Water Gardening: Ponds and full grown bonsai trees, 0 by WNYwillieB

WNYwillieB wrote:
I am glad you are enjoying them, Linda.

I think I planted those ten pines (2 each of 5 kinds) in 1993 or 1994. So, probably about 10 or 15 years old already. Geesh .... seems like yesterday. I have 9 in my yard and one in the neighbor's.

A friend had busted out his old patio and I took the concrete debris and piled it there in the backyard with layers of soil in between, then planted the pines on top of the rock pile. I want to plant it with alpine flowers. Already covered with woodruff, along with some columbine, iris and Mahonia. VERY good drainage there.

I wanted some height quickly, and that certainly did the trick. You can kind of make out the rocks in that last photo behind the fountain spray.

The pines were "free" when I subscribed to the National Arbor Day Foundation, and came bare root about 12 inches tall .... barely a stick and 4 or 5 small, inch-long branch sprouts. They grew about 5 foot the first 10 years, and about a foot a year after that. Though, I have been pruning them all along. This past year when I joined, I got ten "free" Norway pines, along with ten Colorado blue spruce. Still foot tall sticks.

The white pines in the front yard were nursery bought in those larger plastic buckets.

I got lucky with all this, as I wasn't really planning anything, just throwing things where they fit. Now, I am thankful I have a great foundation of evergreens to plant around. And, the pond just happened to fit in there perfectly.

Here's a summer / winter comparison .... I like the way evergreens keep things interesting in the winter.