First, I decided on a Boulevard Cypress -

Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Boulevard'
7-15-2010
28"

wider view

Next, a Peve Minaret bald cypress. Putting this in the ground during the peak of summer seemed a bit risky, but the process was entirely stress-free. I knew these trees like wet feet, so I added an entire pack of those bouncy expandable silicone water marbles to the hole along with some peat moss, sand, and composting maple leaves to offset the native (heavy clay) soil.

Taxodium distichum Peve Minaret
8-19-2010
30"

I also added silver artemisia, grey santolina, and some asian lillies
9-19-10

Al,

The start of your conifer garden is really gorgeous. The dark compost really brings out the color or the conifers. Very nicely done.

Everything survived the 1st winter just fine. I got Candytufts (Iberis) and 'flame white' garden phlox in the spring and started adding stones.
5-11-11

Just 1 month later. Early June is one of my favorite times of the year.
6-9-11

Winter beauty. 1-12-2012

This is the view in early spring. (4-11-2012) I cut the Santolina way back because it was getting a dead spot in the middle. It recovers nicely and smells wonderful, imo.

8-2-2012 Added Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Kosteri' in May. Rabbits ate nearly all of my asian lillies, carnations, and coneflowers down to nubs (they all survived and should return), but thankfully they left everything else alone. You can also see a chamaecyparis obtusa 'lutea compacta' behind the fence that is doing well despite the frequent 'canine pinball' that occurs in the backyard.

This post was edited by gimberly on Fri, Feb 22, 13 at 22:02

It'll be interesting to see how big the boulevard and peve minaret will get...they both are growing at the same speed and have added on about 20" the first year and 30" last year. I water them both frequently (about every third day) since this was the hottest and dryest summer ever, as we all recall.

11-11-2012 The leaves have begun to turn, but the plant is still adding new growth at the tips.

12-16-2012 In the background, you can see how well my neighbors Emerald Greens liked the 2012 drought.

2-2-2013 Both of these are at about 78-80 inches tall.

The original site, before the fence 8-19-2008

12-29-2012 That's it for now, I hope you liked the pictures. AL

Great progression. That's some hard work especially with the pavers and taking down that large white pine in the back. I like the mix of stone and mulch in your bed. It adds a nice texture and of course function for the drainage pipes.

I added a tiny Taxodium distichum 'Peve Minaret' last year. Hope mine gets to look as fuzzy and happy as yours.

Thanks for the inspiration. Now I suspect that your back yard will slowly start filling up with confers. =^)

thx for the pix ...

my boulevard is going on 10 feet ...

ken

That Taxodium is beautiful - they don't get posted enough around here.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I'll eventually post some pictures of other areas I'm working on once they're more developed.

I decided to take out that white pine once I discovered the roots were not very deep. At the bottom of the trunk was an "L" shape with the main root parallel to the ground, partially exposed.

You can see that none of the roots were deeper than about a foot. Thankfully it fell exactly where I wanted. You can also see the location of the original photos I posted.

A better view of the "L" root. AL

Just 2 other quick things I wanted to mention about the Taxodium... For all 3 seasons so far, the late fall growth spurt has produced two leaders at the tallest point. I've resisted the temptation to prune one of them, but instead I've decided to wait and see what happens. Each May/June, one took the lead and outgrew the other. I think it's important to prune and shape plants, but in this case I haven't needed to do anything (so far) and things seem to be going well.

Also, the Japanese Beetles love to hang out on the soft foliage in July, but I have never seen a single bit of damage to any part of the plant...nothing whatsoever. Sometimes there will be many dozens, so I just rinse them off or see how far I can flick them. AL

Another few pictures from this past year... the small one in the white pot is Ginkgo biloba 'Mariken'

June 15th, the Clematis is starting to bloom, as well as the curry plant (Helichrysum italicum).

August 4th. At this point I hadn't made many cuts on the Taxodium distichum 'Peve Minaret'. I've read that they respond well to heavy pruning, and the bottom was somewhat thin, so...

...I cut off the bottom-most branches to give it a different shape. This was November 3rd, still putting on new growth.

This post was edited by gimberly on Sun, Jan 12, 14 at 0:43

Close up taken November 16th. I'll add a few more pictures in a year. AL

Wow - I've been interested in a 'Peve Minaret'. Surprised that:

A - they make growth that late in the season (never saw that on a species T. distichum)

B - it doesn't appear that the new growth winterkills, which surprises me in your zone

C - for a dwarf, that thing seems to be growing almost as fast as a species baldcypress!