Old Dwarf Conifers

Those cute little balls of evergreen dwarf conifers seem like they will be small forever, but eventually, of course, they get big. It is sad, sometimes to see old dwarf conifers that have never been pruned because many varieties are so dense they form a solid but shallow encasement of foliage that reveals none of the plant's branching architecture. I did a program recently on dwarf conifers and dug up many of my old slides which included pictures of old plants that, because of their dwarf and slow growing nature, had acquired an interested sort of aged look to them. I am eagerly pruning my own dwarf conifers to try to accelerate that look.

An Austrian pine (Pinus nigra 'Nana') seen many years ago growing at the National Arboretum in Washington D.C. had acquired a venerable and distinguished look while remaining within a reasonable scale for most landscapes.

Japanese umbrella pine (Pinus densiflora 'Umbraculifera') is not a dwarf, but it is a fairly small, slow growing tree a with distinctive growth habit. If it isn't pruned it grows into a very uninteresting solid mass of foliage. The plant pictured above, as seen many years ago at the Cincinnati Zoo had been beautifully pruned to show off its many attractive features such as the orange bark, vase shaped growth habit and flat topped branching.

This dwarf eastern white pine (Pinus strobus 'Nana') also seen a number of years ago at the National Arboretum in Washington D.C. has a fascinating form that in a better setting and without the gravel and ring of exposed edging could be the centerpiece of a wonderful garden composition.

 

My own dwarf eastern white pine is only eight years from the container nursery and already I think it is starting to show some interesting branching habits that will only become more interesting with age if I prune with care. It may be hard to imagine, but shortly before taking this photograph I opened up the interior of this plant and removed a great number of branches.

Long Term Investments

These four dwarf confers (Pinus cembra 'Blue Mound') have been growing in my garden for eight years and are now ready to be pruned into something of interest.

 

 

This dwarf conifer (Pinus parviflora 'Miyajima') (next to the phlox) has also been growing in my rock wall for eight years. It was difficult to get it established in the thin lines of soil between the rocks, but now it should be perfect for sculpting as it continues to grow.

I have been growing a cluster of four dwarf conifers (Pinus cembra 'Blue Mound') for eight years now (top picture). I planted them with the notion that eventually I would like to make a landscape scale grove similar in concept to bonsai groves that I so admire. Inspiration for exactly what that should look like has not yet hit. Finally, however, they are getting to a size that I can start forming them into something of interest. My long term investment is beginning to pay off. I have the raw materials in hand to make something interesting of this little grove.

I have several other dwarf confers that all represent similar long term investments. Most are in rock walls (such as the bottom picture above) where I hope to make them into something like the wind swept confers (Krummholz) seen at the tree lines of tall mountains or the confers growing out of rock faces hanging on to tiny cracks in the rocks. A couple have been "in training" for a couple of years, but others are so small they can hardly be shaped yet. I lost a few initially that just couldn't get a toe hold on the rocky retaining wall, so it is gratifying to now have some well established plants in a difficult site that are getting to a size that they can be the objects of my artistic ambitions.