Front Yard Landscaping

If you are planting annuals, ordinary digging in well-drained soil should suffice. But if you are planting perennials, you will want to plant them as well as any shrub; remember that if they are planted close to the foundation, the soil may be poor initially and may need preparation. The hole should be at least 2 feet square.

Break up the bottom soil and mix in bone meal, peat moss, etc. If you are planting near the house, be careful to place the vine far enough from the overhanging eaves so that water will not drip on the leaves. In winter weather, wet leaves can freeze in the evening and crack. Also, if the vines are placed against a sunny wall they will get reflective heat, and so they should receive extra watering in hot weather.

Front Yard Landscaping

Technorati Tags: landscape vines, vines

Vines can be the quick salvation of the new home owner.  Fast-paced annuals will twine up a hastily erected pergola almost before summer starts, providing a cool, fragrant and beautiful awning. This can be useful in the front yard or the back.  Annuals and perennials (or hardy vines, as perennials are called) are an inexpensive way of softening the lines of new buildings, linking them to the landscape.

Decorative and functional, vines are often the answer for older homes as well, the ground-covering varieties serving as cover for foundations and banks, others spreading a carpet of flowering greenery over walls, making fences seem friendlier and stone buildings less harsh.

The methods by which vines climb will necessarily influence and determine your selection. Some vines, such as grape vine, have tendrils which reach out and grasp small objects to hold on to; these vines need a lattice or fence. Others, such as Boston ivy, have adhesive discs that fasten on to a brick or stone wall, and still others, such as the climbing hydrangea, hold to a masonry wall with small, aerial rootlets.

Finally, there are those that climb by twining around other branches or poles, climbing from left to right, or right to left (like honeysuckle). This type can be parasitic in the worst sense, climbing over small bushes and trees and completely strangling them.

No vine should be unsupported, however, and attractive vines are those which are carefully trained and held up. Supports such as arbors, trellises and pergolas need not be elaborately constructed, since their function is to display the vine, not themselves. Wood or other material that does not require painting is ideal, for the natural woods are really more suitable as a background for vines than are the painted ones.

If you have a wooden house and want vines on the walls, it is a good idea to construct a detachable trellis, hinged at the bottom so that it can swing outward when painting is going on. There will be sufficient flexibility in the tendrils to allow this.

Front Yard Landscaping

Technorati Tags: landscape, vines

IN general, trees and shrubs are planted and cared for in the same way, the difference between them is chiefly one of height. One definition of the difference, however, is that while a tree has only one trunk, a shrub has several stems or trunks.

Not so long ago the number of reliable shrubs was quite limited, but today the many new hybrids have lengthened the list and the gardener’s choice is almost endless. No matter the region, it is now possible to plant shrubs that will satisfy color needs, bloom at various seasons, cover bare spots where grass won’t grow, or grow in such profusion and depth that screening purposes are served.

Shrubs are valuable to the gardener because they bridge the gap between trees and flowers. As do trees, they serve as boundary markers, soften the lines of buildings, act as a decorative background for flower beds and hide unsightly views. Like flowers, they add character and shape to the garden, blooming forth with colorful blossoms and attracting birds with their berries. One big item in their favor is that they mature rapidly, yet remain as hardy and long-lived as trees.

Front Yard Landscaping

Technorati Tags: hedges, shrubs, trees, vines