Moving on to August:

Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Lutea’

The same plant in context:

Picea xmariorika ‘Glauca’. This little guy's one of the bluest conifers in my collection!

Pinus mugo 'Congesta'

Picea abies 'Von Bemmel'

Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Squarrosa Aurea’

Picea omorika 'Tremonia'

Pinus mugo 'Nerost'

Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Sheridian Spire'

Picea glauca 'Blue Teardrop' and Abies borisii-regis 'J. K. Greece'

Picea abies 'Sid's Starfish'

Abies cephalonica 'Meyer's Dwarf'

Picea abies 'Hillside Upright'

Acer palmatum 'Mirte' near nightfall.

Thanks for the update. As one of those who does not do FB it is much appreciated.

tj

Thanks, tj! I'm glad there's interest!

Ditto!

Very well done, thanks for taking the time to post.

Those are some very beautiful and very healthy looking specimens.

I sure enjoyed looking at your choices. Nice healthy plants!

Mike

maple , thanks for thinking of us , and sharing

in context_nice touch

and interest ? we live for this stuff

ron

Amen! Thank you.

That Picea glauca 'Lauren' is a tiny show stopper. Must have =)

Is it really that blue? All the online photos show it as green.

Nice collection of some little and not-so-little specimens. Could you tell me the name of the grass shown in the first two pics of "moving on to August".

Marshall

Thanks Alex, your gallery is like those flowers that pop up when rain hits a desert! So infrequent here now. Great specimens! Are these all bought or are some/many your grafts?

Thanks severnside and everybody!

Garen, I totally agree with you about 'Laurin'. For some reason the juvenile foliage P. glaucas seem to have an undeservedly poor reputation. In large part, I geuss, because of the ubiquitous poor specimens of 'Conica'. The miniatures can be quite choice and contribute very nicely to the mini garden by contrasting nicely with other miniature conifers.

'Laurin' is entirely green. I think that day with the new foliage flushing there was a slight blue sheen which was accentuated by the lighting in that particular photo. Here's another photo from the same day:

Marshall, that grass is the Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra)
cultivar 'Aureola'. I love the way it contrasts with the purple leaves of 'Umegae'.

Another favorite of mine is 'All Gold' shown in the photo below.

These Hakonechloa do great in part shade to full shade, but may burn in too much sun.

Thanks for bringing your photos on over to 'GW' :)

Don't stop if you have more!

Great to see. Some plants I never heard of.

Compliments,

Dax

Thanks, Dax!

I do have a few more, since you mention it. Just like Marshall said, some little and some not so little.

Pinus flexilis Losee

Abies concolor 'King's Gap' in the vicinity of a volunteer Acer seedling

Pinus nigra xdensiflora 'Gaelle Bregeon'

Maple Leaf Party:

Party after Nightfall:

Acer palmatum 'Nishiki Gawa'

Pinus mugo 'Varella'

Abies balsamea 'Nana' (backgound) with a campanula up front:

Picea abies 'Mucronata' and Picea omorika 'Berliners Weeper'

Pinus parviflora 'Billie'

I have just determined the maximum # of photos which are now allowed in a post. Or maybe it has more to do with combined file size.

Anyway, I'll move back to the spring again with a few more.

Pinus strobiformis 'Lomalinda'

Pinus sylvestris 'Holzbecher'

Foliage close-up of Juniperus squamata 'Dream Joy', shining in the spring.

"Foundation planting"

And a close-up:

Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns'. One of two specimens I own, the more upright of the two.

Here's my other specimen of 'Pendulat Bruns'. I'm allowing this one to perform as more of a rambling weeper, at least for now.

Pinus contorta 'Frisian Gold'

Thanks for the reply on the Hakonechloa. I thought it may be. I grow 'All Gold' and I like that stripped leaf look of your 'Aureola'.

Marshall

Ooh wee, that 'Berliner's Weeper' is such a stately waterfall. Thank you so much for all these great photos.

What's the Sciadopidys?

I like that 'Dream Joy' juniper.

I'm going to throw a guess it's Sciadopity's 'Sternschuppe'.

Much obliged, again.

Dax

Right you are, Dax, 'Sternschuppe' it is.

I was recently perusing Conifer Kingdom website and was surprised to see they're using a photo of my 'Berliners Weeper'. Not the photo I posted above but one from a year ago. I had a good laugh when I saw it. I had believed that all the photography was courtesy of Sam.

Severnside, I missed your question from earlier. Of the plants I've grafted myself, I've just started planting them out this year and none of the plants in these photos are my own grafts.

Here's one last photo which shows a new bed I'm working on. The photo, from late Aug, shows the work in progress. Bed has been completed and I'm mid-way through planting now. Once it's all done I'd like to start a new thread showing how it came out.

Yes please

Wow... your are really developing a stand out garden! Rock layout is looking good, as well as the combinations of materials and plants. I like the design of the beds above as well, plus adds a ton of room to expand your collection!

Facebook is sort of like what Gardenweb wished it's photo's section would have become... but no one used that. It's just a great place to drool over endless photos of conifers/gardens... but FB hasn't been able to replicate the "Discussion" section of this board. Still prefer to come here for opinions and feedback, ect. Thanks for posting!

Alex,

Are you going to make a brick/stone patio in the center?

Dax

The round area in the center will be an informal sitting area within the garden. I'm thinking four adirondack chairs but it could also be benches or even table and chairs, so long as their made of a natural material. What do you think would work best here? I've got some time to decide on this since I'm waiting until early spring to get them. There's also room to line up some container plants around the periphery of that circular area.

It's constructed of small grade river rock (1/4-3/8") about 3-4 inches deep on top of a base of quarry blend. The same as the path you see leading off to the right and the path blends in seemlessly. For now, I'll lay the seating down on top of the gravel. Like I said, informal. Eventually I may consider laying down flagstone into the gravel, but that is a job for "someday". For the next few years at least, my priority is more beds and getting the plantings in.

I'd brick it... but the main issue indeed is to put the plants in.

I don't know what any of those chairs are.... but I would put a living space in there. It's quite large and deserves a lot of furniture.

You'll find the right mix of container plants. I'd have a fig or two or three; Broadleaf evergreens; annuals for color (probably first thing I'd put in containers.) Daphne and anything else for sweet aroma; I guess just other than conifer.

Still one of my most favorite shrubs is Escallonia which you'd need to overwinter indoors. Just love that plant.

Dax

Thanks for the suggestions, Dax. I'll have to look into Escallonia - I've never heard of that one before.

I want this space to be a comfortable place to sit and hang out in the middle of the garden. At the same time, I want to be careful to avoid furniture that obstructs the flow of traffic. It should function as both path and sitting area. The preliminary concept has four chairs (or benches) on diagonal around a focal object in the center which could be a particularly ornamental container tree or a firepit. Here's a quick sketch (the scale is a bit off but you get the idea):

Yep a fire pit, you bet. And I agree, four chairs and pots.

You've done well my friend. It's real sharp.

Dax

Alex,

Great at looking plants and garden. I think I notice a variety of mulch you are using. What are they? Thanks.

Mike

Thanks MK. Some of my beds are mulched with pine bark mini nuggets and some have 3/8" delaware river rock.

Time for an update!

Ahpdate, Ahpdate, Ahpate!