Nice tour. Thanks.

tj

Beautiful tour!

debra

In the PNW, Japanese Umbrella pines (a unique "living fossil" species unrelated to pine) typically should be planted in moderate shade (at least while the trees are young) so they do not get too much sun, and should receive very consistent summer watering to get established. I've seen too many Umbrella pines in this region that died because people just assumed they could just be planted in the ground like normal pines. They are a beautiful and unique tree, but in this region require more care, because of the dry summers. This species is a little more expensive too, because they are harder for nurseries to grow, which is another reason why more care should be taken to make sure the tree does well and survives.

After about 6 feet high, the tree can start taking more sun, but still is likely not to do the best if planted completely out in the open.

Another tree you may be interested in, with interesting shaped leaves, is Nageia nagi. It's in the podocarpus family.

They are expensive and harder to get, but a Wollemi pine would probably look really nice in your garden too. In this climate, they typically don't get too big and are slow growing. Again, needs to be well watered during the summer and not too much intense sun exposure.

Grey Gardens? It looks good in grey…or gray! You obviously have a beautiful garden, but please permit me to make a suggestion: break the large number of photos into a coherent theme. Do you have garden rooms? That would be a good place to start.

Is that a Larch with the Japanese Forest Grass? If so, which one might it be?

Good heavens, of course GRAY gardens on a gray day! No garden rooms, just walking around the yard snapping pics. The plant in question may be a cedrus brevifolia 'kenwith' which is doing poorly. My other post at least has a theme, just conifers!

Thanks for the tour!

Very nice pictures.

I'm experiencing a little zone envy. ;-)

Now I know where people live that really want to grow things. ;-)

Love the podocarpus. Is it P. macrophyllus 'Maki'? (sixth picture down?).

Yes BillMN, indeed it is 'Maki'. I really like podocarpus and have several.

I'm not a podocarpus fan, but that probably has something to do with having grown up in a warmer no-winter climate where podocarpus (and oleander, which also has a similar look to podocarpus) were widely planted everywhere as low maintenance bushes that did well in the hot climate. I'm sure it has a unique and exotic "tropical" look in the Pacific Northwest, but probably because of where I grew up, they just look "blah" to me.

I do love the Japanese Umbrella pine though. It looks even a little more "lush" and "green" than a typical pine tree, with the needles being softer.

I'm guessing picture #13 is a "Taiwan cedar" (Taiwania cryptomerioides), which seem to be commonly seen in the PNW. They do sort of have an interesting exotic sort of look. The older trees can grow up to more than 30 feet, though the tree seems to be slower growing in this climate and takes a long time to turn into a big tree.