Is it considered “peeping” if…?

You may have seen on the news that we are experiencing record high temperatures throughout the Pacific Northwest. With hotter temperatures, people tend to wear fewer clothes; which from my perspective can have both its ups and downs.

Take this morning for example. I get up at 5:45am and the outdoor temperature is 71 degrees F. So, I open the house up, and take my bowl of blueberries and melon out on the front porch to enjoy the early morning garden while the temperature is most comfortable. I hear some kind of racket going on next door, the neighbor’s dog begins to bark aggressively and then a naked man flops over the short fence and runs through my front yard. As I was processing that sight, here comes the neighbor’s dog rounding the fence near the road with what appeared to be the man’s pajama bottoms in his mouth.

Not sure what I should do about all this activity, my mind immediately went to what conifers I should consider planting along that short fence to prevent this sight from occurring in the future.

Thuja occidentalis 'Golden Globe'

Now, I like my neighbors quite a lot; in fact we are good friends, so I really don’t want to plant anything that will get huge or require a lot of shearing to maintain. My first thought is something with very long and sharp needles (to defend against unwanted fence hopping). Then again, I don’t want to be mean, and I am sure there must have been some kind of rational explanation for the activity I just witnessed.

Thuja occidentalis "Mr. Bowling Ball"

I decide on a mix of dwarf cultivars of Thuja occidentalis. They will grow slowly enough not to take over the entire border between our two homes and will add nice color and a soft texture to the hedge.

A few great dwarf and intermediate cultivars of Thuja occidentalis that I will consider are:

• ‘Hetz Midget’ – a good green globe-shaped mounding plant.
• ‘Golden Globe’ – great color and very tidy globe-shaped habit.
• ‘Sherwood Frost’ – makes a fine textured narrow pyramid with nice creamy variegated foliage.
• ‘Bobazam’ (“Mr. Bowling Ball®”) – is a fun, small, ball-shaped, fine textured green mound.
• ‘Yellow Ribbon’ – although it will grow large, one or three of these placed along the hedge row will add impact with their contrasting color and size.

Of course there are others to consider as well. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of designing the hedge to creatively incorporate all these different shapes, sizes and textures to make my new hedge not only functional, but a showpiece as well.

Now, the rest of the story.

As it turns out, the man was fleeing the home on the other side of my neighbor. When he hopped the fence on that side, he tipped over a couple garbage cans which alerted the dog and well, as they say, the rest is history.

Ed-
Conifer Lover

Are you a Conehead?

Abies koreana ‘Aurea’

I have considered myself a Conehead for many years now, and yet, I don’t claim to come from France. I remember the first time I saw the Conehead sketch on Saturday Night Live back in the late 1970s. I told my friends back then that I was a true Conehead, unlike those on the TV. One of my friends mentioned that he had always thought that I was from another planet referring, I presume,  to my non-conformist wardrobe choices and lack of interest in the disco scene of the day.

Yes, even back in the late ’70s’ I was a Conehead – a conifer lover.  I love the year-round color that conifers can provide with their fantastic and sometimes seasonally changing foliage color, but quite often, it is the cones themselves that provide the color and seasonal interest.

Picea orientalis ‘Aureospicata’

My favorites begin as very colorful red or purple “buds” that grow  into symmetrically balanced spirals of winged pockets designed to  protect the seed as it develops and then allows the seed to launch into the wind or be relocated by birds or other wildlife at maturity.

Very colorful cones may be discovered growing on some cultivars of Abies koreana (Korean Fir), Picea abies (Norway Spruce), Picea orientalis (Oriental Spruce), Pinus parviflora (Japanese White Pine) or Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas Fir). These colorful cones can add excitement and interest to the spring and early summer garden. The detail in these young cones can be stunning, often only visible with a magnifying glass or a good macro lens on the  camera.

Pseudotsuga menziesii ‘Blue’

As the cones continue to grow and mature through the summer months, their color may change and become darker or even tinged with a different hue. Most will begin to ooze resin which can actually sparkle in the early morning or late afternoon sunlight. At maturity, many cones will have turned brown and the seed-holding pockets will have spread and opened allowing the seeds to escape. The larger dried cones are what we often see used decoratively in flower arrangements or in wreathes and swags during the winter holidays.

Cones add to the multi-seasonal appeal of conifers and are one of the reasons many gardeners consider themselves Coneheads all over the world.

Ed-
Conifer Lover

As always, thanks to my friends at Iseli Nursery for the photo links.

Mother and child reunion

Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’ is a majestic golden colored spruce tree. One of its desirable features is that it begins to set cones at a fairly young age. The purplish red cones, both, female and male, add real color contrast and interest against the golden yellow foliage of this beautiful tree.

One of the advantages of a tree with prolific annual cone formation is that thousands and thousands of seed may be collected and germinated. Iseli Nursery began germinating seed collected from the two large specimens of ‘Skylands’ located in the Jean Iseli Memorial Garden in the early 1990’s. Literally thousands of seeds have been carefully  planted, germinated and observed ever since.

Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’ and one of its offspring

Naturally, when growing thousands of conifer seedlings, some variation will be apparent. Some of the seedlings appear almost identical to the parent cultivar with similar foliage color and rate of growth. Others may have a tendency to be more green in color or even have a faster, more open habit than the original. What Iseli is looking for though are plants with a more compact form, more intense golden yellow color, resistance to foliar sunburn, resistance to pests, etc.

Over the years, selections with the best characteristics are made for continued observation. From time to time, some of the lesser seedlings are made available to collectors who  may begin to propagate and distribute them as new cultivars. Meanwhile, back at the nursery, the folks at Iseli continue the evaluation process until one or two seedlings with extraordinary characteristics are chosen for production. Cuttings from those few selected new cultivars are then propagated and the inventory of those selections begins to expand. Eventually, those new cultivars are given names  and made available to the retail market.

One of those original seedlings from back in the early ’90’s is coming very close to that final stage right now. Currently referred to as Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’ [#1 Seedling], this new cultivar is truly exciting! UPDATE: Iseli has just informed me that they are now marketing this exciting new plant with the name, Picea orientalis ‘Firefly’.

‘Skylands’ [#1 Seedling] ‘Firefly’ is a much more compact grower than its mother growing just 4-6 inches per year instead of the 12″+ annual growth rate of ‘Skylands’. The new cultivar also has brighter, lemon yellow foliage on densely clothed branches forming a compact golden pyramid. I suspect this small tree will grow tall in time but should remain comparatively narrow.

The photo above shows both the “mother” and “child” growing near one another in the garden at Iseli. The ‘Skylands’ in the background is just over 30 feet tall at perhaps 35 years old, while [#1 Seedling] ‘Firefly’ is nearly 42 inches tall at 17 years. Seedlings tend to grow more slowly in their younger years and as they begin to mature, their annual  growth rate stabilizes.

Picea orientalis ‘Firefly’

I am looking forward to this outstanding new cultivar being named and made available to the retail market. I know several people that feel they don’t have room in their gardens for ‘Skylands’. When they see this new cultivar, they will jump at the chance to have its bright golden foliage and compact form highlight a special place in their own landscape.

Ed-
Conifer Lover