BANGOR, Maine — You want that one tree or shrub that will stand out and be the centerpiece of your garden. Gardening with Gutner talked with Lily Salfi of Sprague's Nursery and Garden Center for some ideas.
"Whether it's evergreen, deciduous, weeping, or creeping, we have a lot of options to take the garden to the next level," Salfi explained.
Beginning with shape, there's a lot more to evergreens than the standard Christmas tree shape. Salfi recommends the following:
Shape
Curly Pine - wispy, twisty needle look
Evergreens can be pruned to a spiral or grafted into the shape of a pom-pom.
Weeping Norway Spruce - has a weeping shape on its own
Weeping Cedar - can get very tall
Weeping Pine - beautiful shape - a favorite of Lily's
"Everything isn't going to be in bloom all season long. So the foliage is a great place to look for some consistent color," the greenhouse specialist said. She pointed out some burgundy-colored shrubs are on the invasive species list.
Color
Weeping Beech - beautiful burgundy color as well as a weeping shape.
Blue Spruce - blue all year long.
Smoke Bush is one of Lily's favorite shrubs.
"There's nothing that's going to make somebody walk by your yard and wonder what the heck is going on there," Lily shared. "It's going to be this cloud of plumy, pinkish, rosey smoke.
So keep these suggestions in mind as you decide what will be the statement/centerpiece in your garden.