It’s true, I am alive and well. Rumors of my absence have been highly exaggerated.
As we all know, the past couple of years have been decidedly irregular, and this irregularity has certainly played a role in my absence. But, for now, I am back and excited to begin sharing about my favorite plants again!
I had an opportunity to visit my friends at Iseli Nursery a few days ago. It was one of those rare January days when the sun was shining and the howling east wind was but a whisper. Strolling through the amazing Jean Iseli Memorial Garden, after such a long absence, was invigorating and inspirational. My old contact at Iseli has since retired and I made a connection with the talented young man who has jumped in to fill his shoes.
He has been with Iseli for a number of years now and is bringing his creativity and photographic skills into good use. We met at the front door as I arrived and greeted each other with a “Covid friendly” fist bump, for safety. Strolling through the garden, he was excited to show me several new plants that have been under evaluation for some years and are nearly ready to release into the retail market. I am excited to begin to share with you some of those new introductions.
Jean Iseli Memorial Garden – January 2022
In the meantime, there are a great many plants that will be reaching their destinations in retail garden centers across the USA and Canada this spring and summer. In the coming weeks and months, I will be sharing with you some of my favorites of these newer introductions as well as looking at some of the older selections that have been around for a number of years and are proving, through the test of time, to be truly exceptional plant selections.
With that out of the way, I will just say, “I’ll be back!”
We have survived the “creepy creepers” and were thankful for all of our many blessings and now winter is nigh upon us as we march into the holidays and prepare to begin a new year. This time of year is always fun (and at times, stressful). I am excited to collect some colorful foliage for my annual wreath and swag construction. Some of my favorite conifers are very well suited to provide colorful and delightfully scented foliage for these projects. If you are interested in growing lovely foliage for your own holiday decorating, then do read on.
Cupressus arizonica ‘Aurea’
Nothing beats the rich dark green color and pleasant Christmassy scent of Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) for not only a Christmas tree, but also greens for decorating. I usually utilize our native Douglas Fir foliage as the base for my wreaths and swags. When I want something with similar foliar texture but with a little added zing, I’ll look to Pseudotsuga menziesii ‘Blue’ and P. m. ‘Waggin Tails’.
Pseudotsuga menziesii ‘Waggin Tails’
P.m. ‘Waggin Tails’ has the same lovely scent as its parent, but its branchlets have a bit of a curve or twist which will add an interesting texture to holiday constructions. As its name implies, ‘Blue’ has bright blue foliage which complements the other colors in my wreaths. Both are tremendous additions to the garden when space allows.
Both Cupressus arizonica ‘Aurea’ and Cupressus arizonica ‘Blue Pyramid’ are amazing garden trees with brightly contrasting colors. The soft, and yet, intense yellow of ‘Aurea’ will add a brilliant focal point in your garden and a delightful color contrast to the greens and blues of other great conifers. ‘Blue Pyramid’ is a bright, light blue color, that again can make a remarkable garden focal point and a colorful contrast to darker greens in the typical holiday wreath. If your garden is large enough, I recommend both of these plants for year-round color in both your garden and your winter decorating.
Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Lutea’
Several cultivars of Chamaecyparis obtusa are regulars on my wreath-making list. Two bright choices to add eye-catching color are Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Lutea’ and C.o. ‘Sunny Swirl’. ‘Nana Lutea’ is always a winner in my wreaths with its bright yellow, soft-textured foliage. It delights the eyes as it contrasts with the blues and green of other foliage choices. For a more subtle yellow color, but with the addition of a unique textural twist, I love to include C.o. ‘Sunny Swirl’ for its coarse, twisted and fasciated foliage.
Sometimes I will include Threadbranch Cypress as a filler for its wonderful contrast in foliar texture. Its coarse, wispy threads of foliage add a pleasing effect and, depending on cultivar choice, may also add contrasting color, as with the bright yellow of Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Golden Mop’ or C.p. ‘Boulevard’ for soft-textured, bluish foliage.
Pinus strobus ‘Mini Twists’
I usually try to have the added, wintry scent of Pine in my holiday decorations, so I will include the bluish-green foliage of Pinus strobus (Eastern White Pine) or Pinus parviflora (Japanese White Pine) cultivars, both of which have 5-needle bundles so they add a definite softness to the design. From the longer needles of Pinus strobus ‘Macopin’ or ‘Pendula’ to the shorter needles of ‘Sea Urchin’ or ‘Mini Twists’, there is definitely an Eastern White Pine for the holidays. The Japanese White Pine offers generally shorter needle length, but a similar color and overall effect. P. parviflora ‘Bergman’ is an excellent choice for foliage density and a variegated form, such as, ‘Goldilocks’ or ‘Ogon Janome’ add softness and a splash of color.
Alright, it seems I have put together my list, now I need to get to work! I hope you will have some time to enjoy the relaxing art of holiday wreath-making or decorating in whatever style you desire.
I love autumn. After the very long, dry and warm spring and summer of 2018, I am very thankful and encouraged by the recent transition to our cooler, misty, gray days and intermittent rain showers. We may only receive a week or two of relief from the dry weather. While the local weather soothsayer ensures that our autumn will return to dry and sunny conditions, this native born Oregonian is enjoying the cool, gray mist and the ground-soaking rain showers that we have received the past several days.
Pinus banksiana ‘Schoodic’
Certainly one of my favorite aspects of the autumn season is all the delightful colors that our gardens and native trees begin to exhibit. Not far from my home, the local community college planted a long row of deciduous trees that explode into a widely varying array of bright red, yellow, burgundy, purple and orange. I believe the trees must have been a horticultural school experiment and we are now enjoying this delightful array of color from a batch of American Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) seedlings propagated 30 to 40 years ago. The resulting seedlings were planted along one of the main – once rural – hi-ways, moving traffic North and South through this, now, growing urban setting.
Pinus sylvestris ‘Albyn Prostrata’
Along with the inevitable change of season and its invigorating color-show, comes the season of spooks and creepy stories of ghosts and ghouls and the downright fun of Halloween with children dressed in their favorite spooky costumes. It won’t be long and we will see scores of creeping creepers in the neighborhood, laughing their way from door to door as participating folks greet the kids with handfuls of delectable Treats to ward off the chance of some unfortunate Trick being played on them.
Pinus sylvestris ‘Hillside Creeper’
Some of my favorite conifers just happen to be creeping creepers themselves.
A few very rugged and hardy creepers for the garden include the pines: Pinus banksiana ‘Schoodic’, Pinus sylvestris ‘Albyn Prostrata’ and Pinus sylvestris ‘Hillside Creeper’. These pines are hardy to Zones 2, 3 and 4 respectively and vary in color from rich green to shades of bluish-green. All three of these creeping selections are vigorous growers while being easy to maintain in a small garden space if needed. Growing low to the ground, they will each, very slowly, begin to mound in layers upon themselves, slowly gaining in height. Each will spread in the garden, flowing around rocks, garden ornaments or other plants with only the occasional pruning needed to help guide them on their way. If the gardener desires increased height, each of these selections respond well to being raised a foot or two (or three) upon a bamboo stake and then allowed to continue on their way. The creative gardener may choose to create waves with their creeping conifers for increased interest.
Other choice selections for adding hardy and colorful, ground-covering waves of creeping fun in the garden are:
T. c. ‘Cole’s Prostrate’ – both offer delightful, soft-textured, rich green foliage and wonderful creeping habits that are easily manipulated with creative staking.
Of course, I could add a bounty of creeping Junipers to this list, but I think those might be best reserved to a future post. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the creepy creepers creeping their way through your neighborhood in the near future and for those special colorful creepers at your local independent garden centers!
The calendar tells us that we are well into the spring season now. Our local Pacific Northwest weather has been hinting to us that summer is not far behind. Rather than an April filled with cold, gray, wet days, we have enjoyed some very refreshing downpours of rain followed by days of sunshine and temperatures up to the low 80s! After three days of having the windows open all day and working out in the garden in short pants and a tee shirt, it is easy to forget we are just in the month of April. Reality refreshes the memory the next day when temperatures drop 25 degrees, blustery winds bring in dark clouds and the rain returns. Back and forth it has been this month, giving me several good working days in the garden and confidence that everything is still being irrigated with our natural rain.
Fresh, colorful, new foliage begins to emerge as springtime awakens in the Jean Iseli Memorial Garden with warmer temperatures and sunny, blue skies.
Clearing out the two spaces where I will grow fresh vegetables and herbs, and the back corner where the native, larger tree seedlings will be planted, I believe I am ready to begin delineating the new, enlarged bed spaces for planting my ornamental conifers and other exciting plants. Once we have more dry days in a row than wet ones, I think our soil will drain enough that I can bring out the rototiller and begin grinding up the old lawn grass to build new beds and expand upon those already there.
One of the first planting projects will be to create the privacy “hedges” on the borders of the property. I enclosed the word, hedges, with quotes because I do not intend to plant a single row of one plant type along the border to create privacy—what fun would that be? No, I’ll be planting a selection of plants that will serve the same purpose as a privacy hedge without the mono-culture monotony with will help prevent an insect or disease infestation as well as make the whole thing much more visually appealing.
Over the years of writing this blog I have discussed alternatives to traditional hedge-row planting, and I will be putting those ideas to work in my new garden. Since the new privacy screen will essentially run along the length of my property, I’ll be keeping in mind the “garden rooms” that will flow and change along the length of the screen and those changes will influence my choices in screening plants to use. I will need to keep in mind the movement of the sun and be careful not to place screening plants that will grow too tall and shade out adjacent space designed for full sun exposure. Likewise, I will certainly plan the right specimens that will provide needed summer, late afternoon/evening shade to outdoor seating spaces. Not all areas will require the same level of privacy, so I will very likely plan some smaller privacy plants in more localized spaces to provide that extra level of screening desired for sun-bathing or skinny-dipping in the grandchild’s wading pool.
Next time I will begin to describe my choices for different kinds of screening and how to mix plants for efficiency and aesthetic appeal. I hope you’ll join me!
We have gone from heavy, down-pouring rain, to icy-cold, blue skies and strong east winds, to freezing rain and then calm, sunny, pleasant-feeling days. Every time the day is sunny and with just a breeze, I become very hopeful that more and more of these days will arrive soon. I have ordered and am waiting for my seed catalogs—ready to plan my new veggie garden. I have created lists of dwarf and miniature conifers (and other exciting plants) to begin to seek and acquire. The new property has been walked and measured, contemplated and sketched and I am ready for a string of nice weather to begin breaking ground!
I know, it’s only January—but I am excited to begin gardening in my new soil!
My new place is much smaller than where I came from, but large enough to plant a corner of the back, north-end of the property, with some large trees to help break up the wind, provide some privacy from the green-space and to visually blend in with the large stand of native trees just beyond.
Picea abies ‘Rubra Spicata’ dazzles the eyes in early spring.
I mentioned a couple of posts back that I have acquired a few, two to three year old seedlings of some native trees. Those largest growers will be planted near the edge of my property since they will grow very fast and become quite large. For the next layer of trees, in toward the house, I have been considering some large conifer cultivars which have been selected for their unique color characteristics. There are so many candidates for me to consider, and I have very limited space, so I will need to be satisfied with choosing just a few trees for this space.
Today, I have picked out two trees that will make a nice transition from the “wild” garden to the more refined space which will be dominated by generally slow growing conifers and other small trees, shrubs, flowering plants and herbs. Today’s trees are perfect for this transition space because they will be medium-large growers and characteristically be suited to grow in the background of the other specialized selections in the main part of the new garden.
Picea abies ‘Rubra Spicata’ is a fast, large growing cultivar of the Norway spruce. During most of the year, for most people, it will appear indistinguishable from the standard Norway spruce, but in springtime…..
A large tree with a stunning springtime surprise!
In Springtime, its strong flush of new foliage will push a bright, blood-red color. As the new growth extends, the color becomes less intense and will appear a reddish-brown color just before it becomes dark green. The dark green color will last through summer, autumn and winter, waiting to surprise us all again the following spring with its vibrant new growth. For much of the year, ‘Rubra Spicata’ will function as a size transition down from the larger Douglas fir, bringing the eye from the forest beyond, to my younger, smaller trees and ease the view to my dwarf garden plants. The added spring bonus color will be a delightful reminder that winter is official a season of the past, and exciting new life—and color—is just ahead!
Bright, butter-yellow new foliage on Picea glauca ‘Mac’s Gold’ is a dazzling sight in spring!
There are several conifer cultivars that, like ‘Rubra Spicata’ blast themselves into spring with bright color and then slowly fade to green for most of the year. I have mentioned others in past posts, such as Picea orientalis ‘Aureospicata’, which is a favorite large tree and will very likely find a home in my new garden. My next featured choice is a cultivar that is still very rare in the trade and will be so worth the wait to acquire. Picea glauca ‘Mac’s Gold’, may not be available for a couple of years, but it will make a dandy transition tree for my garden and will be such a thrill when I do find that it has become available at my favorite local independent garden center!
A beautiful spring-time surprise!
‘Mac’s Gold’ has small, grayish-green needles covering the branches of its tall, open-growing form. When its new growth emerges in early spring, it pushes forth in a bright, butter-yellow color. As the tree matures, small, bright purple-pink cones will also be displayed providing and additional dappling of color. Before long, as the new foliage begins to harden, it slowly becomes green and the tree may fade into its role in the background. Like ‘Rubra Spicata’, during the spring, it will add dazzling color to the background treeline, and then step out of the spotlight as other plants enjoy their own spotlights through the adjoining seasons.
While I wait for the weather (and season) to catch up to my enthusiasm, I will continue to make plans and spend some time cleaning and possibly repairing my garden tools and equipment. I want to be ready to go when spring-time truly does arrive!
The Amazing World of Conifers 