By Ronald Elardo
February 15, 2020
Follow our editor's journey in creating an indoor haven for conifer trees.

A conifer tree faces the window in its indoor setting

Up north plant lovers can visit just about any nursery or plant shop and find conifers that in my neighborhood will not make it through our northernwinters. Before what I call my pre-conifer knowledge, I tried Podocarpus macrophyllus and Araucaria columnaris as houseplants only to watch them succumb to the dry heat of forced air furnaces, wither and die.

Northern nurseries also sell, as a rule, Sciadopitys verticillata, Cedrus atlantica (blue Atlas cedar), Cedrus deodara ‘Eisregen’ and Pinus densiflora ‘Golden Ghost’ with little or no warning regarding winter hardiness, survivability and planting location. Sadly, the beauty of spring and summer might very well be followed by the brown and death of fall and winter. My home and gardens are in Adrian, Michigan, Zone 5.

A conifer tree from the genus Araucaria

Conifers as Houseplants: A Thought
At the ACS National Meeting this past summer in Charlotte, there were many plants at the live and silent auctions. I was mesmerized by them and I wondered how I might carry some back to my home in Zone 5 and help them thrive and grow. I knew they could not be planted outside and overwintered, but Ron Determann, Conservatory Director at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, provided a glimpse of conifers as houseplants in his presentation on Jurassic Araucaria and other Southern Hemisphere conifers. Then I had lunch with Tom Cox.

Tom and I talked about conifers south of Zone 5 and the successes he has been having with them in pots. He shared how the plants spent the spring, summer and fall outside and then were brought indoors for the winter. Tom described the growing medium he has used in order to provide the trees with the best footing: pea gravel, fish aquarium charcoal and soil.

I listened with great interest as Tom listed the ingredients of the mixture; charcoal at the bottom of the pot “to sweeten” the mixture, pea gravel and soil for a somewhat porous medium. I also had to give them room to grow.

I have visited the Orangerie on the grounds of the palace of Frederick the Great, Sans Souci, in Potsdam, just outside of Berlin in The Federal Republic of Germany. There, potted fruit trees and tropical trees of all kinds spend spring and summer outside. Then, when the cold weather approaches, these large trees are wheeled into the glassed hallways of the Orangerie to spend the winter. I have even seen potted plants on plant-dollies in private gardens throughout Germany that spend the winter in garages.

My plants are far smaller than those in Potsdam, but they are very significant to me. And, the principle is the same. Tender plants can winter indoors under the right conditions.

The conifer, Sekkan Sugi Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica 'Sekkan')

Gathering my Indoor Conifer Candidates
The auctions that evening in Charlotte netted me some interesting specimens of Sciadopitys verticillata, Cunninghamia lanceolata ‘Samurai’ and Cryptomeria japonica ‘Sekkan-sugi.' To them I added from my favorite local nursery Barrett’s Podocarpus macrophyllus var. ‘maki’ (two plants), Cryptomeria japonica ‘Black Dragon’ (two plants), two more Sciadopitys verticillata and three Araucaria columnaris.

The Podocarpus and Araucaria have spent their entire time with me indoors. All the others spent the spring and summer outdoors on a southwest facing deck. The plants were fertilized with Osmocote as per instructions on the packaging. In October, when outside temperatures began to get near freezing, the outdoor inhabitants were brought indoors.

Then I purchased at Christmas time a Picea pungens, one Picea glauca ‘Conica’ and finally Picea glauca ‘Jean’s Dilly.' I chose to expand my collection to include Zone 5 hardy conifers because I wanted to see what they would do in the house too. As you know, nurseries have for many years sold potted conifers during the holidays for those interested in having a real, live Christmas tree. My thought was that, if the trees survived the winter indoors, they could remain “houseplants” and I could pass on my research and guidelines to my friends at Barrett’s.

The conifer,  Japanese umbrella-pine (Sciadopitys verticillata)

How to Set Up Conifer Trees Indoors
The environment I have provided my coniferous house guests is a room off the dining area. It gets eastern, northern and filtered western light. This light is of course far fewer foot candles than the plants would receive outside. They have maintained their color and their vitality for the most part. My Sciadopitys from North Carolina is pushing new growth. However, two of the trees have been stressed. Daytime temperatures never exceed 60°F - 65°F. Nighttime temperatures remain at 60°F or below.

One Cryptomeria and one Sciadopitys have suffered in their indoor “plant room." The Cryptomeria was within seven feet of a floor heating vent. All the vents in the plant room had been closed once the trees came in and the overall house temperature had been dialed down to 70°F.

That Black Dragon browned on the entire one side that faced into the house proper. A good one-third of the plant dried out and had to be removed. It had already started sending new branches out from the trunk where older branches had died. This plant was the most vibrant and healthy before coming into the house. It had pushed a great deal of new growth during the spring, summer and even into the fall.

As of this writing, the tree appears to be in total decline. Much of the new growth is turning brown. The other Cryptomeria japonica stands in front of the patio door. It receives eastern light and is doing quite well. It too is pushing new growth.

The Sciadopitys, that was across from the stressed and dying Cryptomeria, began to experience what I would call radical needle drop. (Tom Cox had admonished me to plant Sciadopitys outside.) My stressed Sciadopitys verticillata too was facing on one side into the house proper, but was more than ten feet from the heating vent that I believe caused the Cryptomeria to suffer.

I moved the Sciadopitys deeper into the plant room where the temperatures are no more than 60°F on a very sunny day. It appears to be rebounding. At least the needle drop has tapered off.

The conifers are mixed in with my subtropicals (jade trees, cacti, and euphorbia) and are lightly fertilized and kept lightly watered from unpurified well water. There is an elevated humidity level in the room from the plants themselves which are causing condensation on the windows on the inside. But that is a small price to pay for this experiment and for the lives of my conifer houseplants.

A close-up of the conifer tree, blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca')

Successes (and Loss) in the Indoor Conifer Room
I have in the past had Norfolk Island pines and they never made it. But my three Araucaria have been pushing new growth. They seem to be flourishing in the more temperate plant room. I do fawn over the trees and I check on them several times during the day. I write in that room, a bit bundled up to be sure, but it is my room.

I have been warned about what the spring might bring. But once it is safe for them to move out onto my eastern and southern facing decks, they will enjoy the spring and summer outside. In the meantime I had been tickled by the blue Atlas cedar that had been pushing new growth for the past two months. Needle drop had been extremely minimal on it and then disaster struck. The plant went rapidly into decline and has had to be removed from the house.

By the way, my Cedrus deodara ‘Eisregen’ and Pinus densilfora ‘Golden Ghost’ (three of them) get wrapped in burlap late every fall. They are outside. The first year in my garden the largest Golden Ghost browned and I feared it was a total loss. However, it came back more beautiful than ever.

‘Eisregen’ never suffered winter burn, was wrapped for its first winter and has made it each winter since. Once the trees exit the house and enjoy their vernal equinox and summer solstice outside, I will post an update as to their successes and, hopefully, not too many failures, or as Barbie Colvin has stated: “...to see how they get through the heat of winter."

I am in awe at the prospect of overwintering and even growing conifers as houseplants. Many thanks, Tom, for the encouragement and the advice. The experiment continues.

Thumbnail photograph by Sigmund.

Broadleaf Evergreens and Conifers

By Maud Henne

February 29, 2020

Liven up your garden with a group of evergreen and conifer trees with leaves instead of needles.

close-up of the broadleaf evergreen, Nageia sp. with pollen cones

It took me 20 years of caring for and about conifers to find out that there are evergreens and conifers with leaves. We hobby gardeners commonly associate the term “conifer” with trees that bear cones and have needles.

I acquired a leafy conifer at the plant auction of the SE Region meeting at Clemson University, South Carolina, in fall 2008. It is a donation of the Friends of the State Botanical Garden in Athens, Georgia. It is labeled “Broadleaf Conifer – Nageia nagi.” The name did not mean anything to me, so I asked an expert.

The Broadleaf Podocarp

“It is in the family of the podocarps,” I was told. I asked, “Will it grow in zone 7?” I was assured it would if the location is more 7b than 7a. “It is a tough plant,” somebody said.

It is a pretty plant. It is 4 feet tall. When I inquired about the age of the plant, I was told, “Eight months, but it was grown in a greenhouse. It will slow down now.” I was reminded of an Araucaria bidwellii I got stuck with at a silent American Conifer Society auction because I was the sole bidder.

That plant put out 1.5 feet of growth in each direction in my living room within six months, between September and March. Since I was not willing to raise my ceiling, I donated this plant to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia. It is kept in a greenhouse there. When I visited in spring 2008, it looked fat and happy.

 A Hardy Evergreen Tree from Asia

Having acquired an 8-month-old, 4-foot-tall baby leafy evergreen, I could not wait to get home and consult various tree books. Here is what I learned:

1) Manual of Cultivated Conifers (Gerd Krüssmann): Among approximately 100 species listed and described, there it is P. nagi. Tree, 5–20m (49-65 feet) from southern Japan.

2) Conifers: The Illustrated Encyclopedia Volume 2: L to Z (D.M. van Gelderen and J.R.P. van Hoey Smith): This book shows the tree and a branch with fruit.

3) Trees and Shrubs: In a Firefly Encyclopedia of more than 8,500 plants, I learn that all six species in the Nageia genus require well drained soil and water during dry periods. Their frost tolerance is minimal. They are evergreen trees; their distinguishing feature is broad, lance-shaped, multi-veined leaves, a character that is unique in conifers. Nageia nagi is described as a tree that grows to 70 feet (21m) or more and occurs in Japan, China, and Taiwan, which verifies Dr. Krüss mann’s outline in his world map. Hardiness: Zone 8–10.

4) Trees of North America–Golden Field Guides: This book from St. Martin’s Press lists podocarps under “Some Introduced Gymnosperms” and shows a drawing of P. nagi that illustrates the leaves and fruit.

The broadleaf conifer, Asian bayberry (Nageia nagi)

I know a lot more about podocarps by now. In time, I will have to make a decision: Should I risk planting it outside? Or, should I keep it as a house plant and, as soon as it threatens to outgrow my living room, take it to Richmond and donate it to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden?

Maud Henne, a native of Germany, residing in Charlottesville, Virginia, has taken care of her late husband’s conifer collection since 1989. She increased it to over 200 plants. Maud has been a member of ACS since 1985 and is a Past President of the Southeastern Region.

She gives lectures about garden conifers with slides and cuttings for plant societies and garden clubs, and is part of the lecture program for the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards. In 2007, her collection was featured on regional PBS.

This article was originally published in the Spring 2009 issue of Conifer Quarterly. Join the American Conifer Society to access our extensive library of conifer-related articles and connect to a nationwide group of plant lovers! Become a member for only $40 a year and get discounts with our growing list of participating nurseries in our Nursery Discount Program.