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Specimen Plants
Specimen plants, like Japanese Maples or Evergreens, serve as focal points in the landscape to emphasize their form, texture or color. Some put on an extra show in spring, others display their dramatic colors in fall, but no matter the season, these superstars never fade into the background. Here are a few of our favorites.
Japanese Maples
Bloodgood
Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’
One of the most popular Japanese maple varieties, deep purple leaves emerge in spring and mature to a deep burgundy all summer. In fall, the palm-shaped leaves turn a brilliant red.
Plant in full sun to part shade. It goes 15 to 20 feet tall and wide.
Crimson Queen
Acer palmatum ‘Crimson Queen’
Height: 8 – 10 feet
Spread: 10 – 12 feet
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Zone: 5 – 8
Crimson Queen is a dwarf, rounded tree with a weeping branching habit that adds a graceful texture to the garden. Foliage emerges purple in spring and develops to spectacular shades of red and orange in fall.
Plant in full sun to part shade. It grows 8 to 10 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet wide.
Virdis Laceleaf
Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Virdis’
This is Crimson Queen’s green twin in habit and form. Its fern-like leaves remain a bright green throughout the season. In fall, they turn a beautiful golden-yellow with hints of red.
Plant in full sun to part shade. It grows 10 to 15 feet tall and wide.
Katsura
Acer palmatum ‘Katsura’
Palm-like leaves emerge yellow in spring and develop to chartreuse during the season. As fall approaches the leaves turn stunning shades of orange. Even in winter the deep purple younger branches and twigs stand out against the older, gray bark.
Plant in full sun to part shade. It grows 10 to 12 feet tall and wide.
Tamukeyama
Acer palmatum ‘Tamukeyama’
Sporting a mounding and weeping form, lacy foliage emerges a beautiful crimson-red fading to a purple-green in summer, then turning stunning fiery shades of red in fall.
Plant in full sun to part shade. It grows 6 to 8 feet tall and 8 to 12 feet wide.
Evergreens
Creeping Blue Spruce
Picea pungens ‘ Glauca Procumbens ‘
This spreading groundcover produces a striking effect when planted to drape over a rock wall or slope. The attractive blue form makes an excellent alternative to ground covering junipers.
Plant is full sun. It grows 1 to 2 feet tall and spreads 6 to 8 feet.
Weeping Alaskan Cedar
Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Pendula’
Height: 15 – 20 feet
Spread: 8 – 12 feet
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Zone: 4 – 7
A slender, pyramidal and delicate weeping tree with pendulous branches produces a striking effect in the landscape.
Plant in full sun to part shade. It grows 15 to 20 feet tall and 8 to 12 feet wide.
Fukuzumi Japanese White Pine
Pinus parviflora ‘Fukuzumi’
Height: Irregular up to 6 feet
Spread: Irregular up to 12 feet
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Zone: 4 – 7
A slow growing Japanese pine with a unique 45o branching habit gives a windswept character to the landscape. Short, blue-green, twisted needles are attractive when viewed up close.
Dwarf Hinoki Falsecypress
Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’
Height: 3 – 6 feet
Spread: 2 – 4 feet
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Zone: 4 – 7
Dwarf Hinoki Falsecypress is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a distinctive and refined pyramidal form. Its shell-shaped sprays give it a relatively fine texture with almost ferny, delicate foliage that sets it apart from other landscape plants – ideal for detail uses.
