The Education Garden of the Washington County Master Gardener Association (WGMGA) of Oregon is a Master Gardener designed and maintained garden within the grounds of Portland Community College (PCC) Rock Creek campus; the two have been jointly approved by the ACS as a Reference Garden. The shared mission of education, sustainability, and public outreach makes the WCMGA and PCC Rock Creek a natural partnership.

The PCC Rock Creek campus, established in 1976, sits on over 260 acres of wetlands, farmland, and remnant native woodlands, with 117 of those acres serving as an outdoor classroom for the Landscape Technology program, which offers 2-year associates degrees in landscape design, landscape technology, and environmental landscape management. The campus supports five plant identification classes, in which students learn more than 100 plant species per class. The evergreens ID class emphasizes conifers, including both PNW native and ornamental conifers appropriate for residential and small commercial landscapes. Students on the design tract study the proper selection, placement, and use of conifers, with the extensive and ongoing campus plantings allowing students to evaluate conifer species and cultivated varieties of differing ages, sizes, and characteristics.

Beginning in 2017, the WCMGA began transforming a 17,000 sq. ft. gravel parking lot on the PCC Rock Creek campus into the Education Garden. PCC Rock Creek also provides the WCMGA with use of a classroom, greenhouse, and hoophouse, greatly expanding the resources for education and outreach. The Education Garden focuses on dwarf conifers and other plantings suitable for the smaller residential garden, with the size of the planting beds designed to be of a similar scale as beds in a home garden.

While conifers are found throughout the Education Garden, conifers predominate in the three beds that form the central community circle. Other themed garden areas include waterwise gardening, insect and pollinator gardening, Pacific Northwest natives, and fragrance gardening. Pollinator and mason bee information and habitats are also featured in the garden. Educational displays and classes held at the Education Garden support the Master Gardener mission of advancing research-based knowledge of sustainable gardening practices for the general public, including the PCC Rock Creek community. Conifer-focused educational sessions will be an ongoing part of the WCMGA curriculum and educational displays on conifers will continue to be added, including plant cards and self-guided tours.

As an Arbor Day Foundation Certified Tree Campus, the addition of the American Conifer Society Reference Garden adds to PCC Rock Creek’s accomplishments. 

Together, PCC Rock Creek and the WCMGA Education Garden host nearly 300 conifer specimens across 25 genera. Maps with the names and locations of all 300 conifers can be found at the kiosk in front of the Education Garden.

Read more about WCMGA at Rock Creek on the gardens' website.

The Armstrong State University Arboretum Conifer Garden, Savannah, Georgia, was approved as the 17th Reference Garden in the Southeast Region in May 2015. They are the fourth Reference Garden in the state of Georgia, and along with Gardens of the Big Bend in Quincy Florida, offer our members a look at growing conifers in the lower and coastal south.

Established in 2001, the Armstrong State University Arboretum encompasses Armstrong’s 268-acre campus and displays a wide variety of shrubs and other woody plants. Natural areas of campus contain plants typical in Georgia’s coastal broadleaf evergreen forests such as live oak, southern magnolia, red ray, horse sugar, and sparkleberry. Developed areas of campus contain native and non-native species of trees and shrubs, the majority of which are labeled. Several major plant collections have been established in the Arboretum including a Fern Garden, a Ginger Garden, a Primitive Garden, a Camellia Garden, a White Garden, an International Garden and a Conifer Garden.

The Conifer Garden was created in 1995 and has expanded to cover a 1.5 acre site. Currently, the Conifer Garden contains approximately 180 different types of conifers represented by 76 different species, 30 different genera and eight different families. While the greatest density of conifers exists within this collection, additional species can be found in other locations throughout the Arboretum.

The Rowe Arboretum was started in 1926 by Stanley and Dorothy Rowe on their estate in the then quiet village - now suburb of Cincinnati - Indian Hill. Over the years the Rowes hobby grew into a collection which at times numbered close to 5,000 different trees and shrubs. Visitors in those days were allowed to tour the estate by appointment and sometimes the tours were given by the Rowes themselves.

Upon their death the Rowes donated the estate to Indian Hill's Green Areas program. Portions were sold off to create an endowment and today a nine acre portion, heavily populated by specimens from around the world, became the Arboretum which opened in 1987. Plans were drawn by a landscape architect who designated areas for conifers, and even one section was designed and planted as a dwarf conifer collection. These sections originated in the early to mid-1930's, and some remain today as part of the Arboretum's collections.

The Arboretum also contains collections of lilacs, crabapples, deciduous trees and shrubs. With the many evergreens already taking up a large portion of the property, the decision was made to revise the collections policy to focus on conifers. It is estimated that there are well over 1,300 different conifers and evergreens on display but the number is probably higher as records are currently being updated.

More recently some Dr. Clark West collections have been added. These include a Colorado spruce witch's broom seedling display, a 3rd generation seedling assortment from a Thuja occidentalisFiliformis', and, in 2011, a group of Thuja occidentaIis Rosenthalii' 3rd generation seedlings were planted. These unique collections accompany other smaller samples in the gardens. The 2009 ACS Conifer Reference Garden grant funded the production of labels throughout the collection that aptly demonstrate to the public the diversity which conifers provide.

This article was written by Marita Tewes, of Red Butte Garden and Arboretum.

In the spring of 2017, Red Butte Garden and Arboretum became the ninth reference garden in the American Conifer Society’s Western Region.

Nestled on the east edge of Salt Lake City, in the foothills of the beautiful Wasatch Range, Red Butte Garden is the largest botanical garden in the Intermountain West. Red Butte Garden is a department of the University of Utah, and jointly holds the State Arboretum, comprised of over 12,000 deciduous and coniferous trees. Open to the public since the early 1980’s, the Garden includes 21 acres of developed gardens, including 11 themed gardens, and 79 acres of natural area. Conifers have always been one of our primary living plant collections. Our collection of over 230 different taxa is focused on displaying a wide variety of conifer and other gymnosperm taxa, emphasizing the diversity of size, form, color, and texture. As we continue to expand our collection, we will increase the diversity of Utah native species, water-wise species, unusual or rare forms, and miniature and dwarf varieties. We believe our collection is vital to show our guests the nearly endless variation of conifers that not only perform well in Utah, but also are an important part of any well-designed landscape.

Conifers can and should be used in a variety of ways, such as focal points, backdrop, groundcovers, or in mass. Red Butte Garden’s Conifer Collection is located throughout our themed gardens including the Courtyard, Four Seasons, Floral Walk, Herb, Medicinal, Fragrance, Children’s, Water Pavilion, Rose, Amphitheatre and our newest Garden, the Water Conservation Garden. In addition, several Utah native conifer species are found within the Garden’s Natural Area. The collection currently includes over 1,450 accessions from six families and 22 genera. 

The local climate is considered a semi-desert steppe, with the Salt Lake City area typically averaging 16.5” inches of precipitation per year. The foothills, where the Garden is located, can receive slightly more moisture. The summers are hot and dry, and the winters are cold, sometimes with persistent snow cover, but recent years have had dry periods that can be tough on conifers and shallow-rooted trees. Much of the precipitation occurs from fall to spring, and often in the form of snow. In addition, many Utah soils are high in alkalinity and sometimes high in salts. Red Butte Garden staff research potential acquisitions of select species we believe should perform well in our climate and soils. Staff also carefully selects sites that are best suited to each new planting, making wise use of the Garden’s many microclimates to assure the best success of our conifers. Because of this, many conifers that were previously thought to not do well in Utah have flourished at the Garden!

The plantings along the north perimeter are among the oldest at Red Butte Garden. This area has mature specimens of white fir (Abies concolor), Austrian pine (Pinus nigra), blue spruce (Picea pungens), incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) and also a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) and Himalayan pine (Pinus wallichiana). More recent plantings in the area include Swiss stone pine cultivars (Pinus cembra ‘Chalet’ and ‘Silver Sheen’), and birds nest spruce (Picea abies ‘Nidiformis’), a low shrub form. Farther east, along the shore of our upper pond, a new planting includes Western redcedar (Thuja plicata ‘Virescens’) and bald cypress cultivars (Taxodium distichum ‘Shawnee Brave’). Finding a nursery source that hadn’t limbed up the base branches of the bald cypress was a challenge, but worth it!

The Rose Garden is not a traditional rose garden, in that it was designed with many companion plants, including conifers. The conifers serve not only to enclose spaces and provide a backdrop for the roses, but also to bring their own beauty and diversity of form and texture to the space. Conifers in this garden include Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii ‘Iseli Fastigiate’), Oriental spruce (Picea orientalis ‘Gowdy’), yew (Taxus cuspidata ‘Amersfoort’),bald cypress (Taxodium distichum ‘Cascade Falls’), weeping juniper (Juniperus scopulorum ‘Tolleson’s Weeping Blue’), larch (Larix decidua) and Japanese red pine (Pinus densiflora ‘Golden Ghost’), to name a few.

Mature conifers are worth preserving and protecting. A favorite Garden specimen is a deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara ‘Cream Puff’). It was part of the Garden’s original plantings, but had to be removed and stored while the Rose Garden was constructed. The tree was root pruned by staff several months before being moved using a 90” tree spade, the largest we could find in Utah at the time. Its rootball was secured in a large wire basket and stored in the ground for over a year during construction. Before progress in the Rose Garden limited access to heavy equipment, the tree was lifted from its temporary spot using the wire basket and placed in its new home, where construction and planting resumed around it. After being tied up for almost two years to protect it from damage, garden staff spent over a year training every single branch of the Deodar Cedar to obtain the beautiful habit it has today!

Another new space for conifers is the Water Conservation Garden, a three-acre showcase of low water use plants. This new garden allowed us to expand the Conifer Collection to include several Utah natives, cultivars of Utah natives, and non-native water-wise taxa. Plantings include prostrate Scots pine cultivars, Pinus sylvestris ‘Albyn Prostrate’ and ‘Hillside Creeper’, planted adjacent to each other so our guests can observe their differences. A bristlecone pine cultivar, (Pinus aristata ‘Joe’s Bess’) is used as a hedge, and massings of Japanese stone pine (Pinus pumila ‘Dwarf Blue’), white fir (Abies concolor ‘Charming Chub’), and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa ‘Mary Ann Heacock’) cultivars highlight their forms. Other conifers in the Water Conservation Garden include bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata ‘Blue Bear’), pinon pine (Pinus edulis ‘Farmy’), jack pine (Pinus banksiana ‘Uncle Fogy’), singleleaf pinon (Pinus monophylla), and Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum ‘Woodward’). The use of conifers in the Water Conservation Garden shows our guests that conifers are a smart choice for low water landscapes and sites exposed to sun and wind.

An iconic juniper deer topiary announces the entrance to the Children’s Garden where the branches of a weeping blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’) gracefully envelope the framework of the entrance arbor. This garden also holds mature bristlecone pines (Pinus aristata), pinon pines (Pinus edulis), and a dwarf giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum ‘Von Martin’). Recent plantings in the Children’s Garden include a selection of dwarf conifers, such as Spanish fir (Abies pinsapo ‘Horstmann Nana’), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris ‘Little Brolly’), Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii ‘Banderica’) and hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Dainty Doll’). These are planted on tiered slopes with large boulders that provide ideal nooks and landings for dwarf and miniature conifers. Dwarf conifers are also heavily used in the Garden’s stunning outdoor containers, particularly for winter container displays.

Other Garden favorites include a gorgeous specimen Arizona cypress cultivar (Cupressus arizonica ‘Blue Pyramid’), weeping Western white pine (Pinus monticola ‘Pendula’) being trained on a sandstone wall, a bunya tree (Araucaria bidwilii) that is happy living indoors in our Visitor Center, a blue-leafed giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum ‘Powder Blue’), weeping nootka cypress (Cupressus nootkatensis‘ Pendula’), lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana ‘Rowe Arboretum’), red pine (Pinus resinosa ‘Don Smith’), creeping cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani ‘Sargentii’), Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata ‘Gruene Kugel’) and a weeping white spruce (Picea glauca ‘Pendula’) that once saw a US Olympic Committee party canopy overhead during the 2002 Winter Olympics and is the tree featured on the Plant Select website.

Red Butte Garden is well worth the visit, not only for our ever-expanding and diverse Conifer Collection, but also for our beautiful gardens with views of the Wasatch Mountains and the Salt Lake valley, and our other fabulous living plant collections!

For more information on our Conifer Collection, as well as other living plant collections, see http://www.redbuttegarden.org/plant-collections/

Red Butte Garden and Arboretum
300 Wakara Way
Salt Lake City, UT 84108 (801) 585-0556

Open year round
http://www.redbuttegarden.org/

With a staff of two and some assistance from horticulture program students and JSRCC Horticulture Club members, the soon-to-be yet not-ready for prime time yet ACS Reference garden on the campus of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Western Campus (in Goochland, Virginia, between Richmond and Charlottesville) has come a long way over the past year, thanks in large part to Horticulture program head David Seward's wise stewardship of ACS seed money as well as his persistent efforts at getting donations of materials from area businesses. Colesville Nursery and Glen Allen Nurseries have been major donors of said plant materials. The Al Gardner Memorial Conifer Garden will serve a multi-dimensional role as teaching garden, special events site, and as a living memorial to one of the Richmond region's great plantsmen, Al Gardner (1956 - 2007) who co-owned Colesville Nursery in Ashland Virginia as well as co-founded (along w/ Elizabeth Mundy) Acer Acres, a Japanese maple specialty nursery nearby. Al loved conifers and pushed for their greater use in home landscapes. So where are we now? The design is in place on the ground with loads of amended soil added to create low berms bisected by gravel walks and retained with metal edging. Signage is under construction as well as a literature box. Students have interplanted low growing thymes donated by Sandy's Plants, a Mechanicsville wholesale/retail nursery. 37 conifer specimens representing 11 different genuses are currently in the garden. Some of note include: Pseudolarix amabilis, Pinus bungeana, Juniperus rigida 'Hikaria' Picea omorika 'Pendula Bruns,' and a potential new yellow sport introduction off Cryptomeria japonica 'Sekkan' called Cryptomeria japonica 'Lemonade'.