My Top Three Conifer Trees For Tehachapi:

1) Incense Cedars- Calocedrus decurrens

Incense Cedar close up

Incense Cedar for screening

I like to use Incense Cedars for screening, and wind breaks when space allows, and they are an infinitely better choice than the much used Leylandi Cypress which are so short lived (around a fifteen year life span if well watered). Incense Cedars boughs are the first choice for Christmas wreaths because of their fragrance and bright green colored scalelike leaves. I also really enjoy the golden appearance of their new growth in spring.

 2) Deodara Cedars – Cedrus deodara

These lovely trees are easy to identify by their graceful, pendulous branches and one to two inch needles that range in color from bright green to a soft blue-green. They add an elegant touch to the garden and are beautiful as specimens as well as planted in groups. Just be sure you have room for their ultimate size.

Deodora Cedar trees

Deodora Cedar needles

 3) Blue Spruce- Picea pungens ‘Fat Albert’

Blue Spruce ‘Fat Albert’

Blue Spruce new growth

One of the most popular evergreens, these Rocky Mountain natives are truly magnificent blue-green, pyramidal shaped trees. I often use the variety ‘Fat Albert’ because it is a more manageable size at about fifteen to twenty feet tall and ten feet wide at maturity.

Whether you plant groups of conifers, or use them as accents in your garden, or to solve landscape problems of erosion or screening, their contribution to the space will be significant.

With assorted shades of green, blue-grays and golds as well as    a vast assortment of shapes, forms, textures and sizes, you can expect year-round garden interest and pleasure.