Spiller fillers

Part of my excitement, as I reach the final segment in my series on the Thriller, Filler and Spiller technique of garden design, is that I will be able to put these ideas into actual practice very soon! If you have been following my blog for some time, you’ll remember that I came to a place in my life when I needed to leave my garden of many years. The good news is that I have found a new place to make a garden, and if all goes well, I should hope to remain here, developing this new garden for many, many years. I will begin with a nearly clean slate of just a few existing plants and small trees, so I am very excited to start the planning and planting of this new space.

Picea abies ‘Formanek’ is a somewhat slow growing Spiller that will cover ground and spill over rocks or walls.

Today, I will remain focused on concluding my current series of garden design posts with some of my favorite coniferous Spillers (which actually make wonderful fillers, just in a lower profile than the filler plants discussed earlier). Spiller conifers are available in as many colors and textures as all of the plants I have discussed over the years but they have the genetic propensity to sprawl along the ground, without the strength to grow on their own with upward growth. If one were so inclined, one might choose to train any of these Spiller plants on a stake or other framework to gain height and then allow the plant to fall and spill in its natural state.

Coarse textured, wispy foliage adds a unique silvery, blue-green mist to the garden floor.

The first of today’s Spillers, as seen in the top photo above, if it were not for initially being trained on a bamboo stake, would be nearly prostrate upon the ground. That small stake allowed the plant to attain some height and after a few years the wood became hard and strong enough to support itself. Once its height was attained and the plant was left to its own nature, its branches all turned and fell to the ground where they slowly spread, covering open space and falling among and over rocks. There are several different cultivars of Norway Spruce with this characteristic, but Picea abies ‘Formanek‘ is unique in being somewhat slower in its growth rate than many others, filling in its space without being overbearing.

Juniperus conferta ‘All Gold’ provides a blast of bright yellow-gold all year-round.

Juniperus conferta ‘Silver Mist’ will spill and sprawl along the ground and over slopes to cover space and help prevent erosion while adding dazzling silvery blue-green color to the garden. Its coarse textured foliage spreads slowly while adding color and movement to the garden.

When I am looking for a stunning blast of year-round color to flow around larger plants with dark green, blue or red foliage, nothing makes a statement like Juniperus conferta ‘All Gold’.

This Colorado Blue Spruce crawls and covers open space with very pleasing powder blue foliage.

I love being able to add the same blue color, that some of my larger trees provide, on a lower plane in the garden. Picea pungens ‘Procumbens’ is a low, spreading form of the Colorado Blue Spruce and it looks fantastic as it provides a bright blue boarder between other colorful conifers and awesome garden plants. Once in a while ‘Procumbens’ may try to throw an upward growing branch, but it is easily pruned away to encourage the spreading form I desire.

These past few months I have imagined plenty of ideas and inspiration to begin to create a new garden which will primarily feature dwarf, colorful, unique conifers, Garden Maples and other exciting plants. I am looking forward to getting started in my new space – I do hope that you have been inspired too!

Ed-
Conifer Lover

The finer details

This past Labor Day holiday weekend, my wife and I enjoyed visiting one of our favorite independent garden centers across town. Although our goal for the day was to find a few new house plants, we had a tremendous time strolling through the entire nursery, and I found some fantastic miniature and dwarf conifers to include in this segment of my ongoing series of Thriller, Filler and Spiller garden design.

As you know, over the past several posts I have been discussing my plans to create a great new garden space with a colorful assortment of conifers and other exciting garden plants. I began with a specific Thriller in mind and have been imagining what other plants I will use  to fill space around it.

Picea glauca ‘Jean’s Dilly’ is a fantastic little “mini-thriller” that can be used with other minis to fill smaller garden spaces.

Be sure to check out those past posts if you have not been following along. Today, I’ll be talking about some of my favorite slower growing dwarf and miniature conifers for filling in more detailed smaller spaces.

Once I have the larger plants in place, I like to get down and dirty as I create small, intimate spaces, filling in with very slow growing plants and other details like interesting rocks or other garden ornaments such as bird baths, etc. I am talking about plants today whose annual growth will be limited to less than an inch or two per year in my Pacific Northwest climate. I love these plants because they have so many great features. My favorites offer slow growth, interesting texture, unique form, great color and sturdy performance.

An all-time favorite, and perhaps one of the larger selections on today’s list is Picea pungens ‘St. Mary’s Broom’, which I chose because of its reliable, light blue color and slow growth. Rated at USDA Zone 2, it is far more winter hardy than I require in my climate, but with well-drained soil and a sunny location, it will perform very well and provide a solid blue color statement on a small scale in the garden.

Picea pungens ‘St. Mary’s Broom’ is a great choice for bringing year-round bright blue color to smaller garden spaces.

For a good dark green and unique texture, I’ll include Picea abies ‘Mikulasovice’. This dark green, mounding plant displays needles of a longer length than one might imagine on such a small, slow growing plant empowering it to add a unique texture to the garden. Another good, dark green plant is so slow growing, it might be confused with being a moss covered rock, in fact that is what inspired its name of Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Greenstone’. The tiny, fine textured foliage covers this small, rounded mound which is perfect in miniature container gardens as well as a small detail in the larger garden as I am including today.

Picea abies ‘Mikulasovice’ is a very slow grower with lots of character.

Picea orientalis ‘Tom Thumb’ is a delightful golden yellow miniature conifer with tiny needles covering the small branches which form this slowly spreading, mounding plant. Speaking of bright yellow, I will have to include a Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Butter Ball’ to this list with its soft textured, lovely golden yellow foliage and slowly mounding and eventual broadly conical habit.

Bright yellow color and fine-textured foliage make the miniature Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Butter Ball’ a brilliant choice!

I find with all of the above broadly mounding, and spreading forms I will need to include a few more upright and narrow forms to break up the monotony and add more visual interest to the smaller details of this garden space. One of the first to come to mind is a very fine textured, narrow, compact form of the Dwarf Alberta Spruce called Picea glauca ‘Jean’s Dilly’® This rich, grass-green plant grows very slowly into a narrow, cone shape and will remain in perfect scale with the other miniatures on today’s list. Of course I must include one of my very favorite plants, Picea glauca ‘Pixie Dust’ at this time since it fits the specifications perfectly and adds a bright twinkle of color.

This list could go on and on, depending on how much space I end up with. Next time I will finalize this series with a list of some favorite Spillers which will spill along the ground, filling in and covering open space with year round color!

Ed-

Conifer Lover