My yard the way it looked 2009 before I started lurking on the forums

My yard after I bought a chainsaw and the conifer bug began invading my brain.

The next pictures are all taken at various times this year

Top Bed

Right corner

Giant shade screen for Picea orientalis 'Skylands' - My big purchase this year!

I got tired and haven't finished the rocks yet. Every time I go to plant something I usually end up digging out a huge rock. Lots of work rolling those things around by yourself. I have my little 105 lb wife help me with the giant ones.

Now for a few close ups of most of the little guys.

Abies koreana 'Silver Show'

Picea orientalis 'Skylands' with Picea engelmannii 'Bush's Lace' to the left. I can't wait for these two to be large trees.

Pinus parviflora 'Tanima-no-yuki' - She was just one little tuft of needles but grew 3 inches this year.

Picea glauca 'Pixie Dust', Picea glauca 'Sander's Blue', Picea abies 'Little Gem' back left, Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific' back right

Pinus parviflora 'Aoi'

Picea omorika 'Peve Tijn' - Insanely bright yellow. I have had to shade him recently as he was burning quite a bit =( He will recover as he was burnt last year too. I just hope he gets established enough next year so that he doesn't burn anymore. Oh, Picea pungens 'The Blues' top the right

Larix kaempferi 'Pendula' - Just a withered stick when planted last year and now growing like crazy. so much new growth!

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Melody' - Still recovering from being peed on by my dogs last year. I had to remove all the lower limbs that turned black. Wasn't a good look

Pinus mugo 'Short Needle' - A miniature mugo

Abies procera 'Blaue Hexe' - I hope this one does okay. It was pretty sad looking when I received it and is crazy slow to push.

Abies pinsapo 'Horstmann'

Picea omorika 'Pimiko'

Taxodium distichum 'Peve Minaret'

Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem'

Pinus Sylvestris 'Gold Coin' - Summer color. The winter color is blazing bright yellow

Pinus parviflora 'Fukai' and Rhododendron 'Impeditum' a mini Rhodo to the left

Abies balsamea 'Eugene Gold'

Taxus cuspidata 'Drwarf Bright Gold'

Pinus mugo 'Carstens' - Can't wait to see it's winter yellow.

My favorite little dog and best friend, Dingo, in his favorite spot in between Picea omorika 'Peve Tijn' and Pinus thunbergii 'Thunderhead'

Tsuga mertensiana 'Bumps's Blue' - Kind of disappointed that it only grew one inch this year. I thought it would grow 4-6 inches a year. I may have to move it to a mini location if it keeps up this tiny growth. Anyone have experience with this one?

Abies concolor 'Archer's Dwarf', Thuja occidentalis 'Congabe' Fire Chief â„¢ back left.

Psuedodotsuga menziesii 'Graceful Grace'

Picea abies 'Summer Daze' - Takes full blistering sun like a champ.

Salix boydii 'Boyd's Willow' - A miniature willow that naturally grows like a bonsai with soft grey blue foliage.

Acer palmatum 'Aka Shigitatsu Sawa' - Great Spring color that deserved a close up.

Well that was most of them. Sorry for the giant picture overload. =)

I love my chainsaw also!

I have a few notes, though Edwin may come through with a spelling check, you seem at a glance to have spelled just about everything wonderfully.

Tsuga mertensiana 'Bump's Blue' - Yep, dwarf even when it gets going, and from everything I have heard, tsuga mertensiana is very slooooow to establish. It may take 3-5 years before it reaches peak normal growth instead of 2-3.

Abies procera 'Blaue Hexe' - Yep, normally very late to push, here in the Pacific Northwest, plants come along slowly, so when plants push later then others, it's easier to measure it, where as many places Spring explodes and plants burst into growth. An example from my climate, Picea glauca specimens were pushing in late March - Abies procera began showing signs of pushing in early June. It's second to last for me here(to Abies magnifica) to show signs of pushing.

I go back to it though, WOW, well done!

-Will

now.. how can i get the lake view.. in my garden ... lol ...

thx for the effort to post them all

ken

To me also, you are the next rising star (conifer garden) on the forum. That willow is aweome.

I want a lake now, too. I could have one . . .

Dax

Where are you at in southern Indiana? I'm in Evansville.

Matt

The sloped site works really well with this kind of garden. I like your rocks too - were they all dug from your site?

Alex

All I find is feild stone, which is not nearly as attractive as what you're pulling up.

Nice work, can't wait to see more pics as you refine and add to your collection.

firefightergardener (Will) - Thanks for the info on 'Bump's Blue' and 'Blaue Hexe' and your awesome contributions to these forums. Greatly appreciated.

Sorry, I don't have anymore pictures of the job in progress. I'll have to remember to take more before, during, and after pictures. Eventually I plan on putting in many more beds and I really want to make a small pond or two. I would love to add a little trickling creek bed going down the hill from pond to pond but I don't know if I want to mess around with pumps and all that. It's a little too hot to be digging ponds with just a pic axe right now so it will have to wait until fall.

Speaking of pic axe, that's the best tool I have bought in along time. I couldn't have dug up all those rocks without it. Yep, all those rocks came directly from my yard. I dug a lot of them up while trying to put in fence posts. Not fun, but I was able to put them to good use. =)

A friend of mine recently moved to a house with a small yard and he needed a place to move his own cross pollinated day lily creations. I said I have plenty of room, so we just finished lining my fence line on the other side of the property with about 400 day lilies. 400! A lot of them are one of a kind. I know nothing about flowers but that should be quite a sight next year. I think I may need to try and take a break.

The lake you see is actually the Ohio river. You can't see much of the river in the summer because of the trees but winter morning sunrises reflecting off the river are beautiful. I pretty much live out in the middle of no where about 45 minutes down the river from Cincinnati.

Here's a list of my mail order sources. I don't have any complaints about any of them.

japanesemaplesandevergreens.com
maplestoneornamentals.com
iconicgardens.com
carterscoolplants.com
Dan's Dwarf Conifers
Coenosium Gardens
cloudmountainfarmcenter.org
bluerivernursery.com

Thanks for looking! =)

The only recent photo I could find was this fancy photo of me and my lovely wife on our wedding day last October. Coke should buy this pic from us lol

Well, one of "them" as I certainly do not count myself among the great conifer garden guys here.
But that didn't have quite the same ring to it, LOL.

Very impressive- the amount of work you have done is amazing.