The Best Back Yards Have Something to Offer in Each of the Four Seasons

Have you noticed that we are demanding more and more out of our landscapes? For the upscale, this may take the form of outdoor kitchens with all the amenities of home, or, perhaps, large in-ground swimming pools with jacuzzis built right into them. For the average person, the trend is toward something a bit more modest: namely, landscaping back yards for 4-season interest.

 Modest, Yes; unimportant, No. Since we use our properties year-round, why shouldn't there be something to catch our attention at any time of year, even in the dead of winter? Something to gladden our hearts and put a twinkle in our eyes, so that our back yards continually delight us? That is the goal of landscaping back yards for 4-season interest.

Of course, conifers immediately come to mind, since they are noted for keeping more or less the same appearance throughout the four seasons. But in this article, the focus will be on other kinds of trees and shrubs.

 Specifically, how to select trees and shrubs in such a way that, as soon as one plant is done putting on a show, you'll have a different plant picking up the slack and strutting its stuff. In selecting plants for landscaping back yards for 4-season interest, there are two key points to keep in mind:

1. You must discover when particular plants put on their best show.

2. And, based on this knowledge, you must aim for a planting plan that is "staggered." That is, make sure your back yard doesn't end up with a plethora of high-performers for the spring and summer displays, for instance, while quite neglecting the fall and winter displays. Instead, distribute the beauty across the four seasons, as equally as possible.

Landscaping back yards for 4-season interest begins by drawing a landscape plan. Trees and shrubs simply take up too much space for you to plant them haphazardly, unless your property is very large. For smaller properties, it is better to allocate space for trees and shrubs in a methodical and disciplined manner, so that they don't end up outgrowing their homes and causing you problems.

 Consequently, tree and shrub selection must take into consideration the mature sizes of the plants. Other practical issues must also be addressed, such as the zone in which you live and the sun and soil requirements for the trees and shrubs that you have in mind.

 Once you've researched the practical issues, you can give free rein to your more creative side. Again, the idea is to distribute the color that trees and shrubs offer across the four seasons, as equally as possible, so as to achieve year-round interest.

 But color is only one of the pieces of the puzzle. There are other elements in landscape design which you should use to your advantage. Of particular note for our purposes here is the element known as "form." Since your choices for color are more limited in winter than in the other seasons, you'll have to pay more attention to form.

Now that the preliminary considerations are out of the way, let's discuss some specific examples of planting trees and shrubs to create year-round interest in a yard.

The Spring Season

By the time winter's over, let's face it: we want color, and we want it fast! Thus the popularity of one of the earliest blooming shrubs, forsythia. Forsythia blooms in early spring, well before many of the other flowering trees and shrubs.

Achieving color on the landscape in mid-spring generally isn't a problem, since there are so many flowering trees and shrubs from which to choose.

Late spring is another matter. If you don't plan carefully, late May and early June can be rather disappointing, when compared to April and early May. One long-time favorite that will bring color to the landscape in late spring is the lilac.

The Summer Season

In summer, the brilliant spring blooms on trees and shrubs give way to just plain old leaves. It can be a challenge to find any trees and shrubs that will bloom for a significant amount of time. To replace the color afforded by lilac shrubs in late spring, consider using Washington hawthorn trees and mountain laurel shrubs. Both will provide some color in the early summer landscape. Late summer is more problematic. In the Southeastern U.S., the long blooming period of crape myrtle trees is a boon to summer landscaping. In the North, your savior is long-blooming rose of sharon, whose flowers conveniently hold off until the second half of the summer.

The Fall Season

While floral color reigns triumphant at the beginning of the growing season, at its end it is foliage color that is king.

The exquisite harvest colors of autumn and the fall foliage season is too short-lived. To get a jump on the fall foliage display, plant sumac shrubs, which usher in the autumn season well before the maples. Sumac's fall foliage will help bridge the gap between the last rose of sharon bloom and the first hint of color on your maples.

 But don't stop there! The best color of the maples will be gone part way through October, so you also need a fall foliage specimen that takes the torch from the maples and carries it a bit closer to the winter season. Oak trees will do just that, albeit usually with less flare than the incomparable maple trees.

The Winter Season

But alas, despite your best efforts to prolong the fall foliage season, winter will surely come, eventually. What then? What do you have to work with once the trees have dropped their leaves and the spring blooming period is still months away? Indeed, winter poses the greatest challenge to the goal of achieving year-round interest on your landscape.

 As remarked above, your choices for color are more limited in winter than in the other seasons. With the exception provided by evergreen trees and shrubs, the winter landscape is largely dominated by the colors, white, gray and brown. That is not to say that you do not have some choices. Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Allemans') has an attractive reddish bark. A patch of fiery red osier dogwood against a backdrop of pristine snow makes for an unforgettable winter scene.

 Red osier dogwood and a few other exceptions notwithstanding, the wise designer will think in terms of "form" to provide winter interest, as stated previously. After trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves, leaf-color becomes irrelevant and more attention is drawn to their form and other characteristics.

 But the form of one particular shrub in the winter yard has elicited many a double-take over the years: namely, Harry Lauder's walking stick. This shrub's other nicknames speak volumes about its form (to be more specific, the form of its branches), for it is also called "corkscrew filbert" and "contorted hazelnut." Its branches contort themselves in every which way, resembling corkscrews.

Spring Home Improvement: Transform Your Property into a Resort with Landscape Lighting

Spring: The season when homeowners start thinking about barbecues, pool parties, water gardens and landscaping. With all that outdoor activity, it’s no wonder they’re also planning ways to make the back yard more attractive.

Landscape lighting is one of the most dramatic improvements you can make to your home -- front yard or back.

“People are attracted to light and its soothing effect on their surroundings. Lighting is a key way to maximize your enjoyment of your property,” says Curtis Hogan, President of Nite Time Decor, Inc. “It also increases the value of your home and adds another level of security for your family.”

Few homeowners realize that proper outdoor lighting can expand the living space when viewed from windows inside the house. The right choice or placement of lighting fixture can also create a tranquil -- even romantic ambience. Nite Time Decor, the outdoor lighting experts, offers these eight tips on how to create that soothing feeling with landscape lighting:

1. Use different levels of light to create a focal point. A common mistake is to light everything with equal brightness, creating an airport runway effect.

2. Highlight the beautiful accents in your yard. Experts know how to use various design techniques including up lighting, shadowing, moonlighting and silhouetting to achieve specific effects when lighting a canopy of trees, statues, gazebos, water fountains and plants.

3. Use indirect lighting. Let’s say you want to light an unattractive concrete walkway. Rather than using path lighting, you can light up the surrounding trees and the “spill” will illuminate the walkway.

4. Think about multiple viewing angles. Make sure your lighting is aesthetically pleasing from indoors and out. Otherwise, glare can interfere with the effect you’re trying to achieve.

5. Take your plant materials into account. Different plants require different tactics. For example, pine trees require more light than ash or birch trees.

6. Ensure that the voltage is correct. Voltage diminishes (and lighting dims) as you move farther from the source. Lighting experts use transformers and special wiring techniques to increase voltage for more distant fixtures.

7. Don’t try to do it yourself. It’s impossible to achieve an elegant lighting effect from a box. In addition, with DIY lighting set-ups, water and dirt get into connections, and lights often go out within a year.

8. Maintain your outdoor lighting at least twice a year. Your yard is a dynamic environment where trees grow and change shape. Lawn maintenance crews tend to hit fixtures, and lenses become dirty.

“Nite Time Decor offers a maintenance program that keeps outdoor lighting systems looking just as good as the day they were installed,” notes Hogan. “Connections are the weakest link in any lighting system -- we take particular care of each connection, greasing them and crimping them for a solid link. We also replace burned out lamps, adjust fixture positioning, clean lenses and check the voltage and amperage to maintain the integrity of the system.”

Nite Time Decor is the professional outdoor lighting expert with the know-how to use sophisticated lenses and louvers to establish the desired lighting effects and create a true backyard retreat. Nite Time Decor can install and maintain a sophisticated landscape lighting system to turn a residential home into a personal resort.

Lawns Need Fall Fertilization to Survive Winter Stress

It may be hard to believe, but all the signs are there: The neighborhood children are back in school, dusk arrives a little earlier each day, and it is too cool to leave the house at night without a sweater or jacket. There's no denying that another summer is almost over.

Even with autumn knocking at your door, winter may still seem a long way off. However, now is the time to prepare your lawn for winter's arrival. "The most important time of year to fertilize your lawn is just before the onset of winter," said Wayne Kussow, professor of soil science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Fall fertilization helps ensure that roots remain healthy and allows your lawn to store food for the winter."

In addition to fertilizing in fall while lawn plants are actively growing, experts suggest that homeowners living in northern climes fertilize again after their lawns stop growing. This second application, called dormant feeding, is really the first fertilization of spring -- just several months early.

Fall Feeding

A late summer or early fall lawn fertilization serves several purposes. It helps replenish the nutrient supply that was used up over the summer months. It also gives lawn roots a healthy start for winter dormancy. Fall feeding is recommended for Bermuda, Bahia and centipede grasses, but not for St. Augustine grass.

The key is to plan your fall feeding for when plants are still taking up nutrients for winter. While the timing may vary each year, here is a general timeline for each region:

In the North and Northeast, the best time is usually around Labor Day.

In the central "transition" states, begin fall feeding in August or September, as plants in this area tend to take up nutrients until early October.

Further south, fall feeding can be done in late September or October.

Dormant Feeding

Dormant feeding is typically only done on northern turf types, such as Kentucky bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass. Even when a lawn is covered with snow or appears dead, its turf roots still may be storing nutrients for winter. Apply the usual rate of fertilizer for a dormant feeding. This equates to one pound of nitrogen per one thousand square feet, but check specific instructions on the fertilizer bag for spreader settings.

Timing the dormant application can be difficult. Watch your local weather patterns. When you see that your lawn is not growing anymore, dormant feeding is in order. Here are some general guidelines:

In northern climates, the best time is usually after Halloween but before mid-December.

In the transition states, plants generally go dormant after Thanksgiving.

"Golf course superintendents dormant-feed their courses every year," said Steve Bailey, retired superintendent of Brown Deer Golf Course in Wisconsin. "A dormant feeding helps prepare the greens for the stress of winter. Plus, it gives them a jumpstart in spring for early golfers."

What type of fertilizer should you use? Research conducted by Kussow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, shows that lawns fertilized with Milorganite organic nitrogen fertilizer in the fall tend to become green in the spring seven to 10 days earlier than unfertilized lawns. Not only do Milorganite-treated lawns sustain less winter damage, they also recover more quickly from any damage that does occur. The resulting thick turf minimizes weed growth because it shades weed seedlings, preventing them from maturing. This is true from Maine to Florida to California.

Do not apply any type of fertilizer to frozen soil, as it is highly susceptible to runoff and pollutes water in lakes and streams. This not only wastes your money, but it causes environmental damage that is difficult to correct.

"Applying a fertilizer with a high amount of water insoluble nitrogen is a good way to help prevent runoff and waste," said Mike Archer, market development and research coordinator at Milorganite. "Look for an organic nitrogen source, like Milorganite 6-2-0, that is high in slow release and water insoluble forms of this nutrient."

If you are in doubt as to which fertilizer is right, start with a soil test. Contact your local county extension horticultural agent for help. Another excellent source is your local nursery.

Shape Up Your Garden: Pruning 101

Why Prune? Pruning your outdoor and indoor plants is one of the best things you can do for them. Pruning removes death and disease, increases air circulation and ensures sunlight reaches every branch and stem.

It is the oldest and easiest way to control the size, growth, beauty and health of your plants and to renew or increase their production. This is because plants try to maintain a certain ratio of root to shoot -- so pruning encourages growth because it causes the plant to enthusiastically work towards reinstating its size ratio.

If you’re not sure about when to prune, what tool you should use, what to prune, and where on the plant to prune, the crash course in pruning basics below will bring you up to speed on how to care for all your plants. And, if you make a few mistakes while pruning, don’t fret. Most shrubs and trees have so many new shoots growing that they are always ready to renew themselves!

When

In general, it is best to prune in the plant’s dormant period, which is usually in the late winter, but pruning should always be done year-round as needed. Prune spring-flowering shrubs right after they finish blooming. If you prune them before they bloom, you’ll remove potential flowers. Prune summer and fall-flowering shrubs from late fall until just before they show new growth in the spring. Roses should be pruned in the late winter or early spring just as the buds appear.

If you prune too early, you’ll cause growth to be vulnerable to frost damage, while pruning too late will waste the energy the plant has already put into making the buds and leaves you are removing. Deciduous trees should be pruned after their dormant stage, before they bloom. Evergreen trees should be pruned just before growth starts, in the spring.

How

Choosing the right tool makes the job easier and ensures minimum healing time for the plant. Use the following tools accordingly:

Loppers are for cutting old stems to the ground or to snip off stubborn, larger branches and any branch up to two inches in diameter

A pruning saw should be used if a stem is larger than two inches

Use a tree pruner on hard-to-reach tree branches

Hedge shears can be used on all hedges except larger woody branches

Hand pruners can be used on branches up to 3/4 of an inch thick

Anvil pruners are suited for cutting dead growth

Bypass pruners are ideal for making precision cuts in live wood

Make sure your pruning tools are still sharp before beginning. Using a dull blade will make the task take a lot longer and could end up doing damage to your plants. If your tools are dull and/or rusted, it might be a good time to invest in some new tools.

Also make sure the tool is comfortable in your hand. Using a tool incorrectly or one that is sized wrong for your hand can cause hand fatigue, and if you’ve got a whole yard of pruning to do, that’s not an option.

When purchasing a pruning tool, make sure it fits well in your hand. Older tools were typically not made with much thought to the true hand size of the average gardener, which today is often a woman. Fortunately, newer designs have become more proportionate. One to try is the Natural Fit Collection of pruning tools from Ames True Temper. The line was created to be easier-to-use with a smaller and lighter design and is ideal for small hands and/or small tasks where there isn’t enough room for a standard-sized pruner.

Although the hand grips are smaller to accommodate smaller hand spans, the blades still provide a full-size cut. The lopper in the line is actually small enough that it can be used in lieu of a pruner, for people who lack the strength and need to cut with two hands. All the tools feature soft textured grips and a non-stick coating on the blades to facilitate easier cutting.

If you need to do a lot of close pruning, you’ll need a tool that won’t wear out your hand. Most hand pruners put the bulk of the work on your little finger -- one that isn’t used to carrying the brunt of anything. If you’ve experienced hand fatigue before, you might want to try the Ames True Temper Reverse Pivot Ergo Pruner. It features an ergonomic handle contour and reverse pivot action that places pressure on the user’s pointer finger. Its blade has a zero friction coating to make pruning 40 percent easier than with traditional hand tools.

No matter what pruning tool you’re using, always sterilize it before use. To do so, mix 1 and a half cups of bleach with 2 gallons of water. Dip the pruning tools or saw into this solution before starting each cut. When finished with a job, dry the tools off and add a few drops of oil to the blade and joints to extend the life of your pruning tools.

What

The first thing to remove is diseased, dead or broken branches whenever you see them. A good rule of thumb is to cut back approximately one foot into the healthy wood on shrubs and trees -- which is noticeable by a fresh, light color. Cut off broken branches cleanly instead of ripping them to reduce the wound’s surface area in order to promote more rapid healing. Remove any tall or unruly branches that look out of place so shrubs, trees and hedges retain an attractive shape. If you’re pruning a young shrub (one or two years old), remove seed heads that remain after a flower has bloomed in order to give the shrub more energy to make new flower buds. You can do this easily with your fingers by snapping the developing seed head.

With roses, prune dead wood and anything diseased or frost-damaged. Prune in the living cane, which is noticeable by the green color and creamy white inside. Unpruned roses will overgrow and not produce many flowers.

On trees, any branches that cross over another can cause potential damage by rubbing against each other. These should be pruned to remove this threat. Also prune inward-growing branches and get rid of water sprouts -- those straight, rapidly growing vertical branches -- because they prevent light from reaching the interior of the tree. Lastly, cut off “suckers” (canes sprouting directly from the roots of the tree).

Evergreens don’t require much pruning, so don’t cut back further than the green growth into the brown twigs, which cannot produce growth.

Where

Always prune a stem in the direction you wish for it to grow. The way that you cut a stem determines the direction new growth will take. Don’t cut too far away or too close to a bud. Make your cut just above a bud that’s facing the direction where you’d like new growth and on a slight angle to ensure the healthiest growth.

Follow these simple steps to successfully re-invigorate your plants and encourage new, healthier growth!