I have a difficult situation. I have a site that is solid rock. The client is determined to plant trees. He has agreed to use an enormous machine to chip out a planting pit and provide a drain that will drain in to the perimeter of the building. My conundrum is to find an evergreen tree that will essentially be planted in an underground container...it will be irrigated. Any suggestions? It need to be as tall and narrow as possible. I would be open to deciduous suggestions as well.
How about our native Shore Pine Pinus contorta contorta the coastal version of the Lodgepole Pine. It is beautiful, adapted to our climate and in my opinion less picky than Italian cypress. Here is a brief description of its requirements from the website http://www.jeffersoncd.org: "Shore Pine has a wide range of adaptability. It can be found from wet, low, poorly drained sites, to steep upland, rocky, dry sites. It is adapted to sites with low soil fertility. It is often the only tree species on very difficult sites." Another nice native conifer is the upright Juniper, but the species name escapes me at the moment.
