Conifers

Conifers are cone-bearing evergreens that carry needles or flat scales instead of broad leaves, and most of them hold their color straight through winter. This page gathers every conifer Nature Hills Nursery offers, from creeping junipers that stay ankle high to spruce and pine that grow into full shade trees.

Which conifers survive your winter?

Zone is the first filter, and the range across this page is wide. Arborvitae, creeping juniper, and white spruce hold up in zone 3. Hinoki false cypress and Japanese cedar start at zone 5. Atlas cedar and English yew want zone 6 or warmer. Check the zone range on the plant before anything else. A conifer that is one zone short often looks fine for two years, then browns out in a hard winter.

How much room does it get?

Mature size splits this page in half. Dwarf and miniature forms add an inch or two a year and settle between 1 and 4 feet, which suits a foundation bed, a rock garden, or a container. Full-size conifers add a foot or more a year and want 10 to 20 feet of spread. Measure the bed first, because most conifers will not resprout from bare old wood the way a deciduous shrub does.

Color, shape, and texture

Conifer color runs well past plain green. Blue-green, powder blue, golden yellow, and green with creamy white new growth are all common here, and several arborvitae and false cypress shift to bronze or copper in cold weather. Shape matters as much as color. Columnar forms draw the eye up, globe and bun forms settle a bed down, and weeping forms need a spot where the falling branches read against open sky or a wall.

Sun and drainage

Most conifers on this page want full sun, 6 hours or more, and nearly all of them want soil that drains. Wet feet end more conifers than cold does. If your only open spot stays soggy after rain, choose from the plants listed for partial sun and average moisture rather than forcing a dryland pine into it.

Every conifer here ships with our 45-day Growing & Glowing Guarantee. Start with your zone, then pick a shape.