Anyone know what else there is close to see around there? Sounds interesting, but if I went, I'd wanna make the trip really count. I also wonder if they are gonna open the greenhouse for a tour. When I went before, it was closed. I see on the website that it's closed during the weekend. Are you going Ione?

Well -- that's Asheville.... BB Barnes nursery, Israel's nursery, Biltmore Garden shop, and so on....

I'm *thinking* about going, but there's a coupla other things I'm supposed to be doing that day -- so I dunno.

I just saw these pics over on the Photo Gallery. I never knew that there could be so much color and texture created with shrubbery.

Ione, I don't know if you saw them when you were over here, but I was given 6 5ft spiral arborvitaes a few weeks ago. I had to pot them up as we don't have a site prepared for planting them yet.

Rebecca

Wow, nice gift! No, I didn't notice them -- too busy looking at all the other great stuff. Enjoy!

If you really wanna see conifer color, visit the Iseli Nursery gardens. It looks like a page out of Dr. Suess or something. Conifers from brilliant blue to light blue, bright yellow to pale green, rust color to almost purple, not to mention all shades of green. Below is a link that doesn't do it justice but will give you an idea. Click on the "Our Founder" link and page down to see an overhead view.

Here is a link that might be useful: Iseli Nursery

Cannahavanna and Brandon--I visited both of the sites you posted and they are indeed gorgeous. I would really love to be able to turn some of my flower beds into to conifer beds. I find as I am getting older that I almost have too much to take care of and am wanting simpler, yet beautiful beds. Wonder if we can get some expert opinions here on GW about designing with conifers. I also know that many of the kinds of conifers we see in these pictures cannot be found locally, but grow in cooler, moist parts of the country.

Actually we are in an ideal area to grow most types of conifers. If you look through a plant catalog I think you will find more conifers that can grow in zone 6 than probably any other zone. There are a few that require colder and a few that require warmer temps, but we are pretty close to just right.

Your soil type would be a more likely limiting factor here. Clay soils can be hard on some types of conifers. You can solve this to some degree (at least for smaller trees) with larger raised beds or berms.

So far as obtaining conifers, there are tons of mail order and internet sites. I bet if you look around closely, you will be amazed at all the conifers you can find at local nurserys too.