When we first got into the garden center business over 50 years ago, our top three selling shrubs were Tam Juniper, Pfitzer Juniper, and Mugo Pine. Throughout the 60’s and 70’s  thousands of junipers and mugos were planted throughout east Idaho. They were popular sellers for good reason (at the time). They were hardy, easy to grow, inexpensive, and green year round. Unfortunately, if the homeowner didn’t diligently prune them each year they grew much larger than most people wanted, covering not only the foundation of the house, but the picture windows and front doors, too.

Now almost all evergreens have the reputation of being unruly, overgrown, prickly, spider havens. A lot of folks are so disillusioned that they won’t even consider planting any evergreens around their home. And that’s too bad, because there are a lot of truly wonderful dwarf and specialty evergreens that can add so much variety and personality to the landscape. Here are a few you might consider.

‘Slowmound’ Mugo Pine

‘Slowmound’ Mugo Pine.
Valued for its neat, evenly mounded habit, this rugged and hardy dwarf shrub offers year-round beauty with its rich deep green foliage and fine texture. Slow growing, its compact form seldom needs pruning or maintenance, reaching only 3 feet in height. And it’s hardy to -40 degrees so it will work almost anywhere in east Idaho.

‘Little Gem’ Spruce

‘Little Gem’ Spruce in my yard 2012.

I have one of these tiny beauties in my own yard near my patio. It’s hard to believe that this is a cultivar of the Norway Spruce that can grow up to 100 feet tall. ‘Little Gem’ is nothing like it’s parent. It is an extremely small and compact rounded shrub, very unlike the species. It is hardy to about -30 degrees and stays a nice bright green all winter. Rarely does it experience winter burn that can cause some of the needles to brown a bit. What I love most about it is that it grows so incredibly slow. I planted mine over 10 years ago, have never pruned it at all, and it is still only about a foot high and 18 inches wide. Talk about a maintenance free shrub!

‘Icee Blue’ Juniper

‘Icee Blue’ Juniper
Junipers got a bad rap from all the ‘Tams’ and ‘Pfitzers’ that have become unruly over the years, but don’t let that deter you from trying this exceptional introduction. It won’t grow over about 4 inches… yes, that’s inches… tall. So don’t worry about it blocking your windows. And it has the most beautiful silver blue winter color of any groundcover. Winter foliage will sometimes turn plum purple if our winter is exceptionally cold. But that’s another plus. It’s hardy to -40 degrees! It can grow 8 feet in diameter, however, so don’t plant it in a small bed. It will need some room to spread it’s wings. But if you have a large area in need of a year round ground cover, ‘Icee Blue’ might be just the ticket.

‘Tannenbaum’ Mugo Pine

‘Tannenbaum’ Mugo Pine
Now here’s a Mugo pine that does get bigger, but it’s not a shrub, it’s a small tree. Though multi-stemmed, it forms a perfect “Christmas tree” shape that is perfect in many situations in the landscape. Plant this where you want the look of an evergreen tree, but don’t have room for an Austrian pine that might get 50 feet tall. ‘Tannenbaum’ will grow to only about 10′ tall and 6′ wide. It is extremely hardy, rated to -50 degrees, and has beautiful dark green needled foliage all year round. An outstanding new introduction from Iseli Nursery.

Weeping Colorado Spruce
Weeping Blue Spruce is a dense dwarf evergreen tree with a strong central leader and a shapely form with gracefully arching branches. A weeping and trailing tree, with silvery blue pointy needles held on trailing branches, it is almost skirted in appearance, maintaining it’s blue color through the winter- a most emphatic accent tree to say the least. And they don’t come much more durable and hardy than this. It’s rated hardy to -50 degrees.

Weeping Colorado Spruce

This is a relatively low maintenance dwarf tree, but not quite so much as the other’s I’ve mentioned. You will need to occasionally prune a branch here or there that isn’t going in the direction you would like. When pruning is necessary, either remove entire branches, or just prune back the new growth. Deer don’t particularly care for this plant and will usually leave it alone in favor of tastier treats.

Weeping Blue Spruce will typically grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of up to 10 feet. It has a low canopy and will trail right onto the ground if allowed. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 70 years or more.