A never ending quest

     I started my Japanese-style garden some 15 years ago.  It is still not done, as evidenced by the photos showing  me planting 36 boxwoods.  As they fill in, they will be sheared into a mounded mass, known in Japan as a tamamono.  This one will rise about a foot and a half, then descend about nine inches next to a stream.
     Recently, two trees were planted to make the garden look more like a Japanese garden.  In 47 years, I never planted a conifer tree for two reasons.  One, all the trees surrounding my property, including in a 20-acre woods behind it, are deciduous trees.  I believe the contrast in form, foliage, and texture is too strong, similar to the ginkgo tree I once planted, only to cut it down in five years when it stood out like a sore thumb.  Second, conifers have not grown around this area for thousands of years, starting 9,000 years ago when the glaciers melted and white spruce introduced themselves.  The conditions here are simply not well suited to conifers (much warmer than 9,000 years ago).  Therefore, to deal with my aversion to conifers, I call these two trees Psuedopinus parvifolia, commonly known as False Japanese White Pine.  Probem solved.  And I get to name a new species besides.

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