Fall is the time to take a look at your trees and shrubs and see what care they need. Depending on your summer they may need pruning or tender loving care to make up for a stressful summer. In my area we had intense heat and lack of rain so I know my plants need new compost and additional fertilizer to help with the strain of the summer temperatures.

My first plan is to check the plants for any damaged branches and remove them. Then it’s time to give them a good soaking and a liquid fertilizer. I prefer my own compost tea mix. It’s chemical free and packed with nutrients.

Next after the ground is thoroughly soaked I will apply a new thick ground cover to keep the moisture in and add additional nutrients to the soil.

If my plants look weak or tired I will check them over for any disease or root problems.

So far my trees and shrubs seem fine but a few seem to be heading for an early leaf loss. I have noticed this in many trees and shrubs in this area.

If you have a plant that really looks sad contact your local Master Gardens group or an Extension Office for help.

This is also a great time to analyze your backyard landscape and add any new shrubs or trees. If you plant them now they will have time to acclimate to their new surroundings and begin to grow roots.

And one final note: If you need to prune trees or shrubs, do it in late fall or winter before the new growth of spring has started. The exception to this general rule is spring-flowering shrubs like lilacs that should be pruned immediately after flowering

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If you have plants in your backyard and small children or pets its helpful to know what plants may be poisonous.

Poisonous plants may cause illness if chewed on or touched. It all depends on the plant and the person.

Many flowering plants may look pretty but can have flowers or leaves that will make some people ill. Castor beans are very poisonous and many grow this beautiful plant as an accent plant. I grow it for its beauty and also because it control moles, which I have in abundance in my backyard. But because if its poisonous attributes I grow it behind fencing.

The following you tube will show you a few poisonous but popular flowering plants.

Poison Ivy or Poison Oak affects everyone differently but knowing what it looks like and removing it from you backyard will benefit all. There are certain sumac plants that will make people ill. And many wild plants and weeds will affect people with a rash if picked.

If your yard is very big or contains a wooded area there may be many toxic plants.

One tip is if a plant has a red stem it is often poisonous. One tip I follow is if I don’t know a plant, I don’t touch it.

Learning to identify plants can be both beneficial and a fun project. These videos should have helped you to better recognize plants that may grow in your backyard or community.

Technorati Tags: backyard safety, identifying poisonous plants, plants

Like the living rooms of your house, the garden or recreation area is for the comfort and enjoyment of your family.
photo credit: Maven Dooshe

No stock set of plans answers the needs of all. You must first decide what your family needs are and then plan a garden to meet them,

Shall it be a rose garden, a rock garden, a wild garden or a play area? Do you want it formal, naturalistic, informal or conventional? And how about the style – English cottage garden, French parterre, Colonial or Japanese?

It is up to you. The garden is the outdoor area that is most valuable to the family as a whole and should be designed with that consideration uppermost.

Canadian Style

In Canada they have not yet developed their our own style. At present it follows the American trends very closely, but with less attention to garden ornaments and furnishings.

Because of longer winters, and most Canadians get to the country easily in the summer, they have not generally furnished their gardens for comfort in the past. Instead, they used them as a playground for the children and an exercise ground for horticultural hobbies.
photo credit: sarahgardenvisit

Lately, however, they have paid more attention to garden design and also to the arrangement of garden areas for comfortable living. By growing more flowers and taking advantage of a wealth of trees and shrubs. Canadians make liberal use of conifers to provide color and form during the long winters, and of bulbs for spring bloom.

Being accustomed to space in Canada, even in a formal garden they prefer a simple, open arrangement of parts to a crowded, European style with its fine detail. They like games so open lawns are needed by using lawn mower with lawn mower insurance.

Because of shoveling snow they leave planting well back from roads and paths. In Ontario and Quebec they have large supplies of good limestone, and prefer it for walks, steps and walls to the finer finish of brick or concrete.

A simple, open style suits the climate and their tastes, so it is generally the best one to use in gardens where they wish to relax. However, gardens intended as showplaces are often very effective when developed according to the styles of other countries and periods.

Kent Higgins frequently contributes to plant-care.com. The more you know the better decisions you can make, like the topic of lawn mower insurance.

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, landscape, landscaping, plants

photo credit: albany_tim

Boundaries

Boundary plantings are used to give privacy and to screen from view any unsightly objects beyond. Also, they tie the whole garden together to give unity, and they act as a background and frame for the garden displays.

Boundary plants need to be dense enough and high enough to shut off the view, with some variety in height to make the skyline interesting. Sometimes it is a good idea to leave gaps in the planting, to show desirable views beyond the boundaries.

As mass effect is desired, plant shrubs in groups of one variety rather than single plants of many sorts. Choose the shrubs for their rapid growth, spreading habit and mid-green foliage rather than for distinctive features.

Wherever bloom occurs it should be in large enough masses to be effective at the distance from which it will be seen. Bloom, of course, is always attractive but in large gardens it is not as important in boundary plantings as in parts of the garden where it will be seen in more detail.

On small city lots we cannot hope to attain complete privacy or to screen the view of all surrounding buildings. On some lots the boundary planting takes the form of a hedge, or a fence on which climbers are grown. On others it is made up of groups of shrubs that not only back up the bright displays of the garden but to a great extent form the displays themselves.

Partitions and Backgrounds

Plantings separating small lots are more like partitions than boundaries.

The purpose of partitions, or background, plantings is to separate one garden area from another. Here, bloom and other distinctive features are important as the shrubs are close at hand and consequently are seen in detail.

Keep in mind that partitions and backgrounds are seen in elevation, and in your plans arrange them so that they will be most pleasing at maturity.

There will be points where you need boldness and increased height in the skyline. Here you should use “dominant” plants – small trees or large shrubs that have coarse foliage and a dense appearance whose height and texture makes them stand out above their fellows. These break the partition into sections or pictures.

Usually the center of interest in each of these small pictures consists of low-growing plants, such as those that spread horizontally or have some other particularly attractive feature. These we call “interest” plants. They are backed up and flanked by “fillers,” average sorts of plants whose function is to enhance and connect the other two.
photo credit: Margaret Anne Clarke

In all good shrub grouping in informal gardens, harmony is the rule, contrast the exception. There should be harmony of form, and of color and texture of foliage, with strong contrast of form and texture used only at strategic points.

Foliage color should blend gradually with the bright, warm greens near at hand and dark greens, blue-greens and gray-greens farther away. This gives the impression of added distance.

Texture, too, may be used to create illusions of distance or to emphasize certain points. Large foliage and coarse twigs like the bamboo palm plant are seen more clearly than fine foliage and twigs and, consequently, seem to be closer. For this reason large shrubs and palm plant of coarse texture make large spaces seem smaller. Similarly, a coarse shrub at the front of a border of fine-textured shrubs stands out very distinctly, and fine shrubs backed by coarser ones appear flat.

Specimens

Shrubs used as specimens, or accent points, in the garden lend emphasis to particular features of the design.

Kent Higgins frequently contributes to plant-care.com. The more you know the better decisions you can make, like the topic of bamboo palm plant.

Technorati Tags: backyard oasis, gardening, landscaping, plant care, plants, shrubs

At this time of year it’s easy to find free or cheap plants. Many nurseries are downsizing their plant inventory so they don’t have to over-winter shrubs, trees and plants.
photo credit: steve conry

You may also need to move plants quickly such as I need to do and when that is the case you need a holding bed to put any plants in to keep them healthy until you can plant them.

I had to move all my plants out of my front raised bed area and find perennials that were moved when a hillside garden was washed out in a flood we had this summer. So all told,  I had at least11 perennials varieties to move. The perennial groups were large so its fair to say I had over 175 plants that need to be planted as soon as possible.

Creating a holding bed for plants

So I took two large 10-inch posts measuring 10 foot in length and laid them parallel with a three-foot distance in between. I used two bales of straw on the bottom, 10 buckets of rotted sawdust, 5 bags of rotted leaves (referred to as leaf mold) and about 4 wheel barrels of dirt (yes dirt, not soil). I added a little compost on top and put the plants in.

Once the plants were in I watered them and then covered the mixture with grass clippings to help retain moisture.

This should hold the plants until I can get them in their new home – two weeks at the most. I will water them again tomorrow and then leave them alone for a week.

Tip: The plants will determine the depth of your holding bed. Shallow rooted plants need less depth while shrubs or trees will need more depth.

I set up the temporary holding bed in a semi shady area so the plants should do well and not suffer in direct sun.

To make a quick holding bed any large wood boards or beams should work. Dresser drawers and old crates will also work. And I have seen hay bales used too.

As long as you can create a temporary raised garden bed area anything that will hold soil will work.

photo credit: lepiaf.geo (back on 8th)
All you are doing is creating an area where you can hold plants for a few weeks until you plant them in their new garden location. You need a soil mix that the plants can live in, water and to place them in the ground and not disturb then until you are ready to plant them again.

I have used temporary holding beds many times in the past. It has saved plants and been a big help when I find plants, trade plants or have to move a large amount of plants quickly.

Technorati Tags: backyard oasis, landscaping, moving plants, perennials, plants, raised beds, temporary holding bed