June is an ideal time to plant a new living wall. With the building boom currently in full swing privacy is a hot topic at the garden center. Without strategically placed evergreens in the yard it can feel as if prying eyes are looking right into your home. Not only does your privacy seemingly disappear, but that neighbor’s debris pile can be on view!
The solution to both of these unwanted invasions of privacy is not rocket science. Simply plant a wall of living trees or shrubs to block an undesirable view and to create the desired privacy. Enable enjoyable hot tub sessions without prying eyes from that too-close-for-comfort neighbor.
Don’t have time to view the entire article, view the highlights below:
· For faster growth, have large trees and long hedgerows planted for you.
· Silverberry, Euonymous and Cotoneaster are super fast growing hedges
· 3-steps to planting success, Mulch, 7-4-4 Food and Root & Grow
· Top Performing trees for screens: Arizona Cyrpess, Austrian Pine, Bamboo, Colorado, Spruce, Juniper and Pinon Pine
Here is a great example of an “evergreen” native hedge of Silverberry. The current spring weather is perfect for planting a new hedge for maximum growth this year. To successfully add evergreens to a landscape, there are three essential steps worth your time and energy. The most important requirement for evergreen trees to thrive is drainage. Blend one shovelful of Watters Premium Mulch into every three shovels of native earth to pack around each plant’s roots. Feed new trees with my locally formulated “7-4-4 All Purpose Plant Food;” the cottonseed meal in this natural food promotes robust root formation while maintaining good foliage color. Lastly, water your newly planted trees with a solution of ‘Root & Grow’. This water additive encourages the roots of a plant to form a deep, healthy system.
After two back surgeries I am unwilling to plant large trees myself anymore. Anything larger than a 15 gallon plant I willing pay a crew to come out and plant trees for me. Your garden center will offer a local planting service that incluces all three items above while incorporating jackhammers, digging bars and hauling off the debrie afterwards. The warranty is even extended for planting customers.
When you’re ready to choose the trees for your living wall of green, read through the list that follows. It is comprised of screeners that over the years have performed well in local landscapes.
Arizona Cypress – MY favorite native evergreen screener is the Arizona cypress. It is like a large alligator juniper in size and color, but grows faster and fills in more completely than other screening plants. Growing to over 20 feet tall and 12 feet wide in just a few years, you can see why this is the number one choice for a planted screen.
Austrian Pine – A long needled pine much like a Ponderosa, but it holds their foliage all the way to the ground. Less prone to bark beetle than Ponderosa as well. Austrian Pine are well known for their superior appearance. They have a fibrous root system and a cultured top which gives a nice full appearance with no open areas. Dense, stout, pyramidal growth habit with a uniform crown. Branches are in regular whorls. Needles are stiff, dark green. Very hardy. Adaptable to winter cold and wind. It’s a tree of strong character that will serve either as a landscape specimen or as a privacy screen.
Bissett Bamboo – One of the hardier bamboos! Grown at corner of buildings, use as a dense, tall screen on property lines or adjacent to commercial land uses. Makes a beautiful background for water features and garden art with a bonus of unlimited cut Bamboo poles for staking other plants! Golden Groove Bamboo is another strong local choice.
Colorado Spruce – Very cold-hardy, this spruce is the perfectly symmetrical Christmas-tree-shape. Excellent choice for a front yard holiday tree or as a semi-formal accent in a large yard. It makes a pretty evergreen background against contrasting foliage colors, flowering shrubs, or to highlight autumn leaf shows of trees and shrubs. Line up several for a windbreak or to easily diffuse lights and sounds along busy streets.
Juniper – Arizona Cypress was to large for our yard, so we strategiclly chose junipers for their managalbe size. Hillspire, blue point, Spartan, and Wichita are on the extensive list of junipers available at the garden center now. Juniper forests surround us, so it’s a no-brainer that junipers are naturals to add to our landscapes. These new varieties have little to no pollen so far less alergy prone, a really good local choice. Whichever color and height you like, all grow well in this part of the world.
Pinon Pine – This dense pine is easy to care for and as cold hardy as any native can be. Its thick green needles are sturdy and more numerous than those of other pines, with less needle drop in summer. Thick and 25’ tall it makes the perfect windbreak and an effective shield from prying eyes.
There are more screener choices, such as the larger evergreen shrubs and deciduous trees like aspens, but we’ll discuss those varieties another time.
Book just Published! The Secret Garden: Plants as a Natural Screen is an all local gardening book where I’ve presented deeper detail about screening plants. Free copies are available for download at WattersGardenCenter.com under ‘LEARN’.
Until next issue, I’ll be helping local gardeners plan living screens for landscaped privacy here at Watters Garden Center.
Ken Lain can be found throughout the week at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Rd in Prescott, or contacted through his web site at WattersGardenCenter.com or FB.com/WattersGardenCenter .