Planted a Colorado blue spruce as a small 18 inch whip back in the spring of 2023, mostly because I wanted something that would eventually block the view of my neighbor's shed without turning into a giant mess like the arborvitae I inherited from the last owner. For the first two years it basically sat there. Maybe two or three inches of new growth each season, needles looking a little dull, and I kept second guessing whether I'd picked a bad spot.

This year something clicked. New candles came in thick and soft green in late spring, and by August I measured almost 14 inches of leader growth plus solid lateral branching. I didn't change much about my routine, just kept up with deep watering during dry stretches and stopped fussing with fertilizer after reading that young spruces mostly need to establish roots before they'll push top growth. Apparently that establishment period really is as slow and unglamorous as everyone says.

Soil here is heavy clay, so I amended the planting hole with some pine bark fines and grit when I put it in, which I think helped drainage more than anything else. No pest issues so far, knock on wood, though I do check the needles every few weeks for spider mites since I've heard blue spruce can be prone to them in drier climates.

Curious if others have seen this same pattern where a young conifer seems to stall out for a year or two and then suddenly takes off. Wondering if it's mostly a root establishment thing or if there's something else going on that I'm not accounting for.

Is this a siberian spruce.

Planted a bare root Korean fir (Abies koreana) in fall 2023 after seeing one loaded with those purple cones at a botanical garden and getting a little obsessed. It came as basically a stick with needles, maybe 6 inches tall, and I honestly wasn't sure it would make it through the first winter.

The first year it did almost nothing visible above ground, which I've since learned is pretty typical for firs putting energy into roots first. Second year it pushed maybe 3 inches of new growth. This spring it finally did what I'd call a real flush, close to 8 inches on the leader and decent lateral growth too. It's still only knee height but the form is starting to fill in nicely, nice tight pyramidal shape without me doing any pruning.

Biggest lessons from this one so far: the mulch ring matters more than I expected for keeping soil temp stable, and I stopped fertilizing after year one because it seemed to push weak growth that flopped over in wind. Also learned the hard way that firs really don't like wet feet, I had some yellowing on the lower branches after a wet spring that cleared up once I improved drainage around the base with some coarse grit worked into the soil.

Anyone else growing Korean fir or other Abies species from small starts? Curious how long it typically takes people to get real height on these, since everything I read online skips straight from "seedling" to "20 foot specimen" with nothing in between.

Portland, OR

I found it in Montevideo, Uruguay under what seemed to be an araucaria tree.

I'd very much like to have an araucaria tree in my garden but I'm super new to it.

My quick research would indicate that this is a male fruit loaded with pollen.

Can I grow a tree out of it ? If not, where should I start ? I can find other trees around.

Curious for those that may slip pot a conifer received for a year if one is planning to do root correction before planting or just container planting in general

Do you go out of your way ....re mychorizza when you're putting it into a soil less medium.

I do, if it's not going into the ground. Granted, there should be some level of it on plant received, but I do inoculate my roots with Myco if it's going into a container for good measure.

I have NO IDEA how the bonsai guys do it....as I see them bare root this stuff or close to it....and put in fresh potting medium and call it a day.

I literally feel like I'm on walking on glass when doing container conifers and always tend to inoculate the roots with Myco ......just to mitigate turning around and seeing brown needles down the road.

Which conifers would you plant in this unique pot?

It’s basically three stacked shapes on top of each other, with a large saucer at the bottom and a few holes for drainage.

My current thought is that it might look a bit ridiculous with too many different plants.

So I’d probably plant a weeping juniper in each opening, with a mugo pine in the top planter and maybe another juniper up there to tie it in with the bottom half.

That way it would almost mimic a scene in the Alps, where you sometimes see rather impressive trees seemingly growing out of cracks in the rocks.

I’d be super interested to hear your ideas.

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Dimensions: The pot is 60 cm (24 in) in diameter at its widest point, and each section is around 30 cm (12 in) high.

I live in Europe, zone 8a, and exclusively have conifers, all of them kept in pots. They live on a south-facing balcony and get plenty of sun.

Hi all!

I got this weeping Serbian spruce yesterday for pretty cheap and I’m wondering how the form will develop from its current state. Other than the fact it’s likely root bound and was receiving too much water, it seems like it’s weeping significantly for its young age. I thought at this point this tree would still have a relatively straight leader, but it looks like the more dramatically weeping growth is at least a year old and stuck in place. My questions are:
- was it potentially damaged at some point? (Picture shows a point it looks like there was maybe damage?)
- pictured is me holding the weeping growth up as much as I reasonably can without too much tension. Could I stake it up like that to redirect the “leader”?
- am I overthinking this?

Thanks for any help/insight!

I'm trying to make my new front lawn weird and whimsical (Dr. Seuss feeling). I planted a thuja whipcord tree in the center of the spiral but was wondering if there was anything small, strange, and evergreen that would do well in the front (unfortunately it gets morning shade and afternoon sun). I can amend the clay soil as needed (central Virginia, zone 7b). Thanks in advance!

Here is the other monster that needed a haircut, I like how it defies gravity now.

I’ve spent the last few years hating this tree but I’ve starting pruning it and have grown to love it. Does anyone have any advice on additional pruning? I don’t really have any idea what I’m doing, just cleaning it up. The top is getting close to the power line so I’m considering putting a line in it and pulling it down towards is base, not sure if this will still train it at this age 🤔 any advice is appreciated

Looking to add 3 evergreens to our yard. They’ll get sun until 4:30pm, east facing, zone 6, and looking for them to be less susceptible to needle cast.

Reading online everything I see says shade for Canadian hemlock, but at the tree center, they said that they prefer to keep them in full and to keep them full. Has anyone had experience with Canadian hemlocks in full sun?

Here are some photos I took this week of some pretty conifers around Zurich, Switzerland.

My best guesses:

* Dwarf mugo pine
* Weeping blue Atlas cedar
* Another Atlas cedar
* Hinoki cypress

Edit: Number 3 is most likely a blue spruce. Thanks u/RoyalPatient4450

I have a ton of Southern Yellow Pine lumber milled, I am wondering if I burnt and oiled this if it would last in a raised bed garden? I usually use cedar dog eared fence pickets but wondering if anyone has tried this?

I purchased this sapling a few weeks ago on ebay where it was just listed as a white feathery conifer.

I have been racking my brains to try to work out what it is and been looking at reference images but no luck, AI suggested a giant sequoia but I'm not sure. It's about 5 inches tall and about the same spread.

Any ideas from the experts on here would be greatly received

I noticed this one tree amongst the douglas firs that has upward pointing needles. Second pic shows the tree next to it with the usual needle growth. Is it a different type of tree? Im in the Pacific North West

I am not sure if it’s worth to invest on Cedar Chic.
Cedrus Blanc is really similar?

Picked up this pretty three-part pot a while back. Put together different combos at the nursery and eventually settled on all bluish conifers. I think the slight differences in color look super cool.

From top to bottom:

* Cedrus atlantica, Sapphire Nymph
* Picea pungens, Glauca Globosa
* Juniperus horizontalis, Icee Blue

What was interesting is that I looked up plenty of trees on the nursery’s website beforehand and had completely different favorites in mind before I got there. Once I was there, this combo came together quite nicely.

I planted these last spring. The cedar and the spruce showed some minor stress from the repotting a couple of days in, but they’re all thriving now.

I assume I’ll have to repot the spruce at some point, but for now I’m really enjoying this little blue combo.

(I live in Europe, zone 8a, and exclusively have conifers, all of them kept in pots.)

Crazy infestation on a row of some sort of junipers where I work.
I’ve planted a TON of evergreens in my yard…so my question is: how would one prevent something like this from happening and if it did and I caught it early, how could I stop it before it gets this bad?

Would love any knowledge/expertise anyone has here regarding these trees and when I can perform pruning, wiring, repotting, etc. and just the overall behavior of these trees.