How to Pick the Right Tree for Your Yard

Picking the right tree for your yard can be daunting. Garden plants will come and go in your yard, but trees are there to stay. Follow these tips for picking the right tree for your yard and you will be the new plant expert for your neighborhood.

1. Where will the tree be planted? Near the house, garage, garden, etc? Unlike shrubs that have narrower root growth, the root system for trees expands often as far as the canopy of what the mature size of the tree will be. If you want a maple tree near your house, you’d have to remember that maple trees mature in the 50 to 70 foot height range, which can develop a canopy of approximately a half to the same in width. You would need plant that tree no closer than at minimum 50 feet from any foundation due to potential damage in the long term. On the other hand, a Thuja Green Giant Arborvitae can mature in the 50 to 70 height range, too, but it’s mature spread is only as wide as 10 to 15 feet, which means that it can be planted closer to a foundation than it’s height. So…plant a tree as far away from a building/house/etc as it spread in width allowing for expansion of the root system.
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3. What is the purpose of the tree? Is this to be a shade tree, seasonal flowering, fall foliage, privacy, wildlife, or a specimen tree?
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5. What limitations are there to inhibit the tree’s growth? Is the area sunny or shady? Are there power lines in the planned site area? Septic field lines or other underground utilities? Many local utility companies have guidelines on planting around those areas. 
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7. Many recommend not planting any trees within 50 to 70 feet of underground utilities. When planting near or under power or phone lines, most utilities require plants not grow over 12 feet in height.
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9. What type of growth rate do you want for this tree? A fast growing tree generally means a short lifespan, while a slow, stead growth rate, means a long-lived tree to be enjoyed by you and future generations.
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11. Maintenance? How much time do you want to spend in seasonal care for the tree? If you’re looking for maintenance free trees, then you will want to make sure that your tree choice doesn’t fruit, drop large seeds or require lots of shaping.
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Once you can answer these questions, you will be able to quickly narrow down your search for the perfect tree for your yard. Visit GreenwoodNursery.com where you can easily and quickly search for your tree by height, light, growth rate, and more.

California Privet Evergreen Hedge for Your Landscape

California Privet is an evergreen flowering shrub that is commonly used for shrub borders and privacy hedges. The oval shaped dark green leaves of the fast growing shrub California Privet provide a great backdrop for the small white flowers that appear in late spring to early summer. These blooms give way to tiny black fruit that is enjoyed by birds.

California Privet hedge spacing should be 4 to 5 feet apart. Fertilizing California Privet can be done in spring or early fall. Broadcast 3/4 of 15-5-15 or 15-5-10 fertilizer per 100 square feet of privet hedge. Prune your privet hedge in spring or immediately after flowering.

This fast growing evergreen shrub, Ligustrum ovalifolium, creates a beautiful privacy hedge growing 10 to 15 feet tall. While common privet is invasive, California Privet and Japanese Privet are appropriate choices for hedges and as they can be easily controlled as foundation plantings or garden plants.

The fragrance emitted by the flowers of the California Privet is considered to be somewhat unpleasant. Pruning at this time will prevent this situation. All parts of this plant is poisonous to humans. Deer, rabbit and drought resistant.

How to Plant Strawberries

To plant and grow strawberry plants is an wonderful way to garden and quite easy when following just a few simple steps.

Here are a few gardening tips that will get your strawberry plants off to the best possible start. Soon you will be enjoying the strawberry fruits of  your labor.

Strawberry plants grow best in well drained soil that has been amended with lots of organic matter. Do not plant strawberry plants in or near soil where eggplants, peppers, potatoes, raspberries, or tomatoes have grown over the past 3 to 5 years, because strawberry plants are susceptible to verticillium wilt. It is also advisable to move strawberry beds whenever verticillium wilt appears. Soils with high lime content may also be unsuitable for this plant. Protect strawberry plants from freezing during the winter months. In addition to mulching, planting your strawberry plants at the top of a gentle slope helps minimize winter kill and frost damage to blossoms.

Plant strawberry plants in rows or hills in areas that receive at least 6 hours of sunlight per day. Plant the plants 15 to 18 inches apart in rows spaced about 2 feet apart. When planting bare root strawberries, be sure to trim the roots to six inches long. Dig holes deep enough to accommodate the roots. Inside the hole, mound enough dirt to be able to have the plant sit on the mound with the roots spread evenly around. The base of the crown should sit at the soil level. If the crown is set too high above the ground, the plant will dry out. Smooth and water to settle the soil. If your plants experience a drought immediately after planting, it may stunt the growth of the plants. Inspect after frost to see if any plants were lifted out of the soil. If they were, gently push them back into the soil and cover.

Once strawberry plants have begun to leaf out, fertilize can be applied. A balanced 10-10-10 blend can be added according to directions on the label. When the plant begins to form blooms until harvest is complete, is the time period that the plants will need the most water. One to two inches of supplemental watering a week may be necessary to keep the plants hydrated. Check the soil for dampness if in doubt.

Their first growing year in the ground, pinch off any strawberry blooms. This will force more growth into the plants size, creating larger plants with the potential for more blooms producing more fruit the next growing season.

Gardening Tips for Beginning Gardeners

If you are a beginning gardener, don't be afraid to delve right in, as it isn’t meant to be difficult. Once you feel the connection, you’ll be hooked on gardening. If you don't know how to start, there is always an avenue of knowledge for you: gardening neighbors or friends, gardening books and gardening magazines to read, watch for new gardening trends, and the Internet to browse for more information. 

English: old books in Château de Breteuil, France (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At one time, it seemed gardening only appealed to the older folks. But nowadays, people of all ages, children, young adults, adults, and older folks alike enjoy gardening. They see gardening as a refreshing and rewarding hobby. With all the benefits that you get, being a busy, working person should never be used as a hindrance to start growing your own plants indoors or outdoors. You will see the big difference when you get to reap your own fruits of labor.

Would you enjoy a bed of beautiful, colorful flowers, a country garden full of wild flowers and shrubs, manicured lawn strategically placed with shrubs and trees, or just a simple backyard with lots of pots and containers filled with amazing plants? It’s all within your reach to have.  Learn the basics of landscape design.

For a starter, you will need these basic tools: trowel, spade, lawnmower, rake, and plants of your choice to grow. It would help a lot if you have a garden plan based on the space that is available. It will not be difficult to place flowerbeds, lawns, or paths. 

The kinds of garden plants that you will grow will depend on what you want, the availability, and the climate of your location. There are plants that grow only for the season, called annuals, and there are others that can be cultivated to grow year after year, often referred to as perennial. If you consider yourself a hobby gardener, then you would want to have plants that do not grow more than a few seasons. These are perennial plants that allow you to tend to things other than gardening.

If you don't know what plants to start growing, you can always ask assistance from your online plant nursery. The expert staff will know what plants will thrive specifically considering the climate in your area. Also, you can use the Greenwood Nursery Plant Finder online to narrow down your plant search.

The small young plants are great choice if you want to have an automatic decorative display on your garden. 

Smaller, younger plants are easier to plant and require less watering and care to get growing than larger container plants do.

Gardening should be this fun and exciting, and, of course, rewarding, even if you are a beginner. Ready for more? 

Here is a free online gardening course courtesy of BBC Gardener's World. Learn at your own pace.

Learn the basics of landscape design to understand placement of plants and how they are used. 

Gardening Tips for Beginning Gardeners by Greenwood Nursery.

8 Gardening Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Do you realize that gardening mistakes happen right in your front yard? Whether you think that your garden looks good or not, if everything doesn't work together, the entire garden doesn’t work. Let’s talk about the most common gardening mistakes and how to fix them.

Lawn&Garden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Grass is not greener. This ranks number 1. Why? Most gardens and yards have lawn, but one may be slightly greener than the other. If your lawn looks browner than the soil underneath, it is time to reassess your watering, fertilizing and mowing schedule. Think where you may have gone wrong and make the necessary lawn care adjustments. Tired of lawn care? Consider other lawn substitute options such as ground covers such as periwinkle. Visit Greenwood Nursery for more on lawn substitutes.

2. Tools and clutter are everywhere. They may be useful objects, but if they are just stacked in your garage or tossed in a box, then you think they are not worth the storage. At that point, they don't just look like junk; they are junk. Sort through them one by one and determine whether you want to keep them or not. Your criteria when deciding if they deserve the trip to dump or not is simple: Ask yourself, do you specific plans for them?

3. Your house and garden can be seen from the road. There are several short- and long-term solutions to using plants to create privacy. One quick-fix solution is to build a concrete wall that would separate your garden from the sidewalk view. For a longer, much appealing look, planting fast growing shrubs is a good idea.

4. Weed invasion. Keeping your lawn regularly maintained can solve weed problems. Do a regular walk through to check for weeds about twice a week during the growing season. Dig the weeds out by hand to keep them from re-growing by seeding the empty areas of your lawn.

5. Limited space. If your problem is space, then here's one idea that can definitely help you maximize every square inch of your garden: think vertical gardens. With vertical gardening, you can create a sense of lush greenery by using wall space, arbors and trellises to allow plants to climb upwards.

6. Where's your house? If shrubs have swallowed your house, then hedge clippers comes in handy. You don’t want plants blocking the way from your drive to the front door so some serious pruning may be in order. You want landscaping, not a house in the middle of the forest. Also, tall and over grown shrubs are a security hazard providing a burglar with the protection and opportunity that they would need to break into your home. It's time to select curb appeal plants.

7. Selection and winter care. Some garden plants will not survive winter temperatures without proper care. When planning your garden, be sure to select the majority of your plant that will grow year round and always include a few evergreens and plants with winter interest. In fall be sure to provide your garden plants with a good thick layer (approximately 3 inches) of shredded bark mulch to insulate and provide moisture over the winter months.

8. Fences are falling apart. Fences are not just to separate your property from your neighbor's. They also add to the overall look of your garden. Make sure that you maintain your fences like the way you keep your plants. Use fences as backdrops for your landscaping projects.

8 Gardening Mistakes and How to Correct Them by Greenwood Nursery

Fertilizing Garden Plants: Yes, No, Maybe!!!

My staff asked me if I would address fertilizing garden plants this week. Our office receives many emails and phone calls on this very topic. Customers and site members often send in pictures of their sick plants to see if we can work with them to figure out what is going wrong. Even before looking at the picture we need to know how the plants have been cared for, such as watering cycle, lawn care, and if, what and how often fertilize was applied.

Stressed plants will exhibit the same characteristics whether or not they have been over or under watered. It is a matter of realizing how often the plants are being watered and/or checking the soil to see if it is dry or wet, and, then doing the opposite.

Lawn care is necessary to know as many people plant trees and shrubs in the middle of their lawn. All herbicides, pesticides, and fertilize applied onto lawns to make them green and grow soaks down into the root system of these plants and they are directly affected by these chemicals.

Fertilize, ah to fertilize! This is the one thing that I feel is most commonly misused or should I say abused. Maybe it is due to lack of knowledge on it. To a new homeowner or new gardener, I am sure looking at shelves full of so many different products is overwhelming and somewhat intimidating. Before I go into what can be used, I want to begin with what one should not do.

Never, ever, ever, never:

1.Fertilize without watering in afterwards
2.Allow fertilize or the dust to settle and stay on any part of the plant (always wash off)
3.Spray water soluble fertilizers, such as Miracle Grow, over the tree or shrub with the reasoning that it will be absorbed through the leaves
4.Fertilize trees, shrubs, or perennials during the heat of summer or drought periods
5.Dump fertilize on the ground near a plant with the attitude that “Oh, it will eventually soak in”
6.Apply multiple fertilizers
7.Begin a fertilize program without first testing your soil’s pH
8.Fertilize plants year round

I know, no one wants to hear it, but soil testing is a necessary evil if fertilizing is part of your routine. They should be run about every 3 to 5 years so the soil structure can be amended properly.

Remember the 3 R’s on fertilizing:

Right blend
Right amount
Right time of year

Now, you ask, “But, Cheryl, if I can’t just dump fertilize onto the ground, how will I know if, when and how I should fertilize?” Not to worry, I have taken care of that for you. This link to the North Carolina State University Extension Site gives everything you always wanted to know about fertilizing, but were afraid to ask. It also covers natural fertilizers with enough information so you can decide if and when you might use them.

Bookmark it or print out this pdf for keeping on file for referencing.
http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/a-gardeners-guide-to-fertilizing-trees-and-shrubs

Until next time……Cheryl

Visit www.GreenwoodNursery.com for a wide selection of shade trees, flowering shrubs, perennial plants, ground covers, grasses, strawberry plants, raspberry & blackberry bushes, and more.

To respond to or suggest topics you would enjoy reading about, drop me an email at mail@greenwoodnursery.com.