I Like...Conifers

Conifers have had a bad press recently, they've even been talked about in parliament . So when you mention them to many people and suggest that they should be planted in the garden, the initial reaction is often as if you're suggesting they join you in a spot of devil worshipping and that they may wish to install their own altar.

The problem is that the word "conifer" has become synonymous with Cupressus x lleylandii, that bully boy of the horticultural world.

Lleylandii form large, fast growing dense evergreen barriers, so they should be ideally suited to the task of hedging. However Cupressus x lleylandii is a forest tree that will quickly and happily grow to 70 feet tall or more with a proportional width. Now imagine that I was selling hedging plants and you had a garden about 30 feet by 40 feet. I then advise you that you should plant fast growing trees that can attain 70 feet, at intervals of 2 feet all around the garden. You would probably not take this advice!

But this is exactly what has happened over the last 25 years or so, especially on new housing estates. Lleylandii are just not suitable except for very tall hedges in very large gardens.

But I come not to bury conifers, I come to praise them!

Conifers are a very large and diverse group of shrubs and trees. Like all large and diverse groups, there are good ones and there bad ones. Pretty ones and ugly ones. Some that are excellent in some situations, but useless in others, and like all garden plants they are best when situated appropriately.

Conifers have the advantages that they are evergreen and tend to look the same all year round, this is also the disadvantage with conifers, if they are planted in the wrong place. They can appear dull and unchanging if planted in groups without other types of plants. Planted in the right place, they can give structure and permanence to your garden. They are architectural plants and should be used as such to give your garden a "skeleton" or framework around which you arrange the other more seasonally varied plants.

One of the main reasons, I like conifers is for the color of the foliage of certain varieties. I love glaucous blue leaves, and there are some conifers that have the best examples of this in the plant kingdom. The color comes out best in full sun, in partial shade, they tend to revert to green.

How to use conifers:

    To give a permanent backdrop for more delicate flowers or the wispy seed heads of ornamental grasses.

    Grow the ground-covering types to suppress weed growth. They are excellent at this and are more easily kept in check than many ground cover plants as they grow from a single point, rather than rooting as they go. This also means that you can grow spring bulbs up through the foliage away from the stem without interfering too much either bulbs or conifer.

    Grow ground covering types to hide manhole covers while allowing access if needed.

    If you do want to use them as a hedge, then mix them in with other evergreens such as Cotoneaster or Pyracantha to give a less formal but nonetheless very effective barrier.

    Block out an unwelcome or ugly view.

    Don't have too many conifers or other evergreens in a garden or planting, no more than about a third of the total.

Top Conifers

There are literally thousands of different named varieties of conifers and it can be very difficult to track a particular one down that may not be very widely grown. Frequently, you can go for similar but different named variety that will not be so different, ask advice from the garden centre or nursery if you're not sure.

The colored (i.e. not just plain green) varieties tend to color up best in full sun.

If you have less than ideal conditions, use the following as a guide (but not a guarantee!)

Chamaecyparis - withstand exposure and dry conditions once established.

Juniperus - Withstand cold-exposed conditions, not keen on wet.

Picea - withstand cold-exposed conditions and also wet-moist (not soggy)

Thuja - often the hardiest withstanding most conditions, wet-moist, dry, cold-exposed, shade.

Abies nordmanniana "golden spreader" - Grows to a pyramid shape about 3ft high by about 3ft wide with green-yellow needles that turn bright gold in winter.

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana - Lawson cypress Available in numerous named varieties many of which are widely available. "Elwoodii" a handsome dense conical shrub that will grow to 10ft and will take its time getting there. "Pembury blue" a fine glaucous blue tree with a handsome shape, but take care it will go to 50ft with little trouble. "Minima aurea"  a dwarf form that forms a pyramid of golden-yellow leaves, well behaved even in the smallest gardens.

Juniperus scopulurum "skyrocket" A narrowly upright conifer with a blue-grey tinge to the foliage best brought out when planted in full sun.  Can be used effectively in pairs either side of a path or entrance, or as punctuation marks in planting schemes.

Juniperus squamata A prostrate, spreading juniper that stays at about 1ft high or less and spreads 4-5ft or more.    "Blue carpet" - glaucous blue foliage. "Green carpet" - guess what? green foliage. "Holger" - a blue leaved form with sulphur yellow new growth at the tips in spring. "Blue star" - a rather more compact blue leaved variety.

Picea pungens - My favourite conifer, Colorado blue spruce Needs a bit of space as they will frequently grow to 50ft tall by 15ft wide. The native form is fast growing, but the much better looking named varieties with wonderful blue glaucous  foliage are slower growing. "Hoopsii" and "Koster" are two of the best. Susceptible to scale insects especially in hot dry summers so keep an eye on them and attack as appropriate when spotted. Zones 2-7

Pinus sylvestris - Scots / Scotch pine. I couldn't not include this magnificent tree, to 100ft if happy, but fairly narrow. There are few more magnificent trees to have if you have the space. I have one in my garden that I call Jimmy. Zones 2 to 8

Taxus cuspidata - Japanese Yew Lush evergreen, handsome winter or summer with its short, waxy needles and orange berries in late summer. Reaches a mature 10- to 20-foot height, use as a specimen or for hedging, clips to a neatly manicured 2-3 feet. Thrives in sun or shade. - Zones 4 to 7