Help identifying stumpy evergreen shrub

Question

I am new to the Pacific Northwest and still trying to figure out the vegetation. I have this shrub in my yard that looks like a stumpy pine tree. Can anyone identify?

Answer 1

That looks like a larch, Larix sp. (Obligatory Monty Python reference.) I'm IDing it based on the way the needles are clumped. Here's what larch needles look like up close:

(image source)

The larch is a deciduous conifer, so if your tree loses its needles every winter, that would support the larch hypothesis. The needles are also quite a bit softer than the needles of most evergreen conifers, because they are essentially disposable. (Think of a paper plate versus a ceramic one.)

Yours might be a weeping variety, such as Weeping European Larch (Larix decidua 'Pendula'). In fact, when I googled "weeping larch" one of the top results was a nursery in Portland, Oregon. So it seems likely for your region. Their website has this information:

This is the most popular cultivar here at the nursery. Bright green needles in spring turn gold before dropping in fall. If a weeping Larch is trained to form a trunk, the leader can be trained in any direction & will reach 10-12' x 6-8' in 10 years. All side branches weep to the ground.

Weeping Larch can also grow without a leader along the ground or spill over the side of a pot.