Conifers to brighten your winterscapes

If you aren't a fan of conifers and other evergreens yet, you're missing out on some fantastic garden plants, to say nothing of a fourth gardening season--now, the time of winter interest. 

There are more to evergreens than ever-green, I always say. I think many people swore off evergreens because of the uninspired plantings found in many subdivisions. You know the kind I mean. A couple of tall cedars, some overly pruned yews and junipers, all standing huddled against house foundations, or slowly dying from being planted in the wrong location. 

Oh, there are just so many more choices, and more plant sizes, shapes, colours...

I can cheerfully say that my ongoing fascination has been encouraged thru several friends who happen to be nursery operators: Jill Covill of Bunchberry Nurseries, Rob Baldwin of Baldwin Nurseries, and of course, our mutual late lamented friend Captain Dick Steele of Bayport Plant Farm.

There are so, so many different types of evergreens; far more than I know the names of. As it is, I do sometimes get some of them mixed up. But whether you're interested in a 'Cream Ball' dwarf chamaecyparis like those above,

Or a whole collection of evergreens in every size, shape and colour...

You'll find out they're rather like potato chips. You can't have just one. 

And as an added bonus, many of them change colour in the winter. The photo above is Juniper 'Limeglow', which during the summer is gold and green. Now, it's gold and reddish copper. Either way, it's quite fantastic. 

This winter, because it really hasn't been a winter like we normally have, most of my conifers haven't developed strong winter colour. Normally, this grouping above, which includes several pines, several thujas, a Heatherbun chamaecyparis and a dawn redwood (which drops its needles in winter), is iridescent with golds, bronze and copper in the winter. This year, the hues are more subdued.

This collection of dwarf and young conifers shows some of the more common fall and winter colours, from brilliant yellow to rich gold to deep green brushed with bronze to blue-green to...
Well, you get the point. We have plenty of choices.

Although some foliage colours are a little subdued this winter, in the freeze/thaw/hot/cold muddle of our non-winter, I suggest going out for a drive around the community to look at and photograph gardens that you like, and plantings that really work for you. Then you can go to your local nursery to purchase those plants come spring.

Remember when planning to work conifers into designs, to consider how large they will be at maturity. I bought my 'Nootka' weeping false cypress when it was about four feet tall. Now it's closer to 8 feet tall, not as big as this 15-foot beauty, but it's definitely making an impact in the garden.

One more thing to remember. If you've purchased a large, ball and burlaped tree or shrub, take time to loosen the root ball and spread the roots out into a large, generous hole when you plant it. Or else...

...you could be looking for a new mature blue spruce or weeping hemlock to plant in your yard after a big windstorm. You can see someone never bothered to loosen the rootball with this spruce...and now they will never need to. 

Addendum: As one of my commenters mentioned, and as we've been discussing on bloominganswers.com and elsewhere, there are several wonderful books on working with conifers in your garden. Adrian Bloom's Gardening with Conifers is one of those books that actually excited me into wanting to plant more conifers. The commenter also recommended 'Designing with Conifers' by Richard L. Bitner. These books are well illustrated with splendid photos, which is always important for gardeners.