Can anyone identify the narrow, center-most blue-green/gray shrub in the foreground of the following image? I saw it in the railroad garden of Longwood Gardens. I like its narrow form and small size. I wonder if it could be used effectively as a punctuation mark in one of my zone 6b gardens.

I'm not really sure but for some reason it reminds me of Thuja (Arborvitae). There are a few found at Longwood Gardens:
https://plantexplorer.longwood...
https://plantexplorer.longwood...
https://plantexplorer.longwood...

I think it looks more like a Juniper. You could check out the database for some that would be useful in your garden.

@Zencat/Celia, it could be Juniper.. I can't really see the foliage close enough to tell. We had a couple of Juniper's in the yard at our old house.

Here are photos of Juniperus for comparison:

There are two threads on this, here's the other one:

The thread "ID of shrub" in Plant ID forum

plantladylin said:I'm not really sure but for some reason it reminds me of Thuja (Arborvitae). There are a few found at Longwood Gardens:
https://plantexplorer.longwood...
https://plantexplorer.longwood...
https://plantexplorer.longwood...

Although I love Arbor vitae, I can't plant them because the deer are just waiting to feast on them. Also, I don't think it is Arbor vitae because the foliage of the plant I saw at Longwood lacks the soft look of the Arbor vitae I know. Its foliage looks more prickly, although I didn't touch it.

The shrub I posted is part of a temporary toy train exhibit that in turn is part of the display "A Longwood Christmas."

I have emailed Longwood for an ID.

Carol, please let us know if you get a reply with an ID from Longwood Gardens! I'm curious as to the identity too.

plantladylin said:Carol, please let us know if you get a reply with an ID from Longwood Gardens! I'm curious as to the identity too.

Will do!

I agree with Lin that the growth pattern of the foliage is like that of the Arborvitae. I too will be interested to find out what Longwood says.

I think we would all do well if we "broaden our horizon" to Cupressus and Chamaecyparis species.

I wish that there were photos that zoomed in on the foliage characteristics, but barring that, the form sure appears to more along the lines of what Leftwood mentions.

Take a look at blue foliaged forms of X Cupressocyparis leylandii - Leyland-cypress. This will not remain a small plant, either.

Mine was only a guess, I really have no idea what shrub/tree it is. As Leftwood suggested, check out Chamaecyparis http://garden.org/plants/searc...
and Cupressus http://garden.org/plants/searc...

For comparison:

Leftwood said:I think we would all do well if we "broaden our horizon" to Cupressus and Chamaecyparis species.

Longwood's online plant finder lists Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Blue Surprise' which looks possible, but says the location is "non-public".

@ Sooby That sure looks like a close match! We don't have any photos yet in our database for Lawson False Cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Blue Surprise')

Some good photos for comparison can be seen on these pages:
http://www.monrovia.com/plant-...
http://plantlust.com/plants/18...

I tried to copy/paste photos from Longwood Nursery but wasn't able to do so for some reason but one of their images had in small print that the plant was acquired from Youngblood Nursery and I found a picture at the nursery website: http://www.youngbloodnursery.c...

plantladylin said:@ Sooby That sure looks like a close match! We don't have any photos yet in our database for Lawson False Cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Blue Surprise')

Some good photos for comparison can be seen on these pages:
http://www.monrovia.com/plant-...
http://plantlust.com/plants/18...

I tried to copy/paste photos from Longwood Nursery but wasn't able to do so for some reason but one of their images had in small print that the plant was acquired from Youngblood Nursery and I found a picture at the nursery website: http://www.youngbloodnursery.c...

No word about an ID from Longwood yet, but the image of Chaemaecyparis lawsoniana 'Blue Surprise' from Youngblood Nursery certainly does look like the plant I saw there.

The color looks right, but I think the form of the foliage is different.

I visited Longwood Gardens again today (an advantage of my new membership) and took some closeup shots of the mystery shrub:

Those photos are much clearer. I'm sure one of our experts will nail it now.

Definitely NOT Leyland-cypress...

Some sort of Juniper