Microbiota decussata
Juniperus squamata

Resin

How are you going to use them? What other plants are nearby? How much sun? We need to know more to give you any recommendations.

Hi, here are some of my faves-
-Pinus leucodermis 'Smidt'
-Pinus parviflora 'Tani Mano Uki'
-Pinus parviflora 'Goldylocks'
-Pinus strobus 'Sea Urchin'
-Pinus strobus 'Greg'
-Pinus strobus 'Green Twist'
The only maintenance that needs to be performed on the Strobus is that the dead needles need to be cleaned out of the interior of the plants each fall. I consider it a quick and easy task because the Eastern White Pine has very soft needles.

Redwing

The Picea pungens brooms seem pretty bullet-proof in Z5-6 (eg. St.Mary's Broom)

They will be planted in front of our house - full sun with maybe a few perineals nearby.

I would appreciate any comments (positive or negative) on the following - these had been my leading candidates, but I don't have any experience with them:

Pinus Strobus 'Golden Candles'
Pinus Strobus 'Nana'
Pinus strobus ÂBlue ShagÂ
Pinus parviflora 'Glauca NanaÂ
Pinus mugho pumillo
Picea abies 'Nidiformis'

golden candles will get big.. pretty fast ...

no 'g' in mugo ... look for the winter yellows .... check some of my posts in that regard ... p. m. 'winter gold' comes to mind ....

define your use of 'dwarf' .. and you will be further ahead ... if momma is a 386 foot redwood .... then a 200 foot clone is a dwarf of momma ... dwarf is relative to the species ...

ergo ... do you want dwarfs ... or are you looking for mini's .... etc ...

i am not sure i know of a dwarf strobus.. that wont outgrow a foundation planting.. rather quickly ... they are more for the lawn ....

good luck

ken

A discussion I had with Rich Eyre the past couple days yielded information I personally wasn't aware of. He said that dwarfs all start off growing lets say as 'any' example, 3" per year. After time, they grow 4" per year, then 6" per year, etc. This was related to the bulk and huge majority of plants that exist. His basic comments were that almost no dwarf in existence, 'stays dwarf'. And that's not to argue all day long that it takes a 'dwarf' 10-20 years for this to happen.

Susan and Rich Eyre are the owners of the largest conifer collection in the world, Rich's Foxwillow Pines, Woodstock, Illinois.

Dax

Dax, what Rich was discussing with you is a situation that I call "critical mass." It's the reason why I'm loathe to judge the growth rate of a new cultivar by the first one or two flushes of growth after the graft. A dwarf cultivar may over time prove to average 2" of growth per year, but it won't necessarily produce those 2" the first few years. Then, when it hits "critical mass" or the optimum size where both top and roots have the ability to crank out the energy, suddenly you'll see extra strong shoots in the juvenile cone growth area of the plant that are double or more the previous elongation and caliper. Not every shoot will do it, just a few of the apical shoots. Sometimes a plant will send out a really strong shoot, then spend several years filling in with less vigorous growth, too. Then, as the tree ages and new growth is farther and farther from the roots, weaker and more diminutive growth returns for obvious reasons.

I call it, "Rich's Thoughts". He did mention a few plants that have stayed at their "same growth rate" during his lifetime but said that's about as rare as one in a million, to exaggerate. And that too could be argued until we're blue in the face with factors that concern people such as soil/understock/water/mulch/climate/grower/fertilizer/scion/and whatever else we can add.

Dax

I live in zone 6 & some small/dwarf conifers I use is the Mugo Pine. I own a few in my landscape, but I have a few as container gardening (in a pot). The roots are winter hardy on this plant (as its hard to zone 2). One great variety to grow is "White Bud". In the winter time, the buds have a white wax on them (makes it look like its snow tipped). Easy plant to grow...