Nancy Knows Landscaping
Dear Jen,After being cooped up inside all winter I know you’re dying to get outside and start gardening. Your yard could use a little TLC but before you pull out a shovel do a little homework. A little planning will save you time, money and lots of frustration. Our yard has been a decade long work in progress, which began with basic ideas and concepts. We did research, talked to tons of people who were into gardening and landscaping and even had a landscape architect draw up a plan for our yard. All this footwork helped us crystallize what we really wanted and the plan gave us a road map to get there.
Since we are very busy people our goal was to create a beautiful four-season yard that appealed to all of our senses but was easy to maintain. To this end we utilized low maintenance disease resistant varieties of trees, shrubs and plants designed to thrive in this climate zone.
Few people can afford to go out and give their yard a complete and total makeover in one season. So, the great thing about having an overall plan is you can do it a section at a time, building your yard piece by piece until it’s done. Start by taking small baby steps and complete a tiny section. It may be a beautiful border garden of yellow daylilies that will lighten up a drab rock wall all summer or a fragrant and colorful rose garden adjacent to your deck which will fill the air with sweet scents. The choice is yours! Don’t try to win the whole war just try to win a tiny battle each time. Before you know it you’ve won the war!
Tackling our yard in one year would have been a daunting task. We chose to make it an ongoing process done in stages as money and time allowed. One year we put in a dogwood, weeping cherry, two eastern redbud and five crab apple trees. The next year we put in several paper birch clump trees and the flagship of our front yard a beautiful weeping paper birch. Once we had these “anchor pieces” located throughout our yard the shrubs, perennials and ground covers followed.
Make sure you consider the number of hours of sunlight required by any plant and whether it should be full, partial sun or shade. Choosing the wrong location with the improper amount and type of sunlight can turn thriving healthy plants into weak struggling ones, so plan first then plant. Consider the recommended spacing requirements carefully when planting as most people try to achieve a fuller effect by planting immature plants and shrubs close together. Once these mature they will crowd each other, which isn’t healthy for plants or visually appealing. One solution is to purchase larger, mature plants and shrubs. This is expensive but your areas will fill in much quicker.
Grab your shovel and you go sister!
