Tag Archive for: mature size

Fall Planting: How to Select Plants

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Choosing the Right New Plants for Your Garden

Research New Plants Before You Shop

New plants can be planted in the fall with ease. You may notice the lengthening shadows on your way home from work, signaling shorter days. Or maybe you’ve noticed that you aren’t rushing indoors as quickly as you did earlier this summer.

It is time for cleaning up the summer garden and replanting new plants in the fall.

beautiful colors of fall planting new plants

Fall is a time to celebrate the end of hot summer temperatures and what better way to do that than to venture out into the garden again?

Before you rush off to the nursery to shop for new plants, it’s essential to choose the right ones to ensure their successful growth in your garden. Researching your plant choices is the key to avoiding disappointment and wasted resources.

Here are three vital questions to answer before you start planting:

1. What Will Be the Mature Size of Your Plant?

It’s crucial to know how large your plant will grow once it reaches maturity. Neglecting this aspect can lead to overcrowded and overgrown landscapes. Small nursery plants can quickly transform into giants in your garden, potentially overwhelming your outdoor space.

ficus trees - new plants

This homeowner had ficus trees planted in the raised bed around their swimming pool.

Now, when you look at this picture, you may be wondering why would anyone plant ficus trees in this area.

Newly planted ficus tree

Newly planted ficus tree

 Well, it goes without saying that new plants are much smaller than they will be once they are planted and have a chance to grow.

Mature ficus tree

Mature ficus tree.

But, once plants are in the ground and begin growing, that small little plant can increase in size exponentially.  In this case, the ficus looks like it is ready to swallow up this house.

Over-planted shrubs calls for a new plant plan

Over-planted shrubs

Another example of not researching the mature size of plants can be seen in many landscapes throughout the Southwest.

In a nutshell, the small 1 foot tall and wide shrub in the nursery can grow more than 10X its original size.  

2. What Is the Preferred Sun Exposure for Your Plant?

Understanding the ideal sun exposure for your chosen plants is essential for their health and development. Placing sun-loving plants in the shade or shade-loving ones in full sun can result in leggy growth, fewer leaves, and diminished flowering.

What a plant that does best in filtered shade looks like when planted in full sun

What a plant that does best in filtered shade looks like when planted in full sun.

Conversely, if you place a plant that does best in the filtered shade in an area that gets full, afternoon sun – it will suffer.  

You will save yourself a lot of time, money and frustration by simply placing plants in the exposure they like.  

3. What Maintenance Does Your Plant Require?

Fuss-free Eremophila 'Summertime Blue' make for excellent new plants

Fuss-free Eremophila ‘Summertime Blue’

Different plants have varying maintenance needs. Some demand frequent pruning, fertilizing, and protection from pests, while others thrive with minimal attention. Choose plants that align with your preferred level of maintenance, and consider native or adapted species for fuss-free gardening.

Some plants need frequent pruning, fertilizing and protection from pests.

Others are what I like to call ‘fuss-free’ and need little else besides water.

The amount of maintenance a plant needs is largely dependent on whether or not it is native or adapted to your client.

queen palms that are dying

For example in the Phoenix area where I live, queen palms are very popular.  The problem is, is that they are not particularly well-adapted to our desert climate.

In fact, it is rare to see a healthy queen palm growing in the greater Phoenix area.  Frequent applications of palm fertilizer are required to get them to look okay and even then, they will never look as good as those growing in Florida or California.

I don’t like to fuss over plants except for a couple of rose bushes in my garden, so I am a strong proponent of using native or adapted plants that need little pruning, no fertilizer and aren’t bothered by insect pests.

Now we know three important questions to get answered before selecting new plants for your garden.

Where Can You Go for Local Answers to These Questions?

To find answers to these questions and more, consult resources such as master gardeners, local botanical gardens, and online gardening communities. Armed with knowledge, you can make informed choices when selecting new plants for your garden, ensuring a beautiful and thriving landscape.

Master gardeners are an invaluable resource and their job is to help people learn how to grow new plants successfully. You can call them, email your questions or stop by and talk to them in person.

Take some time to visit your local botanical garden. Write down which plants you like, or snap a photo of them with your phone. Note how large they are and what type of exposure they are growing in.  

3 Tips for Fall Planting Success

What Keeps a Landscape From Being Sustainable?

Have you ever wondered how sustainable your landscape is?

What Keeps a Landscape From Being Sustainable?

Earlier this week, we began our series of posts on sustainable landscaping and talked about what a sustainable landscape is.  You can find the first post here.

Most of us like the idea of having an attractive landscape without wasting resources such as fertilizer, excessive pruning and water, time and gasoline unnecessarily.  But, oftentimes we do things in our gardens that create the need for additional resources.

Today, we will look at one of the major problems that I see which often goes wrong and prevents people from having sustainable landscapes.

MISTAKE #1:

Most people fail to take into consideration how large their new plants will grow.

For example:

Leucophyllum frutescens 'Green Cloud'

This young ‘Green Cloud’ Texas sage (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Green Cloud’) measures roughly 1 foot high and wide.

But, just a few years after planting, it does grow quite a bit…  

'Rio Bravo'

This ‘Rio Bravo’ sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Rio Bravo’), which is similar in size to ‘Green Cloud’ Texas sage reaches sizes up to 8 feet tall and wide.

It’s hard to believe that such a small shrub can grow so much in just a few years time.

sustainable landscape

This trailing rosemary was initially quite small when planted next to this boulder.  However, the homeowner did not allow for the fact that the rosemary would grow and eventually ‘swallow’ the boulder.

sustainable landscape

This small ficus tree looks rather innocent, doesn’t it?  But, it is harboring a secret…

sustainable landscape

It will grow absolutely huge!

This ficus tree absolutely dwarfs this house.

The mistake of not allowing for the mature size of plants when planting, leads to…

MISTAKE #2:

Over-planting.

sustainable landscape

At first glance, there appears to be nothing wrong with this landscape area.  There are some larger dwarf oleanders in the background and nine young Texas sage shrubs.

But, do you think that the Texas sage shrubs will fit in this area once they start to grow toward their mature size of 6 – 8 feet?

I don’t think so.

Over-planting occurs when people don’t allow for the mature size of the plants.  Of course, new plants look rather small and somewhat straggly once first planted, which often leads to over-planting to make the new area look more attractive.

That is what happened to this area below…

sustainable landscape

Would you believe that the shrubs planted above are actually the same as those shown below?

sustainable landscape

It’s true.  The only difference is that in this space, the mature size of the shrubs was taken into account, so there was no over-planting taking place.

Think about how much less money and maintenance this area uses compared to the previous area?  There are fewer plants, less maintenance and it looks much nicer!

Mistakes #1 and 2 lead us to…

MISTAKE #3:

Excessive pruning.

sustainable landscape

So, what do you think people do if their plants are planted to closely together – they prune them…a lot!

Drive-thru’s are places that you can usually find over-planted landscapes.  The one above is filled with 2/3’s more plant material then is needed.

The over-pruned shrubs in the forefront are actually Valentine (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’) shrubs, which look much more attractive when not over-pruned.

sustainable landscape

There are 3 Valentine shrubs in the photo above that are allowed to grow to their natural shape after their annual pruning in May.

sustainable landscape

These silver sage shrubs at our local Costco store have also been over-pruned due to the fact that they were planted too closely together.

Over-pruning often leads to artistic expressions…

'Abstract Art'

‘Abstract Art’

Mushrooms

‘Mushrooms’

Cupcakes

‘Cupcakes’

sage shrubs

Words fail me attempting to describe the pruning  of these sage shrubs.

Here are some interesting facts about over-pruning that you may be surprised to hear.

Over-pruning…

– makes plants grow faster (as they attempt to re-grow the leaves lost)

-creates more maintenance (faster growing plants tend to be pruned more often)

– uses more water (in their attempt to re-grow lost leaves pruned away).

– creates green waste (branches/leaves head to the landfill)

– leads to unhealthy plants (from the stresses of too much pruning).- wastes time used for un-needed pruning.

Have you ever seen the inside of shrubs that have been excessively pruned for years?

I warn you, it isn’t pretty…

sustainable landscape
sustainable landscape
sustainable landscape

Not too pretty, is it?

Over time, flowering shrubs that have been excessively sheared, can develop large dead areas and eventually decline.  This leads to old shrubs being removed and a new ones put in.

MISTAKE #4

Growing plants that aren’t adapted to your climate.

sustainable landscape

Plants that are not well-adapted to your local climate require excessive resources such as extra water, fertilizer and other maintenance.

Queen palms (Syagrus romanzoffianum) are just one example of a plant that often struggles in our southwestern, desert climate.  No matter what we do, they will never look as nice as the queen palms growing in more tropical climates.

The lesson to be learned from this is that not planning for the mature plant size, over-planting, over-pruning and wrong plant selection uses up a lot of resources.

1. Excessive amounts of water are used due to over-planting, over-pruning and for plants not well-adapted to our arid climate.

2. Money is wasted on buying more plants then are needed.

3. The costs of maintenance used for excessive planting and pruning include another resource – gasoline.

4. Declining health of plants that have not been pruned properly or those ill-suited for our dry, hot climate.

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So how does your landscape compare with examples, above?

If you see some similarities – don’t worry.  There are things that you can do to decrease the amount of resources that go into maintaining your landscape.

My goal is to help you toward not only a more sustainable landscape, but one that is also beautiful and attractive.

In my next post, we will start to talk about

“Small Steps Toward a Sustainable Landscape”.

Landscape No-No’s: Wrong Plant, Wrong Place

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The ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea Dilemma

In my last post, I showed you a photo of a “landscape no-no” and challenged you to guess what the problem was.

Were you able to guess what is wrong with this planting?

I gave a hint that the plant in the middle is ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea.

Well, I am happy to report that most of you were right about the problem.

Torch Glow Bougainvillea as a small shrub in a narrow location

Size Matters: ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea

You see, ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea (or any bougainvillea) for that matter, is too large to be planted in such a small area.

Although this bougainvillea shrub is small now, it will soon grow very big…

Torch Glow Bougainvillea as a young plant

I planted the ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea, above, in my father-in-law’s back garden. At the time I took this photo – it was less then 2 years old.

Personally, I like this variety of Bougainvillea – it has an unusual shape compared to other types of Bougainvillea and produces less litter. It does grow very fast and will soon outgrow a small area.  At maturity, it can reach heights of 8 feet and 4 feet wide.

So, back to the original planting in the first photo.  The problem that will soon occur is that the ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea will grow wider and overhang the pathway to the entry.

Of course, at first, the homeowner will attempt to keep the Bougainvillea pruned back – but he would be fighting a losing battle.  This shrub grows too big.

Did I also mention that this particular plant has THORNS?

You never want to put any type of plant or tree that has thorns, next to an area where people walk.  No one likes to get stuck by a thorn.

bush Rosemary

The Rosemary Predicament

This homeowner also had another landscape problem directly across the pathway from the bougainvillea…

He has a bush Rosemary planted in a tiny area that was 3 inches wide.

As you can see, he was already busy pruning it to keep it from hanging over the pathway.

Soon, the base of the plant will become more woody with less leaves as it grows, which will make it very unattractive.

In addition, the small amount of soil, will affect the ultimate health of the rosemary as well. It might become difficult to irrigate with a tiny root space as well.

The Lesson Learned: Research and Plan

**So what is the lesson learned from this “landscape no-no”?

Take a few minutes to research the plants you select before you plant them (don’t always rely on your landscaper’s advice – check for yourself).  Make sure the plants will fit that particular area once they reach their mature size.

I hope this will help you to avoid a similar mistake in the future in your garden.

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I am still patiently (not really) waiting to plant my fall vegetable garden.  We are buying compost and manure this weekend to replenish the existing soil in the gardens and I hope to have everything planted soon.

I promise to keep you updated 🙂

Read The Plant Label…Or You Might End Up With Cupcakes

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Has this happened to you?  You walk through the nursery, and you spot “the perfect plant.”   You can envision it in your yard and know precisely where you will put it.  

After coming home and planting it, you pat yourself on the back for finding such a great plant.  Time passes, and your beautiful plant starts to grow, and grow and grow.

perfect plant

 Texas Sage ‘Green Cloud’ (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Green Cloud’) 1-gallon Approximately 1 ft. Wide and tall.

perfect plant

 Texas Sage ‘Green Cloud’ pruned like ‘cupcakes.’

Fast forward a year or two now it looks bad unless you constantly prune making it high maintenance.  Now your beautiful plant no longer looks so lovely (above and below).  It now looks more like a ‘cupcake’ because you have had to prune it back to keep it small enough for your space.  

No more flowers, no nice foliage…

perfect plant

 More ‘cupcakes.’

Unfortunately, there is an epidemic in our area of homeowners and landscapers who prune flowering shrubs so that they end up looking like ‘cupcakes’ or ‘poodles’ just so that they fit into their allotted space.  More about that in another post…

perfect plant

 Texas Sage ‘Green Cloud’ in its natural shape. They can grow up to 8 ft. high and wide but can be easily maintained at a more moderate 4′ x 4′.

Texas Sage Flower

 Texas Sage Flower

Also with flowers this beautiful, why plant it somewhere where you will have to prune them off so that it can fit?  

So our lesson is…. be sure to READ THE LABEL of plants before you buy them, which should list how large they will grow, along with the correct sun exposure.  If it’s not listed, ask the nursery salesperson for this information, or use your smartphone to get the information.  

Then you can go home and place your new “perfect plant” where they will have plenty of room to ‘stretch out’ and dazzle you with their beauty. 

**Allowing enough room for plants is just part of what it takes to grow attractive shrubs.  Pruning is the next part of the equation.  Click here for guidelines on how to properly prune your flowering shrubs.

Wrong Plant, Wrong Place: Ficus Nitida

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Ficus nitida

Ficus Nitida simply the wrong plant, and usually in the wrong place.

I think this photo probably speaks for itself…..

But, I will add to it by saying that it is vital to realize that the little, spindly tree that you plant WILL GROW. Be sure to check the mature size of any tree, (or any plant for that matter), before you plant so you can be sure that there is ample room for growth.

By the way, the tree above is a Ficus nitida, which is a beautiful, dark green tree. But, it does grow enormous, as does its roots, making it unsuitable from most residential landscapes.