Hi Wendy,

Pretty yard--may I suggest three golden cypress to be planted near your Japanese maple. They will give you great contrast. If they get enough sun they will turn a beautiful golden green. If less sun they are still quite a pretty green colour. In my front garden (which is about three-quarters of the length of my home) I have a very large weeping Japanese Maple in the centre of my garden. On the right I have a very large weeping Norway Pine for height. For medium height I have a Corkscrew Hazel and a Sandcherry. For the lowest height I have three Golden Cypress. At the back of this garden, to conceal the foundation, I have a hedge (which I keep trimmed to the height of the foundation) of Japanese Boxwood which stays green all year. Interspersed among the above I have two Hostas and right now lots of Daffodils. In the summer I will plant some annuals for colour. In the fall you can always "hide" pots of mums.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

CR

Thanks CR. Good ideas. Do you have a pic of yours? I love Golden Cypress, I had a Mophead in a sunny border, but the gold looked poor with the beige house. I might try it in this site though. It just might stay green enough to work out. I'll keep it in the pot for a while to see how it does.

Just today, however, I bought two dwarf balsam firs that I spotted and at a great price. I think the price might have even been a mistake actually. Not as soft a look as the false cypresses but they might work too for some texture.

Wow, they make dwarf balsam fir?! I am planting a japanese maple in my yard, and I would LOVE a balsam fir. Do you know anything about them? I've never seen them around here, (Allentown) in a nursery, but would love to get one.

The link below is the plant description from the distributor where mine came from. I've seen their tags on shrubs a lot this year.

Here's a picture of mine just planted. pic is not great. its raining out now.

{{gwi:588501}}

I since found out that the pricing mistake I thought I saw was no mistake. The tag said 1-gallon $14.99. However the container looked pretty big so it seemed like a great deal. However, it had just been potted up to a larger container. The rootball was clearly a 1 gallon root ball. Still a great find I think.

I also got two dwarf Pierus and an azalea and the most adorable dwarf false cypress - Chamaecyparis pisifera ÂWhite PygmyÂ. It doesn't weep like mophead, but it is so pretty and unique

Here is a link that might be useful: dwarf balsam fir

I recently went to Duke Gardens in Durham, NC with my family. In the Asiatic Arboretum, they have loads of Japanese Maples. I'll post a link to pictures I took of the whole affair. My website is down at the moment, but check back later.

Some of my favorite combinations I saw there:
- Small laceleafs with large hostas (great texture and color contrast)
- Medium-sized A. palm. with a pond
- Small-sized A. palm. in a bed with ornamental grass
- Medium-sized A. palm. with a similarly-sized lacecap Hydrangea

I think if you take any of the fancy weeping laceleafs and combine them with something coarse, upright, and/or bold, you get a great effect.

Too bad they're so expensive.

Here is a link that might be useful: Duke Garden Pictures

Dear Wendy,
Thanks for the info.! A dwarf balsam fir would be perfect for a spot I have in mind. Now if I can just figure out how to get one here in Allentown. I was on the iseli nursery Web site, http://www.iseli-nursery.com/index.htm, they have some neat pictures and ideas. But they don't do mail order.
BTW, as per Jimmy's post, do you have a pool or fountain in your yard? I am working on one, probably in a clay or lined ceramic pot. They have these cute bamboo fountain spouts you can get at a lot of nurseries.