When I look at the landscaping installed by the previous owners of our home, it overwhelms me. The previous owners had some knowledge of plants and installed a great variety. For the first several years we lived in our home, we simply waited to see what was going to come up next. Now that the landscaping is getting mature and in need of a refresh, it is hard to know where to start.
Several sources I consulted suggested that when you are thinking about planning a landscape, you aim for “year-round beauty.” The landscape should be attractive in a variety of seasons from spring flowers to winter berries and evergreens! This is also an overwhelming concept for a beginning gardener. Breaking down this concept, however, yields the manageable topic of basic things to know about evergreen plants.
Selecting Your Evergreens
“Too many evergreens can make an outdoor space gloomy and depressing.”
While most of us think of pine trees when we hear the word “evergreen,” it turns out there are a variety of plants that are called evergreens. Some have needles, like pine trees, and are called conifers. Others have flat, broad leaves, like magnolia and holly and are called broadleaf evergreens.
Atlantic White Cedar. Photo by James Henderson, Gulf South Research Corporation at Forestry Images, operated by The Bugwood Network at the University of Georgia and the USDA Forest Service. From the Wikimedia Commons.
American Holly. Photo by the the Natural Resources Conservation Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. From the Wikimedia Commons.
Close-up of a magnolia blossom. Photo taken at the Chanticleer Garden by Derek Ramsay. From the Wikimedia Commons.
Winterberry. (Not technically an evergreen but provides attractive winter berries.) From http://www.landscaping.about.com, taken by David Beaulieu.
There are, of course, many other non-native evergreens grown in Virginia. One of the most common is boxwood, a reference to the English colonial heritage of the area. Groundcover-like evergreen shrubs are also fairly common in many yards here.
I have always had difficulty growing conifer evergreens in Virginia. It turns out that the soil and climate of the Virginia area is not particularly well-suited for evergreens. According to the University of Alabama Huntsville, the high nighttime temperatures as well as the tendency of the clay soils in the southeastern region to be waterlogged often cause conifers to respire at an increased rate as well as suffer from root death. What I have tended to see is that the needles get dry and fall out, even when the plant is well-watered.
Landscaping with Evergreens
Once you have your evergreens selected what are some attractive options for planting them?
First, several sites warn that before you plant an evergreen you make sure you know how large it will grow at maturity, especially if you are planting it anywhere near your home and foundation. Make sure you are not planting a giant tree if you only want a small hedge.
Broadleaf evergreens are relatively easy to mix in with your other plantings visually because the leaves, while thicker, have a plant-like feel to them. Some may even be flowering evergreens (like the rhododendron), which could coordinate with other flowering plants.
There is not much advice out there about how to mix deciduous and conifer evergreen plants together in a landscape design. In the natural forest surrounding our house, pine trees randomly insert themselves among the oak trees. They look OK but I don’t know that I would plant them that way if I was purposely designing the landscape. There is quite a contrast between the textures and it gives a cluttered appearance. Generally, trees look most attractive in groupings when they are all of the same kind (i.e. all pines, all oaks, etc.)
There are exceptions, however, and the photo below contrasting grasses with pines is quite beautiful. Perhaps our eye is recognizing the commonality of the pointed ends of the grass and the pointed needles of the trees.
Photo of Honduras pines in Puerto Rico by Oquendo. From the Flickr Creative Commons.
The University of Minnesota Extension Service provides the following design guidance.
“Landscape plantings, whether for home properties or large public grounds, are most satisfying when a clear pattern is apparent to people using the space. Simplicity and serenity are important for outdoor design. Use the fewest possible varieties of evergreen plants and select them for an obvious purpose.”
So, you might have better success with your conifer evergreens if you set them apart from other plantings. But heed the advice about not planting too many evergreens together, particularly hedges and groundcovers. A little evergreen goes a long way. As I think about my front landscaping I am now wondering if we have perhaps too much evergreen.
Do you have evergreens in your yard? How do you use evergreens in your own landscaping? Please share your thoughts on evergreens in the comments.
When I look at the landscaping installed by the previous owners of our home, it overwhelms me. The previous owners had some knowledge of plants and installed a great variety. For the first several years we lived in our home, we simply waited to see what was going to come up next. Now that the landscaping is getting mature and in need of a refresh, it is hard to know where to start.
