Specimen & Unique Plants

A specimen plant is one you place alone, in the open, where its shape is the point. This page holds the plants Nature Hills Nursery carries with a form or a color unusual enough to stand by itself: weeping and contorted conifers, twisted trunks, variegated evergreens, and the slow oddities collectors hunt for.

One specimen per sightline

These plants compete with each other. Set two weepers in the same view and neither one lands. Pick the spot first, usually the end of a walk, the turn of a bed, or the view from a kitchen window, then choose the one plant that belongs there. Everything around it should be plain on purpose.

Weeping forms and the staked leader

A weeping conifer does not build a leader on its own. It is trained up a stake, and the height it reaches depends on how long that leader was supported. Two plants of the same cultivar can differ by several feet for that reason alone. Read the mature height listed on the plant rather than assuming the cultivar has a fixed size.

Variegation needs the right light

Creamy white and gold variegation is the other reason plants land on this page. Those pale sections carry less chlorophyll, so they scorch in hot afternoon sun and fade toward plain green in deep shade. Morning sun with afternoon relief holds the contrast in most of the country.

Slow growth is the trade

Nearly everything here is slow, which is what makes the form worth having and also what makes it worth buying the largest size you can. A plant that adds 2 inches a year will look much the same in five years as the day it arrives, so pick the plant you want now rather than the one you hope it becomes.

Every plant here ships with our 45-day Growing & Glowing Guarantee. Pick your spot, then pick one plant for it.