Having a garden that provides year-round interest is easy with some careful planning. For the best results, carefully choose your trees and shrubs so that some flower in early spring, others in late spring/summer, and yet others that flower in the fall or carry their blooms through the winter. This will ensure plenty of activity in your garden from birds and wildlife, as well as giving your landscape a variety of colors and shapes. Following are three late-blooming trees and shrubs that are easy to grow and will brighten up your lawn or street.
Category Archives: Landscape Design
Trees, the 800-Lb. Gorillas in the Yard
Don’t get me wrong, I love trees. I’ve never actually been caught in the act of hugging any, to be sure. But neither will you ever catch me with a yard without trees. I just couldn’t imagine warming up to a landscape without them. The importance of the vertical element they supply in landscape design is not to be underestimated.
But now that I’ve established my credentials as a lover of trees, let me state what I really set out to say when I sat down to write this blog post today. Large trees, as indispensable as they are, pose an awfully difficult challenge in landscaping — unless that’s all you wish to grow in your yard. Read more…
Adding Trees and Shrubs to your Garden
Gardening has been a hot topic around my house lately. The past few summers my wife has been interested in creating a garden but the timing has never been right. This summer she is determined to make it happen.
We recently sold our house and purchased a new house, allowing her to fully commit to creating the garden. She recently order vegetable seeds and is starting to make plans on the location of the raised planter bed in the new backyard. I reminded her that in addition to the traditional vegetable garden crops that we could add some edible trees and shrubs. The strong benefit of trees and shrubs besides providing a new source of “groceries” is that we only need to plant them once compared to some vegetables.
There are many choices that we can make but was reminded by one of her magazines to plant what you will eat. That narrows down our choices since we are both picky eaters.
In the end we agreed that we are going to explore finding a space an apple tree.
Any suggestions on other fruit trees or nut trees we should add? We have limited space in our new backyard.
Forsythia mark the arrival of spring
There are two things that you need to know about me.
1) I am a runner.
2) I am not a tree expert.
In both of these areas I am trying to get better.
I really love marathon training. Part of the reason I like it so much is because I get to be outside and explore. Training gives me the freedom to explore quite a bit of different areas, and being on foot gives you a unique perspective to appreciation the things around you. In the car, I don’t take the time to look at what is going on. I am just focused on the task at hand, driving.
Recently, I have been learning quite a bit about types of trees and shrubs and tree care. This new knowledge made me more excited than ever for the trees to start blooming. One of most recognizable shrubs for me early this spring was the Forsythia. The yellow flowers of the Forsythia appeared weeks before most plants even had green buds on them. This was an encouraging sign. The added yellow color in yards was my signal that spring was just around the corner. Read more…
Best Privacy Screen Trees and Shrubs
Planning your Privacy Screen
When designing your yard you may want to take into account your privacy needs. Do you need a good screen to reduce traffic noise or prevent passersby from looking into your yard? In fact the main advantages of having a living privacy screen are: protection from the elements, an improved view from your house, and less intrusion from pedestrians or neighbors.
Getting organized requires making some important decisions before starting out. The first factor to take into account is the type of tree you would like to have: Remember that an evergreen will provide you with a year-round screen, whereas a deciduous tree will provide fall color or flowers but not year-round privacy.
Help! My Roots Are Showing
A question I often receive from homeowners goes something like this:
“I have this big pine tree out in my front yard. Nothing grows very well under it, making that area basically an expanse of dirt and weeds. Over the years, some of the roots have become exposed, making the area even messier-looking. Is it OK to cover the area under the tree with a load of loam, then plant perennials in that soil?”
Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? Read more…
Landscaping with Trees: Adding Contrasting Color
This landscape design for trees and shrubs will add contrasting early spring color. This free do-it-yourself tree and shrub landscape design provides a show of spring flowers highlighted by an evergreen backdrop of the Green Giant Arborvitae. This planting can serve as a great focal point or accent piece to any yard I call it the “Flowering Green Giant”
Tree and Shrub Rain Garden Design
Tree and Shrub Rain Garden Design
Turn a moist or poorly drained area of your yard into a beautiful garden that provides year round color and habitat for songbirds. The trees and shrubs in this design have been selected both for their beauty and their ability to thrive in moist areas.
Rain Garden Specifications:
Included Species:
3 – Redosier Dogwood
Hardiness Zone:
5-7
8 Great All Season Trees
All season trees add a lot of interest to your yard, providing a spectacle of changing colors throughout all four seasons. Here is a pick of 8 great all season trees guaranteed to brighten up your yard.
Top Trees for Winter Landscaping
Many gardeners are proud of their spring, summer and autumn gardens, but they find winter landscape design very difficult.
There are many trees and shrubs which may add a lot of color with their red or yellow berries, or unusual bark hues. Others, like evergreen trees, add visual interest in black and white landscape. Many of those trees attract wild birds providing them with food and shelter.
When you are looking for your winter trees, choose trees with berries, lovely bark or interesting branch pattern.