For a season or a lifetime

There is nothing that adds a thrill to the winter landscape quite like conifers. Much to the chagrin of my wife, I could be forever happy gardening among conifers. I love green selections and blue gray varieties. There is nothing that causes my heart to race quite like the gold varieties. Then to add the magic, I would like as many shapes and sizes as possible.

My son James, a landscape guru, just installed a cool season bed for a commercial client measuring several hundred square feet. Over the years this progressive business has given him the opportunity to use large woody nursery stock as a temporary or a seasonal attraction to catch the eye and to make a statement with the hundreds of pansies, dianthus and snapdragons.

This year, a colorful conifer garden was planted and may draw the eye even more so than the flowers. Forever Goldy arborvitae, Thuja plicata, a Southern Living Plant Collection conifer, stands out with its 24-karat foliage, making a dramatic statement when it is grown in combination with the blue gray of Carolina Sapphire Arizona cypress, Cupressus arizonica, and Emerald Green arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis.

The small round or compact conifers make just as big of an impact. Gold Mop or threadleaf cypress, Chamaecyparis pisifera, and Pancake arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis, also a Southern Living Plant Collections conifer but with blue foliage, makes an electrifying, complementary partnership. Supplemented with the golden chartreuse foliage of the dwarf Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria japonica "globosa nana," and you have to bring out the camera.

You can do something similar at your home, whether permanent, with your region’s recommended conifers, or seasonal, like in Columbus. You will want to select a site with as much sun as possible. This really allows the colors to pop. The conifers and cool season annuals alike absolutely must have fertile soil with great drainage.

If your soil is tight, heavy clay and not well-drained, then plan on amending it with 3 to 4 inches of organic matter and work the bed to a depth of 8 to 10 inches. The best idea might be to copy what the commercial landscapers do: planting on raised beds accomplished by bringing in a prepared soil mix.

Even though good drainage is paramount, water will be necessary to allow the conifers to maintain their health and appearance and to get roots acclimated and expanded in your bed. It is likewise absolutely critical for the pansies and dianthus or the cool season color of your choice to literally explode with new growth and blooms. Be sure and add a good layer of mulch to keep soil temperatures moderate, conserve moisture and deter weed growth.

In the south, the winter season allows us to celebrate like our friends in the north or even the California West Coast. If we want to plant a Douglas fir or Alberta spruce or, better yet, a cluster of three, and grow them as an annual, we can do that.

If you don’t think this is a trending idea, you should look at how many lemon cypresses are being sold. This drop-dead gorgeous conifer that is more at home along California’s Monterey Bay than the torrid heat and humidity of Georgia is, nonetheless, a must-have plant. We cannot pass these by; we love them, if even for a season.

Conifers bring joy to the garden, porch, patio and deck. The more colors, sizes and shapes, the happier we will be, whether we are growing them for a season or a lifetime.

Norman Winter is a horticulturist and national garden speaker. He is a former director of the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. Follow him on Facebook at Norman Winter “The Garden Guy.”

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