Up a tree over midcentury landscaping
Mid Mod Pam on Apr 16 2008 at 5:59 pm | Filed under: exterior design
A mid-day update — I see Magbot’s question on yesterday’s post about curb appeal:
Does anybody know what you call this kind of tree (perfect for MCM houses, might only grow on West Coast):
Thanks, Magbot! Anyone know?
It looks like a juniper that has been pruned into those shapes. You could shop around for a pom-pom juniper that has already been trained into a shape. I was wondering if anyone can tell me about what the buttons on my 1950’s push button GE stove are? I figured out the temp control but there are 4 buttons on each side that are labeled br, bk, and 2 other things that I can’t remember. I burned dinner last night because it got too hot but the temp was only set at 325 any ideas?
I did a series of posts on this type of topiary in the SF Bay Area a little while back: http://printerpiemaker.blogspot.com/search/label/topiaries
I think this might be a old juniper that has been pruned. Here is a similar photo, and the silvery brown shaggy trunk and the texture of the foliage looks like a juniper.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexandsharkey/261693369/in/set-72157594279535715/
Or….it might be a cypress. See this photo of the same shrub in my previous post before it was trimmed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexandsharkey/261693278/in/set-72157594279535715/
I think the specific tree in the photo is a commonly called a cypress. Here in California, both junipers and cypress are very common and often sculpted like that, though junipers are usually more vertical (stacked balls) and cypress more spread out as in this photo. But technically, both junipers and cypress are members of the same botanical family: Cupressaceae, or “cypress.”
Wow how cool is that house! The composition with the tree is awesome, I wonder if that was planned, it was very clever if it was. x
I’m pretty sure it’s a so-called twisted juniper–we have the same tree, trimmed the same way, in front of our San Diego house.
Great tree, it looks so fun.
That said…I was just thinking about dropping you a line regarding landscaping. We love our little ‘51 Cape Cod bungalow, but its curb appeal could use some major intervention (former owner was a bachelor who spent, thankfully for us, his time and money inside the house). I’d love to see some posts addressing front yards, patios, entryways, general landscaping here!
(To clarify, I’m talking foliage and flora.)
To Anne regarding buttons on her stove: Might “bk” be bake, and “br” broil?
After looking at the photos on Hannah’s blog (thank you, Hannah!) and falling in love with the strangely storybook-like topiaries, I decided I HAD to have one of these pom-pom shrubs for my yard. Apparently these aren’t uncommon on the west coast, but I’ve never seen them before. Here’s the skinny: they are trimmed Boulevard Cypress trees (Chamaecyparis pisifera),
sometimes called “pom pom cypress.” I found some nurseries on the west coast that sell them.
But I also found a Q&A from the Carroll Gardens website (Carroll Gardens is a huge nursery in Maryland), where the expert says in reply to someone asking about growing these in other areas:
“I am not very fond of Boulevard Cypress. I admit they look good in the nursery when they just come in from the West Coast, where they are usually grown, and they are tempting indeed. Even without trimming, with age they get brown in the center. The Pom Pom is nothing more than a trimmed Boulevard. You will have to trim it twice a year to keep it in shape. With the trimming, the browning gets worse and after a few years you will throw it away because it had gotten so ugly. Without trimming Boulevard Cypress is a tree — 20 feet or more. Not a good choice; I wouldn’t plant one in my yard even if someone gave me one for free. I suggest you consider Hinoki Cypress or dwarf blue spruce grafted on a standard.”
Wow, pretty strong anti-cypress feelings, eh? I already have a Hinoki Cypress that I love, so I guess I’ll just be happy with her.
Hannah! That portfolio you did of shrub/tree photos is SPECTACULAR! Seriously, y’all, everybody should go look at it right now!
I did a bunch of research on these bushes as well. Our realtor suggested we rip them out when we bought the house! GASP!
They are pom-pom Junipers. I have a few posts around this time: http://www.midcenturystyle.net/wordpress/?p=58
We paid a very nice man $100 to do a really thorough trimming of ours and they’ve stayed nice, just requiring some basic touch ups. The nice lady across the street manicures hers to perfection, I’m not quite as good, but they do take some work.
However, I think they are totally worth it!
Mary-Frances, I love your house AND your pom-poms. I got so enthusiastic about pom-poms that this weekend I attempted to approximate one by trimming one of my poor bedraggled shrubs (I was thinking of pulling it out anyway). It actually didn’t come out half bad, sort of a cross between pom-pom and a platter. It’ll look better if the poms fill in a bit.
Femme1, I have noticed that they take a while to “train” our neighbors all have LOVELY ones that I envy all the time.
Wow, Hannah,you’ve done a super feature on topiaries!
[...] couple of months ago, we got on a tangent about landscaping that ultimately connected to this incredible series of posts from Printer Piemaker Hannah in San [...]