The Best Conifers for Your Yard
Conifers lend a sense of year-round beauty and structure to your landscape. Here are some of our favorite picks.
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This is one of the most stunning evergreens we've ever seen. Silver Korean fir offers a dense, beautiful habit and white-bottomed needles that curl up toward the stem. This gives the tree a decidedly flocked appearance year-round.
Name: Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlocke'
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 30 feet tall
Zones: 5-8
Grow It Because: You love the unique silvery effect and soft needles.
An absolutely graceful tree, weeping white pine looks like a waterfall of beautiful blue-green needles. It's especially effective grown over a sturdy arbor or other structure to create a curtain effect. Plus, it's a widely adaptable tree and native to areas of North America.
Name: Pinus strobus 'Pendula'
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: As tall as it's supported; unsupported it grows like a groundcover
Zones: 4-9
Grow It Because: You love its long, soft needles and the weeping or groundcover quality it has.
Loved for its beautiful silvery blue color, dwarf blue spruce is a good choice for small-space landscapes. Many selections reach no more than 8 feet tall and wide.
Name: Picea pungens 'Montgomery'
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 10 feet
Zones: 3-8
Grow It Because: You love the blue color and dwarf size.
A pine look-alike, this beautiful evergreen has shiny, dark green needles and a spire-like habit. It's an uncommon and unusual choice to add a slightly different look to the landscape.
Name: Sciadopitys verticillata
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 30 feet tall
Zones: 4-8
Grow It Because: You want something easy, but a little different.
One of the most unique pines in the landscape, contorted white pine offers twisted branches and needles, casting a distinct silhouette. It also offers a small footprint, growing about 10 feet wide at maturity.
Name: Pinus strobus 'Contorta'
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 50 feet or more
Zones: 3-9
Grow It Because: You like the interesting effect the branches and needles have.
Most conifers have a golden selection that's either love it or leave it. Golden Korean fir is a standout among these varieties; it offers flat needles with a decidedly golden-green hue.
Name: Abies koreana 'Aurea'
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 30 feet tall
Zones: 5-8
Grow It Because: You like the soft needles and golden color.
Famous for its exceptionally long life, bristlecone pine is also exceptionally beautiful. This gem is extremely slow growing and offers blue-green needles with flecks of white resin. It's native to areas of North America.
Name: Pinus aristata
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: Very slow growing to 30 feet
Zones: 4-8
Grow It Because: You like its interesting nature, slow growth, and drought resistance.
A favorite for its dense growth, small needles, and nearly perfect cone-shape habit, dwarf Alberta spruce is widely and easily grown. It's native to areas of North America, too.
Name: Picea glauca var. albertiana 'Conica'
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 20 feet tall
Zones: 3-6
Grow It Because: You like the dense growth habit.
A landscaper's dream, there are hundreds of mugo pine varieties. Most offer rich, deep green needles that stay looking great all year and a compact mounded habit.
Name: Pinus mugo
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 10 feet
Zones: 3-7
Grow It Because: You like the small size.
A tree of exceptional beauty, Japanese white pine offers clusters of silvery blue needles and a wonderful habit that looks especially good in winter.
Name: Pinus parviflora
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 80 feet
Zones: 6-9
Grow It Because: You like the blue-green needles and the tree's unique shape.
Among the thousands of junipers, 'Blue Star' stands out for its silvery color and dense, ground-hugging habit.
Name: Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star'
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 16 inches tall
Zones: 5-8
Grow It Because: You want a silvery-blue groundcover.
We think this is one of the most beautiful pines. It offers long, soft, blue-green needles and is adaptable to a range of conditions. It's native to areas of North America, so it's a great choice for wildlife gardens.
Name: Pinus strobus
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 125 feet tall
Zones: 4-9
Grow It Because: You want a highly adaptable pine with long, soft needles.
The more grown up version of dwarf blue spruce, this tree offers gorgeous blue color and prickly needles. A large number of varieties is available, including columnar forms.
Name: Picea pungens f. glauca
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 50 feet
Zones: 3-8
Grow It Because: You like the silvery-blue color.
A top landscape tree, as well as a favorite Christmas tree, Frasier fir offers beautiful dark green needles and a wonderful pyramidal shape. Another bonus: This tree is native to Eastern North America.
Name: Abies fraseri
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 40 feet tall
Zones: 4-7
Grow It Because: You like the soft, dark green needles and Christmas-tree shape.
For a dense screen, you can't go wrong with Hinoki cypress. This tree offers deep green foliage and a wonderful horizontal branching habit.
Name: Chamaecyparis obtusa
Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 80 feet
Zones: 4-8
Grow It Because: You like the dense habit and dark green color.
Native to areas of Northern North America, balsam fir is a top-notch choice because of its wonderful woodsy scent, dark green needles, and purplish-blue cones.
Name: Abies balsamea
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow up to 60 feet tall
Zones: 3-6
Grow It Because: You like the soft, dark green needles and Christmas-tree shape.
Another evergreen at the top of our most graceful list, Canadian hemlock has arching, almost feathery new growth. It's also a winner because it doesn't mind a bit of shade.
Name: Tsuga canadensis
Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 80 feet
Zones: 4-7
Grow It Because: You want an evergreen that thrives in part shade.
We admit we're cheating a bit on this one: Dawn redwood offers feathery green needles that look gorgeous in spring and summer. In autumn, they turn russet red and then drop, exposing the tree's delightfully architectural branching habit.
Name: Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Varieties can grow as tall as 150 feet
Zones: 5-10
Grow It Because: You want something unique with good fall color -- and you don't mind that it loses its needles each winter.
wlmitch pines lke acidic soil. Is your property suited to that condition?
11/13/2011 05:36:51 AM Report AbuseTried growing a Mugo Pine in full North Carolina sun and it wilted away to nothing. Planted in during the fall the prior year. All the green turned brown? Since it's within my sprinkler system, don't think it was under watered. What could have happened? Don't know the exact variety?
9/24/2011 11:44:59 AM Report Abuse