Our Conifers Don't Like Wet Feet

If you're thinking about planting a Conifer (a cone-bearing tree), please make sure the site has good drainage. Each yard has micro-climates, which means that each section of the yard has different amounts of light, water, temperature and soil conditions that have a dramatic impact on what you can plant and where. Evergreens, like Pines, Spruces and Firs need specific conditions in a yard to survive--most importantly, good drainage. If you think about where these trees grow in nature, it will help you remember where they will do best in your yard. Theses trees thrive on mountain sides which provide good drainage.

I have been called to customers' houses and asked why their evergreen might be looking so sickly.  It's almost always because of too much water, though there are some insect pests.  I'm no Paul Bunyan, but I've pulled fifteen-foot dead trees right out of the ground because their roots were all rotted away.

When we moved into our house about 15 years ago, we hadn't fully grasped our yard's microclimates and soil conditions. We live on a bit of a hill, with our east neighbor above us and our west neighbor below us. We planted three White Firs in a row to create a bit of a natural barrier. 

Now there's just two (The one on the left has a Cottonwood growing in the background).  The third was on the right, below the rock wall, on the lawn.  It was a great grouping.  There's a small Magnolia there now.  Imagine all the water from our neighbor's yard ending up where that Magnolia is, and you can imagine why it drowned.  The others get the same amount of water, but have much better drainage. Just to the right of the photo, we planted a row of River Birches that are extremely happy. They love wet feet and drink it up. We made a good decision on that one. 

I hope this entry helps prevent you from making the same mistake we made or identifying a problem you are having in your yard.