The conifer connection

They like to call it the “pineapple express” when the jet stream brings warm air and billions of gallons of water from Hawaii and dumps it on us in the Pacific Northwest. With temperatures in the 50s, I don’t mind it at all – it is a big improvement over plain old Pacific Northwest winter rain when the temperatures are in the upper 30s and 40s.

The rain did stop for a few hours the other day and it was quite pleasant outside. My wife and I were inspired to take a drive about 30 or 40 miles south to one of our favorite garden center destinations. My wife was hoping to find a great deal or two in the gift shop, and I was happy just to have a chance to poke around the winter nursery inventory.

This time of year, there really aren’t too many choices. The flower growers haven’t started making their regular deliveries, nor has anyone really, but there is still a fairly broad selection of nursery stock on hand, so I enjoy the hunt as much as anything. I never know when I might find a leftover from last year that has special character or catches my eye in one way or another.

Picea pungens ‘Lundeby’s Dwarf’ is an excellent dwarf conifer with stunning blue color and sized to fit most any garden.

So, there we are, my wife enjoying her hunt for special bargains on indoor decorations, and I’m checking out the outdoor nursery stock. It is very warm out, and we were not the only ones itching to get the gardening season off to a good start. Looking across the sales yard, I noticed someone carefully looking through the conifer section when I recognized my friend, The Flower Girl. <cue nemesis theme music>

Rather than acting on my first thought, which was to call out her name and wave from across the yard, my playfully mischievous side thought it would be a good idea to nonchalantly wander over in her direction without her seeing me. What I didn’t notice from my initial viewpoint was that she is not alone.

“One thing I love about this dwarf conifer is its beautiful blue color – it just can’t be beat.” she told her companion as I quietly moved nearby.

“But don’t these things just get huge and take over the whole yard? Her companion questioned. “And what about bugs? I don’t want a giant tree that will attract bugs!

“But that’s the beautiful thing about dwarf conifers,” my friend said, “they are perfect for the size of your garden – and they really are relatively pest free. Besides, the older, larger ones do provide habitat for birds and other little animals.”

“I’ve heard that somewhere before.” I piped in much to the surprise of my friend, who incidentally seemed just a little embarrassed to have been caught red-handed promoting conifers in my presence.

We went through our normal routine of kidding and then made proper introductions with her friend. Before I made my retreat, she did give me her trademarked punch to my shoulder, which seemed punctuated with an exclamation mark.

I love a good early visit to the garden center. Bargains can often be found and it’s great to visit with the folks there whether they are old friends or strangers – there is just something about gardening that brings warmth to the heart and a connection with others.

Ed-
Conifer Lover

Return of the Flower Girl

A while back I shared with you all a conversation I had with a dear gardening friend of mine. This gal loves her herbaceous flowering plants the way I love my conifers. I hadn’t heard from her for several months, but my last blog entry inspired her to give me a call. Apparently she thought my need for an intervention was a victory for her “side” of the gardening world and this would be a good time to rub it in.

“So, your conifers are giving you some trouble, huh?” she asked in her playful tone.

“Oh, I don’t know that they were the cause of my trouble.”

“You called one of them a “bully” didn’t you? And you had to move all that other stuff – I would’ve just got my chainsaw out and taken that big bully down!” she said with a bit of a chuckle.

“Yeah, I suppose I did lay some blame on that poor, misunderstood ‘Montgomery’.

I went on to explain that my beautiful, mature, stately ‘Montgomery’ was behaving exactly as is was genetically designed to. My erroneous expectations were the cause of my trouble.

You see, I was wanting one dwarf conifer to behave like another. I should have allowed it to be itself and not something I wanted. Afterall, there are other excellent (and even more dwarf) cultivars of blue spruce available. As it turns out though, once I relocated the plants being crowded by my faithful and trusty ‘Montgomery’, it immediately was transformed from bully to nobility.

‘Lundeby’s Dwarf’ is an excellent, slower growing alternative to ‘Montgomery’ in todays smaller gardens.

Back when I originally planted my ‘Montgomery’ I was very well aware of its potential size. But that was a long time ago and I was younger, and perhaps a little more ambitious. I had planned on annual or semi-annual pruning to keep its size under control – which worked well for the first 10 or 15 years. Since then though, I’ve allowed it to grow without my direct influence. If I had planted a different cultivar, one with less annual growth and a natural form more suited to my original design, perhaps I could have prevented a lot of work.

Two marvelous dwarf cultivars of blue spruce immediately come to mind.

Picea pungens ‘Lundeby’s Dwarf’ is a fantastic alternative if height is a concern. It has an annual growth rate of about half of what I experienced with my ‘Montgomery’ so it will take many, many more years to attain a height of ten feet. It has more of a mounding habit, so it will tend to spread a little more while remaining comparatively low.

‘St. Mary’s Broom’ is perfect for small spaces, the rock garden or in containers.

Another favorite of mine is Picea pungens ‘St. Mary’s Broom’. Still officially in the Dwarf growth range with an annual push of just over an inch in my garden, this little beauty will be a very well-behaved blue mound in the garden for a lifetime.

There are other wonderful dwarf blue spruce of varying growth rates, forms and shades of blue that may also be considered. A creative designer could use an assortment to build a beautiful boundary that might mimic nearby hillsides or the mountain ranges of faraway lands.

Dwarf conifers are so versatile and beautiful that I don’t mind the few challenges they may induce. What other group of plants can be both foundation and centerpiece, border and boundary, filler and cherished specimen all while providing year-round color in the garden?

Ed
Conifer Lover