Landscape Now

Many times, the home owners will encounter problems with their landscaping designs after they are "finished". Perhaps things just do not look right or the health of some plants is compromised. In either case, you should fix the problem as soon as possible so that it doesn’t ruin the design of your entire landscape.

Side Yard Problems

It can be difficult to deal with a side yard. They are usually narrow, making them hard to maintain. In such cases, they are best for passage than other uses. Keep the junk out of these areas and create a cottage garden landscape there.

Some plants that work well include perennials and ornamental grasses, which come in many colors. You can use a variety of your favorite flowers that are available in a wild garden style. Or add in a pathway made from stone to offer a simple, but beautiful look to it.

Too Much Mulch

Not only does excessive mulch look bad, but it is not good for the health of your plants.  This happens many times near driveways and along the edges of lawns. If mulch is falling out of the flower beds, it looks messy.

You should have only 2 – 4 inches of mulch on a flower bed. To help prevent this problem, put ground cover plants along the borders of the flowerbeds. This looks great and will help keep the mulch where it should be. Lowering your soil level slightly can help even out the area so that the mulch is level with the rest of the plantings.

Hide The Air Conditioner

If you have exposed air conditioners, they can be very ugly on the landscape. Exposed appliances are heated by the sun which causes them to have to work harder and therefore use more energy.

You can fix this by planting a small tree or a hedge. The appliance is screened from view and the shade helps keep the unit cooler. This can be done even where there isn’t much room. You can plant a narrow hedge of nandina or you can add a trellis with a colorful vine or climbing roses.

Weird Areas

Sometimes, there are areas in your yard that are not right for grass. For example, near an entrance, near walkways, or at the edge of a patio or deck. No matter where they are, these areas are hard to maintain.

Making use of plants in containers is a solution. One large container can be used, or make a small container garden with a variety of plants in containers of various sizes, shapes, and colors. These are also ideal locations for accent objects such as an obelisk, a stature or even topiary bushes. You can even use water features that add cooling effects to your landscape.

Think outside of the box to handle some of the harder areas of your yard when it comes to landscaping designs. When you take full advantage of all the room that you have, and let your creativity go wild, you can add even more beauty to your garden.

Because of their year-round beauty, hardiness and longevity, evergreen trees are worth their slight extra cost over deciduous trees (which lose their foliage in winter).

Evergreens range from broad-leaved shrubs such as laurel and rhododendron to cone-bearing pines and stately spruces.

Most effective as windscreens, the giant spruces and firs are widely used not only because for their attractiveness, but also because of their shape. Furthermore, they do well in the shade, which makes them excellent for foundation planting.

Here are some popular evergreens to consider (in alphabetical order):

Cedar

The ornamental Arbor vitae, such as cedar, produces the flat evergreen branch found in flower arrangements at Christmas. It is best in moist, protected places. Although it can be cut to any size or shape, untrimmed it forms a broad 35 to 50 feet tall pyramid.

Fir

Hardy, healthy, and drought-resistant, the Douglas fir grows quickly and compactly. The best fir for windbreaks and screening, its lofty pyramid makes a good lawn element. White fir has an attractive silvery color while balsam fir, the Christmas tree, is noted for its fragrance and lustrous foliage.

Hemlock

The hemlock, with feathery foliage, is most effective when planted in a grove with others. The Canadian hemlock can be sheared for symmetrical effect.

Juniper

The tall species of juniper, such as the formal columnar juniper and the upright juniper, are very useful in planting. As a spreading evergreen, the Pfitzer juniper is best used for banks, edgings and ground cover. Its green feathery foliage grows rapidly, can withstand crowding and its height at maturity is 8 feet, and width up to 12feet. Ground-covering junipers include creeping, prostrate, Sargent, and Waukegan.

Pine

The most widely known evergreen is the pine. Noted for its long, soft, light silvery-green needles, the white pine can reach 60 to 80 feet at maturity. In addition to the white pine, the red pine is splendid for backgrounds and windbreaks. A broad, compact tree, the ponderosa pine is used for protection and ornamental screens.

The Austrian pine (black pine), popular in the Midwest, has a rich, green color and spreading branches.

Spruce

Short and thick, with light blue-green needles, the white spruce reaches 70 feet and is good for landscaping and screens. Although it suffers in drought and heat, the Colorado blue spruce is a hardy tree. Because it withstands dry weather and the thick green foliage has a bronze in winter, red cedar is a fine ornamental evergreen for hedges and windbreaks.

Probably the most widely planted windbreak evergreen, the Norway spruce is hardy and quick growing. A slow grower, it has short needles of dark green and is compact and pyramidal in shape. The Black Hills variety grows to 40 feet in time, and is hardy and drought-resistant.

Yew

With its thick, glossy needles and dense, upward-reaching branches, the yew is useful as both a shrub and tree. Although it grows well in sun and shade, it’s best used as a single feature against a wall of the garden rather than as foundation planting. The low-spreading bushy dwarf yew can be clipped, while other varieties such as the upright yew and Japanese yew are tapering or conical plants best used for hedges.

Protection

Since evergreens tend to be adversely affected by dry, hot summer weather, they should be watered every 10 to 14 days during this time of year. Be sure the water reaches at least 6 inches deep.

A good way to protect the tree from loss of water in dry weather is with a mulch of grass clippings or peat moss. To help an evergreen thrive, pruning in the late spring is recommended, making sure that the inner branches will develop.

Formal trees should be kept trimmed with no ragged branches sticking out; badly-shaped or deformed trees can be corrected through shaping. When exposed to too much wind and winter sun, evergreens may dry up and their branches will crack under the weight of snow or the force of wind. To prevent this, water them deeply before the ground freezes in the late fall.

Another way to protect evergreens is to use screens of burlap mats. They only need to be shielded on the sunny side, unless the wind and winter sun is too strong. Be sure that burlap covers are well-ventilated.

To prevent breakage under heavy snow or ice, prop up the heavy limbs of old trees with boards. So that smaller branches won’t crack, you can tie cloth strips to tall shrubs or small evergreens.