Plant A Conifer
15 September 2007

Don’t let gardeners of my age put you off. Conifers were made for gardens. They did, deservedly, get a bad press 25 years ago but that was because of bad advice by the people selling them. Their command of the English language wasn’t good and they mixed up the words dwarf with slow growing. This resulted in conifers growing in rockeries and containers that looked good for a few years and then started to grow and grow and grow.

There are many superb dwarf conifers that may reach 3 ft high in a lifetime and others that will struggle to reach 6 ft in 15 years.

Where they are being grown in containers use a soil based compost. Keep the top of the compost at least 2-3 inches below the rim of the pot to allow for watering, feeding and an annual top up with fresh soil.
In the garden choose a site free from perennial weeds. Most conifers prefer a moisture retentive, free draining soil that is neutral to acid. Some such as yew are tolerant of a chalk soil. Dig in lots of old, well rotted, farmyard manure and add a handful of bone meal to the planting hole.

Find out the ultimate spread of the conifers as well as the height and space them accordingly. There are slow growing yews such as the upright, columnar bright yellow leafed Taxus baccata fastigiata ‘Aureomarginata’ which may grow to 6 ft in 10 years.

The Noah’s Ark juniper, Juniperus communis ‘Compressa’ forms a tight, narrow, upright blue-green conifer that is incredibly slow growing making it ideal for a container or a rockery.

Thuja orientalis ‘Aurea Nana’ has flattened branches of greenish yellow foliage. The young growths are bright yellow throughout summer.
There are slow growing pines and larches although some will eventually reach 8-10 ft in height.

If you consult a good reference book and speak to the plant expert at your local garden centre then you will have no cause to rubbish the conifer.

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