ALL-YEAR-ROUND COLOUR
If you prefer your conifers to retain pre y much the same colour all year, then there are some splendid spruces and junipers with foliage in blues or golds.
■ Picea pungens ‘Hoopsii’ (H: 2.4m/ 8ft) is the outstanding blue spruce, with stiff, vivid, steely blue leaves on plants that aren’t too vigorous and which usually develop into tight, cone-shaped specimens. If necessary, they can be thoughtfully pruned to shape when young. Be sure to pass by any in the garden centre labelled simply ‘Glauca’, they’ll probably be bluish, but their shape and vigour will vary from plant to plant. The splendidly named ‘Fat Albert’ (H: 3m/10ft), is short, dense and broad.
■ If you need a tall and slender, all-year-round blue conifer look for Juniperus scopulorum ‘Blue Arrow’ (H: 2.4m/8ft), a much improved, slightly shorter version of the old favourite ‘Skyrocket’ (H: 4m/13ft). It’s ideal as a vertical exclamation mark, especially if planted in groups of three. At the other extreme J. horizontalis Icee Blue (‘Monber’) (H: 15cm/6in) develops low, ground-hugging, silvery-blue, horizontal growth, ideal to hide manhole covers.
■ Between the two in habit, with branches striking out at 45 degrees to the ground, J. pfitzeriana ‘Old Gold’ (H: 1m/3¼ft) comes in bronzed gold all year.