February 15, 2014

What Everybody Ought To Know…About Landscaping Around Utility Boxes

Do you have underground utility boxes in your landscape? Or something else unsightly? The easiest way to hide this necessary eyesore is to install evergreen plants to hide the view. The landscape problem arises when the wrong plant is installed.

Leyland Cypress in the Wrong Place

Leyland Cypress in the Wrong Place

Leyland Cypress (x Cuprocyparis leylandii) grows too wide and tall unless it’s sheared regularly. In this case it’s planted too close to a sidewalk. One side of the poor thing will have to be cut to allow passersby. That means it’s going to look ugly! The homeowner has just created a maintenance chore.

Leylands work great in wide open spaces, like a backyard. That’s why they’re so popular with contractors. They grow quickly and fill out to create privacy.

There are better choices to hide these utilities. Something that doesn’t grow as wide, but tall enough to screen the objects from the street. Here are three suggestions.

  • Privet (Ligustrum) is a plant genus with many kinds of evergreen shrubs. Ligustrum varieties grow rapidly. Planting a Ligustrum shrub here would require pruning to keep the sidewalk clear.
  • Sky Pencil Holly (Ilex crenata ‘Sky Pencil’) would work in the situation above. Something narrow and thin. Group them together like a hedge to form one mass.
  • Korean Boxwood (Buxus sinica var. insularis ‘Wintergreen’) varieties are tough and perform in difficult places like this. In the image above, I would plant one shrub on each side of the square box. Over five years they would surround this unsightly space growing to a width of 5 ft.

Question: What trees or shrubs do you use to hide unsightly objects?

Filed Under: Right Plant In The Right Place
January 16, 2014

How to Improve Cold Hardiness and Winter Protection for Landscape Plants

Imagine for a minute, you’re at a garden center… just browsing.

Cover tender plants with a sheet of 4 mil plastic.

Cover tender plants with a sheet of 4 mil plastic.

It’s the middle of Spring and a confederate Jasmine vine catches your eye.

The small yellow blooms are attractive and you instantly know the perfect spot for it at home.

A garden center employee mentions to you “It grows like a weed, but might not be cold hardy”, she says.  You make the purchase anyway because it’s gorgeous and take it home.

One look at the plant tag says it’s a Zone 8 plant. What does this mean and where should I plant it?

Cold Hardiness Zone

Cold hardiness is the rating a plant receives to indicate how cold a temperature it can withstand before damage. The USDA developed the Cold Hardiness Zone Map. Find your zone. Click here.

For Tennessee, Zone 8 is the warmest zone. Zone 8 is located near Memphis. This means that the cold weather typically doesn’t fall below zero degrees Fahrenheit. But it’s not a sure thing.

Cold hardiness zones are based on temperature averages over the previous decades. It’s well known the North-Western Hemisphere is in a slight warming trend, but each year the temperature could swing near record lows.

Zone 6 is the coldest climate in Tennessee, located in the eastern part of the state.

What is the best planting location for tender plants?
  • Plant susceptible tender plants on the southern side of the home and as close to the foundation as possible.

The heat from the home will radiate to the root system in the Winter. If the root system survives, the plant will flush new fresh growth in Spring. If the southern side and home foundation are not available, avoid a windy alley. Frigid cold wind causes dessication, or drying out of plant stems.

What Does Winter Damage Look Like?
  • Dessication damage may occur with stem splitting or stem die back.

Hard pruning is required to remove the dead stems. This may or may not be acceptable to you. Removing the dead stems will allow to the plant to flush new growth the following Spring. The new growth will hide the stem stumps.

Another way to protect susceptible plants is to wrap them in burlap or plastic. This traps humidity and warmer air. It helps eliminate dessication. For more info, click here.

How Do I Minimize the Possibility of Damage?
  • Purchase and Install cold hardy trees and shrubs.

That means if you’re in a Zone 6, 7, or 8, use trees and shrubs with a cold hardiness of 3, 4, and 5. These plants are extremely resistant to cold damage. A great hardy shrub is hydrangea.

Do you have any more tips that I didn’t mention? Please continue the conversation on the Facebook page.

Filed Under: Establishment and Care Advice, Expensive Mistakes, Right Plant In The Right Place, Winter Protection