This article was on my MSN homepage today - thought y'all would find it as interesting (and a little humerous) as I did.
Hope you are all having a great day!
http://realestate.msn.com/lawns/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=738403>1=8470
Liz
The 7 Deadly Landscaping Sins
Thanks a bunch. Good article. Sheila
Enjoyed reading this - I am guilty of no 4, but hope to atone. Just can't say no to a plant - especially a freebie, and still learning what does well, where. Will do a lot of transplanting, but it doesn't help that my husband believes everything should be able to co-exist well together.
I am trying to avoid sin #1. We have some burford hollies on the side of the house with a great deal of new growth that needs trimming back. I'm afraid the trim job will create the "green meatball" look. It is going to take some backbone on my part to cut back old wood as well as new growth. (do you all remember the Edward Scissorhands Movie?)
I think that I am guilty of number 4, however I will admit that I am a plant collector rather than a landscaper. Besides, I am working on it. Honest!
Beth
Sin #1 Meatball Shrubs
Guilty as charged...got a row of meatball shrubs lined up like toy soldiers in front of my house.
Sin #2 Marching Flowers
Guilty as charged...planted bulbs one-by-one; they'll be marching along when they 'spring' up
Sin #4 Too much...of everything
Guilty as charged...filling in the bare spots for that 'full look'
Sin #5 Bad proportions
Guilty as charged...nobody told me those tiny zinnia seedlings shouldn't be in the front row!
Oh well, this year has been a pain in the azalea. I'll just chalk this season up as live and learn.
oh Cordeledawg:
Sin #4 Too much...of everything
Guilty as charged...filling in the bare spots for that 'full look'
I don't know how anyone avoids this one... It is too tempting. My MG friend keeps me in check as she sometimes says "do you know how BIG that thing is going to get?" and then she reminds me of one she has like it and I think - wow - hers is huge and I move some more plants around. She has a very lush, full, wonderful garden with surprises around every curve - but I have to keep reminding myself that hers has been there a while... and I try to allow for the mature sizes of my plants.
I think there are two types of gardeners, and a few of the "sins" in this article are made for the gardener who wants his/her garden to be admired from the street, passing by either walking or in a car. My garden would not stand muster. I agree with Alan Armatage, that 1 of a kind is a fine number. I'm a collector, and I want several huecheras, but only 1 of each, so that I can admire it, and compare it to other cultivars of the same kind. Not to say that I don't have more than one kind anywhere (like my 3 camellias in front of the house and such), but I would be very unhappy if I felt like I had to have 3, 5, or 7 of the same kind of plant. Just a different mindset.
I don't have meatballs or soldiers, though. Oh, I forgot - I do have one meatball in the back. It's close to dh's green egg, and that's "his" shrub and that's the way he likes it. So, guilty of #1! lol
Carmen
I haven't been on DG for several weeks but glad I stumbled on this article when I finally got here. It's always nice to get free advice from people who usually get paid for it. thanks, sr
Oh, how funny. I wish to goodness I had my camera with me the other day when I went through the little community of Jewell, between Warrenton and Sparta. Talk about meatball art. The evergreen shrubs at the front of this yard looked so funny, but it was obvious someone had taken great pains and lots of time accomplishing this "LOOK". I will try my hand at drawing what it looked like. There was a row of these in assorted sizes, but all with the same "design". I can't figure out what it was supposed to be!! Dang, wish I'd had my camera. I can't do it justice.
Guardians - did they really have handles like that?
Our neighbors trimmed all of their azaleas into neat meatballs last week. They probably think ours are wanton and wild. The landscaper nieighbor up the road has his shrubs neatly rounded with a flat top. I suppose it is a formal look - which is fine, but not how we have our garden.
Just remember that a landscaper is not necessarily a gardener. I learned that last week when I assumed the landscaper had a much more in depth knowledge of plants than he actually does. Landscapers are great at mowing, edging, and trimming shrubs. If they know more than that, you are in luck. If not, it doesn't really matter, does it? Just don't let them plant your plants without extensive instruction from you. I heard today on the Walter Reeves show that a guy had his landscaper plant something like 18 Rhododendrums last year. All he did was dig a hole and stick them in. Every plant died. They hate clay, and the soil was not amended. Tough lesson.
Artgal, Yes, it was the oddest thing I have ever seen! There were about 8 to 10 of them ( I was driving by and did not stop to count) but I sure did STARE while I drove the 25 mph speed limit. Most were mature normal sized shrubs, but there were a few smaller ones that were identical miniatures! The next time I go that way I am going to have to stop and ask the folks why they did them this way. And I will definitely have my camera.
Pins, well that explains why my azaleas are struggling to survive. They looked like they were starved for water, so I moved them to a shadier location and dug deeper holes and seriously amended the soil. Also planted them a little higher so drainage would improve. Hope they will improve now. I wish mine would get big enough to need trimming. I so love azaleas and Rhododendrums. I'll try some more when it cools off.
It sounds like you did the exact thing to correct the growing conditions. Walter did say to plant them so that they were about half way out of the ground. He said during the first year especially to be vigilant with the water. Yours will be beautiful. What color are they?
I could not make up my mind so they are two of everything. LOL. Some white, some pink, some lavender, some dark pink they called burgandy.,and some that were bicolor. I did not do any of the salmon or coral simply because there weren't any that looked good the day I bought them. I also bought several at the McCorkle sale in June that were not marked (that's why they were .99). That's okay, I love surprises!!
Guilty of Sin #4. I agree with several of you, I am definitely a collector, not a designer. I fall in love with a plant, then I research it, then I fall in love with the whole group of them, then I start collecting, then I stumble over something else cool and off I go!
I'm guilty of several of her peeves but landscaping first was not an option over the past few years and now I am trying to create a little more "put together" look on paper so I can play musical chairs when cooler weather arrives. I'm sure that I will continue to be guilty of impulse buying when I get too close to the clearance table at Lowes (therefore have to find a place to stick those poor orphans in the soid, but what can I say? I want my garden to bless others but experimenting with new plants and ideas is just too much fun to get too picky about the design. Even though my yard is probably a prime example of her article, my neighbors are always full of appreciation for my efforts. Soooo if I enjoy it and my neighbors aren't complaining, I don't have to get in a huge hurry to reform.
Deb