January Gardens column in What’s Up? Magazine
It’s cold outside. The winter sunshine hides nothing as I gaze across the garden. It’s a good time to take stock of the landscape just beyond these warm rooms. If you’re gazing out and noticing some troubling aspects of your landscape, I may have one, simple solution.
Let me review five common problems our landscaping can present, and one easy-to-implement solution:
1. The Problem: UNSIGHTLY ELEMENTS
If your home and its landscaping are new to you, recently leased or purchased, then perhaps there may be flaws that stand out. For example, the air conditioning unit clearly visible from the driveway, or the unattractive foundation—gray cinderblocks with some ugly stains.
The Solution: SHRUBS
Consider planting deciduous or evergreen shrubs near or around these annoying flaws. Some privet or boxwood shrubs around the AC box can effectively disguise the equipment. I suggest these two shrubs because they take well to tight pruning; it’s important to keep the new growth from getting too close to the AC fan and electrical unit, both of which may need regular servicing. You don’t want the technician wrestling with the shrubs. Boxwood and privet are well-behaved evergreen and semi-evergreen respectively, giving you a tasteful, green screen year-around. And what about the foundation’s cinderblocks? This is another situation that requires choosing a well-behaved shrub that will not damage the house’s foundation or interfere with drainage. Depending on the architectural siding material of your house, you might choose shrubs that add a touch of color or pick up the texture. Azaleas and hydrangeas are lovely, can be color-coordinated, and accept pruning.
2. The Problem: PROPERTY or GARDEN TOO NARROW, TOO SMALL
It’s quite exciting to move from a small apartment into a grander home, or, alternately, decide to downsize from a large property and garden to a small patio or garden area. It can be daunting, expanding or downsizing. How can you quickly create a setting that pleases you and leaves you happier with the plot of land you have now?
The Solution: SHRUBS
If you look out that winter window at a large expanse that will be your garden and lawn, you might feel a bit overwhelmed. There are considerations of time and budget. Some well-chosen shrubs can fill in a large, empty space. Useful old favorites include weigela, which has pink and/or white blossoms and a delicate fragrance, or spirea, another lovely old favorite with its sprays of white blossoms that cascade and grow quickly. For some height in the garden, butterfly bushes can soar and produce tall, flowering spreads beloved of the butterflies! On the other hand, if you’re having to adjust to a small patio or enclosed garden, do not despair! Shrubs are your friends. Gather some pots; they should be varied in size and perhaps in shape and color. At your favorite nursery, buy an assortment of small bushes (soon to be shrubs.) A beautyberry shrub produces pretty, purple berries and repels ticks! (Or so say the entomologists.) Gardenias in pots are lovely for decks and patios. They have shiny leaves and produce intoxicating blossoms. One caution, you’ll have to move their containers to well-protected spots over the winter. Another advantage of the potted-garden, it’s movable. You can shuffle your shrubs as they mature and turn them to keep them growing symmetrically.
3. The Problem: Boundaries
Your neighbor’s adorable chocolate lab has made her path to the creek through your yard. Or, the house next door has become a rental, and you’re looking for a quick way to clarify where your yard begins and the neighbor’s yard ends.
The Solution: (You guessed it!) SHRUBS
Get out that spade and dig a series of holes inside your property line about 12”. (You’ll need to leave room for the shrubs to spread.) Two excellent choices for “keep the dogs away” boundary shrubs are cotoneaster and pyracantha. Both are handsome shrubs with white and red berries respectively. But, what makes them particularly useful as boundaries is their prickliness. Both shrubs have thorny branches that discourage animals and people from diving through them. Quick boundary shrubs are our old favorites, forsythia and burning bushes. In fact, combining them makes a handsome border—the forsythia’s yellow sprays in the spring and fuchsia and orange burning bush leaves in the fall.
4. The Problem: CREATING WILDLIFE HABITAT
Almost 15 million people identified as bird watchers in 2021. Perhaps you’re a birder too. Or maybe you enjoy identifying butterflies, catching a glimpse of a graceful deer gliding through your backyard or a russet fox slipping in-and-out of the shadows. How, you might ask, can you encourage the wild things to visit your garden without endangering your family’s health and wellbeing?
The Solution: SHRUBS
All these beautiful, shy creatures are seeking safe havens for rest and, sorry to say so… food. You can make your landscape more inviting to shy birds and other wild creatures by encouraging the growth of some large shrubs, perhaps shrubs with berries. As I mentioned earlier, the tick-repelling beautyberry is attractive, loose-branched, producing fall berries. Winterberry is another stunning shrub, holding its bright red berries all winter—a feast for the eyes and the small birds and animals. (Caution: You’ll need two, a male and a female to produce berries.) One or two taller evergreens will provide perfect cover for birds. Holly and juniper are great choices, and they too produce berries.
5. The Problem: EROSION
Winter is a great time to examine areas of your lawn and garden that might be eroding. Sometimes the solution is simply adjusting downspouts, but more often, there is some water source being misdirected. If the erosion is allowed to continue, your plants and even building foundations can be damaged, or washed away. It may be worth a walk through and around your property with an eye toward the marks of erosion.
The Solution: SHRUBS again!
If you find ruts, short or long, boggy areas, or places where plants seem to have disappeared, it’s time to address the problem. You may need to bring in a specialist in “hard landscaping.” That is, someone who deals with ground erosion and moving plants and earth to maximize the safety of the foundations and plantings, and the avoidance of further damage. For this problem, it’s more difficult to identify specific shrubs to use. Until the source of the water is identified and corrected, repairing the damage will be fruitless. But, once the water has been redirected, you can plant shrubs that will fit into the setting. Unlike more delicate plants, shrubs can take a bit of wind and even sun, as well as compensate for wet soil…for a while.
And so, I repeat, when you’re faced with a dilemma, a gardener’s nightmare, even. Think shrubs! They’re tough, easy to propagate, and relatively undemanding.
Opening Lines 