you're off to a great start. Reminds me of my place 10 years ago. Amazing what you can do with a blank slate.

The beds and curves look really good. I recommend concentrating on the big stuff to start. That will give you a bit of immediate gratification and will set the backbone of your landscape.

Give the bigguns a few years to establish, then work down to intermediates, dwarfs and finally miniatures. You have an amazing project on your hands. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say I look forward to your garden's progress.

~Dave

Thanks Dave! That's my plan, right now I'm focused more on bed design & planting the majority of the conifers. In a couple years, I would like to go back and not only add more dwarfs/minis to these beds, but also add daylilies, hostas, etc to set the garden theme up. I'll also add grasses and perennials around the dry river bed.

I think it's amazing what you have accomplished this year and it looks wonderful. The plus to all of the hard work with the rocks is atleast they are free. :)
It will be fun to watch this mature the next years.
Cher

The spacing of Pinus mugo 'Teeny' aka 'Sherwood Compact' shows exactly how you should proceed with all your plantings. The key is spacing.

It's strange working with a lot of land, let me be the next to say this. I started with a Chief Joseph and kept going. As plants crept into my mind I kept building and building (planting and planting) and planted 'off' the plants I had previously planted. Of course some of the spaces were written onto paper first but I think of my six-acres I only wrote a plant-design once. Anyways, everybody's mind works differently and not every situation is written into granite. We all work differently.

Best Regards,

Dax

your only design key .. is to never have to pull out the weedwhip ... when the design is done ... if you still have spots that need it.. re-design ...

that extra hour or two after mowing.. whipping the yard.. is time better spent in a lounge chair with an adult beverage.. enjoying the freshly mowed lawn at dusk ...

otherwise.. keep up the good work ...

Ken that's exactly how I feel about string trimmers. Couldn't have said it better. Design so that you don't need one. Oh, and they kill more trees than loggers.
Mike

@Cher - Thanks! I can't be free rocks, some of the real large ones back there are at least 3x3x3. It makes me wonder how many years ago they were
actually dumped there and why. Probably 20-30 years at least since large trees are growing now between them and they were really covered up.

@Dax - The first tree I ordered in my collection was also Chief Joseph. I think spacing is the hardest part, I try to space everything so they
can grow pretty large based on there growth rate. Something that grows 12" a year will get plenty of space while something that grows 1" a year
will be planted pretty close. The stuff that grows larger and needs more space I plan to fill in around with smaller conifers and other plants that can easily be moved when time comes.

Actually, Pinus mugo 'Teeny' is a little different than 'Sherwood Compact'. My Teeny has light green longer needles where as my sherwood
compact has shorter dark green needles with yellow tips during colder months. I was so impressed by Teeny that I had to give it the first spot in my collection as people entered the backyard.

@Ken - That's how I redesigned it... the curves are just sharp enough that the mower can handle them without getting the trimmer out. I do have to
trim a couple of things (like the area in front of the arbor), but I don't mind since I already have to trim around the retaining wall. It's right next
door any only takes 5 seconds. Using the trimmer in my ditch is another thing... 1/2 hour every other mowing.

hit the ditch once every 90 days with roundup

or post a pic and i will intuit other ideas ..

ken

I'm like Ken. Grab the roundup and hold it fairly close to the area you weedwhip and spray away. I have numerous areas I do that with, mostly both neighbors that won't do their part with weeds. Works well.
Cher

Rick, in a few years you will have a real nice pinetum. I had a Shin Deshojo that went into shock 3 years in a row and finally died. I hope you have better luck.

If you wanted to have nice crisp golf course edges you could get a half moon edger and...... ;D It does require a string trimmer once a month.

You really have the bug, and your grounds are well on the way to outstanding.

Thanks Jonny! I'm eager to see what it will look like in a few years and what our neighbors will think as they drive past our house. Right now from the street you can only see the bamboo stakes & all the large rock. Hopefully in 5-10 years I'll have something that our neighbors will slow down to admire.

The Shin Deshojo actually arived in shock. I made the mistake of having them shipped to early, we got a heat wave & the shipment was delayed. When I opened the box all the leaves were crispy and the soil was pretty dry. Within a couple of weeks it regrew nicely.

Have a read Rick:

Dax

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinus mugo Teeny and Sherwood Compact

Rick,

A couple of things.

Give it some thought to build some berms into those large islands. It will add some character and break up that flat land look. Build each island with a focal point conifer. A first impression that the others will play off of.

You got a good start towards building a nice, one of a kind, conifer garden. It will take years to establish, a lot of hard work, design changes for sure and a lot of green backs. Be careful to buy healthy well shaped plants. Buy them when available even though they are slated for later purchases. I have found that if you pass it could take years before it becomes available again. Remember..."Sometimes, the best bargain costs more". Quote from Ed. A conifer lover.

Dave

Pinus mugo 'Teeny' not so teeny. This 10 year old specimen is 28Wx12T.
{{gwi:834298}}

'Sherwood Compact' foliage.
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'Teeny' foliage.
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Here is a link that might be useful: The Amazing World of Conifers

I thought the 'Teeny' vs. 'Sherwood Compact' mugo issue had been solved and put to rest by Conferjoy:

Posted by coniferjoy on Fri, Jul 8, 11 at 10:15
"When I compared both of Dave's photo's he was right that these look differend which made me to want to figger this out. I was familiar with the info which Tommy provided of and always tought that this info was right, but unfortunately it isn't...

'Sherwood Compact' was found by Andy Sherwood from Portland, Oregon, U.S.

'Teeny' was found by Ed Lohbrunner from Vancouver Is, B.C. Canada.

So these 2 aren't the same, they're differend..."

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Teeny' vs. 'Sherwood Compact'

Thanks Dave... I never thought to add berms into the beds to give them a little character. I'll play around with that a little when I go to add all my ground covers.

All the new Islands have at least 1 focal point conifer that comes out from the standard bed into a nice curve. The only bed I have now that doesn't is the bed with the bridge/river bed, that was the first bed I created and I couldn't reshape that. The bridge/river is actually a focal point of it's own. Even more so once I add all the perennials around it to make it look more like a river and not just rocks.

Regarding the two plants, I would also have to agree they are different. I purchased both of them from the same source and held them side by side before planting to see the difference. Here both of them are:

Sherwood compact on top, Teeny on the bottom

Very nice rick.That mulch looks a little raw.How old is it?

and what kind?. Joe

Thanks Joe! The mulch is just hardwood chips and was put down this past spring. I just recently added a bunch of pine needles to the beds to give it a more weathered appearance.

Nice work bud!

Glad you took some design considerations from your previous post.

Stay in a couple weekends this winter to put towards a few large specimans to help shape and give some structure. You might be chomping at the bit wanting some substance. Perhaps thats just me though!

Just another thought...keep an eye out for narrow deciduous trees that won't take up alot of room as they can give you a nice shot of fall color and further enhance the texture of the bed. Will work nicely with spreading/mounding conifers as it won't shade them.

Wow Rick, what a palate to paint. You're going to be busy)in a good way) the next few years!

So glad to see you used those wonderful stainless steel markers, they ARE the best for long-term gardening.

That 'Gold Drift' is awesome as well, a big specimen!

Hope to see more 'afters' in the years to come.

-Will

Thanks Whaas... after working outside every weekend almost all year, I finally hung up my gloves a couple weeks ago to enjoy fall. Over the winter I'm just going to touch up my landscape plan and start to add plants to my spring 2012 purchase list.

My photos don't show them, but I do have a lot of deciduous trees in the beds and a few that are free standing. All are Japanese maples. All of my green maples have turned yellow so far & all the red maples have not started to turn, I'm hoping at least one of them will have a fire engine red color. I also need to find a couple that will turn orange.

Better save a spot for a grafting greenhouse.

Dax

Thanks Will... I definitely will be buisy for some time, in the coming years I plan to slow down my buying though. This year I've planted over 100 only because I had so much ground to cover. Starting next year I think I'll limit myself to around 25/year... or I will try to anyways lol.

LoL I did the same thing Ken suggests, with the Round-up. Worked wonderfully. Saved my back too! =)

We had dandelions and thistles that kept coming up in the water run off that runs between our front yard and the road. There are rocks in this area, plus grass and weeds grow in there. Miserable situation. I didn't design this thing. I'd have put weed barrier down first, then all sizes of rocks in there. But anyway, eventually this area will be re-built.

DH wants to build a culvert in there and throw lawn over that. I want a bridge over the area and lots of nice rocks in the area. Who do you think will win? ;-)

Nice design of your yard, I really like the way you've re-done it all.

~Tina