The variegation of Pinus parviflora 'Ogon-Janome' is striking when this little Japanese tree is planted against a wall or hedge. Its slender needles are banded with golden yellow year-round.


The bristly Spanish fir Abies pinsapo 'Horstmann' is an ideal textural plant for a small garden. Eventually it will grow into a spreading, irregularly shaped bush.


The gray-green needles of the golden Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris 'Aurea') turn bright gold in winter and are especially happy in a sunny spot.

COULD DWARF conifers be the ideal low-maintenance plant? They grow very slowly, have great texture and seasonal color, and need only light occasional pruning to open them up a bit. Give these cute little trees good drainage and sun, and you can leave them practically alone while they grow only inches a year to a maximum of 6 feet (just one of the slippery definitions of "dwarf").

Miniatures are even smaller, with denser texture and topping out at a petite 3 feet in 20 years. There's a lot to be said for plants whose size suits smaller urban plots, look good year-round, never need transplanting or dividing, and can live without much water or fertilizer.

The trick is not only finding a true dwarf or miniature in the nurseries but also figuring out how to use them in the landscape. All too often conifer fanciers grow nothing else, so you have a bunch of rocks and trees dotted about like little buns. Don't hold this against the plants — they are sturdy whether grown in a border, rock garden or pot.

Now more than 300 of these diminutive trees are on display in South Seattle Community College's Coenosium Garden, which has grown into the best public collection of dwarf conifers in the Pacific Northwest. "Coenosium" is an old Greek word meaning plant community; it's also the name of a mail-order nursery in Eatonville whose owners are the angels of the college conifer garden. Bob and Dianne Fincham not only donated all the plants, they had the vision that transformed a weedy field into a hillside rich in needled texture and color. Larger conifers were planted first about five years ago to form a privacy screen around the garden. The college's landscape students designed the pathways and berms, using a coarse, gravelly soil mix for the good drainage these plants require, then planted the little cultivars. Students recently installed a stone bridge and an impressive water course that runs the length of the garden.

SUSAN JOUFLAS /THE SEATTLE TIMES
			Now In Bloom Crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis) bloom around Easter time, their imposing flowers held aloft on dark stems. The 3-foot-high stem erupts from a ground-hugging ruff of green leaves. Bell-shaped flowers in yellow, orange or brick-red have an exotic, frilly topknot of green. Everything about this plant is oversized, from its fist-sized bulbs to its position as the first of the really tall flowers to bloom in spring.

"At first the garden looked a little stark, but I've come to really appreciate these plants," says Van Bobbitt, an instructor at the college and the arboretum coordinator. "There's such a variety of colors without flowers, and great winter interest." His students learn design, construction, plant identification and pruning in this garden. Bobbitt says the dwarf conifers have proved well-suited to our climate with very few problems.

Bobbitt pointed out a couple of his favorites when we strolled through the garden on a sunny winter afternoon. The upright Pinus virginiana 'Wates Golden' is a little green pine most of the year, but after the first frost it turns bright gold. He admires Thuja orientalis 'Morgan' for its bronzey orange winter color. While small in stature, many dwarfs are big in impact because each has a distinctive character ranging from dignified to humorous. Some look so soft you want to pet them, while others twist and turn in weird Dr. Seuss shapes. Their needles aren't necessarily shrunken to the size of the tree, so some of the smallest have long needles as bristly as a dog with his stripe up. Some cascade and droop, while many are as upright and declarative as exclamation points. Together, they form a unique tapestry well worth exploring.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle free-lance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Mike Siegel is a Seattle Times staff photographer.