Since many confiers are either indigenous to our region or well adapted, they offer ideal solutions to specific gardening and landscaping needs, including screens, hedges, windbreaks or even as solitary statements of color and texture. We invite you to come in and talk with us about their size, color, form and growing habits to get some ideas on how and where they can enhance your own landscaping design.
Conifarae literally means "cone-bearing." The term refers to an ancient order of Gymnosperms (some 200 million years old) that bear exposed seeds within cones. The seed bearing cones of conifers are actually considered to be flowers, but they lack petals and sepals. Some cones are so small as to be practically unnoticeable, while others can be over a foot in length, as with the local Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana) of the Sierra Nevada.
We often mistakenly equate conifers with pines, and although all pines are conifers, it is not the case that all conifers are pines. We also usually assume that all conifers are evergreen, but this is untrue as in the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), an ancient deciduous Sequoia from Central China.
At least since the 12th century, a select variety of conifers have been grown in containers. This artful tradition comes from China -- called Bonsai -- and is based upon an aesthetic appreciation of natural grace, age and grandeur experienced in the presence of singular trees in the primeval setting of ancient forests. The goal of the art of Bonsai is to create a living miniature that strikes our imagination in such a way as to conjure that same sense of primeval enchantment. The result is achieved by controlling the growth of the tree by calculated pruning and shaping of the tree's roots, limbs and foliage. Such trees, when well tended through generations, can actually live in containers for hundreds of years!
Besides Bonsai, certain conifers can be grown outdoors in containers for a variety of reasons: to enhance entrances, hide unwanted views, soften otherwise hard angles, etc.
We have an exciting collection of containers in many sizes and shapes. Come visit!
Conifers can be used as hedges -- even very narrow ones -- but the most important factors in producing and maintaining satisfying results is good planning, proper planting, and then early and timely pruning. Locals do use certain conifers like the Arborvitae that lend themselves well to linear planting.
Conifers are a great choice for windbreaks and living fences because not only do they keep their foliage during the winter months, but their dense needle-like foil age helps slice the wind. Because of this, more than twice the number of rows of deciduous trees will be required to do the same work as coniferous rows. Historically, the deciduous Poplar has been used for windbreaks, but these trees will require much more water than any conifer. Call us at 775-851-0353.
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John Muir writes in his journal trying to put into words his response to seeing the Giant Sequoia trees along the ridges of the high Sierra just west of Kings Canyon. Back when it was really quite difficult to get to the high Sierra, Muir made his way up to those amazing groves -- 9000 feet up to see the largest free standing trees in the world. Muir likened them to "cathedrals" and spoke of worshipping the "mighty Sequoia." When you see them, it's easy to feel what Muir must have been feeling. Those really old big ones have become something more than tree.
The Giant Sequoia (sequoiadendron giganteum) is the largest living thing on planet Earth. And, they live in the Sierra mountains -- as the bird flies, Sequoia National Park is less than 180 miles from Reno.
Nevada's largest Sequoia happens to be at a home in the old southwest section of Reno. The tree is becoming a landmark you can sight from different high points in and around the city. It fills the entire front yard and is probably not more than 80 years old. The ones up high in the Sierra Muir helped save. They are much, much older, small groups of huge trees, some of them alive for more than twenty centuries. Single lives almost like eternity and older than several religions.
