This page is where I let off some
steam about some of the ridiculous things I come across
regularly at work. I'm talking about landcapes designed
with no forethought as to what it would look like when it
matured, or that someome would have to maintain the mess.
They may have been "cute" when they were planted, but
they've turned into monsters. I'm the one they call to
"fix" them. Unfortunately, especially with commercial
properties,by the time they realize what a mess they have,
its gotten so out of hand, that the best solution is often
to dig it up and start from scratch. (There are some nice azaleas hidden behind that elaeagnus.)
Here's a stupid idea.(Photo) Those are chinese hollies on one side and Eyonomous manhattan on the other. Each planted less than 12 inches from the sidewalk! Not only does it require frequent trimming, (yes, in this case shearing) but I bet that chinese holly is a big reason for women in these offices not to wear dresses! What were they thinking when they did this?! They obviously weren't.
Sometimes I come accross brand new plantings that I can see will be disasters when they mature. If the plants are already crowded, or growing over curbs and such, trimming can't stop the disaster. It can at best postpone it. If moving a plant or two will help, I do that, but they seldom want to pay me to redo a whole bed they just paid some incompetent to install.
It never ceases to amaze me that people will spend big money on a landscape without the slightest idea what any of the plants are. Then in a few years they complain when a plant does what it is supposed to!
Be sure there is access to your
plants for maintenance. For example, I came upon a bed
recently with several Euonymus Manhattans (a high
maintennce plant) surrounded completely with Chinese
Hollies.(Ouch!) Not even room for a foot anywhere! After I
painfully managed to trim the manhattans, I had to pick up
the trimmings by hand, piece, by piece! (You can't rake
trimmings out of chinese hollies!) I would really love to
have a talk with whoever designed that mess!! Think about
how you will maintain your plants before you plant. Don't
put high
maintenance plants in hard to reach places.
Junipers are evergreen and they come in all sizes.That's one of the problems. I don't think most people realize that a Pfitzer juniper will easly reach 7 feet tall and 10 feet wide. I've seen them planted 2 feet apart and 1 foot from a curb. (But they don't want them to grow over the curb!) And I'm supposed to "trim" them!
They may look OK when planted, as 3 gallon size plants, but not for long. Trimming cannot "fix" such ridiculous mistakes. Junipers tend to die out in the middle anyway, but even more so when overcrowded. You can't trim them back very far without getting into the "dead zone". When overcrowded, they will attempt to thin themselves out. branches will die because they are to crowded, leaving ugly, brown pacthes.
Some landscape designers (?) get carried away and plant them every where, 2 or 3 varieties in a bed, and most of them too close together. Most junipers get much wider than tall. A sargent juniper gets only 1 foot tall but 6-8 feet wide. When spacing plants the mature width is even more important than the height. Overcrowded plants look bad, and are not healthy.
If some of these people that put them so close togther, and close to curbs and such had to try to maintain their monsters they would take more care in their designs. I doubt they care what it looks like after they get paid, or they would think about it. I hate to see so many plants that can never grow to their full potenial.
Of course junipers are far from the only victims, but they are one of the most common.
Most junipers do not age well.(especially when overcrowded.) In the 10+ years I've been landscaping I have removed many more junipers than I have planted. It is much more expensive to remove a mature one than it is to plant a young one. If you think you want to plant a juniper, make sure you know what variety you are planting, and its mature size and form.
A pfitzer juniper in a large enough space can look good for many years. Unfortunately, I rarely see them given enough room, and properly placed.
Any landscape designer who uses leatherleaf viburnums as a foundation planting is a sick, cruel, heartless person.
Bob and Mary bought a house. They went
to the garden center at the neighborhood discount store.
Mary sees a cute little bush in a little pot. "I want it"
says Mary."what is it?" asks Bob."Gee, I don't know; but
its cute and I want it, to plant under the windowsill" says
Mary."OK" says Bob So they take it home and plant it under
the windowsill.
Five years later, Bob awakes one
morning to the sound of breaking glass. As he goes to the
window to investigate, a huge branch, from a gigantic bush
comes through the window,and smacks him in the face.
The bush was taller than the house, and blocked all light
from the window. "What's this?!" exclaimed Bob "what
happened to our cute litle bush?"
|
The moral of the story is: Don't buy a plant if you don't know what it is, and how big it will get!!!!(Read the Tag!) |
The most common reason I end up digging up "mistakes" is, "I didn't know it would get that big!" Find out how big it gets before you plant it! It takes far more work to dig up your mistake than it did to plant it! READ THE TAG!
Trimming is not a substitute for poor design.
A shovel is often the best remedy. You can dig up
and rearrange your plants.
If you are going to shear whatever
plant you get into squares, or watever unnatural shape, It
doesn't make much difference what plant you use. Just as
long as it matures at about the size you want. (and that
won't matter for the first couple of years, and if you
shear it enough, it won't live that long.) You might as
well by the cheapest thing you can, as long as its green.
For that matter, why not just put green plastic cubes in
your yard. Then you won't have to trim them. Their natural
shapes are what makes each plant unique. Why spend the
money for a good plant if you are going to mutilate it
beyond recognition? Why would you want something that grows
if every time it puts out a new leaf, you run get the
shears and cut it off? I've seen plants where you couldn't
even find a whole leaf, they were all sheared in half.
That's insane! It's also really ugly. Then, they can't
figure out why their plants aren't healthy!!
Maybe I should go into the plastic cube business.
