Plan of my little conifer garden

10 years ago

Hi all!

I tried to digitalize the plan I have for the part next to our house where I want to make a little conifer garden.
One pixel roughly corresponds to 1 cm or 0.39 inch.

In my previous thread I asked for suggestions of dwarfs. I was told that a regular dwarf will still grow too fast, so I put "Dwarf / tall mini" on the image to make clear that I'd like to put something there which should be taller than the others plants in the beds, but not as fast growing as an average dwarf.

I want to divide the garden into three different continents. The lower part (can't say
southernmost since the north is actually the left side) will have solely American species.
(Bed 5, 6 and 7 + my P. pungens 'Filip's Blue Compact' which is alreay planted there).

The middle part should contain Asian species ( 'Dwarf/tall mini 2' + bed 3 and 4).

The upper part will be designated for the European species. ( 'Dwarf/tall mini 1 + bed 1 and 2)

I think the slightly bigger specimen (in the dwarf/tall mini spots) are quite an important choice (because they will be most visible). C. deodara is already ruled out because of cold spells the last years as suggested by Edwin, so that makes that I would prefer an Abies koreana cultivar in that spot ('Dwarf/tall mini 2').
I really like A. koreana because it has beautiful cones at a young age and that's why I'd prefer to put such specie there. I'm only still looking for a pretty cultivar of it to put there since the regular one will sadly get too big too soon.
For the 'Dwarf/tall mini 2' spot I want a European species and up to now P. nigra 'Green Tower' seems perfect for it.

The small path should be gravel and I thought about pieces of bark for the rest of the ground cover.

Are there any things you would do different in terms of design or are there any special recommendations?
I hope I made my intentions clearer in this thread because my previous thread turned
out quite chaotic because I didn't explain my plans clear enough. :p
I'm still not completely decided on the slightly bigger specimen so advice on that regard is still welcome too. :)

Thanks a lot!
Alexander

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
you will need to differentiate between public paths.. and maintenance ... hidden... paths ...

i am presuming whatever is not listed as beds... will be other types of plants???? the dark brown on your map???

or is that what you are calling mulch paths???

i would rather poke my eyes out.. than ever work in gravel .. ever again ... would you have to haul it all in thru the house???? .. but that is a personal opinion .... how will you keep it clean...

ken
botann
10 years ago
Gravel would not be my choice either. It works in a dry climate, but too much maintenance in a wet one, even with a barrier mat and plastic edging to hold it in place. As Ken says, " How are you going to keep it clean?"
For the precision minded, it drives them nuts.
I would suggest pavers as close to each other as you can get em'. Cracks harbor weeds, no matter what you plant as a ground cover between them.
Mike
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coniferjoy
10 years ago
Alexander, this is wat I would recomment you:

European section:
Dwarf/tall mini 1: Abies nordmanniana 'Filip's Perfect Column'

Bed 1: (minis and semi minis)
-Abies pinsapo 'Ronda Mt.'
-Picea abies 'Wichtel'
-Picea omorika 'Morava'
-Pinus mugo 'Milky Way'
-Pinus sylvestris 'Brobeck's Watermelon'

Bed 2; (minis and semi minis)
-Abies alba 'Schwarzwald'
-Abies nordmanniana 'MÃÂ¼nsterland'
-Juniperus communis 'Goldschatz' (ground cover)
-Pinus cembra 'Liliput'
-Pinus heldreichii 'Smidtii'
-Pinus mugo 'Ophir'
-Pinus sylvestris 'StÃÂ¥le SÃÂ¸rensen W.B.'

Asian section:
Dwarf/tall mini 2:
Abies koreana 'Verdener Dom'

Bed 3 (minis/semi minis):
-Abies koreana 'Silberkugel'
-Abies veitchii 'Kramer'
-Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Butterball'
-Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Silverlode'
-Picea orientalis 'Tom Thumb Gold'
-Pinus koraiensis 'Blue Ball'
-Pinus parviflora 'Regenhold'

Bed 4 (minis/semi minis)
-Abies koreana 'Kohouts Icebreaker'
-Abies veitchii 'K2001'
-Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Chilworth'
-Ginkgo biloba 'Troll'
-Juniperus conferta 'All Gold' (ground cover)
-Larix kaempferi 'Blue Dwarf'
-Picea orientalis 'Barnes'
-Pinus parviflora 'Pygmy-yatsubusa'
-Sciadopitys verticillata 'Mecki'

American section:
Bed 5 (minis/semi minis)
-Abies balsamea '94018'
-Picea glauca 'Cecilia'
-Pinus banksiana 'BanskÃÂ¡ Stiavnica'

Bed 6 (minis/semi minis)
-Abies balsamea 'Jamie'
-Abies concolor 'Kojakovice'
-Picea glauca var. albertiana 'Jalako Gold'
-Picea mariana 'Blue Planet'
-Picea pungens 'Blaukissen'
-Picea sitchensis 'PevÃÂ© Wiesje'
-Pinus flexilis 'Tara Mae'
-Pinus strobus 'Horsford'
-Thuja occidentalis 'Mirjam'

Bed 7(minis/semi minis)
-Abies balsamea 'W.B. 1'
-Picea pungens 'Waldbrunn'
-Pseudotsuga menziesii 'Marieke'

I put some time in this plan, the combinations I suggest will work fine for your to create a very nice dwarf conifer garden.
What also is very important, I double checked if all are availlable, you can start planting right away ;0)
liopleurodon
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you for your answers.
The dark brown will be pieces of bark too, but without anything planted in it (unlike the beds); so they can serve as maintenance paths.
Our house is detached so I could bring gravel to it through the other side of our house.
I didn't really thought about it being that hard too keep it clean. But we live in a rather wet climate so it may indeed make it a lot more difficult.
As for pavers, I presume it will be a lot more difficult to use since they need stabilizer etc.? Or am I wrong?
Will dolomite for instance give me less of a problem? (Smaller stones)

Edwin, wow, thank you very much for your effort!
I looked them all up and they're all very appealing!
I however don't know if I want to plant that many cultivars immediately.
I was more thinking of starting with a few per bed to get more of an idea of how much space I've left so I could plant more later on (the adding of new plants is - I think - one of the nicest parts of a garden).
So I'll definitely keep that list you made, thanks again for it! :) I'm looking forward to see them all in real so I can make a selection for the first plants.
I also forgot to mention that I already have two suited plants waiting to get planted, one American and one Asian: Picea glauca 'Conica' and Larix kaempferi 'Little Bogle'.
coniferjoy
10 years ago
Alexander, I would advice you to plant all in one time.
By doing this you only have to mulch once, otherwise you'll create onfinished beds and you'll get a weed problem.

Another positieve thing when planted all in one time is that you can enjoy all from the beginning on, instead for waiting till the whole job is done.
It also will save you money and annoyance...