Adding conifers to a garden can be one of the most difficult aspects of garden design. Long thought of massive, towering evergreen soldiers that demand more space than most gardens can afford to spare, conifers have often been looked at as something to garden around, not to garden with. Until now.
Designing with Conifers by Richard Bitner is a comprehensive look at a stunning array of different conifers, along with advice on how to use them in designed gardens. Bitner reviews different conifer shapes and colors with glorious photos that perfectly illustrate his advice about using conifers much like you would any other garden plant.
Bitner then moves on and looks at the best conifers for different conditions – from front entry gardens to Asian-themed gardens to trough gardens and shade filled gardens. There’s even a wonderful photo of a vertical garden filled with dwarf conifers that is like nothing I’ve ever seen.
While the photos are superb, be forewarned - not every conifer in the book has its own photo. Typically, I find that oversight annoying but the wealth of broad view photos that truly give you the sense of how these plants can be used in gardens more than makes up for it. This is, after all, a book about designing with conifers.
Perhaps the most useful chapter in the book is the case study of the Barrett Garden. Through the use of color and black and white photos, Bitner brings the reader step-by-step through the design consideration involved in choosing conifers for the various layers of the garden. Photos of the garden throughout the year certainly highlight the continuity and permanence conifers lend to any garden.
If you’re a conifer lover or are still figuring out the best way to add a few gems to your garden, do yourself a favor and check out Designing with Conifers.
The Oregon Garden is a many-acre display garden outside of Portland. To my mind, the outstanding section is the conifer garden. One visit got us hooked, and we have been back several times to study its progress. I will definitely check out this book to bolster knowledge about using these low maintenance wonders to best effect. Thanks for the review.
Ricki, The Oregon Garden sounds lovely, how lucky you are to have access to it. The local arboretum is revamping their conifer garden over the next few years, I can’t wait to see the results when the project is finished.
Well now…. it’s about time! :^)
I agree with you, Debbie, Bitner’s book is a premium reference that should inspire more awareness and hopefully greater usage of conifers in garden design. One amazing thing about conifers, is that if you see a large or medium sized form in a color or texture that you like, but you think it would grow to big for your garden, chances are the there is also a dwarf or miniature form with very similar attributes – just in a much smaller scale.
Thanks for helping to promote my most beloved plants!
Ed
Conifer Lover
Ed, That’s a great point about ‘dwarf’ versions of the big boys being much more garden-friendly. Of course, homeowners still need to keep in mind that dwarf is a relative term!
As I’m just starting to work with conifers I’m delighted to see there’s a book that takes this subject on. I’m not sure if it’s their size or their evergreen nature but I have a hard time trying to get my head around how to plan a bed with these plants.
Marguerite, Then you will certainly enjoy reading this book since it really does speak to designing with conifer much better than any other book I’ve read on the subject. Good luck.
Debbie, you must make a visit to Oregon – so much to see here, garden-wise. You are absolutely correct about “dwarf” being a relative term when it comes to describing conifers. That is why the American Conifer Society came up with a great chart to help bring it into perspective. The following link should take your readers to a great introduction to conifers and the growth rate chart on their site: http://www.conifersociety.org/cs2/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=3
I’ll keep doing my part to get the message out! :^)