A conifer for this bed?

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

We bought a cabin in the north Georgia mountains and are slowly renovating the garden starting with the front bed. We have cleared most of it and relaid the pathways using the existing river rock.

Here is how it looked in winter, there was a huge mound in the center that was filled with weeds and vines. We have cleared everything but the 3 Japanese maples, and the one conifer shown circled in purple.

This is a view from a few weeks ago.

Here is how the layout looks now, the red shows where we moved all the river rock to border the new beds. The center is wide open now so I can put in a new bed. Maybe centered by a specimen conifer of some sort?

The cabin is in zone 7a and the bed is full sun.

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Comments (7)

Heruga (7a NJ)
9 years ago
Cryptomeria would look nice there. I'd say cryptomeria japonica 'Yoshino' since it is very fast growing and rather slender habit so it won't get as wide. The reason why I recommend Yoshino is because all your other surrounding trees are already mature and big and you want something very fast growing that can outgrow your Japanese maples so Yoshino would be a good choice. They are very fast growing. Otherwise you'll always have the center specimen always hiding behind those Japanese maples and some of your existing conifers.

Do you have measurements on how wide that whole bed is(longest ends) ?
DeanW45
9 years ago
I recommend buying Landscaping with Conifers and Ginkgo for the Southeast by Tom Cox and John Ruter. If you are in the mountains then you're likely closer to zone 7a, and just about every conifer in that book is an option for you. It's a tremendous asset for us Southerners trying to design conifer gardens.
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Annette Holbrook(z7a)
Original Author
9 years ago
i have that book but have packed it in anticipation of the move lol. I'll look for it when I'm at the cabin next week!
Annette Holbrook(z7a)
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Heruga, i think the bed is about 15ft by about 25 ft.
Heruga (7a NJ)
9 years ago
That's alot smaller than I thought. And than it looks too. If it's really only 25 ft then forget the cryptomeria because it'll take over that whole bed one day. Maybe larix kaempferi 'Jakobsen' s pyramid' might be a good option since they are super super narrow but gets very tall at a very fast rate. 14-15 feet in 10 years. But not sure how wide they'll be in the far future, don't think it should be a problem though. The only thing is that this trees deciduous.. Idk if you were looking for an evergreen or not
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
take the time to simply study the situation .. and i mean tree time ... perhaps until early next spring ...

e.g. ... is it important.. to be able to see thru the berm ... is that a road.. or more of your own driveway .. on the side away from the house??? .. though i suppose ... either way... there isnt a lot of traffic ...

ken
Annette Holbrook(z7a)
Original Author
9 years ago
Ken,

That is the road on the other side. But it is a gated community and this is a cul de sac, so one or two cars a day at the most.