Good choice.

Dax

i simply dont know if it will color properly.. in that amount of sun ...

dax? ... are you sure it will???

ken

My understanding is Korean Firs are more shade tolerant than many other firs, but it is a concern. Another possibility is Tsuga c. 'Geneva', which is a slow grower. There's a nursery in the Twin Cities that has a couple of these in square wood boxes. They're not cheap, but I could justify it as my one big summer purchase. Any experience with this one?

I'd put it someplace where the pines weren't highly apparent at the same time as you are viewing the dwarf conifer so there isn't a conflict of scale. Also I am not sure this is the most choice variety, it differs primarily by looking partly yellow-green - some may see it as appearing diseased, rather than strikingly colored. If you are not that familiar with it you may want to look at multiple photos or nursery specimens before deciding it is just the thing for a prominent location.

I appreciate the advice. Maybe the question I should've asked is what is the best way to hide, or at least obscure, the visibility of the pine trunk? I've got another large (and much nicer) White Pine not too far away, and I'd prefer this one be removed. Unfortunately, that is not an option. All other options are on the table.

Hi Ken, I'm late to the party. I figured that 3-4 hours of late afternoon sun would equate to about 5-6 hours of morning sun. It will look fine, but, not at its' best.

Dax

My understanding is Korean Firs are more shade tolerant than many other firs,

==>>> aurea means yellow ...

whether a plant is shade tolerant .. does not equate directly to whether the yellow plant will color properly ...

without doubt.. it will be a glorious plant ... but until its there for a year or 3 .... you will not know if it yellows properly....

ken

I agree, Ken.

It might be a blessing in disguise too - as you may be saying.

Dax

For under-planting the pines - which is what you are really talking about here - what you want is bushy shrubs, planted near the pine trunks, rather than conifers with pointed tops that make them register visually as trees.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this tree. Embothrium now has me thinking about the "choiceness" of A. k. 'Aureum'. I've only seen it at nurseries, and most do seem to be a weak yellow-green mix. Besides, I've already got plenty of diseased trees here (oak wilt, black knot, etc.), and don't want to inadvertently give the impression of more. Back to the drawing board.

if it were my yard ... and i was so inclined.. i would sweep that left side bed out between the trees ... thereby avoiding embros thoughts about something being all alone and out of proportion ...

in effect.. what you would be doing.. is adding a horizontal aspect.. which will trick the eye so as to avoid.. the lone vertical aspect ron/embro is talking about ...

he can correct or work with that.. and correct me if i am wrong ...

ken

Or you could put the new tree in the existing bed, keep it out of the way of mowing. If you put a tree where the x is you will have to cut out a circle of grass which is kept away from the tree until it is large enough to compete with the grass. So then you would have a bigger bed on the left and a dot bed nearby, which might make it look like the two needed to be joined into one.

If you aren't going to develop entire new beds of plantings to flow around the pines - these would have to be pretty big to be in scale with the conifers - it would probably be better to just leave the trees with grass coming up to their trunks - a gracious effect that not everyone is able to achieve - and plant something additional near the bird bath to add interest to that part of the property.

Another option would be clinging or supported (netting, wires...) climbing plants on the bare trunks. Ribbons of flaming red Parthenocissus seen against the bluish pine foliage in autumn would be wonderful, but these are large growing and vigorous - you would have to be comfortable with them getting all over the trees in time.

If you want to try something like that I would plant one kind of climber in the one spot and another kind in the other. Maybe a fall foliage effect here and a flower display there.

Those are all good ideas. Thanks to both of you. I've obviously got to give this more thought, but you've given me plenty of options to consider.

yes.. most peeps start here, on a post.. already sitting in a box ...

i like to make peeps think outside the box they started with ...

please do let us know ... what you decide ...

ken