A colourful cast of intriguing characters is the wow factor in this Winnipeg garden

There are top brand names that gardeners instantly recognize and seek out when they are shopping for plants. Brand recognition is a powerful driver that influences consumer choices. If the name Iseli Nursery doesn’t ring a bell, it should.

Iseli Nursery, located in Oregon, specializes in uniquely sculpted dwarf conifers that provide year-round colour and structure. Many of the selections are reliably hardy and adaptable to harsh northern climates such as Zone 2 and 3. Iseli Nursery also specializes in hybrid Jack Frost maples (Acer x pseudosieboldianum). A cross between the Japanese maple and the Korean maple, the Jack Frost collection offers outstanding colour and is hardy to Zone 4.

These popular premium plants are supplied to independent garden centres across the United States and Canada. Van der Meer Garden Centre in Île-des-Chênes is the primary source in Manitoba for Iseli plants.

“Iseli plants are as exclusive as it gets,” says Veronica van der Meer, retail store manager. “I would compare their key attributes to some of the esthetics that make a brand like David Austin roses so special. We have customers all the way from Calgary and places in Ontario who have driven to our nursery to buy the Iseli plants we sell, especially the maples.”

Lothar Behnke is the sales and customer service representative for Iseli Nursery for the Canadian prairies. He is actively working to convince Winnipeggers that Iseli plants deserve a place in local gardens. If his name sounds familiar, Behnke operated Behnke Greenhouses formerly located near Rose Avenue and St. Anne’s Road for 30 years, until it closed in the mid-1990s.

Behnke began working for Iseli Nursery in 1997 and lived in Dallas, Texas for 21 years before returning to Winnipeg in May 2023. Today he and his wife Erika live in St. Vital. To demonstrate the cold hardiness, adaptability and sculptural appeal of Iseli plants, Behnke has planted numerous conifers and maples in his front yard and backyard. The plants have overwintered successfully for two years. I was fortunate to be introduced to these fascinating plants with their distinctive characteristics on a recent visit to Behnke’s garden.

His front bed is anchored by a statuesque white spruce (Picea glauca) that was the only existing tree in the front yard at the time of purchase in 2023. Situated around the tree are several upright and low growing conifers from the Iseli product line.

Monty (Picea pungens), a new Iseli introduction, commands immediate attention. A standout dwarf blue spruce that is hardy to Zone 2, Monty has a classic conical Christmas shape (think traditional fat shape) and extraordinary silver blue foliage with bristly texture. Mature height is just 2.4 metres.

“Monty is a cross between Hoopsie and Montgomery,” Behnke says. “The structure is perfect and the growth is very tight. The needles are longer than any Colorado spruce you’ll ever find.”

Nearby is Mother Lode Juniperus horizontalis. Discovered at Iseli Nursery in 1982, this extremely flat, ground-hugging juniper has bright golden foliage in the summer months. Hardy to Zone 3, Mother Lode can grow in full or partial sun. “It grows slowly and doesn’t get out of control,” Behnke says.

Behnke also grows Juniperus horizontalis Gold Strike, a dwarf creeping evergreen groundcover introduced by Iseli Nursery that features vivid yellow spring foliage that matures to chartreuse. It grows to a height of 15 cm and spreads to about 90 cm. Gold Strike is hardy to Zone 3.

Then there is Picea pungens Moonstone, a globe-shaped little gem with bright blue foliage. Hardy to Zone 2, it is just 60 cm tall at maturity.

“Moonstone has the same genetics as Monty,” Behnke says.

The most unusual character in Behnke’s front bed is a sculptural jack pine (Pinus banksiana).

“It’s the hardiest of all pines (Zone 2) — an ugly pine basically — but this is a variety Iseli found and it grows every which way. There are no two alike.”

In fact, the jack pine wouldn’t behave for the camera. Behnke has used bamboo sticks to train its unusual shape. Pinus banksiana Al Johnson and Uncle Fogy are character specimens that Iseli describes as “everyone’s eccentric relative.” Ah yes, to say the least.

Behnke also grows a Pinus mugo pine called Wintersonne, a German word that translates to ‘winter sun’. The foliage of this Zone 2 hardy upright dwarf mugo pine becomes a bright yellow colour that persists through winter.

“It’s a unique feature in the landscape,” Behnke says. “To keep a mugo pine’s compact shape, you have to prune them every summer by cutting the candles (new growth tips) in half.”

Picea abies Pusch is a small Norway spruce with exceptionally tight foliage decorated with an abundance of tiny cones that look like fingertips. Hardy to Zone 3, this spreading dwarf is from the former East Germany (how interesting, Behnke’s roots are in East Germany, too, where his family was in the greenhouse industry before coming to Canada).

Pinus strobus Niagara Falls is yet another unusual Iseli specimen in Behnke’s front yard. Named the 2009 Collector’s Conifer of the Year, Niagara Falls has a compact, weeping form and long, two-tone needles. It is hardy to Zone 3.

But let’s dash into Behnke’s backyard before I run out of space in my column.

Behnke grows three Iseli Jack Frost maples.

“These are not Japanese maples,” he emphasizes. “These are pseudosieboldianums — a cross between the Japanese maple and the Korean maple. Japanese maples are hardy to Zone 5. Jack Frost maples are hardy to Zone 4.”

“This is their third year. They’ve already had two winters without any coverage, nothing apart from snow cover,” Behnke says.

Of course, nothing rivals the colour of the lacy, dissected foliage of these coveted plants which we would only normally grow as potted annuals in our Zone 3 climate. Behnke grows Ice Dragon, a small Jack Frost maple with a chubby shrub shape and foliage that opens to orange red in spring. On my visit, Ice Dragon’s foliage was a kaleidoscope of orange, red, and green colour. He also grows Alpenglow, an upright tree with astonishing red colour in summer.

Naturally, Behnke also grows an exquisite ginkgo — Ginkgo Marikan. The iconic bright green foliage turns an unbelievable yellow in the fall, he says.

The weeping form of Larix decidua Puli is texture you cannot resist touching. And what can one say about Picea glauca Jean’s Dilly, a dwarf spruce with a dill pickle shape.

“But it needs protection for the winter,” Behnke says. “You can protect it with burlap, and it will survive.”

Ice Breaker (Abies koreana) has two-toned needles that recurve up and around their stems to exhibit a bright white, waxy underside. Behnke also protects this specimen with burlap for the winter.

Then there is Picea abies Cobra, a Zone 3 weeping tree with snake-like branching. Behnke is training its wildly unique character to go upright. “It doesn’t need any special protection for the winter.”

There are even more Iseli plants in Behnke’s garden. Intriguing, indeed.

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