Wow. Your phone is ringing Dan. It's Sunset magazine!

lol

Stunning.

Fantastic gardens, Dan! I agree with FFG, Better Homes and Gardens or Sunset magazine will be by for a photo-shoot later today, if they are not there already. I ditto the Stunning comment FFG made.

Love the Picea glauca 'Pendula' and all of the JMs. What is the cultivar name for the Juniperus cascading down the rock wall? Very nice.
Thanks,
Mike

That's tight as a gold cap on a front tooth!

Dax

Good evidence of what can be accomplished with a small area.

Simply the best.

Always a treat to see you place.

Dave

Nothing usual about it. Very nice Dan. Is the third pic a Pinus parv. 'Bergman'? I seem to recall you had one. Whatever it is, that's a nice plant.

tj

Thanks,FFG, Mike, Dax, Dave and tj! I really appreciate the nice comments.

Mike the Juniper is Juniperus procumbens 'Nana'. I wanted to soften up the corner of the back of the waterfall so I took one on a standard and planted it up against it with half cascading down and the other half lifted up to grow across the top, hoping it would look like it was planted at the top.

tj, Yes that is Pinus parviflora 'Bergman'.

Thanks again!

Dan

What? No hostas? I have seen some of the beautiful seedlings you have produced this year Dan and I expect to see some among the conifers soon.

When I think of everything put together 'right', I think of your garden. Well done.

Thanks for the photos

Keith

Truly beautiful gardens!
Cher

as usual.. stunning ....

do you do a lot of candle pruning???

any trips east planned this year???

ken

That's a paradise!
One of the finest yardens I've seen.
The textures blend nicely....

Josh

I really like your garden. It seems perfect.
Gary

Hi everyone. Very tastefully arranged and not overplanted...as can sometimes be the case when the collector-bug bites. Congratulations! T.

Thanks, Keith, Cher, Ken, Gary and T.

Keith The hosta garden is on the north side of the house and has some Tsuga canadensis and more Acers mixed in.The best of the seedlings will eventually make it into that garden. I pretty much like anything with showy foliage so
hostas are my newest addition to the garden.

Ken I haven't had to candle prune too much yet. I do some selective pruning here and there and I just started to candle prune my Pinus strobus 'Louie'. I'm sure more will be necessary in the not to distant future.
By out east I'm sure you're referring to a trip to Gee's :). I usually take at least one trip a year with a friend I went to school with. He comes from Barabou Wisconsin, so it's quite a trip for him. He has 80 acres so I've given him a bunch of stuff that's gotten too big for my yard. This year he's getting a 7 ft. tall Pinus strobus 'Golden Candles'. I'm not sure when we're going yet.

T. I really appreciate the not overplanted comment. I'm not sure it's true but I try my best to make the plants I've collected blend with eachother as best as possible. It's a tough challenge though when like you said, you've got "the bug" :)
If I had more space I'd do it differently but I think the challenge of a smaller space is also part of the fun.

If by any chance anybody is curious about Keith's comment, here's an off topic link to some of the hosta seedlings I grew in my basement this past winter. It keeps me "gardening" over the long winter.

Thanks again for all of the nice comments, I really appreciate it.

Happy Spring!

Dan

That's an amazing amount of Hosta's. They're all as good as cultivars.

Thanks Dan,

Dax

Well, Dan, I think you missed your calling - those hostas are FANTASTIC and deserve a place in your gardens today!
Mike

I'm in a jealous stupor. Your property is magnificent, Dan.
Pat

You have a very nice garden Dan!
I realy like your big Picea glauca 'Pendula' which is one of the best weeping conifers ever, in my opinion... ;0)

In my humble opinion what really makes for a great conifer garden is a balance and contrast of colors and textures, and you have certainly achieved that! Always a pleasure to view your garden.

Jim

Dan - lovely gardens - you really have an eye for design. In the second photo....what is the tree in the middle of the Japanese Maples?

Thank you,
Teresa

Dan,

I hate you.

Your landscape is absolutely gorgeous and I am insanely jealous.

Thanks for sharing.

Jon

Thanks Josh,Dax, Matt,Pat,cj,Jim,Teresa and Jon.

Coniferjoy, I agree with you on P.g. 'Pendula'. Though it's pretty common, it's still a favorite because of it's great form and stately presence in the garden.

Teresa, the plant you're referring to is C. nootkatensis 'Green Arrow'

Thanks all, I really appreciate the comments and encouragement!

Dan

A wonderful design. I love it.
Re Picea glauca 'Pendula'. Have to agree it is one of my favourites and far from a common sight in the UK. So great to see this specimen here.
Richard

zowie batman. what a garden.

FABULOUS!!!!!!!

Alexa

Wow those Hosta are amazing. I guess there's just that much more to be envious over. Good job all way around!!!
Cher

Thanks Richard. fc59, Alexa and Cher.

Richard I'm surprised to hear it's not common in the U.K. Even the local nurseries have them around here, it's a great conifer.

Thanks for the positive feedback everybody.
One more photo from today:

Dan

Hi Dan, nice to see your wonderful photos again, It's a shame you don't post more often.

Last photo, what's the concolor?; what's the (Douglas fir?) front of that, right?; and is that Picea abies Weeping Blue, left?; and while I'm asking, what's the hemlock?

Thanks Dan.

Hi Blue, yep I've been slacking off with posting lately. Work and my
four daughters keep me pretty busy. I' m at a dance recital right now
but thanks to the wonders of 3G I can check up on the forum. The
triplets aren' t on for another hour and a half so I've got some time.
I'm going to try to take a bunch of photos this Spring and post
more often.

Dax, the concolor is 'Watezii' ( the scions I sent to Denny), the Tsuga is 'Jeddeloh', common but under rated, the Picea is omorika ' Pendula Bruns' that the rabbits munched the skirt off of and the other is Pseudotsuga menziesii 'Blue Lullabye'. Here's a pic I took yesterday,
it was glowing in just the right amount of light.

Inspirational!
Thanks.

Pseudotsuga are still a tough bargain to sell. I do have a 'Foxy Fir' graft, albeit small, that looks pristine! Shhhhsh;)

Dax

I'm a little late. I'm on vacation in Alberta,Canada.
Wonderful garden. Wonderful design. Wonderful combinations. An example for all.
Thanks for posting.
Mike

Dan-

I've been pretty jammed up and this is the first time I've checked in for about two weeks. This is just what I needed. What a beautiful and stunning garden. It looks better every time I see it.

You need to post more, it's such an inspiration...

Eliot

Im new to this forum Dan and haven't posted much but i have to say the pictures are great and the workmanship's great also. Did you do all the hard landscaping yourself or did you get someone in to do it. I've had ago at landscaping my garden back here in england and its quite challanging getting the pieces of stone in the right place with the wright balance, same goes for the plants to.
Do you have your waterfall/cascade going all the time and if so do you get any problems with the horrible siltweed covering your wet stone.
Anyway great pics but you make me wish i had more room lol

Great trees and awesome design.

Did you do all the rocks yourself? That really makes it.

Thanks Sluice, Mike, Eliot, Bluejax and Hogmanay.

Bluegix the pondless waterfall is on a timer and is dry at night so I don't have algae problems.
Yes I placed every stone myself. There's over 20 tons in the yard placed over the last 8 years. My neighbors give me a hard time and say they know its Spring when the rock shows up. Bigger loads I have delivered but lately I've been splitting up a ton and take a half at a time in my truck. I've placed two tons in different areas of the garden already this Spring. I actually really find it enjoyable.

Dan

Funny you should say that about it drying out because just the other day i had a thought about the only way to not have silt weed on the waterfall was to let it dry out once in a while. Your pictures prove that it works.
20 tons is a lot of rock at a guess i have about 9-10 tons for what i have landscaped.
i agree that its enjoyable and i love trying to place the rock so they work well, i have to say that it can be hard work phisicaly. About 7 tons of my rock had to be lifted through the house and i've had to lift pieces of stone that one person shouldn't really life by themselfs.
The biggest single piece we have weighed in at 688 kilos i can tell you that its quite funny even trying to shift it over a few inches lol.
Well if you have placed every stone and your not in that line of work then i can tell you that you have an eye for landscaping and im glad to see you didn't skimp out on the stone. Some of the landscaping work i have seen in gardens has been really bad and alot of the time there supposed to be profesionals that have done the work, makes me wonder how they keep in business.
I have used stone call irish waterworn stone and its beautiful stone, but quite pricey unfortunatly. Are your stone and boulders from a certain area or have a certain name? Also is the squareish stone in the 4th picture a stepping stone it looks different to all the rest of the other stone.
like you, are neighbours take the micky about the amount of skips we have had on are front drive lol.

Bluegix, the flagstone that looks out of place allows me access to the sump and pump. The stone they just call large cobble. The nice part is that it's a local stone thats relatively cheap at $115 per ton. Also it comes in sizes from 4 inches to 24" +. I also use a 1/2 inch gravel called small red flint that matches well. Here's a link to the guts of the waterfall from a couple of years ago.
Dan

Here is a link that might be useful: waterfall make-over

Wow! That's impressive and a colorful explosion

Even though I'm new here I've been lurking here and there for a while, and I've got to say, that out of all the pics and examples, I really like these the best

very nice construction dan, dont think it will fail for many years probably not untill the liner perishes.
The stone does work well together nice match of colour. Its handy that such nice boulders are a local produse, probably why itS quite cheap. The irish waterworn stone is about £190 per ton but it has to be inported so that adds to the cost.
Anyway thx for the other link, garden looks gr8

Four daughters? And triplets among that number? Shouldn't you be saving for weddings? Or are you spending a lot of time early on talking up the virtues of eloping? Ã

Dax, take the 'Blue Lullaby' scions. Hard sell? You could sell one to me!

tj

Tommy Tsuga,

You're on my free plant list....(don't tell everyone !!!! ) ...because they're on it too (:0)

"Go figure"

Dax

tj, I set up 529's the day they were born, but no matter how much I save I figure I'll still have to work until I'm 70 to put them through college. As far as the weddings go, I'm still in complete denial :)

Dan

Dan, if I ever get laid off and have some free time, consider yourself stalked. Those hostas are dope.

Very disappointed that you didn't pay attention to the other dance acts. Those could have been my kids on stage.

Later
Bill

There is a ton of wonderful things going on in your gardens, Dan. We are all studying each picture with fervor.