Gardening 101: Conifers to try
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – There are many advantages to conifer trees. First, they are green year around. That means when used as a landscape screen, whatever they are blocking from your view, they block year around. That is also valuable on the reverse: if you don't want people looking onto your back patio from the road say, that green screen of conifers does their job 24/7/365.
Conifers also block sound rather effectively. This has something to do having needles rather than leaves, but a sound engineer will have to explain that to you. If used as a sound barrier, since evergreen, they will block that sound across all seasons.
Pine and junipers have their own aesthetic. When properly placed and utilized, they can produce a special statement to your landscape. We did this week's story entirely on the grounds of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. One visit to the landscape marvel of the Japanese Garden can demonstrate to you how conifers can create a unique effect.
There are four trees featured in this week's story. I've introduced you to Eastern Red Cedar before, it is one of the more bird-friendly trees you can plant in your yard. They provide both food (female trees produce lovely blue berries birds love) and shelter (the thick foliage hides them and their nests). When lined up in a row and given the space, they also produce a mighty green screen that blocks both wind and sound.
The Afghan Pine can grow to be a giant (the one in front of the Japanese Garden is one of the bigger ones in the area). When the wind moves through its long, soft needles to creates a sound unique to the tree. Also, the bark on this tree is very dramatic and can be used as part of the overall landscape design.
The loblolly pine is native to our area. I prefer these fast-growing pines in bunches. They can produce a grove faster than just about any other tree if you are trying to fill-out a large space.
The Japanese Black Pine is the usually the pine you see in the classic oriental garden look. It can be trimmed back to near miniature form but still maintain that asymmetrical look that is so desired (a small tree that looks like a scaled-up bonsai plant this is a hundred years old).
Where I lost one of my nellie holly trees this winter I plan to replace with an Eastern Red Cedar (a female) to fill the space along my back fence line. I love the idea of providing a place for songbirds.
Thanks for following Gardening 101. Let me know if you have any questions.
