When Robert and Deborah McCallum of Edmonds started gardening, they were drawn to the usual suspects – rhodies, azaleas, Japanese maples and perennials.
Their garden was beautiful.
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Photo GalleryBut as time went on, they realized something was missing.
Color.
Everything in the wintertime was the same dull green.
Fortunately, the McCallums found an exquisite and exciting solution in dwarf conifers.
Now their winter landscape glows with gold, blue, chartreuse, silver and white, all in textures and shapes so lively and bright, it’s hard to believe your eyes.
Weeping white pine, spiky blue spruce, cascading soft cedar, feathery fir, wispy false cypress, plush bristlecone pine and other specimens have added structure and a sense of enduring place in the McCallum garden.
Some meander down low like ground covers. Some stand up straight and proud. Still others sit round and globular, and more still overflow out of old stumps, cascading toward the ground like the locks of Cousin It.
“They make your landscape look a lot more exciting,” Deborah McCallum said of the couple’s dwarf conifers, sprinkled throughout their acre of property. “I like different textures. It’s just more drama.”
Trevor Cameron, assistant general manager of Wight’s Home &Garden of Lynnwood, said the variety and popularity of dwarf conifers has expanded greatly in recent years.
Though there are plenty of collectors with larger landscapes, in general, people are living in smaller homes and have less time for tending their gardens.
“It’s a lot of condos, decks and patios,” said Cameron, who routinely searches for great finds at wholesale dealers in Oregon, such as Iseli Nursery, a major dwarf conifer grower near Boring.
Many dwarf conifers are easy to grow because they like the Northwest’s acidic soil and rain. Most are drought and sun tolerant. And, unlike their more robust timber-ready relatives, dwarf conifers typically grow slowly, which can be a huge horticultural asset.
Naturally, gardeners love instant gratification and that means most growers tend to sell plants that reach “landscape size” within three years, according to the Web site of Robert Fincham, who specializes in conifers at Coenosium Gardens, a retail nursery in Eatonville.
But such speedy growth, often forces gardeners to move plants around to accommodate their ever-changing size and shape.
Dwarf conifers offer an alternative. Some grow only a couple centimeters per year, making them ideal container plants, too.
Dwarf, of course, is a relative term.
Be sure to keep in mind when you’re shopping that the word is sometimes used capriciously in the garden industry to sell plants.
The American Conifer Society defines dwarf conifers as either miniature (less than 1 inch of growth per year) or dwarf (1 to 6 inches of new growth per year).
Gardeners, Cameron said, should be sure to find out the estimated 10-year height of plants labeled as dwarf. Some so-called dwarfs are merely slower growing varieties of certain giant species, meaning that a dwarf pine might only grow to 50 feet in a lifetime instead of 100.
While most nurseries have dwarf conifers in stock now, look for a full selection in February and March as shipments to area nurseries such as Wight’s arrive.
Though it’s easy to be charmed by dwarf conifers, keep your plant lust under control.
Some of the most eye-poppingly bright, funky-foliage varieties can be the toughest to sustain.
Like all plants, each dwarf conifer has specific growing requirements you need to observe. Most need full sun – at least half a day – as well as good (if not excellent) drainage.
Certain dwarf cultivars of Lawson’s cypress can die easily from root rot caused by too much water and bad drainage, while some types of dwarf concolor fir can be sensitive to pollution such as exhaust if they are planted near a road.
After a few years, spruce trees can suffer from needle damage caused by spruce aphids, which can be controlled with annual spraying.
Gardeners should also be careful when pruning any conifer. Cameron recommends late spring or early summer.
“They need the rest of the summer to refresh and harden off,” Cameron said, adding that if you want to fertilize, just use rhododendron food. “They love acidity.”
Such demands, however, shouldn’t keep you from exploring the wild world of dwarfs. Just remember some are rare and difficult to replace and most are more expensive than other ornamentals.
Starter plants in 4-inch pots go for about $8, while 3-gallon specimens go for $40 to more than $80. Older or shaped dwarf conifers will cost you hundreds.
Though prices may force you to settle on a select few dwarf conifers to start, you’ll be able to choose from a wide array of pine, fir, hemlock, cedar, yew, false cypress, spruce, larch and juniper that will make you see each species in a whole new way.
Once you get your first dwarf home, you’ll want to give it prominent placement, perhaps near your front door for guests to admire.
If you’re into containers, it’s possible to leave dwarf conifers in pots for years, often more than six or seven, Cameron said. Just be sure the soil is rich in nutrients and organic matter.
In the landscape, dwarf conifers make striking accents in rock gardens and among winter-interest plants such as swaths of heath and heather. Their lush forms also pair well with the open branch structures of naked deciduous trees and shrubs, especially Japanese maples.
Because their foliage can often change color or intensify in the winter (much like deciduous trees in the fall), try dwarf conifers within view of a window that you use all year long.
Dwarf hinoki cypress, native to Japan, is a good starting point for dwarf conifer newcomers and they aren’t typically as expensive as other specimens. Their gold or lime-green color, scalelike foliage and versatility make them superstars in just about any setting.
Look for curly Golden Sprite, fanlike Nana Lutea, or globular Nana Gracilis.
With all that brilliance, you might forget that it’s winter.
“You can mix it up,” Cameron said, adding that new varieties for 2006 will include bright whites, blues and light greens, too. “You can plant a conifer garden and have color year-round.”
Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@ heraldnet.com.
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