Use a dwarf conifer where your winter garden needs a steady shape. When flowering plants and deciduous shrubs have lost their leaves, an evergreen can hold the outline of a bed without taking the space of a full-size tree. The word “dwarf” describes slower or smaller growth, so check the mature size of the particular plant before giving it a permanent place.
Pick the shape before the color
Conifers include pines, spruces, firs, junipers, and several other groups with needle-like or scale-like foliage. The dwarf selections are not all miniature versions of the same shape. Some grow upright, while others form low mounds or spread more broadly. Think first about what the bed needs: height at the back, a rounded anchor, or a low plant near the front.
Color matters once you have a suitable shape and size. The choices can include blue, green, yellow-toned, and variegated foliage. Look at the planting around the spot before you buy. A conifer can link several changing seasonal plantings, or a small group can give a bare area some structure through the cold months. For more on that broader arrangement, see evergreen trees and shrubs.
Allow for the size it will reach
Small at the garden center does not mean small forever. Even slow-growing plants need room for their eventual width, so read the label for the specific selection and avoid crowding it against its neighbors. Choosing a plant that fits the space saves you from treating pruning as the answer to every crowded bed. Our tree choice guide makes the same point for larger plantings.
The compact size of many dwarf conifers can make them easier to position or move than a mature evergreen. Once they are established, they can be sturdy additions to a landscape, but that does not mean they can go without attention while settling in.
Remember water when the garden looks asleep
New plantings still need water, including during dry winter stretches when the ground is not frozen. Check the soil instead of assuming that cold weather has kept it moist. A conifer chosen for the right space and cared for as it establishes will have a chance to do what you planted it for: give the winter garden a visible shape. For other ways to fill that season, read winter in the garden.
