Golden conifers are a bit like marmite you either love them or hate them. Of course here at Lime Cross Nursery we love golden conifers as there are so many inventive and modern ways they can be planted within a garden landscape. Why wouldn’t you want beautiful golden or bronze tones throughout the garden all year round especially in the winter when everything else has died back.
Back in the 70’s and 80’s when the island bed conifer and heather gardens were at there height, and Lawsons were being sold by the 1000’s you can understand why they might have got a bad rap. But that was then and you now only have to visit some of the most well known gardens in the UK to see that conifers are very much part of the modern garden again and placed thoughtfully with other plants very much have their place in a gardens landscape.
We used conifers and heathers for our 2019 Chelsea and Hampton Court displays highlighting their subtle beauty. Visitors could see how conifers planted in this way can bring character, texture and colour to a garden all year round with very little maintenance required.
On a cold and frosty morning nothing beats the golden conifers glow against the subtle winter blues and browns of bare branches and bark. There are many golden conifer cultivars to choose from all varying in size, shape and texture, here are some of our favourites:
Thuja plicata 'Goldy' foliage is a bright golden colour and looks bold when used as a luminous backdrop to larger borders. An invaluable plant for the winter garden, it adds a touch of warmth when the foliage takes on a richer orange hue as the temperatures drop.
Abies nordmanniana 'Golden Spreader' is a slow-growing evergreen conifer making a small shrub of spreading, bushy growth, wider than tall. The needles turn from green to a beautiful bright golden-yellow in the winter bringing warm colour to the garden.
Pinus Mugo ‘December Gold’ is a dwarf pine with golden needle-like leaves which look great with other evergreens and winter flowering heathers. Spring growth is a dazzling butter yellow colour.
Pinus Sylvestris Aurea also known as 'Golden Scots Pine' and holder of the much coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit is a large growing irregular evergreen coniferous tree consisting of bright golden-yellow foliage in winter and later turning into a dark blue/ green colour.
Our golden conifers bringing a wonderful glow to our pinetum this week.
