Think Before You Plant!

Proceed with Caution when you plan the location of flower borders. Unless you are a glutton for hard work, consider what problems will crop up, say in the next ten years.

If your trees are full grown, and spaced so that it will not be necessary to remove some and plant others, your good luck is overabundant. You can progress from there without overtaxing your imagination.

But if you are a pioneer, with trees that are infants, or in the blueprint stage, it is well to look into your future. Remember, always, that trees are important, and do not delay. They frame your house, give protective shade to your lawn during hot summers, and add immeasurably to your personal comfort.

In planning your garden, you must consider just how far those theoretical trees will extend when they are grown. And if they are any of the swift growers – soft maple, tulip, Chinese elm, it may already be later than you think! If you have yet to plant them, there is much to consider:

• Location near the house so that it will be shaded in summer, yet not so close as to interfere with foundation or plumbing.
• Proper spacing so that the branches of different trees will never overlap.
• Good types for your enjoyment.
• Just enough of them lest you discover, one day, a forest on your hands.
• An irregular arrangement which will make for an artistic effect.

Granted that you have trees, at least in your future, plan your flower borders so that they will blend harmoniously, and remain uncrowded. Place your flowers beyond the farthest reaches that will be shaded by those trees, not only now, but several summers hence.

If the trees are now mere youngsters with a dozen leaves or so, a stretch of lawn reaching to a strip of flowers tracing the lot-line 20 feet away may impress you as somewhat unrealistic, for the present. In that case, you can plant the flowers closer, with care. But do not forget that most trees will increase their shade circle at least 12 inches every year, which before long will mean an unending moving day for the border. If you grow annuals, the problem is small. Even most perennials will not object, but as you make the periodic retreat, you will always have a strip of newly added grass in front of that border, which never quite blends in as to color and texture with the well-established lawn.

Furthermore, the background you have planned for your flowers (fence, wall, shrubs) may not take too kindly to the journey.

Lilacs make an ideal backdrop, and despite the fact they grow rather slowly at first, they will suddenly amaze you with their progress, and in ten years they will demand six feet of the border. You can prune them severely, of course, but not if you want them to bloom.

There is a second reason for the placing of flowers out of reach of trees. Remember that the roots of a tree extend outward from the trunk in proportion to the branches. There are few flowers, if any, that can compete successfully with tree roots.

While waiting for your trees to grow up, it will be tempting to surround your house with flowers. The majority do it. But it is, in truth, short range planning. If the temptation proves too great to resist, do not forget that:

• Heat from the sun, reflected against the south, east and west sides of the house, will burn plants in midsummer.
• There will be an absence of sufficient hours of sun, if any, to the north.
• Plants will not receive the full benefit of every rain.
• Colors against most houses are difficult, and require careful planning.

Have you not seen a row of white flowers against a white or neutral house and wondered how it possibly could have happened? You have seen pink petunias against red brick, too, and even orange marigolds, which were excruciating. Rather than let that happen, concentrate on foliage.

But if you are convinced, that for all time, the personality of your house is a little drab and definitely in need of added color, make low plantings of evergreens against the foundation, and then a row or two of flowers outside of them, irregularly spaced to relieve any stiffness. Or better still, concentrate your splash of color in a large solid triangle of low flowers along your drive or walk, and reaching to the street.

Many amateur gardeners plant flowers around the trees. Before you follow suit, consider the absence of sun and rain, and that the tree will take for itself the plant food and moisture left there for the flowers. The exceptions are the early spring bulbs which bloom before trees leaf out. They will thrive near house and trees. However, make your tree plantings in an oval island, not a mere circle, if you want to create real color effects.

You read, occasionally, that many flowers do well in shade. Perhaps so, but most of them will do ever so much better if given at least six hours of sun. Virginia bluebell, primrose and tuberous begonia are examples of the very few that do not require it. There is quite a list of supposedly shade-loving flowers: bleeding heart, Siberian iris, hosta lily, coral bell, astilbe, pansy, viola, daylily. But you will discover that their number and quality of bloom, as well as length of life increase surprisingly when you move them out of the shade.

Plant from the start, for the years hence, when both your home and your garden have the beautiful accent which full-grown trees give them. Flower borders, arranged just beyond the shadows, will grow undisturbed to give your world a genuine charm which nothing else can accomplish.

by M Hoare

Related Articles Of Interest:

• Trees in the Home Landscape
• Landscaping Trees Offers Shade and Increases Property Value
• Do’s and Don’ts for Picking the Home Site
• How to Use Trees for Shade and Beauty in the Landcape