- EP334 Rethink Conifers In The Garden & Bloom Review: 10 great conifers.

This weeks sponsor: 

Crann From  Probio Carbon 

https://www.probiocarbon.ie

Conifers have spent years stuck in the “dated garden” box, but we’re starting to see them differently and for good reason. After spotting standout examples in show gardens and design work, we talk through why conifers are quietly making a comeback and how a single well-chosen evergreen can add structure, texture and calm to a border all year round. If you’ve ever thought “conifers aren’t for me”, this is the rethink. 

We also unpack a very real gardening problem: weather whiplash. Going from cold conditions to near 30°C heat and then straight back into wind and heavy rain doesn’t just feel dramatic, it changes how plants grow. We share what we’re seeing on the ground, from scorched seedlings in polytunnels to onions, garlic and leeks starting to bolt after heat shock, plus why fluctuating moisture levels can push plants into stress. 

With wetter conditions back, we flag what to watch for right now: slugs and snails appearing in big numbers and potato blight risk rising quickly, especially where soft growth has been knocked about by wind. Then we move into practical, listener-friendly conifer picks and care tips, including compact pines, classic trees like Cedrus deodara and Metasequoia, and evergreen staples such as Taxus baccata for hedging and clipping. 

If you enjoy these practical garden check-ins and plant-focused deep dives, subscribe to the podcast, share the episode with a gardening friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. What conifer would you actually plant in your garden?

Transcript

Welcome And A Conifer Rethink

SPEAKER_00 0:12

How's it going everybody and welcome to Episode 334 Master My Garden Podcast? Now, this week's episode, we're looking at the topic of Conifers and kind of taking a re-look or rethinking what maybe our perception is of conifers. So it's something that I noticed in myself recently that conifers and certain conifers are catching my eye a little bit and they wouldn't have before. And a couple of weeks ago, when we had Elma from the pot eight the poppy garden on, she mentioned uh conifer. I think it was a Korean pine, if memory serves me correctly. But just even bloom looking at pictures from Chelsea, looking at some designers recently. There's some conifers that are really, you know, they're they're changing my perception of conifers in general. So that's kind of the topic we're going to cover this week. And uh, yeah, we're obviously going to talk about the huge change and difference in our weather from last Friday to this. Uh so lots to talk about and lots of interesting things to chat about. Before

Sponsor Crann From ProBioCarbon

SPEAKER_00 1:25

we do that, I mentioned for this week's sponsor, which is Crayon from Port Pro Biocarbon. Now, Crayon if you if you remember back to the the programme on RTE on homegrown, so it was mentioned on that in relation to boxes blight and how good it has been in the treatment of that. I've as I say used it previously on Portuguese laurel. I've applied it, it's two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, no, it's actually only only ten days ago now since I applied it, and I'm already seeing really vigorous growth in the in the Portuguese laurel. So definitely gonna hit it with another one. But it's a mix of Vacillusutilis and Pseudomonas, and they are live microbes. They basically uh help the plant in lots of ways, so they produce a hormone response which drives out plant growth, makes the plant more resilient and healthy. It um makes nitrogen bioavailable, it attaches to the root zone, which makes iron available to the plant, it's a natural fungicide against things like botrytis, pitium, fusarium, and all of those things. And when you apply it, it stays with the plant, so it's you know, it's a really beneficial uh microbe that will stay with the plant through all stages, can be used on all plants. I use it on my tomatoes, I use it on my apple trees, a lot of my vegetable beds, and yeah, multi multi-functional. Uh used a lot in the bonsai world, but you know, there's it's a it's a really, really great product. You'll find that and the biochar, another another very good product from probiocarbon on www.probiocarbon.ie. I'll put the link to that in the show notes as well. Uh, but a great product and one that I have used and and believe in myself.

Weather Whiplash And Garden Damage

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Uh so now let's let's get into firstly let's chat about the weather. Uh as I said, huge change in the course of a week. And last week I suppose it went from being kind of cold, you know, two weeks ago. If you went back two and a half, three weeks ago, it was cold. It was there was some some rain, not a huge amount, but there was some days of of rain, and it went from being cold to being 30 degrees Celsius here in the space of a couple of days. And again, I've mentioned it before in relation to changes like that. The anything that changes the you know the the temperature upwards or downwards by those huge amounts in short spaces of time isn't good for plant growth. And yeah, last week we had those searing hot temperatures. I know a lot of people had seedlings and plants that got burnt in you know, in tunnels and in propagation benches, and just because temperatures in the greenhouse can get up so high they just got singed, and uh I know because I've seen the videos of people and the pictures of people starting again sowing seeds, and that's you know, that can happen when you get that huge surge of temperature all of a sudden. This week has brought it all back down to earth in a bang. Um, lots of rain here in Ireland, a lot of wind, and a lot of damage in wind at this stage of the year because you have a lot of leaf growth, you know, a lot of soft growth on things, perennials and things, and so you're getting this wind, you're getting this wind on leaves, on plants which have a good bit of leaf on them, so that they're catching the wind, and they're getting blown around and battered around. There's heavy rain as well coming with that, and yeah, that's not great conditions for the lovely, lovely soft growth that we would have seen as a result of the temperatures last week. So there's that element of it. You have flowers and tender plants getting battered and blown around. There's that element, as I say. The other thing, and something that I've noticed here, and I know that others have had the same issue because again they've sent messages and whatnot.

Heat Shock Bolting In Tunnels

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Um for me, in the polytunnel, particularly, as I say, those temperatures in the polytunnel greenhouse can hit and were hitting last week, you know, 40 degrees Celsius. And I have in there they weren't quite ready, but onions, garlic, leeks, none of them were were fully ready. Uh they were all doing quite well. The the spring, funny enough, even though it was a bad spring generally, but inside in the polytunnel, they were growing nice and steady, nice and slowly. They were getting, you know, they were that bit warmer than outside, and they were just growing nice and steady, as I say, and they were coming along lovely, and then last week they just got hit with that you know 40 degrees overnight. And what has happened now is a lot of them a lot of them now are starting to bolt, so they're putting on on that uh you know the seed stock on them, and that's a as a result of that huge surge in temperature last week. So it's not it's not a major problem. What I'll end up doing, uh say for example, on the onions, they'll get harvested and eaten pretty much straight away as fresh onions. Uh they're a lot smaller than I would typically be harvesting from the tunnel. Uh the garlic is the same, they'll be used now as fresh garlic, but again, they haven't fully formed, they're nearly there. Another couple of weeks really would have, you know, would have seen them reach maturity. Um, but they've all started to to to bolt up now. Um so that's something that has happened. You will notice the same thing outside as well, um, particularly if beds got dry during that warm period. You know, if they if they had any period where they were drying out and then you're hitting them with water, that fluctuating in moisture levels in temperatures will cause a shock, and that shock in turn causes uh the bolting or the running to seed. So that's something that I've definitely noticed here.

Slugs Snails And Potato Blight

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Slugs this week, particularly really prevalent. Uh snails, I've never seen as many snails out this week. Um, in fact, my my youngest had uh a snail farm on the go right at the back door the other day, and she must have had 15 or 20 snails in it. Uh they just seem to come out overnight, you know, once that warm, warm weather was there, and then you got the rain to go with it, ideal conditions. It's also going to be ideal conditions for potato blight, so watch out for that. And the other thing that is you know relevant in terms of the weather and potato blight is obviously it's blight type weather now, um, but also those really warm temperatures last week you had this really soft growth, as I say. Those plants, even potato plants, would have been getting blown around a bit, they'll have soft growth on them, there might be a little bit of damage on them, and then the blight conditions come, and sometimes they can get really susceptible really quick because they just are soft. They've you know they've had that little bit of damage maybe from the wind or whatnot. So just be really vigilant of your potatoes outside, particularly um over the next over the next couple of weeks, because you know that blight is going to be very, very prevalent.

Bloom Highlights And Live Questions

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Um other thing, bloom last weekend. A good few of you came up and said hello. Um the two talks on Saturday, so I forget the times now, like 10 or half ten for half an hour, and then another one at twelve or half twelve for half an hour. Um, brilliant turnout at boat, really went really well. It was a different layout to what I'd seen the last time at the Eatwell Garden. So there was actually a seating area this year, and there was you know uh an area at the table, but it was the same principle in the Eatwell Garden at the Poly Tunnel. Uh, and nice crowd for boats, you know, really happy with the turnout, loads of questions, uh very interactive. Met some lovely people from various parts of the country, and good few listeners of the podcast came up and said hello as well, which I'm delighted with. So, yeah, uh went really well. Um first time speaking there, so kind of happy with that. And uh, you know, hopefully, I think I think yeah, the people from Bloom anyway said they were very happy with it, so that's that's all good. And yeah, it was a it was an enjoyable day. Funny enough, I didn't actually get because of the timings of it, I got there, you know, nine o'clock, got set up, got to my area, um, met Klaus Littenberger who was kind of running that area, and yeah, done my first talk at ten or half ten, whatever it was, second one at twelve, half twelve. There's a lot of questions afterwards, so it was probably like two o'clock before I got out got away from that area at all. Um then went and did a little bit of a tour around, but we had to shoot away at about four o'clock because uh I had to get home for for a couple of reasons, and so I didn't actually get to see a huge amount of the show overall. Uh you know, I got to see little bits and pieces, but didn't get to see a huge amount of it. So yeah, kind of was planning to go back on the Monday and then it was lashing rain, and uh it was due to rain all day, so I didn't I didn't actually head back up after, but yeah, nice day out, enjoyed enjoyed the talk, loved meeting a few of you guys listeners, and uh yeah, it was uh it was a it was a good good experience for for first time speaking at Bloom.

Why Conifers Fell From Favour

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Um so what we're talking about this week is conifers and and I suppose a lot of us will think of conifers, and I know I certainly would have thought of conifers uh as being kind of old-fashioned. Now there is some beautiful ones, and ones I've mentioned loads of times on the podcast before. But if you think of conifers generally, they they had their kind of period where everybody planted them everywhere in the garden. You know, if you went back sort of 25 years ago, 30 years ago, conifers were the plant, and when somebody was planting up a big flower bed, they were planted up predominantly with conifers, and you get all the the various colours, the various styles, and they were planted and then they grew, and then they were cut into domes or you know, cones or whatever, and they're still that way X amount of years later, or they got too big, someone tried to cut them back, then they were brown on the inside, so then they got cut out, and you know they have been they have been known to be I think at that time what happened was they were very much overused. So as I say, somebody doing a bed, a mixed bed, they they went heavy on the conifers at that time because they were all in, they were in vogue, there was, you know, probably they were probably new to I suppose new to people or relatively new to people at that stage, then they got overused, and I think that tends to happen, generally speaking, anyway, you know, everything goes through phases and then things settle down. Um so you know it's it's definitely I suppose when I look at conifers or looked at conifers, you'll you can picture them in the gardens of houses that were built sort of 30 years ago, 40 years ago, and you have these big conifer balls or these big conifer cones or odd shapes, and they're just cut and tidied and trimmed, but there's not much about them. So that that's kind of I suppose in the back of my mind when it comes to conifers. Having said that, over the last I suppose a couple of years, and particularly over the last six months, uh there's certain conifers that I look at and they're phenomenal. But not conifers are best if they're used sparingly and they're used in you know, certainly as specimen pieces as well, they can be absolutely phenomenal, but certain conifers in the right place, not overdone, and I think they can look absolutely brilliant. Uh, I'm gonna go through a list of about ten. It's certainly not the definitive list. There is so many new ones coming on now. I've seen some beautiful ones. I've seen a beautiful uh Abyss with I think it was called strawberry, strawberry head or Abyss strawberry tree or something like that. But basically it was a miniature Abyss with little red tips on it that looked for all the world like strawberries. So had the conifer the conifer leaf or uh needle, and then right on the tips of all the growing tips was a a really vibrant red uh pine or a little vibrant red needle head on it. Um and that was that's where the name obviously came from, strawberry head. It looks it looks amazing. So you know I'm there is some beautiful ones coming out, new new cultivars, new varieties, and yeah, it's I suppose after as I say I suppose forcing me to look at them in a in a slightly

Standout Conifers For Modern Gardens

SPEAKER_00 15:21

different light. So I'm gonna go through ten uh that might make us rethink conifers. Some of these I've mentioned, as I said before, but and some of them are actually old-fashioned ones, but when used correctly, they can be brilliant. Uh so I'll go through the list. First one is Pinus Mugo, and there's loads of different varieties of this, but it grows you know relatively small, it's meter-ish in size, meter two and a meter and a half at max, but it's a really standout, really nice uh pinus or pine, and there's loads of varieties. Winter gold is a very good one, really gold-colored pine pine uh leaf on or needle on it, and that looks brilliant, and you know that's one that definitely would be worthy of of any garden. Uh, pines in general are I find to be kind of very nice, and especially as a specimen. Talk about another one later on, but as a specimen, they're yeah, they do, they kind of stand out. Um number three on the number two on the list is Cedrus Deodora. This is an old-fashioned one in that it was all in vogue 20 years ago. Loads of gardens were planting them, then they kind of fell out a little bit. But if you look at them and in them now that are mature, uh a Cedrus Diodora will grow to a big tree like 15 foot or 15 metres, maybe, maybe even 20 metres. Uh it has you know the kind of pyramid type shape, layered tree, uh gorgeous colour, that kind of blue, bluey colour on it, and it's a brilliant, brilliant tree. It's also available in a pendula, so a weeping version of the same thing. Don't like that as much. I find that a little bit um I don't know what would you say, a bit not it doesn't look right. It doesn't look uh like it should. Whereas the Cedar Steadora is a fantastic tree. Uh classy, definitely has been, you know, it's one that was planted a lot of years ago, and it's definitely not being planted as much now. But if you look at those mature ones now, they're absolutely gorgeous trees, and one that you know g in time will really become a fantastic tree in your garden. Does need a bit of space, as I say, it can go up to 15 or 20 metres, but a very, very nice tree. Next one on the list is Meta Sequoia, uh Dawn Redwood. This is not for a small garden, this is one that's going to be you know 15 metres up to 30 metres in size. The autumn colour is spectacular on it, and again, it needs a lot of space. It's um it's a redwood, so it is you know, it's um along the lines of the the big giant redwoods that that you know are among the biggest trees in the world, so it's in that family, so you can imagine it's going to be a big tree, but Medisquia uh Dawn Redwood grows generally speaking in most styles and has fantastic autumn colour, and and that's a tree, as I say, worth for um worthy of any garden. Next one on the list is Scots Pine, it's native Irish, um, or one of our native trees. I know it's also native to other parts of the world, but definitely here it's a fantastic tree. Not really a garden tree, more of a you know, a field or an estate tree, but it's a fantastic tree. It's the only native on the list in terms of conifers, but a really, really fantastic one. Next one on the list I've mentioned before, but in relation to hedging, I guess, and it's taxis bacata. And it to me it is the classiest uh evergreen hedge that you can have. It is a beautiful leaf, always good colour on it, um really dense and thick, and it looks classy, you know, it's a classy hedge, and it's it's definitely my favourite uh evergreen hedge, I would think. I've used a little bit recently, I've used the likes of the Taxis Bicata balls instead of using Buxus balls, uh, and they look superb as well. So it's a brilliant, brilliant hedge, or a brilliant um brilliant as a specimen plant, so but in a ball shape or a cone shape. Uh there's a people doing kind of big columns, like um they look like big square columns. They look absolutely amazing in in Texas Picata, so another one, another really good one. Next on the list is one that's definitely old-fashioned, but it's still a good one. And I passed by a garden in Wexford there a couple of weeks ago, and they had them standing all along the the front of the house, so they had a hedge and right or they had a a fence and right behind the fence they had these planted, not in a hedge as such, but more creating a bit of screening. And it's two yeah uh Orientales Smargold. And how would you describe them on this garden when you drove? The the garden was way up above the road, it was on a it was on a hill, and they had these planted all along at kind of two metre spacings behind the fence, and they looked for all the words like uh soldiers guarding the fence. They were just big, stately, uh tall columns, uh slightly tapered at the top, and they just looked really well. Again, these have been planted a lot over the years, and generally they get overdone or they get you know they get allowed to grow into a bit of a mess, but but when they're kept right and planted in a nightw nice way, in the nice setting, they kind of just yeah, they they really do what they're supposed to do, and that was that looked really good. It was um yeah, it was it was hard to describe it, but it was high, it was above the road. Wasn't a full tick hedge, but it was creating a division. You couldn't see the house. They were, as I say, like soldiers guarding the guarding the fence. It it looked it looked really well. So that's another one, too. You already can tell a smargold. Uh the next one is Cryptomeria Japonica. That's again one cryptomeria. There's loads of really interesting and nice cryptomerias. I find that some of them look a little bit. Untidy or quite a lot of them actually look untidy, I think. Um, but Cryptomeria Japonica that looks nice, has a nice, relatively nice shape on it. Uh, but some of them, as I say, they look a little bit scraggy, and yeah, I don't I wouldn't love them, but that particular one is is very, very nice. There's another one, um uh PCA AB's little gem. So it's a an A B's again uh in the lit in Little

How To Site Conifers Well

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Gem. That one is nice, it's small, suitable for small garden, and I suppose something to note with all of the all of the conifers really is that they generally speaking will will prefer drier soil. And they'll grow in most conditions in terms of you know hardiness, in terms of wind, but just they don't want wet feet, they don't like to sit in in water. Generally speaking, conifers by their nature, they're they're plants that grow between rocks on the sides of hills, generally at higher altitude. That's broadly speaking their sort of natural home. So you don't want to have them sitting in anything that's heavy water outside, they don't want that at all. But other than that, they'll grow almost anywhere. Um, another nice one is Podocarpus Nivellus, um, a very, very good, very similar in a way to Taxus Bacata, in that it can be clipped really, really tight, can stay really full, grows as you know, can grow as a hedge, can be shaped into balls and cones and things like that. So that's a really good one. Um Polycarpus Nevalis. It's not one that you'll see very often, but it is a very, very good plant and a very, very good conifer. And there's loads, like that's kind of ten, I think, conifers that are worth you know, worth a look. I'll run over the list again and then I'll give you a few other notable ones. So Pinus Mugo, um Podocarpus Nevalis, Cedrus Theodora, very good one. Um when you're planting Cedarus Theodora, it won't look anything exciting or anything great to look at. But if you look at that in 20 years' time or 30 years' time, it it creates a fine tree, it really does. Um Metisquiaodon Redwood, that's big, you need to give that the space. Scots pine, one of my favourite trees, a native tree, not really a garden tree, but a brilliant tree. And Pinus Negra Bambino, actually, I hadn't mentioned that one, Pinus Negra Bambino. That's one now that I'm seeing a lot. So it's the Austrian dwarf pine, and that's one that I'm seeing a lot being used as specimen plants in you know, sort of show gardens and so on, and they look fantastic. So you have uh all the lower stems and so on pruned off, and you end up with this kind of pine tree, but in a with a big head, like maybe a meter wide of a head, and then a little short stem on it, and it looks it just looks class. Um uh Pinus Nigra uh Bambino, which is the Austrian dwarf pine. That's one, as I say, look that up, it's a really gorgeous, gorgeous kind of specimen tree. Uh, other ones on the list then that we mentioned Taxis Picata, Tuia Orientalis Margold, Cryptomaria japonica, um Pesia A B's Little Gem. And other notable mentions then for the larch tree, uh, which beautiful tree as well. It does drop its needles in the in the winter time. One that was overused so much back in the back in the noughties or even the nineties was Juniper Blue Star. Every garden in the country had a juniper blue star at one point in time. Completely overdone, people got sick of them. But in if you look at it on its own and forget about its overuse, it's actually a really interesting looking plant, that lovely bluey, that bluey kind of bluey grey kind of hint on the on the on the on the needles. So it's a really beautiful plant, but as I say, it got a bit overused, and as a result, people maybe fell out of love with it a little bit. And there's lots of other uh tui of placata, uh, loads of Pinus, Pinus Sylvestris, um loads of cryptomarias, loads of chamois. You get the you know the spirals, the pruned spirals of chamois. There's so many, so many interesting ones. And I suppose the the purpose of the episode was just to kind of have a a rethink. I don't have I think I'm right in saying, I don't have a single conifer in the garden, do I? I've won Taxis Bacata comb, that's it. Um so there's definitely there's definitely uh merit for some. There's some beautiful ones in it, there's some of them that have been completely overused in the past, uh conifers in general, where people planted a whole bed of conifers and nothing nothing else in it, and then left it grow, and then a few years later it's just everything's grown into each other, everything's overgrown, yeah, and they just they lose their they lose their appeal when they're when they're planted in that way. But individually, they're really interesting plants and you know they can they're suitable, you can have them for really small gardens, you can have them for pots, and you can have the really big metascoyas and so on. So there's something for kind of every garden, and there's an interest for for every garden within conifers, so long as they're not overused and put all together. So yeah, um just kind of to highlight that and to to rethink, I suppose, to rethink conifers um as a as a worthwhile, worthwhile plant for the garden. Some some of the nurseries in Ireland have great selections of them, and you know, you get them in in all the various sizes, but yeah, as I say, recently I've been just looking at them, especially the the likes of the Prunus Negra, and the likes of those just look fantastic and interesting, stand out, and you know, really nice specimen trees or plants. So that's what has caught my eye, and I just think they're kind of worth they're kind of worth uh a rethink.

Comeback Signs And Festival Plug

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Uh, I'd say they probably are making a little bit of a comeback because you just noticed that the garden centres have given over more space to them over, say, the last year or two. There was probably a point in time there where conifers, you know, if you went back 30 years ago, maybe half the garden centre would have been conifers, but now and then there was a period where they were stuck in a corner because nobody wanted them, but there seems to be more of them now, and different varieties and new interesting ones coming along, like I mentioned that AB's with this I think it's kind of strawberry tree or strawberry something or other. Really interesting one. So there is lots coming and uh definitely worth a rethink as the the idea was to start that episode. Uh, anything else that's happening this week? Uh let me see, Buds and Blossoms is on this Sunday, the 7th, so Sunday the 7th of June. I mentioned that in the episode last Saturday that it's on. We have speakers from there's Edward Hayden, celebrity chef, he's going to be speaking there. Kieran Fitzgerald, head gardener of Johnstown Castle, and all the work that they're doing down there. Darren McCullough of Elv Elm Grove Farm, the biggest um daffodil farm, I think, in the country. Um also he was at Bloom last week, so a busy man at Bloom. Uh beautiful stand of peony roses there. So yeah, he I I'm sure he he was he had a very, very busy weekend um up there and yeah, back back in in spink this Sunday. As I mentioned, there is a whole host of events on the Saturday, so check out Leash Garden Festival and uh gates open on Sunday from 12 pm. I presume the first speaker is kind of at one o'clock or thereabouts, lots of nurseries there, lots of uh you know other gardening equipment and arches and you know all of that sort of thing. So loads, loads, loads at the Spink Garden Festival or the Buds and Blood Buds and Blossom Garden Festival in Spink Community Grounds, and that's on Sunday, the 7th. So, yeah, quick episode, just rethinking conifers and uh mentioning those huge fluctuations in

Week Ahead And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_00 31:06

temperatures. We're looking ahead to the next week of kind of similar, unsettled, little bit of rain, reasonably high temperatures, not bits of sunshine, and uh very changeable. As uh somebody said the other day, after two days of or two or three days of the really good weather, that's it now for another year. And hopefully that's not the case. So, yeah, hopefully we see we see more good weather in the coming weeks. But anyway, for now, that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening, and until the next time, happy garden.