Spring Planting – 10 Helpful Tips
Its that time of year in Florida, and around the country for that matter. Spring Planting! It has been an unusually cold winter, and now that its warming up, everyone’s looking at their landscaping and thinking ‘hmm, what can we do this year?’. We are all guilty of over-zealous yard-work excitement from time to time, especially during the first warm days of spring. Its easy to get carried away with the thoughts of a new and beautifully landscaped property. That to rival all neighbors now or in the future! And there is nothing like sipping a cold glass of lemonade, iced tea, or a cold beer at the end of your hard labors; new mulch, borders, new plants. Ahh nice!
Unfortunately we often forget to think about the impact of our landscaping with time. After all, plants are living organisms that grow and change. What might be nice now, will change, and considering your landscaping job with long-term maintenance in mind will save you time and money in the long run.
1. Plan it out. Get some graph paper if it helps you. Draw out your landscaping project on paper. It will help you visualize and estimate costs of bedding and plants. Look for an note properties in your area that you like. What types of plants are they using? How many? Take good notes on what you like about it and then add to your design.
2. Think soft-edges rather than straight lines. Most people respond well to landscapes with curves and turns rather than straight lines and hard edges. It also makes it easier to maintain
3. Don’t plant to close to the home. Allow for, at least, a few feet from the edge of shrubbery and bushes to your homes foundation (typically 6 feet to center). Give your plants some room to grow, they do get bigger, and you will appreciate the room on all sides of your plants when it comes time for trimming. Planting away from your home will also decrease the number of insects and other pests leaving the outdoors for the comfort of the inside of your home. Don’t give them easy access. Finally, one of the biggest and often most costly mistakes home owners make is planting trees too close to the properties foundation. This can lead to foundation stress or cracks, debris on the roof and in gutters, and damage to windows, eaves, and soffet. That little schefflera you plant a few feet from the house, can and will turn into an enourmous tree. Think about future growth, and plant accordingly.
4. Consider seasonal changes into where you place your trees and shrubs, and which varieties you plant in the different locations. We often see gorgeous christmas palms or ornamentals completely wiped out only because they were placed in an isolated, North facing location directly in the path of cold-front winds. Just like animals, plants are affected by wind-chill factors. Plant hardy cold-resistant plants in locations exposed to the winter chill.
5. Plant shade trees on the West or North West sides of the home. Even if they are just saplings, in a few years, they can begin offering much needed shade to your home during the hottest parts of the day. Even if they are too young now, this will increase property value down the road.
6. Consider irrigation needs and current irrigation. If you have irrigaiton installed, locate all sprinkler heads before digging and flag them. 1) You don’t want to break a line. 2) You want to ensure your new plants will receive plenty of water. 3) You don’t want the new landscape to impede water coverage to existing plants and your lawn.
7. You have a broad range of choices for bedding from mulch to stone, so choose wisely. Organics or inorganics? Stone will last longer but cost more so consider replacement and upkeep costs into your planned design. Mulch is more prone to weeds and insect infestation as well. Color does matter. So if you choose a rock or stone garden, look for more natural colors that enhance the colors of your home, but do not take away or hog the onlookers attention. Its also best to buy in bulk, check prices and shop around. 1 Cubic yard of mulch will cover about 320 square feet. Stone or rock, a little less.
8. Maintaining your new landscape is at first easy. You just need to get out and water the newly planted greenery as often as possible for a while. You’re watering and watering, and hoping those flowers will bloom and those shrubs will begin to grow tall and healthy. Well they usually do, and then its time to prune, cut, snip, clip, trim, and weed. Then do it again, and again, and again, and again. The less maintenance a plant requires or the easier it is to access, the easier life will be. Plants such as Canary Palms or bouganvillas, although beautful, have some serious thorns. Consider ease of maintenance into the equation before purchasing.
9. Use borders that are easy to edge or weed-wack around. Tall, non-arching, edging lends itself to difficult border maintenance. The easier it is to manage the boundaries between your landscaping and your lawn, the quicker your maintenance will be, and the more time you will have to enjoy it. Although costly, poured decorative concrete borders last a very long time and are easy to cut along and weed-wack.
10. Don’t over do it! A small one-gallon plant, in just a year or two, would easily occupy a 5-gallon container. Your plants will grow. I have a friend who has, unfortunately, a green thumb. He bought a home about 7 years ago and planted and created a gorgeous landscape. Now he has a difficult to maintain jungle. A project that use to take about a half day to complete, now takes a 3-day weekend.
Date: April 29, 2010
Categories: Landscaping