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Once you know where you want to add your conifer in the garden, you need to the choose the right type, whether it be for structure, style or as a focal point. Look at the headings below and get some useful information to get you started.
Columnar - tall and narrow, cylindrical
These are great used in a shrub border to give extra height, at the end of a vista or as a feature set in the lawn. Examples include:
Pyramidal - pyramid shape, narrow at the top, wide at the bottom
These can make a stunning feature in the middle of a large lawn, or they can be used to hide unsightly features. Examples include:
Globose - spherical, bun shaped
These conifers look amazing as punctuation points at the apex of a border, on either side of entrances, or giving strong shape in a border of daintier perennials. Examples include:
Prostrates - low and sprawling
These are perfect for softening the edges of borders or paths, cascading over low walls or at the edge of steps. Also use them to cover manholes, old tree stumps or even the edge of your pond liner. Good weed-suppressers. Examples include:
- Juniperus squamata 'Blue Carpet'
- Juniperus x media 'Carbery Gold'
- Juniperus communis 'Green Carpet'
- Juniperus conferta
Dwarfs - tiny conifers which reach a height of three feet at most
These are brilliant in containers and rockeries and provide year-round interest. Examples include:
- Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Minima Aurea'
- Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Gnome'
- Juniperus communis 'Compressa'
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Picea abies 'Little Gem'
Interesting colour
Apart from the whole palette of different blues, greens, gold's, greys and bronzes which conifers include, there are some which change colour as the year goes on. Examples include:
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Picea pungens 'Hoopsii'
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Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold'
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Cryptomeria japonica 'Elegans'
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Juniperus squamata 'Holger'
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Pinus mugo 'Ophir'
For some inspiring ideas and to see just how versatile conifers are, go to the
Right Conifer, Right Place section.
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