Midsummer days

Midsummer and the days are not long enough to admire Picea Orientalis Aurea (Aureospicata) – it is a sight to behold.

This is a spectacular conifer with all year round interest. In early spring, it starts to produce pollen in abundance and from a distance the tree looks maroon purple.

By early June the young shoots emerge cream/yellow, turning golden yellow; they will finally change back to green by autumn, forming a perfect background for an abundance of purple cones. Truly a plant for all seasons.

This is not a plant for a small garden. I have one, approximately 40 years old, in my garden. It’s a 25ft high pyramid.

They are slow growing, but long-term, they do need space.

They are easy to grow in any reasonable soil, extremely hardy and need no particular care.

The best time to plant one was 20 years ago; the second best time is now.

Nowadays, people tend to overlook conifers in the garden. Garden designers and magazine gardeners don’t use them. They were probably overused in the 1970s and 1980s, when conifers and heathers were to be found in every garden – not a thing wrong with them – just overused.

They gave great colour especially in winter, and you only needed to plant them once, because they quite happily kept growing with little or no maintenance.

Conifers are coming back into fashion as they are being used in conjunction with ornamental grasses, and if planted in waves, not using too many varieties, they can look really well.

Naturally, if you plant a conifer and a couple of odd grasses in the middle of an herbaceous border, it doesn’t look the best. Grasses need to be planted in multiples using different colours and heights that will sway in the Irish breeze.

Plant of the week

This week’s plant is Picea Orientalis Spectabilis. You won’t regret it! It is ‘spectabilis’.

If your garden can’t accommodate a spectabilis, at the other end of the spectrum is Picea Glauca Globosa, a globe-shaped, miniature conifer with an intense blue foliage. It will grow to about a metre or thereabouts and will look stunning in the middle of a clump of Imperata cylindrical Red Baron, is a stunning Japanese red grass.

They have same soil requirements: fertile, well drained, sunny position.

Next week I will explore the better varieties of grasses.