Now I’m not trying to be a Grinch by any means, I mean I really enjoy Christmas-decorating-warm smells and goodies, but there is more to evergreen trees than your precious pines and spruce we use each Christmas. Not only are there 100s of varieties of trees and even shrubs that stay green each year, but there are also many different uses for them.
These evergreen gems (like boxwoods) can work as structure for the landscape during winter when everything rests. They are great for softening hard corners, screening views, working in windbreaks, ground cover, and forming a solid backdrop to accent other plants. There are weeping and mounding shapes, spreading and columnar growth, slow and fast growers, short and tall, you name it – there is probably an evergreen to match. In fact there are even a couple evergreens that actually drop all their needles each year to grow new each spring!
So, do not dismiss the expanse of evergreens available, just to focus on the few you are familiar with. We like planting unique varieties for specimens as a focal point in the garden, or working with several varieties in one family to give it a softer, similar look. Here are a few of our favorites and specialties that will work here in Nebraska.
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- Swiss stone pine: zone 4-30 x 15ft
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- Horstmanns Silberlocke fir: zone 5–10 x 6ft in 10 yrs
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- Vanderwolf pine: zone 4-20 x 12ft
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- Dawn redwood: zone 5-70 x 25ft
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- Japanese white pine: zone 5-25 x 10ft
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- Green gem boxwood: zone 4–2 x 2ft
