Posts Tagged shrubs
The One-Third Rule of Pruning Shrubbery
Pruning your shrubs can give your entire landscape an amazing aesthetic appeal. Ideally, there are typically two types of landscapers when it comes to pruning shrubbery; those who prune timidly from fear of damaging their bushes and those who prune aggressively to come up with perfectly shaped shrubs. However, to achieve the best outcome when pruning your bushes, trimming about one-third of the good wood is ideal.
If you prune more than this, you risk exposing your shrubbery to excessive damage, which could stunt its growth. Prune less than this, and you might not do much to improve the appeal of your shrub.
Read on to learn about the one-third rule:
Why The One-Third Rule?
Moderate pruning is pivotal when it comes to stimulating vital growth. Plants typically live in a balance between the below-ground and above-ground parts. Once the plant loses a number of stems through pruning, it tries to gain back the balance by pushing forth new growth. This regrowth is essential, especially in moderation, since it allows the plant to heal as well as simulates growth from dormant buds.
If your shrubbery loses too much leafy growth, it goes into panic mode. This can be shown by the appearance of water sprouts or suckers, which can leave your shrubs ragged looking. Even worse, this suckering can go on for a long time, making landscape maintenance tough.
Use the Rule on Established Plants
The one-third rule is ideal for your fully established shrubbery- plants that have overcome their transplant shock. If you have newly planted shrubs, give them a grace period of one or two seasons before pruning them to ensure that their root systems become established enough.
Use the rule on small ornamental trees and shrubs. As for larger shade trees, limit pruning to at most a quarter of the total branches. While growth on shade trees is stimulated into new growth through assertive pruning, its pruning shouldn’t be as vigorous as that of multi-stemmed shrubs. Pruning the trees often is vital since it reduces the chances of wind damage.
When Might The one-third Rule Not Be Enough?
If you neglect your shrubbery for too long, it might overgrow and get out of control. Normal pruning might not suffice. For such shrubs, rejuvenation pruning (a severe form of pruning) might work. While rejuvenation pruning will leave the shrub looking unattractive for a while, it allows it to reform itself into a better shape.
As long as you show your shrubs love, they will light up your landscape. Pruning ensures that you can shape your shrubs to fit right into your ideal landscape design. Consider using the one-third pruning rule to improve the appeal of your landscape.
How to Grow Boxwood Shrubs
Boxwood is an evergreen plant that grows in small, dense hedges. It doesn’t flower noticeably, but its rich green color makes it good for foliage cover. They work well for borders or near entryways. However, it’s a slow-growing plant, so don’t expect it to be impressive overnight.
A Few Boxwood Facts
As with all plants, be sure you’re placing your boxwood shrubs well. Boxwood typically does best in partial or full sun, so don’t plant it on the shady side of a house. Boxwood shrubs prefer well-drained soil, although it’s not very picky about pH. In very hot climates, try to plant your shrubs so they’ll receive some shade during the heat of the day, and do your best to water them semi-regularly so they don’t wilt. Try to remember your climate will impact the health of your boxwood.
Boxwood is generally hardy, but it has a few pests to watch out for. The most notable is the boxwood leaf miner, which causes the leaves to turn yellow. You can spray the leaves with insecticide to kill the plant, or try for an organic option such as neem oil.
You may also notice phytophthora root rot, a fungal infection. The fungus kills the roots, so the plant has a harder time taking in moisture and nutrients, and eventually begins to die back. To prevent this, make sure you’re not overwatering your boxwood shrubs, and ensure the soil is draining well.
Winter bronzing is a phenomenon where a boxwood’s leaves turn orange in the cold. This isn’t fatal to the plant, but many gardeners find it unpleasant to have. Winter bronzing is often caused by wind exposure.
To avoid winter bronzing, try to plant your boxwood shrubs such that they’re sheltered from freezing winter winds. If your ground isn’t frozen, give your shrubs a deep watering, especially if you live in a region with dry winters. You may also consider using a slow-release fertilizer in spring and fall. If your boxwoods are still bronzing, try spraying the leaves with an anti-desiccant, to keep their moisture in.
Though it takes dedication to reach its full potential, boxwood is a beautiful foliage plant that’s a staple of many gardens. If you plan to install boxwood shrubs around your home, get in touch with us and we’ll walk you through the process. Contact us at DK Landscaping for more gardening tips and advice.
How to Transplant Shrubs in Summer
The best times of year to transplant trees and shrubs are spring and fall; however, certain situations may make it necessary to move your plants outside of those seasons. For example, you may want to take your shrubs with you if you are moving or you may have to move the plant because of the weather.
If you find it necessary to move a plant during the warmest part of the year, you will need to take certain steps to ensure its health. Here are some tips on how to move shrubs in the summer without harming them:
- Choose the Right Location
Transplantation represents a dramatic change and a plant will have to adapt to its new environment slowly in order to survive. This means that you will have to keep factors like sunlight, soil drainage and soil pH in mind when choosing a new location. - Dig an Appropriate Hole
You will need to dig a hole that is approximately twice as large as the shrub’s root system. The additional space allows the roots to grow into the new site comfortably. - Carefully Remove the Shrub
Work carefully to avoid damaging the root system when uprooting shrubs. You will want to take as much of it as you can. You will also want to move some of the soil from the old location to the new one. You can place larger shrubs on a tarp and drag them to the new location along with some of the soil. - Add Adequate Water to the New Hole
You will want to wet the hole thoroughly before placing the shrub into it but avoid oversaturating it as this can cause the shrub’s roots to rot. - Place Shrub in the New Hole
Along with the shrub, place some of the soil from the old location into the hole as well as some potting soil. Pat the soil down around the base to ensure that the shrub stays upright. You can add watering stakes to the ground so that the shrub can water at root level but this is not essential. Be careful to avoid damage to the roots when installing the watering stakes.
The quality of your landscaping plays a major role in your ability to enjoy your yard and in your property value. If you need help with moving shrubs or with any other aspect of landscape maintenance, contact us today. Our experienced landscaping crews know how to move your shrubs and trees quickly and without damaging them.
Planning and Maintaining a Shrubbery
Rock gardens and shrubberies might be the two best ways to add dimension to your landscaping efforts without breaking the bank or giving yourself more work down the road. Just like a rock garden, shrubberies are coming back in style!
Shrubberies are actually easy to maintain and take care of as well. Shrubs are technically woody plants that are far shorter than most trees yet have a network of stems that can really liven up a backyard or add a little privacy to your home’s front facade.
Flowering broom shrubs and rhododendrons even look beautiful in their own right and don’t need too much support from your annuals and perennials to enliven your home.
That said, a lush lawn never hurts, so if you need help in that department DK Landscaping is here to lend a helping hand. DK Landscaping can also help with irrigation.
Planting a Shrubbery on Your Property
Shrubs are normally under ten feet in height and can either be evergreen or deciduous. This means that you can expect to find two classes of shrubs – one of which loses its leaves every autumn and then grows them back come springtime (deciduous) and the other kind of shrub retains its leaves on a year-round basis (evergreen).
- Leaving Room to Grow
Two other factors that you need to consider right off the bat is the maturity of the shrub that you’re interested in and, secondly, making sure that that shrub has enough room to grow without crowding out its neighbors.
The maturity and species of the shrub you go with will go a long way in determining how much space you need between each shrub and whether you’re letting in too much (or too little) sun to all of the shrubs you’ve planted as they go along in their growing cycle.
As an example, a shrub that’s much more bush-like and grows vertically like a arborvitae will require less sun, root space, and maintenance since it’s an evergreen and its stems don’t tend to blossom horizontally.
Bamboo palm or barberry, on the other hand, are actually quite low to the ground and need a little room to blossom out horizontally, so you’ll want to leave adequate space between each one and enough daylight so that the sun can reach down and nourish each individual shrub.
- Dig a Wide Hole
After you’ve picked out which shrub goes with the surrounding flowers and accessories in your yard, you need to transplant your shrubs and get them into the ground safely.
Digging a hole double the width of your shrub’s root ball is a good way to ensure that the roots get nourishment. After you’ve dug your hole then make sure to jostle the soil around slightly so that you’re not dealing with packed soil and your shrubs can continue to get nourishment.
- Transplanting the Shrub
When your hole is dug, carefully lower the shrub into place and put soil around the base. Then you’re going to want to spread out some mulch at the shrub’s base – just make sure that you go no more than six inches deep with your mulch.
- Regular Maintenance and Watering
Shrubs grow best in moist conditions that avoid too much saturation.
This means that regular watering from March to August in four-season climates should, in conjunction with some help from the sun and mother nature, provide most of the nourishment that your leucadendrons, rhododendrons, buckthorns and butterfly roses need to flourish.
An irrigation system is one of the best ways to prevent water waste and over-watering. For more on shrub maintenance and irrigation, contact DK Landscaping’s specialists today.
Protecting Your Landscape From Frost Bite
The temperatures in Northern California are beginning to drop which means winter will be before us, before we know it. Night time temperatures that get down to freezing and below will damage some trees and plants if you don’t take precautions against frost. These low temperatures can begin late November and continue through February and beyond.
DK Landscaping helps you prepare your landscape and provides tips to protect your delicate plants from frost bite.
WINTERIZE
Fall is prime time to clean up your landscaping and remove the dead landscaping before it gets too cold. Removing dead plants can also stop the growth and spread of fungi that could infect your plants’ new growth in the spring.
PLANT
Planting trees and shrubs in the fall is a an optimal time before the first frost arrives and best time to take advantage on some great end of the season deals. Planting in the fall gives roots plenty of time to become established before the next growing season begins. Not only will you get to enjoy the changing leaves for a brief time, you will also put less stress on your young trees because of the cooler weather and rain conditions fall offers.
MULCH
Mulching can be a great first step in preparing for winter’s frost. If you are unfamiliar with mulching, check out our previous blog post called Mulch About Fall. There are many benefits to mulching your lawn and plants, especially before winter. Mulching in the fall can help protect your plant’s roots as well as help them retain moisture during the cold, dry winter.
Just a few preparations for winter can guarantee that your landscaping will come back fresher than ever in the spring.
For more information on the care of your landscape, please contact David or Kathy Lee from DK Landscaping (707) 280-3632.
Mulch About Fall
Did you know that mulching in the fall is just as important as it is in the spring and summer months? We mulch in the spring and summer months to suppress weeds, retain moisture and feed and warm the soil. However, when the temperatures begin to drop and the ground freezes, root systems can be exposed. The primary reason for winter mulching is to protect our plants from the harsh conditions of winter freezes, thaws and winds. Mulch acts as an insulator to balance the temperature creating a warm, heavy blanket of protection.
Neglecting to mulch in the fall can be damaging to your plants in the spring season. And the cost of mulching is nothing compared to the cost of replacing some of your favorite trees and shrubs. It also adds a beautiful aesthetic to your landscape in the winter months.
Using fall leaves as organic mulch is a great benefit to your landscape. They will break down over the course of the wintertime and create a layer of nutrients for your plants to draw from. Adding a layer of leaves over your perennials will help regulate soil temperature of the wintertime, as well as give new shoots a protective blanket as they enter the world in the spring.
DK Landscaping offers mulching installation in Sonoma County. Contact us for more information on the benefits of fall mulching (707) 280-3632.
The Flare of Fall
Fall is officially here. For some, it means crisp clean air that gives us a break from the summer heat. For others, the first thing that comes to mind is bare trees and dull and colorless landscape. DK Landscaping shows you that fall doesn’t need to mark the end of beautiful landscaping and that it’s actually the optimal time to highlight colors in your landscape.
If you’re looking to put a little spice in your fall, consider these trees and shrubs (as well as the one’s pictured):
SUGAR MAPLE TREES: A great, extra-reliable tree that makes an impressive statement in fall. Sugar maple are known for their distinctive flower and bark characteristics and offers gorgeous red, burnt-orange, or yellow end-of-the-season leaves.
SOURWOOD TREES: Has summer blooms that look like lily-of-the-valley flowers. The drooping panicles hang on the tree until it turns color in late autumn, giving the effect of white flowers set against brilliant red foliage.
MUMS: Gives your garden a splash of cheerful color well into the cooler months at a time when the rest of your flowers are winding down.
DOUBLEFILE VIBURNUM
This beautifully tiered branching gives a layered look with reddish/purplish leaves
Finally, there are a number of accessories, centered around the season that can further enhance your fall look without the long term commitment. Adding bales of hay and cornstalks to the landscaping — these can often be picked up at local farms or even craft stores. Pumpkins and gourds also make wonderful additions to the bright colors of the fall landscaping. These can be added to a porch or front entrance, or can even be placed on the ground among your other plants. Last, a fall wreath on the door adds the perfect touch to the fall landscaping outside of any home.
BURNING BUSH
Known for their brilliant red fall foliage. With dark green leaves through spring, in late summer the leaves turn a beautiful burgundy red.
With the proper preparation, any yard can easily be transformed for the season of fall. Any local nursery or home improvement store will have a large selection of items available to purchase so that the added touches of shrubs, fall flowers and trees can give your home an elegant and seasonal look with little effort.
For more information and tips on your landscaping needs, please contact DK Landscaping (707) 280-3632 or by email, davidmunlee@aol.com.
