Solved Conifer help please

Discussion in 'Identification Area' started by Shaun Jordan, Apr 13, 2020.

  1. Shaun Jordan

    Shaun Jordan Apprentice Gardener

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    Hi all,

    We have just moved to a new house in the middle of the Fens it is very flat.

    Our house is in the middle of nowhere so I want to create an evergreen shelter belt around the outside of our garden.

    I absolutely love the below photo so wondered whether anyone can help me identify the conifers in the photo so that I can replicate it.

    Any help is greatly appreciated.
    Many thanks in advance

    Shaun

    D52F324F-76DA-40DD-AE2B-EF61274FCAB7.jpeg
     
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    • Kristen

      Kristen Under gardener

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      :) Upside is that the Fenland Topsoil will grow even a Yew hedge to maturity in about 5 minutes!

      Love the photo. On of the original Blooms family (I think Adrian Bloom, but it might have been a forebear), at Bressingham, was mad keen on conifers. The nursery is now run by someone-else, but the show garden still has plenty of conifers, and Adrian Bloom is the undoubted expert and has books about them

      Adrian Bloom also has a YouTube channel "Bressingham Gardens" with some good info

      Bressingham Gardens YouTube

      Its not far from you, but I'm afraid you've missed the GC Group Outing ... that was back in July 2014 :heehee:

      Some photos from that day, including of our very own national treasure @shiney

      Bressingham Gardens Blog
       
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      • shiney

        shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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        As @Kristen says, Bressingham is definitely worth a visit by you when they reopen. The trees there were originally planted by Adrian's father, Alan. Adrian has done an excellent job of continuing in his father's footsteps.

        Although I have a lot of conifers I'm not very good at identifying them so I hope some of our more expert members can help you.

        We have one conifer in our garden that was given as a gift to us by Alan. I can't remember the name of the variety :doh: and the only person that has come up an idea on it has been Kristen. It seemed to fit all the parameters, and looked just like it, except the growing habit and speed didn't fit. :scratch:
         
      • Kristen

        Kristen Under gardener

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        That's the one, couldn't remember. Thanks.

        Shame on you ... I tied a label to it. You even wrote to me, years later, asking what type of Marker pen I used because you were so impressed with it! Which has nothing to do with the accuracy of the label of course ...
         
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        • shiney

          shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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          I think someone took it when our garden was open! There's another label on the tree, in the same place, that says French Beans :scratch: :doh:
           
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          • pete

            pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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            Got a feeling the one in the middle is the Colorado blue spruce.
            Picea pungens Gluca, but there are other variations.

            Cant help with the rest of the "blobs" :biggrin:
             
          • pete

            pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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            To be honest I dont think they are what you are looking for if you want to plant for shelter.
             
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            • Kristen

              Kristen Under gardener

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              I missed that ...

              ... East Ruston Old Vicarage, right out on the coast level with Norwich, and similarly in the middle of a pretty much dead-flat Wheat prairie, planted Monterey Pines all round the perimeter for Shelter. They were hugely successful, the place now has its own micro-climate :) and after 30 or so years they took the tops out and got maybe another 30 - 40 years life out of them.

              If you are growing something in a hurry then I put in Hybrid Poplar (as in "Selective breeding program for Forestry), designed for "speed". I choose Robusta as being the best shape (width etc.). I haven't been all that impressed with mine, the Silver Birch and seed-raised Eucalyptus have done as well if not better, but they aren't really shelter-belt trees. They just comes as "Sets" - a young branch, make a hole with an iron rod / cane and "stick them in". Best to do that in November so they have the benefit of the whole winter to root and establish. You could do Lombardy Poplars, but they look Bog Awful.
               
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              • Shaun Jordan

                Shaun Jordan Apprentice Gardener

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                Hey everyone,

                Thanks so much for the replies and the links to Bressingham Gardens. We will definitely make a trip there once things reopen!

                As part of the larger plan we’ve just planted 1100 trees as a small wood in a 6 acre field out the back of the house (oak, hornbeam, silver birch, cherry etc) along with a mixed native hedgerow around the borders of the field and house but aside from this I am a complete newbie when it comes to gardening so just trying to learn as I go to a degree.

                The native hedgerow will obviously grow up in a few years but the main reason for the conifers is two fold, some as a shelter belt but then also to (hopefully) start a successful looking garden. I’ll post some photos so far so people can see just how bare it is and how much work there is to do

                Really enjoying looking through the posts on here and the photos

                Thanks

                Shaun
                 
              • Kristen

                Kristen Under gardener

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                I imagine they are just mass-planted in plastic tubes?, and losses are just part of life ... but any water they could get during the first summer or two would make a big difference - worth praying for "wettest summer on record" ... but you won't be popular here!

                I planted a couple of acres of (amenity) woodland at a previous house. Couldn't afford any proper irrigation back then so I bought a roll of 2" (I think) layflat black tubing and organised it past each tree, cable tied to the hose and made pinprick (qty according to size of tree) next to each plant. Made strimming the weed that grew - without destroying the layflat tubing! - a bit of a problem!

                Is the garden big enough for "rooms" within it? If so I would plant those hedges "now" too. Even if they turn out to be in the wrong place you could move them later ... and have benefit of a year or two growth on the cheapest of hedging plants. I put a lot of effort in the early days (well ... still do ...) into propagation to reduce my costs. I still buy quite a lot of hedging plants for future, and pot them on .... I'm typically buying at under £1 each and when planting out saving £5-10 a plant ... and saving several years to maturity of the final planting too.

                Our "Long Walk" with hedges marked out using a mower :)

                [​IMG]

                Planted (there are additional hedges off to the sides for more "rooms") with smallest (cheapest size!) bare root Hornbeam
                [​IMG]

                5 years after planting
                [​IMG]
                 
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                • Shaun Jordan

                  Shaun Jordan Apprentice Gardener

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                  Hi Kristen,
                  Thanks so much for the comments and the pictures. I’ve been checking out your blog/website and your garden looks amazing and you’ve clearly put so much work into it. I hope I can ultimately create something like yours over the coming years.

                  I’ve attached below an ‘annotated’ image of what my current plan is and would be grateful for any comments you (or anyone else) has on it.

                  As you can see, the yellow line on the right hand side is the key bit I want to get planted now. I’ve planted a double staggered native hedge along the same route (without thinking that I really want it to be an evergreen hedge). Do you therefore think I need to pull this hedge out and move it somewhere else or do you think I could plant the evergreen hedge in front of the existing one (or leave a small gap between the two?) and they would both be fine?

                  Any advice or comments you have would be greatly received as like I say I’m still pretty new at this so this is just my first draft.

                  Thanks

                  Shaun

                  32D39453-D418-4984-8D41-16EC942CEB00.jpeg
                   
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