Planting Trees Can Dramatically Enhance Your Property

Each tree, whether it is a giant oak or a small flowering cherry, should be allowed its own sphere of influence. Other trees that encroach are bound to give a cluttered effect. If you are about to plant a tree, you can readily determine its sphere of influence - or how much space to allow around it.

Find the ultimate height of the tree you want to use. Then calculate that tree's sphere of influence as a circle with a radius equal to the ultimate height of the tree. Thus, a 35-foot tree has a sphere of influence of 35 feet in any direction from the trunk of the tree. Say that the next tree you might want to use has an ultimate height of 20 feet. Then the minimum distance from the trunk of the 35-foot tree to the trunk of the 20-foot tree would be 55 feet, or it might be preferable to have them even farther apart.

Choosing The Trees

Once you are committed to using only a few trees you will need to have some way of narrowing down the wide range of enchanting and dramatic trees from which you can choose. The first important design factor to consider in making your choice is scale. Scale is the relationship between the dimensions or sizes of the different elements in a design.

The size of a tree sets the scale of your garden picture. When you choose the trees for your garden, notice the relationship between (1) the size of the total area of the garden, (2) the size of the house (which is usually part of the garden scene) and (3) the size of the trees. Suppose your house seems too large for its setting and you want to give it a more gracious aspect. A very large tree will dominate the scene and reduce the apparent size of the house, soften and, at the same time, hold its own against an overpowering architectural mass. Or if you have a modest little cottage that you want to make more impressive, use several smaller trees. Watch, though, that you do not choose too tiny a tree. If you do, you will find that it will look smaller than it actually is, diminutive, and out of scale.

How Many Trees To Use

An assortment of little trees tucked around a larger one clutters its sphere of influence, upsets the scale and takes away the feeling of restful spaciousness that is essential to a pleasing design. On the average-size suburban lot, you can't very well use more than four or five trees effectively. And if one of the trees which you do use is a large one, you might find yourself limited to two or three, or possibly even one if the tree is a huge old specimen. In other words, if you have a 100-foot tree on a 100-foot lot, its sphere of influence will cover the entire lot.

There is an exception to this rule which might at first glance seem to be a contradiction. Suppose your house is situated in a little piece of naturalistic woodland and you have had the good sense not to chop down all the native trees. Perhaps there are 20 or 30 trees in a comparatively small space. They are mostly of one kind and have grown together for a number of years. Their tops have formed a canopy overhead, but the trunks are bare of branches to a considerable height. Here you have a woodland area which is an integrated unit. 

Instead of being conscious of the trees as separate and distinct accent points you find the trunks are more like pillars holding up a ceiling. Trees which grow together in this way in a happy natural association form a simple naturalistic unit. You lose this simplicity and get an effect of spotty accentuation if you introduce other trees that are not related in character or in scale to the existing growth. It is better to supplement this native growth with shrubs rather than other trees.

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Oh How Beautiful A Water Garden Would Be In Your Area

Whatever form it is in, water is one of the best features you can have in the garden. It is entrancing to look at, a joy to hear, and the flowers you can grow in water and near it are among the most beautiful there are. I don't know anyone who doesn't love water lilies, and the irises and flags swaying gracefully beside a stream or pond are a close runner-up.

The reflections in the pool can double your pleasure - or your distress - if you permit the pool to be placed where what you see reflected is the back of you neighbor's tool shed, your own laundry wheel or garbage cans, or the dull, dreary face of an apartment building's blank wall. I love to visit my neighbor's pool where, instead, I can watch the reflections of gently moving foliage and ornamental grass, clouds, blooms and buds, and on summer afternoons the darting of dragonflies and swallows that pass over the pool hunting for insects.

If your garden is designed as an outdoor room for relaxation, water makes it twice as restful - or maybe more so. After you relax in the hot sun, a pool large enough to get into adds the extra pleasure of cooling you off. All pools and running water can cool the air somewhat, and the sound of water, as we know, gives the psychological effect of cooling, too. My garden gives me an intensified experience of the revolving seasons as I see in miniature and close by, the great sweeping cycles of the year. Water gardens intensify that feeling even more, and make the changes seem more poignant and more present.

Choosing Your Water Garden

If you can arrange for running water, do so. Where there is a slope, it is easy enough to foresee how pleasant a waterfall, and a small stream leading to a pool below would be. If you are so lucky as already to have a stream coming down a slope, it is even easier to imagine damming up the brook at some point and creating a pool. But even on flat land, you can introduce a mound of some sort, construct a waterfall down it, and a little stream leading to a pool in which you can have a circulating pump that will carry the water back up to the waterfall. In a way, this situation is the luckiest for you can choose exactly where and what kind of pool to have. 

It is certainly recommend that all gardeners use recirculating water for their gardens. You save water that way but you also save yourself the bother of finding a proper drainage system, proper treatment of the soil, and the nuisance of having just one more thing to get out of order in case, for instance, the roots of nearby shrubs decide to invade the drain. Most important of all, you can maintain a temperature of the water suitable to plants and fish, without its being chilled unduly. 

The great advances today in waterproof plastic materials such as PVC and polyvinyl chloride have made it possible to have pools and even streams with plastic bottoms, so you don't even have to go to the bother and expense of concrete structures anymore. They have to be replaced, yes; but so do most concrete pools, too, when they begin to crack and leak. Obviously it is easier to pull out and replace a plastic pool bottom than a concrete one. And it is no more trouble to put the masking stones around a plastic pool than a concrete one. And no more trouble to put masking sand over plastic than over concrete. 

A recirculating pool, where the rainfall is enough to replace the water lost through evaporation, can go on and on. When evaporation exceeds the new rain supply, tap water can be used to fill the pool again, as long as it is added in small enough amounts to keep the temperature from dropping so quickly it upsets the pool balance and disturbs the plants and the fish you will have in your pool to help maintain that balance. 

Some other advantages of a plastic pool over a concrete one are that you don't have to go through the big operation of pouring the concrete all at one time to avoid cracks, or the bother of having to keep filling and draining the pool for weeks until the alkalines are washed away. Since it is best to grow your water lilies and other water plants in tubs or boxes or baskets, you won't have a soil bottom to the pool, and only need a sandy bottom of some attractive natural color.

What Size Should The Pool Be?

Though it is possible to grow a water lily in a space as small as a sunken barrel, a larger place is needed for most water lilies, especially if you plan to grow the kind you can leave in the water all winter. Where the weather will make the pool freeze over you will need a depth of three feet. Unfortunately the ready-made plastic or fiberglass pools you can buy usually are not that deep, so inspect the dimensions carefully before you buy. There are little waterlilies, the Chinese waterlilies, which you can grow in shallow water, as shallow as six inches; but the bigger ones are much more attractive. 

If you want the biggest, most spectacular lilies of all, use tropicals in big three-foot boxes at least a foot deep, and, if you live in the north, treat them as annuals, and get new ones each year. The overall size of a pool is of course up to individual choice, but the thing to remember is that a really successful still water pool must have a large enough surface area in relation to the total capacity so that there are no drastic temperature fluctuations. Neither your plants nor your fish could stand that.

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Tips In Landscaping Your Garden

Landscaping is one gardening endeavor that could consume lots of your time and energy. If you are thinking of doing it at a grand scale, you will need major preparation. So, how about going over a few pointers on how to do your landscaping before considering hiring a professional landscaper that will most probably charge you more than how much you think you can afford.

Here are simple but indispensable tips to guide you in making your landscaping activity one rewarding feat.

1. Draw your landscape plan.

Not just any plan. It needs to be a GOOD landscape plan. Or, you are doomed to lose money, time and energy. You need to take account of the style and function of your landscape. An idea of the plants you want to be there will also help. Focus on an area where you spend most of your time. That’s where your landscaping power must all be directed.

2. Take a double-take in hiring a pro.

Hiring an independent designer might cost you hundreds of dollars as opposed to the small amount of money you will spend if you ask for a free plan from nurseries where you will buy your plants.

3. You and your home’s style must be taken account of.

In planning your landscape, its style must complement the design of your house and your personality as well. 

Here are the various landscape styles you can choose for your own garden:

a. Formal. This style uses lots of straight lines and perfect geometrical shapes. Orderly arrangement of plants instead of random positioning is employed. Close arrangement and pruning is seen on many landscaped gardens with this style.

b. Informal. This kind of landscaping goes well with houses with cozy looks to them. Beds with curved edges instead of straight lines and random placement of plants suit this landscape style.

c. English Garden. This style emphasizes on the harmony between the house’s architecture and the garden. 

d. Formal/Informal Garden. This style often comes with a brick walkway that exudes formality. This walkway leads to the rear with a circle of plants. The arrangement of plants resembles the English garden style but it has no formal borders.

e. Oriental. It is often the kind of garden found in houses with small backyards. It uses rocks, evergreens and water. A wide variety of plants create several angles with this style.

f. Woodland. This landscaping suits a house that has a wooded backyard and an inclined terrain.

Keeping those tips in mind will not only make your landscaping a very fruitful activity but a money-saving one too.

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Gardening By The Yard Tips

You have always been envious of your neighbors' spruced up garden by the yard. Flowers and lush shrubs abound in their tiny nook of paradise. You ask yourself why you never get to have that kind of garden. And, you usually dismiss such wondering with lines like "I don't have a green thumb!" or "I can't afford a gardener or a professional landscaper," which are both lame alibis.

If you want your yard to look regal with a simple but well-maintained garden, you only need two things - determination and the know-how of such an endeavor. Psyche yourself to muster such will that would consequently urge you to look for sources of information on how to go about it.

For your own gardening happiness, here's a rundown of tips on how to make your gardening by the yard endeavor a very rewarding one.

1. Deadheading

One good rule of the green thumb is to keep your border free from wilted flowers and dried leaves. Deadheading or removing dead flowers' heads will promote the blooming of your plants. Some perennials such as phlox, daylily, and Lady's Mantle get their growth jumpstarted by deadheading.

2. Prune selectively

It is a must to shorten the size of your annuals through selective pruning. This will help the plants to grow more.

3. Pinch out tops.

Certain plants respond when their tops get pinched out. Such plants include Coleus (a foliage plant) and herbs.

4. Fertilize lightly.

A minimal amount of fertilizer will further boost the growth of your vegetation. If you water your yard frequently, you have to fertilize it more regularly because of nutrient depletion.

5. Weed out.

This is one of the best ways to preserve the beauty of your garden by the yard. Moreover, removing weeds also provide better absorption of the soil's nutrients. If you can't help but use herbicide, do this safely and make sure that other plants don't get affected.

6. Water them well

One good tip when it comes to watering your garden by the yard is to do it for shorter periods of time, more often. It will do well if you increase your frequency of watering a bit come summer time. But doubling the time you water your plants will do more harm than good, e.g. erosion.

7. Say no to chemicals

Chemical is just as bad to plants as it is with humans. So better avoid using it as a pesticide. Physical pest controls or other alternatives are better options.

With these simple tips, soon enough you won't have to go green with envy with your neighbor's spectacular garden by the yard.

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