Designing with Dwarf Conifers

Enjoy year-round interest without giving up your whole garden

When I started to garden , I initially got hooked on perennials . To make room for as many as possible in my minuscule city fate , I got rid of my front - one thousand spot of grass and began planting . My entry garden was presently a showcase of color and texture from spring to fall . But something was drop . My garden take more of a framework , including some vertical accent mark and twelvemonth - round planting .

My tiny mint did not yield much distance for full - size trees and shrubs , but I knew I could make room for a few dwarf conifers , which usually do n’t get taller than 1 to 6 feet in 10 years . Adding some conifers to the mix turned out to be the perfect root .

nanus coniferous tree can serve as various flora regardless of how much space you have . Three fundamental way of life to use them are as anchors of ever - changing planting vignette , as vertical element in a design , and in clusters with other dwarf conifers .

The selection of gnome conifers available to home gardener has greatly increased in the past tenner . you could determine them in shade of light-green , blue , and yellow and in vary colors . I find oneself it helpful to choose a conifer found on its gloss and its substance abuse , whether upright , mounding , or pyramidal ( see chart ) .

Although it may seem more intimidating to purchase and constitute a conifer than a perennial , do n’t be afraid to make fault . Fortunately , the small size of it and tedious - growth habit of dwarf coniferous tree make them easier to transplant than some woody plants . In fact , gardeners considering a move within 10 years of planting a dwarf conifer would probably be able to pack it up along with their favourite perennial , rose , and house holding .

Use small changes to anchor changing vignettes

A planting with year - round charm is a smashing way to enhance the entrance to your home . Two avid gardener I know in Milwaukee , Steve Bialk and Angela Duckert , created just that . A nanus Alberta spruce ( Picea glaucavar.albertiana‘Conica ’ , USDA Hardiness Zones 2–6 ) serve as the central figure in their front - yard sketch , providing voiced grain and a pyramidal form that balance the scummy heft of a large boulder . In summer , the bold , blueish - green leaves of aHostacultivar ( Zones 3–9 ) contrast with the spruce ’s fine needles . Two golden Eastern arborvitae ( Thuja occidentalis‘Sunkist ’ , Zones 4–7 ) and a low - growing juniper round out the shot . Behind the spruce , a variegated miscanthus ( Miscanthus sinensis‘Variegatus ’ , Zones 6–9 ) supply a hopeful accent mark with its minute striped leaves , which reiterate the variegation of a deadnettle ( Lamium maculatumcv . , Zones 4–8 ) . In fall , the hosta turns a beautiful yellow , echoing the color of the arborvitae leaf . The evergreens continue to add colorful structure in wintertime . I reckon of dwarf coniferous tree as garden stalwart . One way to capitalize on these evergreens is to make them anchors in mixed plantings that change from season to season . thickset evergreen provide attractive stability in a bottom or border as bulbs , perennials , and yearbook do and go . Conifers with all types of contours , from low mounds to pyramids , can be used in this room .

In another mixed planting , a gnome mugo pine ( Pinus mugosubsp.mugo , Zones 3–7 ) , a ‘ Rheingold ’ arborvitae ( Thuja occidentalis‘Rheingold ’ , Zones 2–7 ) , and a day lily ( Hemerocalliscv . , Zones 3–10 ) create an likable vignette . The green needles of the mugo pine contrast with the colour and texture of the apricot - tinge arborvitae . The arborvitae foliation mould a pleasing color concord with the melon - colour daylily efflorescence . The planting is completed by a skirt of the leaf of a bigroot geranium ( Geranium macrorrhizum , Zones 4–8 ) .

Dwarf conifers also mix well with rose and deciduous shrubs . In another part of this yard , an build dwarf blue spruce ( Picea pungens‘Montgomery ’ , Zones 2–8 ) serves as the unbendable element of a mixed planting along the recess of a slope . A dwarf Norway spruce ( Picea abies‘Mucronata ’ , Zones 3–8 ) adds textural contrast next to a unfearing shrub rose that bloom throughout the summer . The blush wine ’s attractive hips tally to the wintertime interest provided by the conifer . A yellow-bellied barberry ( Berberis thunbergiicv . , Zones 5–8 ) contrasts with the down in the mouth spruce and harmonizes with the chartreuse bloom of lady ’s mantle . Hostas , daylily , and other perennials provide interesting foliage and seasonal blooms .

Dwarf conifers can add verticality

A common challenge that gardeners face is finding plants that add height without taking up a circumstances of space . A gnome conifer with either a erect , narrow habit or a pyramidal human body can bring height to a compounding , serve as a focal stage , or add a sense of astuteness to a small or narrow bed . sound candidate for this character of design include upright and narrow-minded arborvitae , false cypress , and junipers . pyramidical nominee include dwarf Alberta spruce and ‘ Technito ’ arborvitae ( Thuja occidentalis‘Technito ’ , geographical zone 3–7 ) , a recently introduce smaller interlingual rendition of ‘ Techny ’ arborvitae .

As you take the air through the Bialk - Duckert K , the upright structure allow by nanus blue spruces and arborvitae helps unify the garden while expanding the sense of space . At one corner of the lot , gnome coniferous tree bring home the bacon vertical accents that soften the horizontal impact of a rock bulwark by create a sense of scale and balance . An vertical , medium arborvitae ( T. occidentalis‘Yellow Ribbon ’ , Zones 2–7 ) , with challenging swirls of golden foliage , and a pyramidal gnome Alberta spruce service as a visual bridgework between cumulation of perennial and predominate trees in the background .

In another arena of this garden , a backdrop planting of midget Alberta spruce draws attention from a hosta and astilbes in the foreground to create a pleasing sense of deepness . The upright backdrop of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree also help repress metropolis racket and blocks the view of nearby building .

Cluster conifers for impact

In addition to enhance mixed plantings , small conifers can be grouped with other coniferous tree in eye - catching ways . A simple combination of two dwarf conifers , such as a ‘ Fat Albert ’ blue spruce ( Picea pungens‘Fat Albert ’ , Zones 2–8 ) and a ‘ Golden Mop ’ sawara cypress ( Chamaecyparis pisifera‘Golden Mop ’ , Zones 4–8 ) , look more active than a few sheared yews lined up against a home fundament . In a garden with more space , use midget conifers to plume up an existing planting of evergreens . Dwarf and intermediate conifers can add colour , form , and texture to an otherwise monotonous windbreak of marvelous conifers such as Colorado spruce and Austrian pine .

you could also enliven a serviceable evergreen plant hedge with a colorful comrade or two . The broader , branch form of a ‘ Montgomery ’ blue spruce ( Picea pungens‘Montgomery ’ , Zones 2–8 ) contrasts nicely with the narrowly good bod of an regalia of arborvitae .

One of my favorite conifer groupings is what I call “ Rich ’s Gnome Forest . ” Rich Eyre planted about 20 green and naughty nanus Alberta titivate closely together to produce a small - scale woods at his glasshouse , Rich ’s Foxwillow Pines Nursery , in Woodstock , Illinois . One of his client liked the planting enough to emulate it in his own landscape . Surrounded by a undercoat cover of creeping sedums , this miniature timberland always gets a second looking from visitor .

Dwarf coniferous tree can be used to check erosion and eliminate the need to pout on a usurious gradient . Combined with a few weed - inhibit ground covers , a planting of several dwarf conifer can serve as an attractive and low - maintenance pattern solution .

Whether you have a with child cubic yard or a postage - stamp city lot , I ’ll reckon you’re able to find space for a few dwarf conifers . I certainly have — about eight and counting . My ‘ Gentsch ’s White ’ hemlock tree ( Tsuga canadensis‘Gentsch ’s White ’ , Zones 4–8 ) add up a erect emphasis , and its lily-white - tipped foliage brightens a corner of my subtlety garden . A bird ’s nest spruce ( Picea abies‘Nidiformis ’ , Zones 3–8 ) provides a year - pear-shaped anchor for a lowly grouping of brunnera ( Brunnera macrophylla , Zones 3–7 ) , tulips , and one-year pentas ( Pentascvs . ) near my ‘ Candymint ’ crab orchard apple tree ( Malus‘Candymint ’ , zone 4–8 ) . And the opportunities to include midget conifer grow as my garden evolves . You may find , as I have , that your garden will sense copious for their presence .

Outstanding dwarf conifers

The author recommends the trace flora for their especial trait and versatility within plantings . In general , they grow in average , well - drained garden soil and full sun . The habit example show the fledged form of each flora , and the summit is the plant ’s size after 10 long time .

Melinda Myers teach horticulture in Milwaukee and hosts wireless and television appearance on horticulture .

Photos : Virginia Small

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A pyramidal dwarf Alberta spruce (center) and two golden Eastern arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis‘Sunkist’, left) provide year-round structure in a front garden.

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