Coarse and linear spruces in dusky powder blue. The undersides of the needles are a powder blue, while the topsides are a glossy green. They will grow into large purple cones held upright on branch tips. Little cones are just beginning to form on this fir. But they can be invited into compositions among other independently impressive elements. We are used to seeing a single conifer, making a statement of its own. It speaks the language of color, texture, pattern, and form, and offers a play of shapes, visible in one way up close and differently from afar. The conifer bed is an exercise in the appreciation of subtlety. Do a quick image search for “conifer garden” and prepare to feel your mind expand. One could plant a garden with nothing but conifers and never experience a dull day appreciating it. The light of the bright foliage is offset by the dark voids the whorls create. (Photos by Kai Potter) The Sunspray Hinoki false cypress grows in whorls that form little tunnels. Instead of flowers, they produce cones as reproductive structures. Instead of leaves, their foliage consists of scales and needles, which remain on the plant for multiple years. Pines, junipers, spruces, redwoods, yews, firs, hemlocks, and cypresses - there are many more conifers to list, and a seemingly infinite array of varieties to explore within these designations. Its color pops best when planted among blue hostas or ninebarks or other plants with darker, larger leaves. Green-gold whips make Golden cypress a favorite in perennial beds. They are truly year-round essentials in our landscapes. I am writing about them because they are worth noticing now. They have a place in the fullness of summer, too. Conifers, though, are not merely evergreens to be seen and appreciated when all else is bare. This is understandable - many of our landscapes are designed and planted for the warm season when most of our visitors and summer residents are here to enjoy them. I’ve always felt that conifers are an underused element in Cape Cod gardens. They are the heart of a year-round garden. They are an entire world of color, texture, and shape. There is a pleasing color play between the dusty blue scales of the Blue Ice Arizona Cypress and its young bright red stems.īut conifers are lasting. Leaves unfurl in early spring and fall to the ground in drifts when the frosts come. Deciduous foliage, in all its variety and color, will last six or seven months. They are also fleeting, with some blossoms lasting only a day.
They are wondrous, wild, living bursts of color. Flowers get a lot of attention, and for good reason.
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