I'd like to add more evergreen structure to my woodland garden. We're under doug firs, lots of salal. But open and parts of the garden get sun and bright shade. We have everything: deep shade (2-3 hrs light) and places that get 6 hrs sun in summer. Any suggestions for conifers? Low or moderate size. And has anyone grown a serbian spruce in these conditions? How does it do? Many thanks
Yews are your best bet. The presence of the native Taxus brevifolia on local forested sites serves to additionally demonstrate the suitability of these trees for such use - apart from what has already long been seen in park and garden plantings. The main limitation is a requirement for good drainage - yews cannot take wet feet. Abundant salal implies your site is mostly on the dry side. Serbian spruce produces an attractively symmetric specimen only in full light. With its spire-like shape formed by the short branches typical of a mountain snow-country tree (such as the native sub-alpine fir) it also would look out of character plopped in among/beneath taller forest trees. And although sometimes very narrow-crowned, it is far from short-growing. If you want to plant some tall-growing conifers as well the natural choice for this region would be hemlocks. These do require cool and moist conditions, the native species actually living longest in the mountain climate of the upper limits of it natural distribution.
For some reason I'm not real keen on Thuja or "cedars" under Douglas fir. Much prefer hemlock - Tsuga. Yew, or Taxus, works. Hemlock is one of my favorite textures.
For something yew-like but a bit more bold, try Cephalotaxus fortunei or other species of Cephalotaxus.
