Bye Yew Hedge, Hi New Hedge: The Optimist's Garden

an undulating bed of various heights and widths and shapes and sizes - not to mention colors. I made sure that blues grew against backgrounds of gold or deep green needles and that fine textures contrasted with bolder ones.

Mature Size: I was extremely mindful of how large these shrubs would eventually get. I wanted to be able to see over the porch railings when they had grown and so looked for dwarfs that shouldn't exceed 10 feet. I did choose one that gets taller, but it is also slender and was planted between double porch columns that block the line of sight to the street in any case. Mostly I went for plants that were definitely in the shrub rather than the tree class to make sure they didn't do what I've seen so many front yard plantings do - which is to grow until they overwhelm the house, and block windows and even the front door.

Color Selection: I began with Dwarf Colorado blue spruce, a tiny globe arborvitae called Thuja occidentalis 'Rheingold that is bright gold in summer and deep bronze in winter, Juniperus chinensis 'Blue Chip, a prostrate juniper' because it is the most intense blue I've seen in a juniper, and as a companion, Juniperus chinensis 'Old Gold' because it looks like a splash of sunlight on the lawn.

For texture as well as color I included two Chamaecyparis obtusas, one in deep green and one in bright gold. These plants have tightly packed needles on branches that seem to twist as a fern would in the wind. They are called Fernspray Chamaecyparis, probably for that very resemblance. Another Chamaecyparis, C. pisifera filifera 'Aurea nana' (Goldthread false cypress) was chosen not only for its lovely color but it's extremely fine texture - a lovely contrast against the stiff, bristly needles of the blue spruces.

I was particularly taken with Picea pungens 'Prostrata', a weeping form of Colorado blue spruce that can be grown as a groundcover or staked so that it will weep from whatever height we determine and then begin its job of spreading sideways. I'm a total sucker for that powder bluer foliage and so was happy to find forms that either remained small or could be somewhat controlled.

There is a dwarf Alberta spruce for punctuation, and finally, the mystery shrub, for which we lost the tags, but which I remember for certain reaches 7 feet high

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