Plant Profile: Conifers

While much of what’s growing at Powell Gardens slips into dormancy during the winter months, conifers stand tall and steadfast. These plants bring structure, texture, and color to every landscape. Beyond their beauty, conifers play an essential ecological role, offering food, shelter, and protection for countless species through the year’s harshest months. At Powell Gardens, our Conifer Garden showcases the incredible diversity and resilience of these evergreen plants.

What Makes a Conifer a Conifer?

Conifers are cone-bearing trees and shrubs belonging to the plant division Pinophyta. Conifers reproduce through seeds formed in cones rather than blossoms. Most are evergreen, retaining their needles year-round to continue photosynthesis even in winter sunlight.

Their needles (technically modified leaves) are specially adapted for cold, dry conditions. A waxy coating and reduced surface area minimize water loss, while flexible branches shed snow easily to prevent breakage. These adaptations allow conifers to thrive where many broadleaf trees cannot.

Common conifer families include:

• Pinaceae (pines, spruces, firs, hemlocks)
• Cupressaceae (junipers, cypresses, arborvitae)
• Taxaceae (yews)

Each conifer family brings unique textures, scents, and shades of green, blue, and gold to the landscape and plays a vital role in supporting wildlife.

Conifers as Winter Havens for Wildlife

While humans bundle up indoors, birds and mammals turn to conifers for survival. These trees and shrubs are living shelters in the Midwest’s coldest months.

The dense branches provide protection from wind and predators by creating natural insulation and hiding places for overwintering birds like chickadees, cardinals, and owls. Conifer cones hold protein-rich seeds eaten by squirrels and other small animals. This makes them a great, reliable food source!

Even in the winter, conifers offer secure roosting spots that retain warmth overnight. Fallen needles and cones also enrich the soil beneath, creating microhabitats for insects and fungi to continue living in rich ecosystems.

The Conifer Garden at Powell Gardens

Our Conifer Garden is one of Powell Gardens’ most tranquil and visually striking spaces. This is especially true during the winter when their vibrant color is on full display. Visit our collection of conifers in every shape and color, from towering pines to sculptural junipers. This garden demonstrates how conifers can form the backbone of a landscape, offering four-season interest and structure.

A few highlights from our collection include:

• Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens ‘Blue pagoda’): Famous for its striking blue-gray needles and symmetrical form.
• Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana ‘Falling Water”): A hardy Missouri native that produces aromatic wood and berry-like cones beloved by cedar waxwings.
• Japanese White Pine (Pinus parviflora ‘Ogon Janome’): With delicate, five-needle clusters and graceful, artistic branching.
• Norway Spruce (Picea abies ‘Acrocona’): Known for its sweeping, pendulous branches and fast growth.
• Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Rosenkranz’): A versatile evergreen used for screens, hedges, and nesting shelter for small birds.

Whether dusted with snow or glowing from Evergy Festival of Lights, the Conifer Garden is a living gallery of form and endurance. This space is a must-visit while the rest of the landscape rests.

Adding Conifers to Your Home Garden

Conifers are valuable additions to home gardens of all sizes.

They provide year-round beauty. Their color, texture, and form create visual interest in each season. Most conifers require minimal pruning and adapt well to a variety of soils, making most varieties an excellent low maintenance option for home gardeners. Larger species can serve as natural windbreaks or living screens, creating privacy and structure. (For smaller spaces, consider dwarf varieties or compact cultivars. They bring the same charm in a more manageable size.)

Evergreens offer nesting and feeding resources for birds and pollinators when other plants are dormant. A win-win for gardeners who want to see wildlife!

If you want to add conifers to your home garden, keep these tips in mind.

Be careful to choose a conifer that is well suited to its location. (A conifer that will grow to be forty feet tall and wants full sun will not last long planted under an eve next to your house.) Consider the amount of sunlight the spot you want to fill can expect in a day, whether the soil is well drained, whether it will be exposed to harsh winds in the winter, and if there will be plenty of room as the tree grows into its full size. You can use resources like nursery websites or the American Conifer Society to find information about specific cultivars to determine if they are a good fit for your location.

Plant your new conifer in either the fall or spring when there is plenty of time for roots to develop before summer highs or winter lows come to the Midwest. Dig a hole notably larger than the root ball so you have room to amend the soil with a bit of compost and spread the roots out. If the roots are really tight together, use a soil knife to gently pull them apart.

Maintain a regular watering schedule for at least the first few years. (Keep an eye out during times of drought for at least several years after that.) If you live where you might have deer pressure, be sure to protect bare trunks and even needles if winter is particularly harsh. Spring is the best time for pruning if you want to maintain a certain shape or size. Also, don’t forget to enjoy the splendor of new growth in the spring! The bright green tips of a spruce or fresh candles on a pine will make you fall in love with your conifer all over again each year.

A Living Lesson in Resilience

Conifers remind us that life continues quietly, even in harsh winter moments. Their evergreen presence offers both beauty and stability when the landscape feels bare.

Next time you visit Powell Gardens, take a walk through the Conifer Garden. Listen for the rustle of needles, spot a bird tucked into the branches, and feel the calm these remarkable plants inspire.

Visit Powell Gardens during Evergy Festival of Lights this winter to explore the Conifer Garden and gather inspiration for your own resilient, wildlife-friendly landscape.