Hello, It’s me again your local landscape designer, Caleb.
At times on our Facebook page I play a game with my fans called What’s Wrong With This Picture. I thought I’d share it with you to illustrate an important concept.
Last time I wrote about why it is so detrimental, and ugly to prune trees in the wrong way. But another thing that is of most importance to maintaining healthy and attractive trees is to first choose the right tree (or shrub) for the right location.
If you need a plant to be 15 feet tall then research out on what will grow to 15 feet tall. Then you will not have to prune it all the time to keep it where you want it.
Also you should do the research as to how big it will ultimately grow. Usually this is accomplished by reading the tag that came with it. However if it proves to be harder than that, you can ask your local nursery-person or consult with a Western Garden Book. If you like gardening and/or plan to do much of it, this would be a wise purchase . Or contact a professional landscape designer.
The conventional teaching that designers learn at school is that you should design to the 10 year size of a tree or shrub. This will help you create an attractive garden, sustain the health of the plant and save you money by not purchasing more than you need.
You should consider the height of the tree as well as the width. I have seen massive trees planted within mere feet of a home because it looked good right then. But it will definitely cause problems down the road.
Let’s use a picture and some paint to illustrate a perfect example.
This person wants privacy, and spent thousands to obtain it. But in the end it will all become a huge disaster and will ultimately be lost. There are 4 trees in the space of one, and they are really not going to get along here in a few years. Reading, measuring, and putting some thought into this would have yielded a much nicer product that would last many many years.
So next time you buy a plant remember: read, measure, plan.
