Evergreen Shrubs & TreesARBORVITAE- DARK GREEN- One of the most popular upright arborvitae; and is related to the native white cedar- has typical cedar type foliage. Although this arborvitae can grow 12’ to 20’ tall and 8’ wide it can be pruned to half that size or less. It is advisable to occasional shear these plants so they don’t “open up”. The green color stays relatively consistent throughout the winter, whereas the native swamp cedar will often have a lighter green color in the winter. Arborvitae in general do not like as much water around the root system as native cedar do. Although, native cedar can be transplanted from wet areas and once established will tolerate drier soil conditions.
ARBORVITAE, EMERALD GREEN- usually exhibits a lighter green leaf color and grows narrower than Dark Green Arborvitae- 2’ to 4’ across. A good evergreen to use when space is limited . Makes a nice narrow fence or wind break. Grows somewhat slower than Dark Green. Yellow Holmstrip exhibits yellow foliage year around. CANADIAN HEMLOCK (by Order)- is grown with a pyramidal shaped like a spruce tree when young. Continual pruning can help retain this shape for many years. Hemlock also can be pruned as an evergreen hedge to desirable size and shape. Hemlock is one of the few evergreen trees that will grow well in a shady situation. If not kept pruned they will eventually have open branching. One of the most beautiful evergreens trees with fine textured needles. Grows native in Northern Michigan. At maturity it can get 80’ tall and 25’ to 30’ wide and will exhibit bark of cinnamon-red or reddish brown. Slow growing and long lived. JAPANESE GARDEN JUNIPER- is low spreading, with coarse textured needles; it is blue-green in color and in recent years where some of the other junipers have faded in popularity, these gems have been used extensively in the landscape. Fast growing, but can be kept as a low mound or let it spread as a low evergreen ground cover. Compact pfitzer juniper is a medium spreader that is useful in the landscape because it can be used in foundation plantings and it exhibits a blue-green color as a winter plant. Andorra compact Juniper grows only about 1’ high and is usually pruned so it spreads only 4’ to 5’. It has a purplish color when dormant. Tam Juniper is a small to medium spreading juniper with horizontal layers of evergreen branches covered with attractive, dense, dark green foliage. Like many junipers it is drought tolerant and deer resistant. Very hardy. SPRUCE, DWARF ALBERTA- is a slow growing spruce with short, fine, needles that cover the plant (they are densely-packed). They are small in stature, grow slow and attain a mature height of around 7’. Need very little or no pruning. They are fully hardy, but some winter browning may occur in the needles if they are exposed to cold winter winds. Because they stay relatively small they can be used in a foundation planting- especially at the corner of the building or between windows. SPRUCE, BLUE- one of the most widely used spruces in the landscape. This Colorado spruce can be a light green color to powder blue, and some shades of colors between. Heredity causes some to be blue and some to be green although applying a nitrogen fertilizer can give even the green varieties a blue needle color. The true blue trees are called “shiners” and we call the green ones “Colorado green spruce”. In recent years there are cultivars that produce all “shiners” and there are some cultivars that are said to produce “mostly shiners”. There are smaller blue spruce such as Fat Albert that grow smaller and have the true blue color, but most Blue Spruce ( regardless of color ) grow to be large, require a sunny situation, and need ample room to grow in the landscape. They can grow 40’ or more in height and over 15’ wide. Blue ‘Globosa’ Blue Spruce on standard will stay small (2’ tall x 3’ wide) in the landscape. NORWAY SPRUCE- a large spruce that when it matures will have a weeping habit. It has dark green needles- consistently throughout the year which makes it one of the most beautiful spruce- especially in the winter months when a blanket of snow spreads over their branches. It will retain its natural pyramidal appearance, but because of its vigorous growing habit can open up in time; therefore they should be periodically pruned. Weeping Norway Spruce is a small weeping form of Norway Spruce that after attaining 3’ tall will mound and spread out with it weeping branches extending toward the ground. A terrific little tree for weeping over walls or as a specialty plant in the landscape. WHITE PINE- Michigan’s State evergreen tree. Beautiful, fine textured spruce tree found common in Northern Michigan woods. It can be pruned and Christmas tree shaped as a small tree so it is used as a Christmas tree (but not nearly as much as Scotch Pine). As it grows older it opens up therefore difficult to keep that Christmas tree shape; along with hemlock it is one of the few evergreen trees that will grow well in shady situations. When planting, make sure you give it room as it is one of the gems in our natural environment in Michigan. WHITE SPRUCE, BLACK HILL- white spruce is used for Christmas trees and in landscape situations, but the Black Hill white spruce is more dense growing because it grows slower , hence the variety name of ‘densa’. In our opinion is a better tree used as a landscape tree or as a Christmas tree. Black Hill spruce responds well to pruning and looks better as an end result than the species. Weeping White Spruce gets up to 12’ tall in 10 years, it grows narrow, and bears weeping gray-green needles. Weeping White Spruce, because of its smaller size and narrow shape may be considered in smaller landscape spaces. |
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