What is a good dwarf Conifer into which you could easily prune a spiral?

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what do local nurseries use?

conifers are trees .. and it is suggested that a tree is twice below ground.. as what you see above ground .... so you should understand that it will always be a battle trying to keep them in a pot ...

also .. as trees .. they really never stop growing .. so there is no theoretical max height.. where they magically stop growing ...

in some sense.. to keep a tree in a pot .. you will have to do some type of bonsai type root pruning.. every so often.. to keep a tree in the same pot... else you will end up with a pot as big as your yard.. which kinda defeats the point of having it in a pot ...

annual root pruning.. in a bonsai system.. would have the potential to stunt the usual annual growth rate .. which is the whole point of bonsai ... which might also give you the comparative smaller tree you want ...

sounds like a lot of work ....

sorry .. i dont kow your location variables well enough to offer you options ...

ken

ps: the thuja you choose.. doest have the inherent trunk and branch structure you would need to make a spiral out of it .... [i suppose another bonsai type decision as to what to use.. to create your goal...]

Ken I respectfully disagree. It is not that difficult to grow conifers in pots. It just takes a certain approach. The medium is very important (I use cactus soil; others have found mixes that work just as well). The difficult part of this project is keeping whatever it is pruned in a spiral form! Now THAT takes work.

@Sara_Malone Are you using straight cactus mix or are you adding 50% pumice/perlite?

The spiral held its shape for about 18 months, but yes pruning that is a real hassle and I cannot locate ornamental pruners in my area who even respond to phone calls.

If you're not able mentally to maintain topiary there is no point in starting with it. Otherwise it should just be a matter of continuing the shape that has been established using summer clipping. I've seen some pretty wild topiaries on the market using Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd'. Including star shapes - made out of a plant that would otherwise be narrowly conical when young.

@Embothrium Point well taken and I may go with the advice to skip the spiral. But my original question still remains what would be a good Dwarf Conifer to use? Because the Thuja's roots look about ready to make that pot explode. :) I would rather sell that plant to someone who can plant it in the ground.

Something like a Dwarf Mugo Pine would be a nice container plant, but it is too wide for this particular location.

Tiny Tower Dwarf Alberta Spruce also looks interesting.

@maackia Jakobsen is a Mugo Pine as well, and I like it. But it grows to three feet by three feet, more like a conical bush than a tree form. In my situation, I need the width to stay under two feet.

Various columnar conifers are used in this fashion.....trained/pruned into a spiral or stacked poofs of foliage (balls) - arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), yews, columnar junipers, dwarf Alberta spruce tend to be the most common selections. Any of these make a decent containerized specimen but ALL will need regular and consistent attention in terms of root pruning to keep size in check and foliage pruning to keep the spiral or whatever other topiary form they take distinct and tidy.

If you do not wish a topiary form like the spiral and just want a containerized conifer, then there are literally scores of mini or dwarf cultivars than could work. These are defined by their rate of growth, not by their ultimate size. Minis and dwarfs grow slowly enough (minis: 1" per year; dwarfs: less than 6" per year) that they can be grown in containers long term relatively easily. You will still need to attend to root pruning and soil refreshing or replacement but not to the degree of frequency you would with a faster growing cultivar.

I have a whole collection of dwarf or very slow growing conifers in containers. Chamaecyparis obtusa offers a wealth of dwarf cultivars in a wide range of shapes and sizes and that species makes up the bulk of my collection but I also have Cryptomeria, pines and a spruce and a fir.

I'd probably have a lot more but there is a limit on the number of containers I can maintain properly - I have around 80 now - so I have curtailed my collecting :-) Not all are dwarf conifers either........I also have a Japanese maple addiction and a bunch of other containerized shrubs and trees. FWIW, I spend about twice the time (maybe more) maintaining my containerized plants as I do with those planted in the ground!

btw, there are also broadleaved evergreens that are trained as containerized topiaries.....boxwood is common, also privet, myrtle and eugenia.

I use straight cactus soil; it's already got pumice in it. YOu will have to fertilize your container plants anyway so using a poor soil doesn't much matter. What is good about it is how well it drains.

perhaps now would be a good time for gardengal to share a photo of her garden ( in a pot )so the OP can be encouraged by what can be accomplished .

it has been a long time

ron

many pot

Gardengal, when I read you have around 80, I immediately thought what management & maintenance of that many would be like. For instance, do you try to move the containers around, either for visual variety or plant health? My container gardening is limited to growing a few tomato plants, so the thought of keeping on top of such a large number would be daunting.

Maackia, to some extent I do. But some are just too darn big and heavy, especially those in glazed ceramic pots, to move easily and for those I require help to shift any more than turning the pot around :-) But those in smaller pots or the much lighter plastic resin and nursery pots often get moved around a lot. In fact, I am currently working on staging a small section of garden that gets the most sun.....never a consistent element in a heavily wooded PNW garden!! And because sun in my garden is at a premium, I have to winnow down the candidates for placement. This season, it is the tomatoes and herbs and a couple of annual/temperennial plantings that get the maximum exposure.

At some point in time I will try for a few photos. Because our spring was colder and wetter than normal, I am behind on potting and up potting and staging completed pots so nothing particularly photo-worthy at the moment.

As an aside, when i moved to this borrowed garden (I rent so inground plantings I tend to minimize for anything of much value) about 3 years ago, it took my contractor and his crew and full size landscape dump truck to move all my containers! And I have added a number since then :-) Honestly have no idea what I will do with all of these if I have to move again anytime in the near future (keeping fingers crossed I won't!!).

@gardengal48 I would also like to see some photos of your mini and dwarf conifers

gardengal , gardens are photo worthy at ANY point

we all know gardens are in flux constantly

any are welcome

ron

Continuing with the topic of what the trade tends to offer as premade spirals here is a search result for some Oregon commercial listings:

http://nurseryguide.com/Find_Plants/Search?q=spiral