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Home » Gardening Information » Great Plants

Custom-Fitted Conifers—Trees for the Space-Conscious Gardener

Plants & Gardens News Volume 16, Number 4 | Winter 2001

by Jeff D. Bowman

Ornamentally speaking, the conifers are a versatile group of woody plants. They come in all shapes and sizes and offer an amazing diversity of foliage texture. Although most conifers are evergreen, their wardrobe is not limited to one wavelength on the color spectrum. They also garb themselves in shades of blue, gray, silver, yellow, and gold. In short, conifers can fill many different roles in a well-designed garden.

The 1,149-acre Dawes Arboretum, near Columbus, Ohio, has one of the largest and finest conifer collections in North America. Comprising more than 950 evergreen and deciduous conifer taxa (representing more than 140 species and their many cultivars and hybrids), the collection includes not only full-sized trees but also compact, dwarf, and miniature selections.

As curator of the conifers at Dawes, I don't have too much trouble finding space for a new planting. But I am aware that most gardeners out there are working under tighter constraints and might have difficulty fitting, say, a 100-foot dawn redwood in their backyard. Here's a sampling of some unusual small and slow-growing conifers—trees that make their own unique statements in a garden setting but don't take up too much room.

Picea orientalis 'Skylands'

(Oriental spruce)
Picea orientalis 'Skylands' is a semidwarf selection of the Oriental spruce. Narrow and pyramidal in shape, it grows to about one-tenth the size of the true species, or somewhere between 5 and 10 feet. It has an exceptionally slow growth rate, adding only 3 to 6 inches each year. Its fine, spiky needles are a beautiful golden color. The foliage is actually bright yellow when it first emerges in spring; then it fades to a more golden hue as the season comes to a close.

'Skylands' likes full sun and moist, well-drained, neutral to acidic soil. You may need to give saplings a little protection from the elements during their establishment. Our specimen, exposed to weather from the Northeast, suffered foliage burn due to effects of both winter wind and sun. I solved the problem by installing a wire fence around the tree's perimeter and attaching a square of gray mulch fabric to its southwestern side. After two years, I removed the fabric. Since then, no more burning has occurred.

I mulch the tree yearly with wood chips and water it in times of drought, but otherwise I have little maintenance work to do. The Oriental spruce is hardy from USDA Zones 5 to 7.

Pseudotsuga menziesii 'Glauca Pendula' (Weeping Douglas fir)

This is a graceful, columnar evergreen with weeping, blue-gray foliage. It's useful for providing vertical interest in tight spots in the garden. Unlike the true Douglas fir, which can get up to 160 feet tall, 'Glauca Pendula' is slow-growing and relatively small, rarely exceeding 30 feet at full maturity. Our specimen was about 6 feet high when we planted it in the spring of 1995. Now it's only 15 feet high and no wider than 3 feet at any given point.

Like the Oriental spruce, the weeping Douglas fir does best in well-drained, slightly acidic, loamy soil and full sun. Staking is recommended for the first two years to anchor the plant and ensure a good upright habit. Young plants should also be generously watered and mulched to keep them free of weeds (I recommend using pine-straw mulch). In late spring, prune any damaged or untidy shoots. Other than these measures, though, the plant requires very little maintenance. It's hardy from Zones 5 to 7.

Pinus sylvestris 'Viridis Compacta' (Scots pine)

This Scots pine selection has beautiful medium green foliage and an extremely tight oval shape, making it an ideal choice for a small planting bed or rock garden. It, too, is very slow-growing, adding only 1 to 3 inches in height each year. Our specimen was 1 foot tall when we planted it in May 1996. Since then, it has only grown another foot. In other gardens, I've seen the plant grow 5 to 6 feet tall and wide, while still maintaining its attractive habit.

Like any pine, Pinus sylvestris 'Viridis Compacta' does best in well-drained soil and good sun. It's hardy from Zones 3 to 7 and doesn't require much maintenance. Each fall, I remove any dead internal needles to allow for better air circulation and to eliminate areas where disease or harmful insects might develop. This grooming isn't essential, but the plant looks cleaner and healthier afterward.

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold' (Hinoki false cypress)

False cypresses are evergreen conifers valued by gardeners for their hardiness, versatility, and dense sprays of scaly, featherlike leaves. In cultivation, the straight species Hinoki false cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) grows up to 40 feet high in a broadly pyramidal habit and makes a handsome specimen tree. Its foliage is dark green with silver banding underneath; its bark is furrowed and reddish brown. It's a low-maintenance, easy-to-grow plant with few pest problems.

'Fernspray Gold' is a slender, slow-growing cultivar with lemon-yellow leaves. The leaves resemble fronds on a fern and add a welcome splash of color in the winter. When we planted our specimen in the spring of 1995, it was 2 feet tall. Now it's 8 feet tall and 3 feet wide at the base. We mulch around it and keep it watered in times of drought but otherwise have little to do. As with other false cypresses, it does best in moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soils but can tolerate alkaline conditions as well. Plant it in sunny areas that are not too exposed to wind. 'Fernspray Gold' is hardy from Zones 4 to 8.

Abies alba 'Green Spiral' (European silver fir)

Firs have a tough time surviving in Ohio because of our region's periodically hot and droughty summers. Few species live to a ripe old age. We've had luck in the past with the European silver fir, Abies alba, a columnar tree native to central Europe that grows up to 80 feet tall. It has short, spiky, dark green leaves with silver underbellies, hence the common name. In autumn, the tree produces 4-inch-long upright cylindrical cones, which ripen from yellow-green to brown.

We've also had success with A. alba 'Green Spiral', a narrow, slow-growing cultivar. When our specimen was planted in April 1995, it was 2 1/2 feet tall. Now it's only 12 feet tall. The foliage is no different from that of the true species. The plant's pendulous, spirally arranged branches give it distinction and make it a great focal point in the garden.

'Green Spiral' does best in moist but well-drained rich, neutral soil. Situate it in a sunny part of the yard, but use companion plants to protect it from intense summer heat. I mulch around our specimen every year with wood chips and periodically prune out cross branches if they get too unwieldy. Otherwise, 'Green Spiral' is a fairly carefree plant. It's hardy from Zones 5 to 8.

Larix x marschlinsii 'Varied Directions' (Hybrid larch)

This is a unique and resilient hybrid of the European larch (L. decidua) and the Japanese larch (L. kaempferi), developed by Dr. Sid Waxman of the University of Connecticut. The straight hybrid grows up to 80 feet tall in a roughly pyramidal shape. 'Varied Directions', as the name suggests, is a weeping, spreading selection, with main branches radiating outward in irregular patterns. It can form a prostrate shrub or a small tree, depending on the height of the original graft. Our specimen was 4 feet tall and wide when planted in April 1994; now it's 6 feet tall and 15 feet wide.

Like all larches, 'Varied Directions' is deciduous. In spring, its emerging whorls of needlelike leaves are emerald-green. In fall, the foliage turns a spectacular golden-yellow. When the leaves eventually drop, they unveil intricate internal branching patterns, which give the tree lasting appeal through the winter months.

Each year, we mulch with wood chips, water in times of drought, and thin the tree out by selective pruning. The plant prefers moist, well-drained soil and full sun. It's hardy from Zones 3 to 6. I should add that here at Dawes this plant has had some problems with woolly aphids.

Nursery Sources:

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