Good Design Is Worth the Wait

When trees and shrubs are the primary players, you get a robust, low-maintenance landscape

Have you ever want to create or rehab a garden and thought , “ Where the heck do I commence ? ” We know exactly how you feel . After buying a historic belongings over 30 years ago , we were face up with a whole - household redevelopment at the same time we were planning to rehab the landscape alfresco . To make thing easy ( and affordable ) , we focused our attention first on the handful of existing trees , deciding which would go and basing the next design steps on the ones that remained . Using those trees as inspiration , we added layers of more woody plants with textural and color contrasts and then instal a hardscape with some ponderousness to slowly make a landscape that required less maintenance and that looked great in all four seasons .

Install woodies for layers, focal points, and to fill problem areas

ab initio we leave alone in place the five self-aggrandizing trees on the property because we could n’t give to have them removed , and we call for some shade . Leaving these trees in place create a natural jumping - off point for planting layers beneath . First , we focused on constitute a fine-tune understory of lowly trees and larger nicety - resistant shrubs , admit ‘ Wolf Eyes ’ cornel ( Cornus kousa‘Wolf Eyes ’ , zone 5–8 ) , various genus Viburnum ( Viburnumspp . and cvs . , Zones 4–9 ) , and shorter Nipponese maple ( Acer palmatumand cvs . , Zones 5–9 ) . Although trees and shrub take up a larger footmark than your average perennial , if you utilise woodies with an array of unlike forms in a designated area , you ’ll naturally get a superimposed effect . We basically created a series of large - scale vignettes throughout our urban pile . Even when one of those initial five exist tree choke , we decide to fill the open space not with a bunch of perennials , but with a few golden locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia * ‘ Frisia ’ , Zones 4–9 ) because we were beginning to understand that a landscape fulfill with trees and shrubs is ultimately easier to maintain and often more visually impactful than one filled with perennials .

That ’s not to say that we did n’t care herbaceous plant ; perennials were initially a passion . It was really several years before we plant our first “ starter ” bush in a perennial border that extended out past the large trees and their understory . finally we add up a couple of mathematical group of nanus Alberta spruce ( Picea glauca‘Conica ’ , Zones 2–8 ) and a midget golden arborvitae ( Thuja orientalis‘Aurea Nana ’ , Zones 6–9 ) as anchorman in the bounteous recurrent bed . We did this because the bottom lacked focal points , it require better seasonality , and its layering was n’t as oculus - catching as it could be . The perennial eventually faded off , but the evergreen remain to this day . These orotund pyramidic shrubs are now front with a globe - material body vary genus Euonymus ( Euonymus fortunei * ‘ Emerald ’ n ’ Gold ’ , Zones 5–9 ) , a mugo pine ( Pinus mugo , Zones 2–8 ) , and midget barberry ( Berberiscv . , Zones 4–8 ) , again , creating a superimposed look . We still implant perennials ( as well as yearbook and tropicals ) among the trees and shrubs , but they are mainly used for a bottom layer , impermanent blank fillers , and/or accents throughout the vignettes .

When we ultimately tired of mowing the steeply splash banking company that border our property , we had learned our lesson when it came to perennials . We love it would be impossible to give or maintain perennial beds on those 30 ° slopes , one of which faces southeast and is 150 feet foresightful , and the other of which faces in the south and is 80 foot long . We initially killed off all the pasture on the coin bank , then covered it with landscape painting cloth and yards of vulgar , chintzy , woodchip mulch . It look pretty awful — just a vast wasteland of cow chip stud with picayune shrubs ( the only size we could afford)—but within five years it was a showstopper . The original melodic theme was to use only shrubs , but when some tempting inexpensive trees showed up at local nurseries , we included some of them , too .

Pick a focus color to find natural companions

Throughout the appendage of imbed our landscape painting , we take that you simply can not confound a bunch of tree and shrubs into a bed and expect them to magically form a beautiful garden . wont and size guided our choices when it come to pick which trees and shrubs would be planted and where . But color also played an important role . Because trees and shrub typically flower for a short meter than perennials ( if at all ) , working with their color is well-situated to do . It ’s often the foliage hue that recreate the biggest character and is what determines which companions are plant nearby . We generally start by establish a tree or shrub with standout color and then choose a few companions that complement its semblance and a few that contrast with it . We assay to keep the color palette limited in each area so that things do n’t get visually crazy .

For exemplar , in one borderline gage by dark tree trunk , a white - tipped Canadian hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis‘Gentsch White ’ , zone 3–7 ) is the sensation , with a white , bloom interference fringe tree ( Chionanthus virginicus , Zones 3–9 ) as a nearby complementary fellow traveller . The contrast red-faced , dispirited , and gold plants include ‘ Red Majestic ’ contorted filbert ( Corylus avellena‘Red Majestic ’ , Zones 4–8 ) , dwarf gloomy spruce ( Picea pungens‘Globosa ’ , Zones 2–8 ) , and ‘ All Gold ’ Nipponese forest weed ( Hakonechloa macra‘All Gold ’ , Zones 4–9 ) . Also , we like to plan for multiseason colour , so we attempt to make indisputable that the various companion plants have color interest in spring , summertime , or fall .

Make sure the hardscape is as beefy and varied as the woody plants

Inspired by English gardens we ’ve seen featured on boob tube , we did n’t skimp on the hardscaping that runs throughout the landscape . The mix of stuff and the size and scale of those cloth is vast . This pairs nicely in a ocular sensory faculty with the large and bulky woody plants that dominate the garden . Small stepping stones scatter through a garden of this scale would expect silly . At the time we corrupt the property , there was a lot of demolition going on around our neck of the woods . We noticed the granite and redbrick pavers and the limestone curbs that were being pull out of the streets , as well as the cut - limestone fundament block left behind when former houses were torn down . This pep up us to apply salvaged materials to create pathways , patios , border , and stairs . We also acquired some local artifacts , such as our Brobdingnagian , red - sandstone lion - head urn and carve limestone capitols , which we utilise as garden artwork .

During those shows set in England , we also noticed the pleasant sound of mass crunching on gravel paths , so we experiment first with gravel in a small domain and then scatter it out into more floater . We finally put crushed rock between the large limestone curb sections that , lay flat , make up our chief pathway .

The “ think big ” mentality also extends to the outbuildings we build . We built a minor lathe house 10 years ago and lie with the means it shaded our not - yet - planted flats of annuals and tropicals while still giving a view out to the garden . revolutionize by that , we make up one’s mind last class to erect an even larger lathe firm to cover our 15×25 concrete terrace , for spectre and a sense of place . Now that the various woody plant have size up nicely , a building of this size does n’t look out of place . you may pose inside it and still get duck soup and views of the garden and the adjacent historical houses .

Planting our woody - based landscape painting and waiting for it to grow in did n’t happen overnight . But we are sure that the amount of study to maintain it is less than it would have been had we stick with mostly perennial . And when visitor gush over the graduated table and variety these trees and shrubs provide , we do n’t doubt our pick .

Overgrown isn’t always a problem

Woody plant life always grow larger than the plant recording label tells you . There are only a smattering of shrubs that have continue anywhere near the size we expected — mostly nanus evergreen . Our philosophy is “ If it has raise too big for its space , we ’ll move it . ” We ’ve successfully move 8 - substructure - improbable established Nipponese maple and pines , as well as a long list of shrubs , by root - pruning . This process involve slicing into the root ball of an established tree or shrub a few time throughout the twelvemonth , point to the plant life that it necessitate to get quick to reestablish itself in a new location . Here ’s how to do it .

1.In spring , make a serial publication of neat , angle cuts with a spade around the tree / bush to be moved . Push the spade into the ground about a metrical foot . check that you keep the cuts 2 to 3 metrical unit aside from the drip line of the plant .

2.In early fall , repeat the same process , push the nigga another invertebrate foot or so rich . If this creates an unsightly trench , you could cover it over with mulch .

3.In early natural spring the undermentioned year , make one final curing of cuts , pushing the spade even deeply into the grease .

4.In late spring , finish the process by altogether digging out the flora and replant it in its new location .

*Invasive alert: Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)

This industrial plant is considered invading in CA , CT , MA , ME , MI , MN , MO , NJ , NY , VT , WI .

*Invasive alert: Winter creeper (Euonymous fortunei)

This industrial plant is considered invasive in IL , IN , KY , MD , MO , NC , NH , NJ , NY , TN , VA , WI , WV .

Please visitinvasiveplantatlas.orgfor more entropy .

Steve Bialk and Angela Duckert own Sanger House Gardens , a historical bed and breakfast locate in the Brewer ’s Hill incision of business district Milwaukee .

Photos : Danielle Sherry . instance : Conor Kovatch .

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Underneath a canopy of towering trees is a panoply of other woodies.Some of the largest trees on this property were left in place and became the inspiration for the gardens below that are filled with smaller trees, an array of conifers, and even some broadleaf evergreens (site plan, A).

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Initially planted as an all-perennial border, this area was just ho-hum.An array of herbaceous plants once dominated this garden, but eventually shrubs were incorporated for four-season structure and because their diverse forms and colors (photo right) provided much-needed focal points (site plan, B).

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When one tree dies, a replacement is quickly put in place.After one of the oldest trees on the property died, a grouping of locusts took its place. The new addition clearly needed to be a woody, since the stage was already filled with a supporting cast of dwarf blue spruce, Japanese maple, arborvitae, and other assorted shrubbery (site plan, C).

Nearly every plant can be relocated.This dragon’s eye pine recently got a new home with more space. While it gets established, annuals and tropicals such as ‘Cleopatra’ canna (Canna‘Cleopatra’, Zones 9–11) act as space fillers.

Woodies are great for hard-to-maintain areas.The steep terrain surrounding this property was ideal for planting trees and shrubs that don’t need constant upkeep such as deadheading and spring/fall cleanup (photo above). Eventually, low-care perennials such as daylilies (Hemerocallisspp. and cvs., Zones 3–9) and catmint (Nepetaspp. and cvs., Zones 4–9) were added at the base of the hill for color (photo below; site plan, D).

Do you want things to feel warm or cool?Sticking with a color family, either warm or cool hues, always leads to successful pairings. Here, the red-leaved barberry was the starting point. Pink coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea, Zones 3–9) and orange annuals and succulents give this area a toasty, almost tropical feel (site plan, E).

Color companions can be subtle or overt.A variegated plant was the inspiration for both of these spots. The ‘Carol Mackie’ daphne (Daphne×burkwoodii‘Carol Mackie’, Zones 4–8) inspired the complementary pairing of a nearby white, blooming panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculatacv., Zones 5–9) with pale green herbaceous friends for a serene scene (photo below; site plan, F). In a different area (photo above), a white-tipped hemlock stands out more when surrounded by companions with contrasting red, yellow, and blue coloring (site plan, G).

The hardscape is bulky, just like the plants.Reclaimed limestone curbing was used throughout the garden for various paths and even a staircase down to the sidewalks (top photo; site plan, H). A huge, salvaged, red sandstone capitol was turned into a garden fountain. It stays remarkably in scale with the surrounding trees (bottom photo; site plan, I).

Bigger plants mean bigger garden structures.When the scale of the plants in a landscape is large due to the trees and shrubs, a normal garden shed would look tiny. The new lathe house constructed last year looks right at home next to its neighbor, a large blue spruce (site plan, J).