making them an excellent focal point or border in any garden or lawn. They also screen winter winds from
blowing over your property as well as adding color and grace to your winter garden. Smaller conifer shrubs or dwarf variations work well with other shrubs, grasses, or perennials in mixed
beds and borders, or even foundation plantings. In the wild, most conifer types will mature into tall trees or larger shrubs, overwhelming most home landscapes. When choosing a conifer for
your property, especially for an area near the house or other building, make sure to measure the space given, and choose a variation that grows slowly or has enough room to reach its full
height and expansion. That’s the most common problem when people plant conifers; not enough space is provided for the trees to mature naturally and reach their full potential.
Conifers for your Garden
Here are a few conifers to choose from when considering planting in your winter garden or property:
Firs – Abies
Fir trees are tall, slender, cone shaped trees that have short needles with woody cones. Most often found in cool and moist northern mountainous regions, they’ll grow well in similar places
but do not do well in hot areas with severe summers. Some firs are more adaptable than others, a good example would be the white fir, having 2 inch blue green needles, sometimes reaching shades almost as blue as the Colorado blue spruce. This variation will tolerate summer heat and drier soil better than most other firs and will grow up to 50 feet or taller. In smaller gardens, variations like the dwarf balsam fir or the prostrate form of Korean fir will have more space to grow and decorate your garden with its full potential. Firs need full or part sun; well drained soil containing a layer of mulch and will need regular watering during temporary droughts. Firs do not need pruning.
False Cypresses – Chamaecyparis
Naturally these are big trees but there are many dwarf variations that fit perfectly in smaller gardens. Some of the best to grow in the smaller garden sizes are the Hinoi cypress, Sawara cypress, and the Atlantic white cedar. They can be upright and cone shaped or low and rounded, bright or dark green in color or blue green, blue grey, or gold. Cypresses also come in many different textures – scaly, stringy, furry, prickly, or mossy. Its growth rate and mature size vary depending on the tree. Most dwarf variations will only grow a few inches a year. Eventually, upright, cone shaped types will reach 10 to 15 feet in height; mounded types stay 1-3 feet tall. These trees need part sun in the summer and shade in the winter. For the best results, most fertile well-drained soil and a layer of mulch is required. They can be sheared or pruned, and will need regular watering during temporary droughts.
Junipers – Juniperus
Junipers are easy to grow and come in so many varieties; it makes them a popular shrub to grow, especially for the winter months. They are usually upright trees with slender crowns, broad
bushy tops, and distinct trunks. Their foliage is prickly and scaly and comes in a variety of shades; green, blue green or blue grey. Female plants bear little blue fruits with a fresh almost piny scent. The following are some of the most popular and attractive variations. The Pathfinder and Wichita types of juniper have a broad cone like shape, silver blue foliage and will grow up to 15 feet tall. Robusta Green and Torulosa can grow to 10 feet or taller and has twisted growth and dense bright green foliage. A mid size cultivar is the Sea Green juniper. Growing approximately 30 inches in height, this smaller shrub, has feather green foliage on
arching shoots. The compact, gold, and blue forms of the Pfitzer juniper will grow 2-3 feet tall, and 4-6 feet wide. Junipers also have groundcover variations. Some of the best of these are Bar Harbor, Blue Chip, Wiltonii, or Blue Rug, all types of the genus ‘J. Horizonatilis’. They are colourful, with blue grey or blue silver that will turn a purplish color during the winter months. Another, the Mother Lode, has needles that turn bright yellow in the summer, g
olden orange in autumn, and then purplish in winter. All have creeping stems that hug the ground and spread 4-6 feet wide.
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