Privacy Landscaping

March Madness

2005-03-11T13:45:00.000-05:00

I just got back from a trip to Dallas, where it seems to be spring from November to April! It was nice to see trees with leaves, although a good number were still in their dormancy phase.

Back in my neck of the woods, the time since my last post in January has been spent watching the weather ping pong back and forth between relatively balmy winter days to deep freezes. Hopefully now the end of winter is in sight. Overall, it has been a fairly good winter with respect to animal damage to our plant material. The bunnies (so far, knock on wood) have spared the beech trees and viburnums from any serious damage, opting instead this winter to munch on the Snowmound Spireas. Thankfully, they were kind enough to prune only the backsides of the plants, leaving the front-facing portions relatively full and shapely.

I will be ordering my first rush of plants soon, continuing to build the castle wall around our property. More on that in the weeks ahead.

January Update

2005-01-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

It has been a strange month already as far as winter weather is concerned. A week ago is was +18C, now we have had a stretch of four or five days with temps nearing -40C at times. Serious business. One day of deadly freezing rain came (naturally) on the day I was supposed to go to the 2005 Landscape Ontario trade show. This is the big Canadian landscaping industry show open only to people in the trades. I really look forward to it each year. Fortunately I had some colleagues pick up information for me, but it would have been nice to have been there in person.

With these killer temperatures, I will certainly know in the spring if the newly planted borderline plant materials can survive temperatures and exposure of this magnitude. Of particular interest (as I have mentioned before) is the Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud) in front of our home.

In the meantime, I have been spending a lot of time this winter playing guitar and writing songs (and wordworking) -- my other interests. I am working with a young country singer named Alysha. She is quite good. Her Website is located at http://www.alysha.ca or http://www.alyshabrooke.com.

Happy New Year

2005-01-01T23:07:00.000-05:00

This is my obligatory Happy New Year post.

The new year came in like a lamb on the landscaping front. After an unheard of amount of snow one week ago (which allowed us to have a big tobogganing party on the hill in our backyard on Christmas Day), the winds of change brought unseasonably mild temperatures that promptly melted all of the snow (11C or somewhere around 50F). I took advantage of the big melt to survey the landscape. Nothing of great note, except a few stakes needed to be hammered a bit deeper into the soft earth. No bunny damage yet, so that's good.

Cold and Snow

2004-12-24T11:15:00.000-05:00

Not much to report on the day before Christmas. A week ago we had bone-chilling cold, with temperatures reaching -30C (-22F)! Yesterday it was a big snowstorm that made headlines by dropping about six to eight inches of snow in one day. But this ensures a white Christmas.

I never did get a chance to wrap my young Staghorn Sumacs (Rhus typhina) to protect them from bunny snacking. So, I'll have to wait and see if they get attacked. On the other hand, the forecast is calling for temperatures to go back up above freezing next week, so the seesaw weather continues. The bone-chilling cold temps were the first real test for my handful of borderline hardy specimens -- most notably of which is the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis). I am really hoping that that one makes it through the winter.

Winter's Setting In

2004-12-15T18:34:00.000-05:00

Slowly but surely, winter is starting to take hold in our neck of the woods. We have some persistent snow on the ground (maybe an inch or so), but it sure has been cold the past few days -- below zero on pretty regular basis. The pond has a thin sheet of ice on it, but the bubbler is keeping a section clear. No fish in there, so it's not as critical as it might be. There are a number of potted plants on the pond bottom, however, so I can't have it freezing solid.

This winter I will also be closely watching my Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud) to see if it survives the cold. It is right on its border here in Z5, so we are really pulling for it. It is such a nice tree and it is in a very visible front yard location. If it sadly does not make it, I will have to search for something similar to replace it.

The wind has been nothing short of brutal on a couple of occasions over the past month or so -- much worse than when we had the remnants of a few hurricanes blow through our area a few months back. Many people had many things blow over. In our case, a large and heavy cedar arbor bench that I built went down. This had the unfortunate side effects of shattering two lights that were on it and ripping in half the Dutchman's Pipe vines that were planted on either side. Fortunately they did not rip out of the ground, but they will be starting from about six inches tall next spring. I have weighted the arbor bench with some large bricks for the time being and when the ground thaws I will drive a couple of steel spikes into the ground behind the bench and attach the bench to the spikes so that this doesn't happen again. The vines will overgrow the stakes in short order and they won't be visible from the front regardless.

That's all for now.

Taking Stock

2004-12-06T08:20:00.000-05:00

The fall maintenance is now basically complete. I finally finished cutting down an acre's worth of wildflowers and brush with my brushcutter. Some of these plants, such as the Evening Primrose, can get very thick stalks -- easily close to one-inch thick. I generally let the cut plants lay where they fall as they will decompose fairly rapidly and add a surface to the otherwise bare soil.

A couple of things I noted while cutting down the brush: the first thing is that it looks like I may lose one of the young Austrian Pines that I planted this season. The top two-thirds of the tree (which is roughly five feet tall) looks like it's dead. Strangely, the bottom third looks green and healthy. I'll keep an eye on it to see what happens. The second thing I noticed is that there is a spot near the top of the big hill that is eroding and I will need to tackle that area (with rocks and ground cover most likely) in the spring.

Still left to do... wrap those darn Sumacs so the rabbits don't kill them by eating the bark and move a couple of 15' Black Poplars (which I planted bare-root in the spring, so it shouldn't be too difficult). I may have to wait until early spring (pre-bud-break) for that one.

Spring Planting List: Trees and Shrubs

2004-11-23T06:03:00.000-05:00

There's no time like the present to start planning for what to plant next spring. With the fall clean-up pretty much nearing its completion and with most of the leaves now fallen, it's a good time to take a look at your yard to determine potential locations in need of some planting attention.

Everything looks much more stark and barren at this point in the year -- unless you have done an excellent job of maintaining a high percentage of coniferous and evergreen material. In my case, that is an area that I will definitely be improving in the spring. So bearing in mind that my landscape objectives are privacy and a woodland setting, here is what I am currently looking at planting in the early spring of 2005:

- Robinia pseudoacacia (Black Locust), approximately 70 in the 5' to 8' range;
- Elaeagnus angustifolia (Russian Olive), 10 shrubs in the 3' to 4' range;
- Acer campestre (Hedge Maple), five in the 10' to 12' range;
- Bamboo - nuda, 10 of these;
- Acer platanoides (Norway Maple), haven't picked the variety yet, but looking at 10 or so;
- Pyrus calleryana, probably Chanticleer, need 3 of these; and
- Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar), the species, at least 30 of these.

The bamboo will be a bit of a test for me. I'm curious to see how it takes in our conditions. The Black Locust and Eastern Red Cedar are my two main privacy plants and these 100 or so trees will primarily be going close to the perimeter of the property, to further aid in privacy landscaping and also to kick-start my woodland even more. Both of these are native and abundant in my area.

I am also planning on a large perennial area (75' x 125') so I will be working on plant selection for that in the near future.

Deer Mouse

2004-11-16T06:01:00.000-05:00

Our cat discovered a new mammal over the weekend. Usually she is quite adept at finding field mice (or meadow voles -- Microtus pennsylvanicus -- to be more accurate) and entering into the proverbial game of cat and mouse. But on Sunday when we were out for a walk, she came into the clearing with a different little animal in her mouth.

Okay. Some people may say that mice are mice. But I have to admit, this one was much cuter than the average field mouse. I checked in our animal book later and my suspicions were confirmed. What she had caught was a Peromyscus maniculatus, commonly known as the Deer Mouse. If you've seen a deer mouse -- with those big innocent eyes -- then you'll know what I mean when I say they're not your average field mouse.

Anyhow, this was the first time I had seen a Deer Mouse at out place. I had my suspicions that something unusual was up and she caught the mouse from within a cedar rail that was part of our cedar rail fence. Upon reading up on our little friend, I learned that Deer Mice like to nest inside old logs and things, so this made perfect sense (the voles she catches are generally on the ground, in holes or within their grasslike nests). Apparently they too can sometimes make their way into houses, but the book also noted that they are not as pesky as the average house mouse. What that means exactly, I am not sure.

Backyard Fire Pit

2004-11-15T06:09:00.000-05:00

So winter is getting nearer and the fall clean-up is coming along nicely. With a thin layer of ice on the pond this weekend, it got me to thinking that it wouldn't be long before we would be having some nice outdoor fires while tobogganing in the yard. I like fire pits. I have several of the portable store-bought kind, but last year I put in a good old fashioned outdoor fire pit. This is a permanent in-ground pit using curved landscape pavers as the surround. It is easy to make and inexpensive as well. To read more about how I made it, drop by my Website. I also have some photos of the pit posted there. Used wisely (don't burn trash), fire pits are a great addition to the landscape (plus, it helps me to dispose of the wood waste from my workshop).

First Snow

2004-11-08T07:20:00.000-05:00

We had the first snowfall overnight last night. Granted it was nothing much to speak of, but there was a dusting on the cars this morning and the ground was lightly covered. So technically, we have broken the seal on winter weather. As far as winterizing the landscape goes, I spent the weekend catching up on that. Still trying to get the mulch pile down -- probably have two or three yards left. As long as I get it moved before it freezes solid I will be okay.

I spent most of the time trimming down the wildflower/naturalized areas (which comprise just over an acre in total I would estimate). I am using my Echo brushcutter for this (basically a straight shaft trimmer with a solid blade that looks like a saw blade). It will cut through some decent sized brush (up to 3/4" at least). I basically move along in a sweeping motion, as if I using a scythe. It takes awhile (the brush is four to five-feet high), but I make good progress. I do it in chunks to avoid fatigue. This sort of task I can do even after the weather freezes up further, but it takes awhile so I needed to get started.

I also picked up some plumbing insulation wrap over the weekend. The Savio filter manual (for the pond filter) recommends wrapping the key joints and valves along the hose line with insulated plumpers tape. This I will get to before the big freezed sets in.

Rabbit Proofing

2004-11-01T06:45:00.000-05:00

November 1st is here, which means in these parts the snow and cold will be bearing down upon us soon enough. Last year, our friendly local population of Eastern Cottontails made a nice buffet out of certain plants on our yard. This happened in January, once the snow got deep enough to completely cover any of their otherwise natural local food sources. So this year I am going to be watching a little more closely to protect what I can.

I don't particularly mind the way they go about "pruning" certain shrubs. In fact, they eat the twigs and buds so nicely and neatly that it looks as though they were immaculately pruned on the 45. The giveaway, of course, is the neat little pile of round pellets that cover the ground around each shrub that has been cut back.

Given the large number of ornamentals I have planted, the Cottontail's selections are quite specific. Here is what they most preferred to eat on my property, in order of overall consumption. (You can see some photos of 1 and 2 on my site.)

1) Virburnum lantana (Wayfaringtree): Without question, their number one most-preferred-shrub.
2) Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyckii Purple' (Dawyck Purple Beech): A close second is this beech tree. I have three of them in a row and the bunnies took out a ring of buds and twigs on each one at the snow level. When the snow melted, there is now a bare spot two feet up from the ground for about 12 inches and then the tree continues in full leaf. It's sort of bunny topiary I suppose. Hopefully the snow is not at a drastically different level this year!
3) Viburnum lantana 'Mohican' (Mohican Wayfaringtree): Not surprising, they bunnies also like this cultivar.
4) Rosa rugosa 'Alba' (White Rugosa Rose): You'd think the thorns might deter them? Think again.
5) Syringa vulgaris (Common Lilac): Nibbles on a few cultivars, but no extreme damage.
6) Quercus robur 'Fastigiata' (Pyramidal English Oak): Again, this one was much less preferred than the top four, but they did sample somewhat.
7) Viburnum dentatum 'Blue Muffin' (Blue Muffin Arrowwood Virburnum): Similarly, they nibbled on this, but the damage was minimal.

Those were the big seven. Interestingly, they showed no interest in Viburnum trilobum (Highbush Cranberry Viburnum), which was only a few feet from both the Wayfaringtree and the Purple Beech trees.

The wild card in all of this is determining what devoured my Rhus typhina (Staghorn Sumac) last year? These newly-planted specimens had their bark stripped to the point that the shoots died. Fortunately, the Staghorns are tough nuts and they suckered nicely this year. My suspicion is that it might have been deer in this case, but apparently our cottontail friend will also eat bark. Just to be safe, I will be wrapping the main shoots with some burlap to give them a fighting chance to get established.

As for the other plants above, I don't plan to take any remedial action -- maybe the occasional spray of that rabbit-proofing mixture if things get out of control. We'll see if that works.

Fall Pond Maintenance

2004-10-29T06:46:00.000-04:00

I bit the bullet on Friday and decided to wade into the pond to begin the fall maintenance. I had been waiting for a warmer (or at least sunny) day, but at this point, who knows if we'll get either in the short-term. So rather than risk it, I started the maintenance on Friday, October 22.

The water temp was a brisk 46 degrees F (or roughly 8 degrees celsius), enough to give me a good shock and eventually complete numbness. The water is 30" deep and I was in there for about 15 minutes. Basically, the chores involves unhooking the tubing from the pond pump and removing the pump for the winter. Also, I cut down all of the perennial water plants and placed them into the deeper parts of the part where (hopefully) they will overwinter successfully. Reaching down to place the plants pretty much immersed my arms up to the shoulders, so that was fairly chilly to say the least.

After that, I removed the pump and removed it from its casing to clean out the algae buildup. It is now ready to enjoy winter in the basement. The next task will be to drain the external filter/falls and clear out the hoses as much as possible. I'll do this in the next week or two. I am also going to put some insulation around all exposed hose joints and contact areas to protect against the cold (this is recommended in the Savio booklet that came with the unit).

Since I only recently completed the pond, this is its first winter. So I will be nervously hoping it gets through okay. I am concerned about settling with respect to the backfilled falls area, so I will be monitoring that closely. I took a straight-on picture of the falls to capture how the rocks are placed at present. I'll take another from the same spot after the spring thaw to see how much movement took place. Even though I don't have any fish in the pond, I am going to use an aquarium pump and tubing to keep a small hole in the surface via simple bubbles from the tube. I used to do this at our old pond and it worked fairly well. I find that the pond de-icers don't work that well, as they tend to get lime covered and then their functionality is greatly reduced. That was my experience. I still have a couple of them, but doubt that I'll use them.

Fall Preparations

2004-10-22T11:49:00.000-04:00

Since my last post, I did indeed get 16 White Cedars (Thuja occidentalis) planted behind the privacy screen. These should help to keep people back somewhat from the property line. Fortunately, cool wet weather coincided with the planting of these trees -- exactly what the doctor order. Unfortunately, gale force winds came too, so I had to quickly get some stabilizing stakes and wires in place to secure the trees. All in all they seem to be holding well. Most likely they won't really get a good foothold until next spring, but at least they are planted (and hopefully content).

Before the winter weather sets in I have a lot to do in terms of property maintenance. Over the next day or two I will need to wade into the pond to remove the pump for the winter and to cut down the hardy water plants and place them on the pond bottom (in the deepest part). That will likely be a chilling experience. I also need to move approximately five more yards of mulch and a slightly higher volume of rocks. I will need to start trimming roughly one acre's worth of wildflower areas. I use my gas (Echo) brushcutter to trim everything to the ground to make way for next year's growth. I have a few (hundred) more bulbs to get into the ground (largely Muscari for naturalizing) and some perennial beds to tidy up. Beyond there there are many many more small tasks to tackle. With luck, I will get everything done by mid-November.

I am also in the process of retooling my Website at http://www.privacylandscaping.com. More about that in an upcoming post.

White Cedar, Swamp Cedar, American Arborvitae

2004-10-12T06:14:00.000-04:00

Three names for the same tree, that being Thuja occidentalis. These utility trees are very often sold in their basic form as near bare-root inexpensive trees. They are typically used for hedging. Their more showy cousins include the popular Emerald Green variety. But in its basic form the White Cedar is a decent choice when an inexpensive background hedge or privacy screen is desired.

I didn't think that I would be planting any of these on our current property, but, as the need for privacy continues in a couple of key locations, I have decided that the trusty Thuja occidentalis may be good for the job. I plan to plant a row of 12 to 15 trees directly behind the privacy trellises with the silk vines that I wrote about on October 4. The Thuja will provide both a visual screen and a physical barrier to stop people from coming right up to the fence and peering through (which happened again over the weekend). The only pitfall that I may have is that these trees generally like moisture and this location is not exactly a moist spot. That said, I have found in past experience that once these trees get established, they can become somewhat drought tolerant. So I will do my best to water them well in the early going. Since its fall, we should be getting a fair bit of rain soon, and then again in the spring. So this should give them a healthy kickstart.

Trellis Tip for Instant Privacy

2004-10-04T06:32:00.000-04:00

The thing about privacy landscaping is that nine times out of 10 we want the privacy to be instant -- we don't want to wait five years for the trees to fill in or grow taller. We want our privacy and we want it now. This has certainly been my experience specializing in privacy landscaping.

Just this week I came up with an idea that allowed me to get instant privacy -- or at least temporary privacy until the plant materials filled in. Here is the scenario...

At the top of the hill at the back of our home there is a public pathway. People occasionally stop there to take in the view, which also means that they stare down at us in our yard as if we are zoo animals. I have planted numerous trees that will eventually become a great screen, but I too wanted some form of instant privacy. There is a chain link fence there, so I decided that I would build four trellises each four-feet wide x seven-feet high and attach them to the fence side-by-side. By leaving a foot or so between trellises I was able to cover nearly 20 linear feet, which screened a good enough portion of the area. I planted several Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and Silver Lace Vines (Polygonum auberti), but naturally these will take a couple of seasons to fill in to any great degree. So to provide instant blockage, I attached some privacy lattice to the trellises.

It certainly achieved the privacy goal, but it was butt ugly. For the past few months my wife has been after me to take down the eyesore. She was right, of course. With that ugly panels of privacy lattice slapped up there, your eye is drawn to that spot 300 feet from the house. I knew this as well, but my need for privacy over-rode the landscape designer side of me. Still, I kept thinking of a way to achieve my goal in a manner that would also be aesthetically appealing.

It finally came to me last week. Artificial vines, outdoors.

It dawned on me that while waiting for the real vines to grow, I could simply attach silk vines to the trellises. So over the weekend I took down the ugly lattice and attached 20 six-foot silk vines to the trellises using cable ties. What a difference. From the street and yard, it looks great. In fact, your eye is no longer drawn to the spot. And if you do look, it simply looks like vines growing on a trellis. Eventually, the real vines will overtake their silk counterparts, which I don't even think I will need to remove.

So, my tip for instant privacy using a trellis is to try out some silk vines while waiting for your plant materials to grow. This will give you fairly good coverage instantly, without creating an eyesore.

Emerald Ash Borer

2004-10-01T06:28:00.000-04:00

I was a reading a local landscape trade magazine recently and it now has me worried about the approach of the Emerald Ash Borer. The USDA page on this pest is here. The Canadian info page is here. This pest was discovered here in 2002 and is killing ash trees (Fraxinus) at an alarming rate. Aside from the 25 or so ash trees that I have planted on my own property over the past two years, it is hard to imagine that an insect like this could (and probably will) wipe out all of the ash trees in Ontario. There are so many ash trees in the hardwood forests here, that it is hard to imagine what the forests will be like if the these trees are obliterated.

So far, the authorities are trying to contain the pest, but at this point it is within 100 miles of my home. It has destroyed an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 ash trees in this county near my home. And the situation is worse in Michigan. All the info you need can be accessed via the linked pages above, but if you live in an area in the U.S. or Canada where the woodlands contain ash trees, familiarize yourself with this pest and alert the appropriate authorities if you see evidence of its presence. Perhaps there is a chance that we can win this battle to save these valuable trees.

Ash trees are one of my favorite landscape trees, with so many great qualities. Unfortunately, in the face of this new threat I will not be planting any more ash trees for a foreseeable future.

Sea Buckthorn: One Tough Shrub

2004-09-24T07:38:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year I mistakenly grabbed a shrub in a hurry one day at one of the local trade nurseries thinking that I was grabbing Silver Buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea). (Trade nurseries do not generally tag the plant materials.) Fortunately, this shrub was for my property and not a client's. It wasn't until later -- after I had planted it -- that I took a moment to really look at the shrub and realized that while it had some similar qualities to Shepherdia (silver foliage, thorny) it was not in fact Shepherdia. Since there are not too many silver foliaged shrubs, the next obvious choice would be Elaeagnus angustifolia (Russian Olive). But the leaves were much skinner than Russian Olive and they were not arranged the same way. And since I already have both Russian Olive and Silver Buffaloberry on my property, it was pretty clear to me that this plant was neither one of those (unless it was some new or unique cultivar).

As a horticulturalist, I was somewhat stumped by what this was. As a landscape designer, I was mildly concerned, since the shrub was planted in a specific spot meant to be a drought tolerant screening plant -- for which either the Shepherdia or Elaeagnus would be ideal.

As summer progressed, I lost time to ID the plant properly, although I watched it progress nicely in its dry, neglected site. It was only this week, while picking up plants at another nursery, that I saw my mystery plant with a tag on it. Of course (as the title of this post says), it is Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides). What a great plant this is -- and another silver-leaved plant for my landscape. Not only does Sea Buckthorn have great landscape value, a quick Web search unveils its numerous other beneficial uses in skin products and many health applications and fruit juice making. The list goes on and on. Do a search and you will see.

In the landscape, the range of use for this plant is huge. Its tolerance for extremes of both hardiness and soil conditions is nearly unmatched. Plus, it is valuable for erosion control in tough spots, or simply as an accent plant in a residential yard. My initial impression of Sea Buckthorn is that it is vastly underused in the residential landscape and retail landscape industry. I will certainly be giving more consideration to Sea Buckthorn in the appropriate applications and will definitely be planting more of it on my own property.

Fall Project Updates

2004-09-22T08:04:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of fall, which means that there are fewer and fewer days left to get work done around the yard. Strangely, the weather has been more summer-like over the past week than it was for most of the summer. One thing is the same, however, no rain. Even though it's fall, I am still having to water fairly regularly in the warm weather to keep the newly planted materials on life support until it cools down. Hopefully next year will be a little wetter.

I will soon post some photos of the bridges that I built recently. Other than that, here are some of the projects that I will be working on this fall -- or possibly next spring -- and that I will document here. I will be building a small retaining wall near the top of the large hill at the back of our property. There is a small -- but steep -- section of slope that has been eroding over the past 18 months. I have a large number of leftover retaining wall blocks from our back patio that I plan to lug up the hill and put to good use in this spot. Should be interesting. I will also be installing steps up the hill at some point (probably in the spring). The run will be approximately 75 feet at a rise of perhaps 20 feet. I will be using a step-building method of timbers and pea gravel.

I also plan to build a combination shed and playhouse at the back of my property. This is a privacy landscaping feature that will also serve a couple of additional functions. Primarily, it will block any leering eyes from the public pathway behind our property (in addition to the numerous trees and shrubs that I have planted already). The "bunkie" will be 12' x 12' and will feature a five-foot covered porch with a couple of chairs.

Top 10 Trees for Small Yards

2004-09-20T06:17:00.001-04:00

Last week a friend of mine from my horticulture program days asked me what would be my top 10 recommended trees for a small yard. That was a good question. She recently moved into a new home in a new subdivision and is currently working on the hardscaping (patio, shed, sunroom, water feature...). As part of her landscape plan, she wants to plant approximately seven trees for privacy (a high number for a small 30' residential lot), so she wanted to bounce some ideas off a friend.

Coming up with a list of 10 trees was more challenging than I thought. There are at least twice that many that I would consider to be good choices for a smallish residential lot, but I was up to the challenge of trying to select my personal top 10 list.

Before posting the list, I have to say that there a hundred footnotes that go along with my top 10 list. First and foremost, every yard is different. Soil conditions, lighting conditions, exposure, hardiness zone, drainage etc. all play a part in the selection of plant materials. However, we can also generalize to some degree in a brand new subdivision, since in the majority of cases you are starting from scratch in a full sun situation. In terms of hardiness zones, we are in Z5-6 range.

All that said, here is my list.

Mike Belobradic's Top 10 Deciduous Trees for Small Yards
(In no particular order)
1. Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud)
2. Pyrus calleryana 'Chanticleer' (Chanticleer Ornamental Pear)
3. Syringa reticulata 'Ivory Silk' (Ivory Silk Lilac)
4. Cornus kousa (Kousa Dogwood)
5. Aesculus glabra (Ohio Buckeye)
6. Fagus sylvatica 'Dawyckii' (Dawyck's Purple Beech)
7. Maackia amurensis (Amur Maackia)
8. Prunus virginiana 'Schubert' (Schubert Chokecherry)
9. Koelreuteria paniculata (Goldenrain Tree)
10. Fraxinus nigra 'Fallgold' (Fallgold Ash)

Each of these trees would be an excellent specimen for a small yard -- or any yard for that matter. Each has one or more exceptional qualities and all of them are of reasonable size and stature for a residential property. Some of my other choices that were close but didn't make the list include Cercidiphyllum japonicum (Katsura Tree), Acer platanoides 'Variegatum' (Harlequin Maple), Quercus robur 'Fastigiata' (Pyramidal English Oak), Fraxinus nigra x mandshurica 'Northern Gem' (Northern Gem Ash), Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood)

Backyard Bridges

2004-09-16T06:08:00.000-04:00

A backyard bridge is great landscape feature that not many people use in their landscape design. A backyard bridge can add a lot of interest to your yard, but of course you need to have an appropriate place in which to place the bridge. While not many people use bridges, what makes the situation worse is that a good portion of those who do, do so in ridiculous ways. Too often have I seen one of those white plastic or aluminum bridges in someone's yard stuck seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Rule No. 1: If the bridge cannot actually cross over something, then you are best not to use one at all. This may seem obvious, but believe me, it is not to many people.

With that point in mind, remember that you do not necessarily need to have a naturally occuring location that requires a bridge. If you are putting in a pond with a stream, then you may have an opportunity for a bridge there. If you are creating a meandering dry river bed using beach pebbles, then this is another great opportunity for you to place a bridge in your yard.

A bridge is a great focal point and a great point of interest and intrigue. Everyone wants to cross over a bridge. People are drawn to a garden bridge like a magnet -- adults and children alike. Over the past week, I built two bridges for our property. A simple footbridge is easy to make with only a few tools and is not too costly.

In my case, we have a fairly deep drainage swail running through our property. It was difficult to cross and messy if it had rained (mud). So a bridge was both a functional and a design solution. Since I had recently built the boardwalk around the pond (see previous posts), I decided to build the bridges in a similar fashion. This would help to tie in the boardwalk with the bridges and add some consistency to the landscape design. There were two key locations requiring bridges: one to provide access to a cedar arbor bench that I built and the other to provide access to the privacy structure/bench that I built more recently (see previous posts).

I decided to build footbridges with no handrails. Handrails will make a bridge much more visible and dominant in the landscape. This may be exactly what you need for your situation. In my case, I wanted to the bridges to be more understated and to blend in with the natural surroundings -- particularly since I was building more than one. This is also why I chose to build a wooden bridge.

To build the bridge I started with two 2x10x8 pressure treated boards. I wanted the bridges to have a slight arch, so I marked out a curve through the middle section of the bottom part of one of the 2x10x8s and then matched the curve's flow on the edges of the board on the top section. If you can picture it, the board ended up looking similar to an open umbrella from the side view (although flattened substantially). I used a jigsaw to cut out the shape and then transferred the shape to the second piece of lumber. I cut out the shape on that piece so that the two shapes matched. These formed the bottom rails of the bridge. (I used pressure-treated lumber because these rails would be in contact with the ground.) I wanted my bridge to be 30" wide on top. So, to link the rails together I used three pieces of pressure-treated 2x4s cut to approximately 24" widths. I joined the two 2x10s together using these pieces: one on each end and one in the middle. Then, I cut four 5/4x6x8 cedar decking boards into 29-7/8" lengths and screwed these pieces across the bridge frame. I left 1/2" between slats. Where the slats went over top of the 2x4s on the ends and in the middle of the bridge, I also screwed the slats into the 2x4s. This provides the extra stability that stops the bridge from being able to move left to right.

The whole process to build these two cedar bridges took me less than two hours. Each bridge cost me less than $100 in materials. The bridges match the boardwalk I built and they look great in the landscape. If you have a spot that would suit a landscape bridge, it can be a simple, attractive and inexpensive addition to your yard.

Fall Planting

2004-09-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

Well, here we are in September, after what was reportedly one of the coolest summers on record everywhere in the world -- with the exception of the Pacific Northwest, from what I heard on the radio recently. Personally, I welcome the cool fall days. One of the main reasons being that, in my experience, fall is the best time of year to plant trees and shrubs.

Having had many years of experience in the landscape industry, I am basically busy planting all year long in any given year (well, from April to October at least -- or March to November in a really good year). This has given me a pretty good first-hand view of how plant materials perform when planted at different times of year. Consistently, trees and shrubs planted in the fall perform far better the following year than trees or shrubs planted in the spring of that following year. It would seem that the plant materials gain a good foothold from the fall planting and can hit the ground running much better than their spring-planted counterparts.

So what are some of the tangible benefits? For one thing, lack of stress. Fall-planted trees -- particularly deciduous trees planted after the leaves have fallen -- have already begun to shut down for the season. Since they've entered their dormant phase, they don't experience much (if any) transplant shock or related stress. So when they wake up from their long winter's nap, they are eager and ready to go. They leaf out nicely and fully and their watering needs are much less demanding I have found (as compared to the same tree planted in spring). In fact, fall planted trees perform much better even than spring-planted trees that are in the ground before bud break in the spring. That has been my consistent experience at least.

One note of caution: depending on where you live (zone), there are some general rules about deadline dates for planting certain types of trees -- particularly conifers. So check with your local nursery or landscape professional. Generally speaking, you can plant deciduous trees at any time. Although I would add one caveat that on the few occasions that I have planted deciduous trees into frozen solid ground (into December in holes that were dug earlier), these trees did not perform as well as other fall-planted trees.

So if you still intend to get a few more trees and shrubs in the ground this year (I know that I sure do as I build my green privacy wall), take some comfort in knowing that fall is among the best times of year for planting. Best of all, this is the time of year when most retail nurseries and garden centers have big sales on trees. So get out, enjoy the fall and get planting.

Backyard Boardwalk Photos

2004-09-07T07:56:00.000-04:00

As promised, today I am posting some photos of the backyard boardwalk project. (In case you missed it, full details on my construction techniques are outlined in my post of August 30, 2004.) The boardwalk is complete and my attention recently has been on tidying up some of the finer details -- the micro things, such as strategic rock placement and mulching the area around the pond area. I will be building some small foot bridges on the property to cross over the drainage swails. When I get to these, I will build them from similar materials to the boardwalk, to tie-in the look and feel of the structure and provide some continuity in the yard.

Photo 1: This is a shot of the boardwalk under construction. I had already laid the "tracks" and was beginning to screw down the decking boards.

Photo 2: I wrote about how I approached the curved sections of the boardwalk. This is a close-up of the slats that I cut to make the curve.

Photo 3: Here is the completed boardwalk running along the edge of the pond and linking two areas of the property. Once the plant materials fill in around the pond, this should be quite a nice scene.

Photo 4: The completed boardwalk from another angle. Here you can see the gazebo and the patio area next to the pond. I will be building another table and chair set to place on the mulch next to the pond and in front of the lounders.

Trees as a Sound Barrier

2004-09-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

One thing to remember about landscape design in general is that not only is your environment constantly changing, but as time passes, likely your landscaping needs will change and evolve as well. This is particularly true if you are in a new home in a new subdivision. While you or your landscape designer will do your best to assess your landscaping needs from the outset (and impelement a plan based on this assessment), it is only after you have lived on the property for a year or two (alongside your neighbors) that you will have a true appreciation and understanding of what it is you want to achieve. So your plan needs to be flexible and adaptable.

And so it goes with privacy landscaping. Take our home as an example. We are now two years into it. And with our most recent neighbors having moved in about six weeks ago, it's clear that our landscaping needs have evolved and the plan will have to be adjusted to address a minor noise concern. It is not anything extreme, but just enough that I want to do something about it through privacy landscaping.

The pond with waterfall was a good first step. Blocking sound completely in a residential setting is basically a landscaping impossibility. So there are two ways that you can address sound: 1) by masking it and 2) by buffering it. The calming sound of the water feature does a good job of masking background sounds. Your attention is drawn to the sound of the water close at hand and this distracts attention from any background sounds. When placed correctly, the water sound should be positioned between you and the source of the unwanted noise.

You don't have to build a pond to achieve this. There are, for example, a wide variety of patio fountains that are self contained and that provide the calming and masking sound of water. They come in many shapes and sizes at any garden center or home store. One of our favorites is the whiskey barrel with a hand pump attached to the top, so that it looks like the water is perpetually flowing from the handpump. We even planted ours with floating water hyacinths. We keep it back by the pergola to add a water feature to that part of the yard without installing at second inground pond.

In any event, back to the topic of this post, my next step will be to adjust my planting plan along the perimeter of the property to allow for some additional masking of sound by using trees as a sound barrier. I am already in the process of "building the castle walls," as I refer to it, by planting trees primarily along the perimeter of the property to act as privacy screens. This is the first phase of my planting plan. So far, I have planted approximately 300 trees and a similar number of shrubs (remember, this is a two-acre property that was clear of any vegetation, so 300 trees is a drop in the bucket in this case). However, the vast majority of these trees are deciduous -- probably somewhere in the range of the 80% to 85% -- and conifers are very good as all-season screens. So, I am already below the recommended 30% evergreen rule and this is a good opportunity to take up the slack.

Now that I know that our new neighbors tend to be somewhat on the noisy side, my plan is to plant a couple of loose rows of small conifers that will, over time, become a single large row of massive conifers that will act as a landscape muffler for any sound waves travelling in our direction. The reality of this is that it is smoke and mirrors to some degree. While trees do indeed reduce noise (or mask noise if it is the ruffling of leaves on a deciduous tree) a big part of all of this is our perception of the situation. Because the trees have the added benefit of providing a privacy screen and therefore blocking the noise source from view, our perception of the sound is also lessened. It's a version of out of sight, out of mind. Since you can no longer see the noise source, your perception of its loudness is actually reduced and it doesn't bother you as much.

So, my plan now is to plant conifers to dull the soundwaves and to provide additional privacy (which is always welcome). Due to our zone (5) and the exposure of the site, the two likely candidates for this job are Austrian Pines (Pinus nigra) and Colorado Spruce (Picea pungens). I already have several of each planted on the property and both species did well through the harsh winters we tend to have here. My goal is to plant trees with heights in the four-foot to five-foot range.

The planting location is at the top of a small incline on the side of our property, so trees of this size will give some immediate visual screening -- although their sound muffling ability will be minimal to start. Since the planting location is not that easy to reach with machinery, I will likely opt for potted Austrian Pines. Austrian Pines tend to be available as five-footers in pots in our area, whereas Colorado Spruce of this size are generally ball-and-burlap, if not wire basket. To move B&B trees, you need a bobcat at the very least, something that would damage my landscaping at this point in the game. So, I will likely go with the potted Austrians, which are easy to maneuver with a wheelbarrow and by hand. As a bonus, the Austrian Pines that I have already planted in this size range have put on between six inches and one foot of new growth per year so far, so that is an acceptable growth rate for my purposes. Now I just need to find 10 to 20 five foot Austrians in the CAD$50 to $60 range.

Boardwalk around the Backyard Pond

2004-08-30T06:44:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend I managed to get a lot done on the boardwalk that I am building around/along one side of the pond. The boardwalk will act as a border/transition between the pond area and the turf area. It is also a unique addition to the pond area in general and gives the yard somewhat of a conservation-area feeling. I likely would have completed the project in one day if we hadn't received over two inches of rain in less than 12 hours. But since we haven't had much rain at all since June (less than two inches all summer before this), I won't complain about it. Also, the rain caused me to tackle a couple of other tasks that weren't scheduled. More on those a bit later.

The boardwalk is 32 feet long and 30 inches wide. It has three moderate curves, as it veers left over the course of its run. I will post some pictures in a day or two, but for now, here is how I built it...

For the base of the boardwalk I used 4x4x8 pressure treated lumber (fence posts). I basically laid these directly onto the ground so that it looked like railroad tracks running alongside the pond. I had to level the ground in only a few locations so that the lumber was flat and flush (and didn't feel tippy when you walked on it like a balance beam). There were four 4x4s on each side running end-to-end to make up the 32 feet. I connected each board to the next using simple galvanized lumber connectors and screws. Since the boardwalk is on a slight slope, I had to shim the "train tracks" in a few spot to ensure that the tops would be flush where one board met another. With the tracks firmly in place, it was time to put on the boards.

Before screwing down the boards, I wanted to be sure that nothing would be growing up from below the boardwalk. (Grass growing up between the planks would be rather unsightly.) Between the tracks I liberally applied RoundUp to kill the grass that was there. I then laid landscape fabric on top of the grass to further stunt growth and block any light that may sneak between the cracks. A 36' roll of fabric three feet wide did the trick. Finally, I scattered some small rocks and stones on top of the landscape fabric over the full 32-foot run to hold it in place. Now I was ready to start screwing down the boards.

For the walkway boards, I used 5/4 x 6 cedar decking lumber. I would not use pressure-treated lumber here. It makes sense for the base (which is in full and ongoing contact with the ground), but not for the walkway -- from both an aesthetic and safety (chemicals) standpoint. I purchased 20 10-foot 5/4 x6" boards and cut them into 29-7/8" lengths (the sawblade is 1/8", so therefore you can't get four 30" pieces from a 120" piece of lumber). It was then simply a matter of screwing down the boards one by one. I decided to leave a 1/2" gap between each board. This looked about right and will allow for sufficient drainage, snow melt etc. I secured each board with a total of four 2" cedar-friendly decking screws (two on each side of each board). I made a 1/2" spacer out of scrap wood to ensure consistent spacing and to make the job go faster.

Screwing down the boards using the spacer is fairly quick work. The tricky part comes in the sections where the boardwalk turns.

As a side note, I would offer that a boardwalk that is simply a straight line is not as visually appealing or interesting as one that has curves -- unless you are working within a very formal landscape plan. But if that were the case, then you likely wouldn't have a boardwalk in the first place, as they are not what I would categorize as formal.

So, as my boardwalk followed the curve of the pond (along the beach area, if you have viewed photos in my earlier posts), I ended up with three slight curves to the left. The first curve was the most pronounced...the second was moderately pronounced and the third curve was very slight. As a result, for the third curve I was able to follow the line of the boardwalk without cutting any special wedge-shaped cedar boards. I simply had to angle a few of the planks along the turn, maintaining the 1/2" spacing on the inside edge, and stretching the outside spacing to roughly 5/8". This wasn't the case for the first two turns.

For the first turn, I ended up having to cut three special wedge-shaped boards (like pieces of pie) that allowed me to make the slight left turn. This was simple enough. When I got to the spot where the turn was about to begin, I laid out three planks so that they overlapped one another, but so that they were placed appropriately on the angle to make the turn (they looked like a fan, or a peacock's tail). I then simply marked a straight line on each board where I would have to cut it so that this pattern would lay flat. This was basically the spot where the boards overlapped. I made a 1/2" allowance beyond this line to ensure consistent spacing with the rest of the planks. I then took the boards to the bandsaw, cut along the lines, and then sanded the cuts smooth and rounded over the edges to match the factory edges of the lumber. (A simple woodsaw will also do the trick.)

For the next curve, I was fortunate in that only one piece of pie was required in order to make the turn. I followed the same process as noted above. As mentioned earlier, the third turn required not special cuts.

A backyard boardwalk is a great addition to the yard and is relatively simple to build. If your yard's landscape design is suited to this type of feature, I would highly recommend that you consider installing one.

So now let's turn back to the issues I mentioned earlier -- those that came about as a result of the heavy rains. As the rain poured down, I remembered that I hadn't yet identified a low spot on the pond where overflow drainage would occur. So I took advantage of a 30-minute break in the storm to go outside and pick a low-lying area of the pond to become the overflow drainage point. The pond water was already higher than the maximum that I wanted to allow, so it was a good test for me. I picked the spot (which was the naturally low-lying area of the pond border) and removed the rocks and mulch I had placed there. I then dug a five-inch wide trench from the pond to the drainage swale -- which fortunately was downhill about four feet away. I pulled the pond liner down so that it was lying on the trench and water immediately began to drain from the pond. I lined the trench with some extra pond liner that I had and then filled the trench with rocks and stones. Within 10 minutes the job was done and looked like it had always been there -- cleverly disguised as a rocky outcrop. I can now rest easy during major storms and spring thaws.

Hummingbird Feeder Photos

2004-08-27T09:58:00.000-04:00

Awhile back I was writing about our new hummingbird feeder and wondering if hummingbirds would return after an initial glitch (there was air in the feeder that stopped the nectar from getting to the birds). In any event, the birds did in fact return and now feed regularly from the feeder. For the record, here are a couple of photos of the feeder in action.

Photo 1
Photo 2

More Pond Photos and Update

2004-08-27T08:39:00.000-04:00

Today I have uploaded a few more photos of the pond project. Like any garden, it will look exponentially better as time passes and the the plant materials grow. But these photos will give you a better idea of the pond in general. From a privacy landscaping perspective, the sound of the waterfall area is doing great job of masking any neighbor sounds.

The next thing that I will be doing is building the boardwalk, which will follow the shape along the outside of the pond next to the beach area. The boardwalk will act as a buffer between the pond and the turf area. I will be using pressure-treated 4x4s as the base and cedar 5/4 decking planks as the actual boardwalk. I will upload photos once that is done.

(Use your browser's Back button to navigate back to the blog.)

Photo page 1: The sequential photos, also posted earlier (and the Blue Heron).
Photo page 2: Shoreline close-up with running water visible at top of photo.
Photo page 3: A closer view of the page above -- water flow is more visible.
Photo page 4: A relatively good shot of the waterfall area taken from the beach area.
Photo page 5: Before and After photos.

Pond Lighting

2004-08-24T07:01:00.000-04:00

Last night I tested out the lighting on the pond. It looked good. I am using Intermatic low voltage lighting on a 300w power pack. The two 50-watt floodlights illuminate the waterfall nicely. They are positioned on the "shore" opposite the falls, roughly 12 feet away. I also placed three of Intermatic's nifty rock lights (yes, they are real rocks) on the shoreline to provide some accent lighting. They too looked good, but I realized that I need one more of these, so I will pick that up tonight to complete the lighting for the pond.

Another thing that I am looking into is whether or not there is any negative aspects to the hard water that I am using. Since our water system is well water, this comes straight from the ground and is somewhat hard. We have a softener and RO system in the house, but to fill a 3,000 gallon pond from this is not practical. I am mildly concerned about potential hard water buildup in the hoses, pump and filter. I imagine that the rain (if it ever rains here) and snow will help to soften and temper the water to some degree, but I am currently searching the Web to see if I can find any info on ponds and hard water. If I find anything useful, I will let you know.

Pond Nearing Completion

2004-08-23T07:28:00.000-04:00

It has been over a week since my last post and I have been hard at work during this time working on the pond. At this point, the pond is nearing completion. I managed to build virtually the entire pond using only rocks found on the property.

Here are some sequential pictures of the pond being built.

The pictures really don't do justice to the whole thing, but they give you an idea of the progress. The pictures cover a period of just under two weeks. I am currently installing low-voltage landscape lighting around the pond. I will have two 50-watt floodlights on the waterfall and three 20-watt rock lights along the front side of the pond (as accent lighting), to ensure no one falls in at night(!)

I have been building up a natural stone retaining wall along the steep slopes near the waterfall to ensure that the mulch stays in place during any heavy rains. In terms of plant materials on the slopes, for the most part I have stuck with groundcovers that will ultimately provide a nice green mat and that will also hold the soil (and mulch in place). These include creeping thyme, hens and chicks, purple ice plant, yellow ice plant, euphorbia myrsinites (a personal favorite) and a few blue chip junipers, among others. Other plants planted around the pond include wichita blue junipers, butterfly bush, siberian iris, purple coneflower, karl foerster grass, miscanthus gracillimus, ajuga reptans 'Catlin's Giant', bergenia cordifolia and leucanthemum superbum 'Alaska' among others.

In the pond, I have introduced a few aquatic plants. Even though it's late in the season, I wanted to get a few things in there in a heroic attempt to try to counter the impending algae bloom that inevitably happens with new ponds. My situation may be worse, since I am using hard water (well water). I have added some pH Salts Down to try to balance the water to some degree (no fish in the ponds, so I am not concerned about shocking anything with pH swings). In pots I planted two dwarf cattails, two lizard tails, two pickerel rush and two hardy lilies. In a desperate attempt to cover some of the surface area, I put in 30 tropical floaters (water hyacinth) along with some salvinia. This is a drop in the bucket since the surface area of the pond is rather large (in the neighborhood of 250 sq. ft.). Since it's so late in the season, there is no point in forking over a big wad of cash on tropical plants right now, so I suspect that I will have to suffer some algae influx due to the completely exposed surface of the water. Hopefully I will get this under control next season.

Before the pond was even finished, a Blue Heron came by for a visit. Good thing I am not keeping fish. It has been back again since the initial visit. There is a photo of him on the picture page linked above.

More stonework

2004-08-12T06:07:00.000-04:00

Work continues on the pond in terms of setting the rocks and stones. I suspect that this will occupy most of my pond time over the next few days. The waterfall area is approximately nine feet wide and eight feet long (on the slope -- the actual vertical drop is roughly four feet). So, this area requires a lot of rock and stone -- each carefully placed to create a nice flow. It's like building a jigsaw puzzle. After I am done with that area I will use some of the Savio black foam to secure certain rocks into place against the liner.

I heard a response back from Savio on the same day I sent the e-mail (good responsiveness -- kudos to them), and they said that with the Pondmaster 50 running through 28 feet of 1.5" hose and a rise of four feet, I would not have to redirect water away from the filter with a valve. They say that the Savio LivingPonds Waterfall filter can take up to the 3,000 gph at the discharge. If I do redirect anything, it will be for aeasthetics only and would not be much flow.

On the way home last night I picked up three large feather rocks to use at the top of the waterfall area (not in the flow of water, but as decor around the area). My next big challenge (after setting all of the rocks, which is turning into a long process) will be hiding the filter effectively and artfully as part of the water feature.

Placing the Pond Stones

2004-08-11T06:17:00.000-04:00

Since my last update on August 5, I have made some good progress on the pond. I finished shaping the pond and then laid down the underpad/felt. After that, I cut the 45ml liner to size and fitted that into the pond. I allowed for a generous overhang of 12" to 18" -- and up to two feet in the waterfall area. I will then drape another piece of liner from the top of the waterfall area down the face of the waterfall and then roughly a foot under the water's surface. This overlap will ensure no leaks due to seam gaps. The top of the waterfall is approximately four feet above the water's surface.

I finally settled on a filter and pump combination. In the end I opted for the Savio LivingPonds Waterfall filter and the Pondmaster 5000 mag drive pump. Since the pump pushes 5,000 gph and the filter is rated for a max of 2,500 gph (as I was told by the salesperson), I will most likely have to put a valve on the line that runs between the pump and the filter to divert some of the flow from the pump before it reaches the filter. I will redirect this to another portion of the waterfall area, which could actually be quite nice as a second source of water for the falls. To be sure that this maximum flow is true (I can't find any mention of this in the product literature or on Savio's website), I have e-mailed Savio and asked for confirmation.

At this stage, I am now placing the rocks. I am trying to do the whole pond only with rocks from our property. Since we live on the Niagara Escarpment, it is a fairly rocky area and there are quite a few good specimens from which to choose. I need a lot of rock, however, so it will be interesting to see if I can pull it off. I would say that I am roughly 30 percent complete on the rock placement. I am doing the waterfall, coping (two shelves), some on the pond bottom and the beach area. I will then trim the liner and do the final fix-up to completely conceal it from view. Then I can plant the area, put in lighting and kick everything into gear (just in time for winter of course).

Shaping the Pond

2004-08-05T06:06:00.000-04:00

With the main digging completed, I have been spending the last couple of days working on shaping the pond hole to its final design. This has been delayed a little by light rain, but all in all I am making progress. It is important to ensure that the pond hole is shaped properly so that the pond will be stable. This includes adding a slight slope to the side of the pond and to the pond shelves as well (so that they are not cut vertically on 90-degree angle). I have also used a line level to check for level of the pond's edges. Since the excavation site is on a slight slope, the downhill side of the pond will need to be raised by approximately six inches. This should not be too big of an issue.

I am nearing completion of the pond shelves and will next be shaping the area for the beach. I have calculated the pond's volume to be in excess of 3,000 gallons, so I am looking for a good external filter that I can also use to start the waterfall area. I have finally found a good source for the flexible liner. Most garden centers in my area carry standard liners up to 20-feet wide, but I will need something at least 25' x 30'. A local pond center carries 25' widths as standard fare and on top of that, their price-per-square-foot is the best I have found so far.

Digging the Pond

2004-08-03T07:53:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend we had a backhoe on the property to dig out the edges of the driveway for the French curbs that we are having installed (we'll then be paving with asphalt). I took advantage of having the machinery on site to start the process of digging out the pond that I am going to install.

The pond is situated approximately 30 feet from the gazebo and I will be dry-laying a flagstone patio around the gazebo leading up to the pond area. This will make a nice social area, with the gazebo joined to the pond by a rustic stone patio. We'll have some seating on there as well.

With the help of the backhoe, I had a good size hole dug for the pond. I had previously marked out the location with spraypaint on the ground, so the backhoe operator simply dug out the shape. Of course, this is a rough-cut only. I had him go two-feet deep and he did a good job of maintaining that depth. I had the operator place all of the excavated soil to one side of the hole. This will be used to form the waterfall leading into the pond. The rough cut size of the hole is approximately 18 feet by 11 feet. It is loosely rectangular, but the corners are well rounded for a natural look.

After the rough hole was dug, I spent some time over the weekend starting to shape the pond edges. Next, I will be cutting the shelves near the top of the pond hole, which will add another couple of feet to the length and width. At one end of the pond, I am going to have a beach entry, so that local critters (and people) will be able to walk into the pond if they wish. I will not be having fish in this pond, as they would be sitting ducks for the local wildlife, given that we live in the country. Once I have shaped the hole a little more, I will know the exact liner size that I will need, but I am estimating something in the 25' x 30' range (I will need a little extra liner for the waterfall area). The pond's volume will be in the 3,000 gallon range.

We had a thundershower late last night, so the pond will probably be too wet to work in today. But I'll see when I get home from work.

Building a Privacy Structure

2004-07-30T07:01:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I was describing the way that I planned to build one of several privacy screen structures (see Scouting Locations for Privacy Screens) and last week during my week off, I did build this in a few days. I built it entirely from cedar and it cost me approximately $325 CDN in materials (roughly $240 US). Not bad. Here I will describe how I did it (hopefully, I will soon find a way to post pictures in a relatively simple manner).

For starters, here is a photo of the completed project.

The structure is basically an eight-foot by four-foot (on center) rectangle. It has a dual purpose of screening out some of the house to the side of us and also serves as a walk-through shelter with a bench in it. Because I built this on a slope of somewhere between 25 and 35 degrees, it was not practical to dig post holes in the traditional way. So, I opted to go with post spikes. If you haven't seen them before, post spikes are three-foot metal spike that have a square shoe on top in which you set the fence post. There are two bolts that you use to tighten the post in place. You simple get a sledgehammer and drive the spike into the ground. Then, you slip the post into the show (which is roughly four or five inches deep) and then tighten the post into place. It is very important that the spike is hammered in straight, or else your post will be crooked.

One of the big manufacturers of these things is Metpost. But this time I tried a different manufacturer's spike, with the name of Post With The Most. The beauty of this spike is that the head of the spike (the shoe in which you insert the post) can actually pivot on all sides so that if your spike isn't exactly level, you have some leeway to straighten up your post. A great improvement over the static spike.

I live on the Niagara Escarpment, so it is very rocky terrain. I managed to get only one of the four spikes all the way into the ground without hitting a rock or boulder. Three of them didn't make it all the way, but fortunately they made it deep enough to be secure (within a few inches of being flush with the ground). So the structure is stable and I will simply backfill around the exposed spike for aesthetic purposes.

Once the four posts were in place, the structure went up very quickly. I cut the posts to height of 7'6" (these were eight-foot, 4x4 posts) . I connected the eight foot sections with 2x6s, which I had cut to in a moderate design on each end. I started with 10' lengths, because an eight footer would not have been long enough (since the posts are eight feet, on center). I bolted the cross member to the posts using 5" lag screws and washers. Then, I used shorter piece of 2x6 to put cross pieces at the top of the sides of the structure. So now the four posts were connected at the top with 2x6s.

The next step was to build the roof. I wanted to go with a gable roof so that it would provide some rain cover and shade for the bench that will go beneath it (I am building that cedar bench now). This time I cut two 2x8 pieces of cedar into 30" lengths. These pieces were attached to the front and back of the structure on the long sides. So when you are looking at the structure from the front, you are looking at the gable end. Before bolting these to the 2x6s, I cut a notch in the top center for a 2x4 to fit. I then trimmed angles on either side of the notch to match the slope of the roof that I chose. Once these were bolted into place, I cut a length of 2x4 (roughtly four feet long) and place it into the dado slots I had cut. This served as the ridge beam for the roof. Next I cut six rafters (three on each side) and set these into place. To make the roof, I decided that I would try using cedar fence boards (five foot length). I screwed these into the rafters and overlapped them as I went along. This turned out great.

Finally, I wanted to mount a piece of lattice on the back of the structure to provide the screen and also for vines that I planted. I bought a 4x8 sheet of cedar lattice (one inch openings) and mounted this within the confines of the back of the unit. I build a frame with dados to hold the lattice (basically like building a window frame).

And that was basically all there was to it. For accessories, I mounted two solar coach lights on iron brackets on the front posts and placed a decorative plaque in the front center gable. These add a great effect.

Black Locusts

2004-07-29T06:07:00.000-04:00

As I continue to plant trees along the edges of the property (building the castle walls), I always keep my eyes on the lookout for different specimens to try out as privacy trees. The regular criteria of drought tolerance and zone hardiness apply, and quick growing would be an asset. I have been sticking largely with green ash so far, as they have proven to meet the criteria the best in the first two years we have been in the house. But last weekend I decided to branch out a little and I planted two Black Locusts (Robinia pseudoacacia).

The idea came to me when I found a 12" robinia sprouting out from the base of one of the blue spruce I planted a couple of years ago. There are no other robinia on the property (other than the Twisty Baby, but this sprout was not a twisty baby) so I presume that the seed was either already in the root ball with the spruce tree, or else a bird dropped it by. Regardless of how it got there, it jogged my memory enough to recall that the black locust would possibly be a decent choice to plant as part of my future forest. In addition to meeting the general points noted above, the black locust also suckers from the base and may form thickets, which would be an added bonus for my woodland-to-be.

The two varieties that I planted are Purple Robe and Frisia. I am hopeful that the trees will prove to be worth additions to the privacy landscape, as well as to the woodland garden that I am creating.

Hummingbird Feeder and Hackberry Update

2004-07-23T09:27:00.000-04:00

It's been a week since my last post -- I am nearing the end of a week off. I've spent the week working on the landscaping at our place. Still struggling with the lack of rain -- I've spent much of the week watering.

Let me tell you, if you want to move to a place that doesn't get much rain, then move to Moffat, Ontario. Since the beginning of June (nearly two months) we have had less than two inches of rain. Last summer we went four weeks straight without a drop. All of this compounded by temperatures in the upper 80s and 90s (over 100 with heat factor). The summer before that was the same story. So you can imagine the toll that this takes on newly planted trees and shrubs. Ten miles away in neighboring Oakville and Mississauga, they get lots of rain. But for some reason, our little hamlet of 350 people is covered by some sort of invisible rain dome. It rains in the spring and a little in the fall and that's about it.

In any event, today I want to give a quick update on a couple of things I covered in previous posts. The first is the question of the hackberry's toughness in extreme conditions. A couple more weeks have passed and I am more convinced now that the hackberry's lofty reputation as a landscape warrior is vastly overstated. Both specimens are looking ragged and sickly and simply cannot take the wind, heat and drought. They are one-third defoliated and the leaves are scorched and changing color (they are not diseased or otherwise infected). Remember, they are being treated exactly the same as their surrounding trees planted at the same time and exposed to the same rough conditions. The ash trees (both green and white), red maples, ornamental pears and even the ivory silk lilacs are all faring far better than the hackberrys. So my advice on this one would be to look for another tree if you're looking for something that can take wind, heat, drought and general exposure. The hackberry, despite what you may read, is far from the best choice for this. I am glad that I didn't plant more of them.

The second update is about the hummingbird feeder. In an earlier post I discussed how the feed had not been working properly initially as there was air in the line, so to speak, and the hummingbirds could not get the nectar (even though the feeder was full). They didn't come back to try again and I wondered if they would give it another shot at a future date. Well, I am pleased to report that the hummingbirds did indeed return and are once again feeding from the feeder. So rest assured that they will give your feeder another chance, should something go wrong (but be sure to clean it and refill at least twice a week).

Here is the photo evidence of the feeder's success: Photo 1; Photo 2

Shrubs for the Fringes

2004-07-15T09:13:00.000-04:00

One thing is for sure: the more I wander around the yard, the more ideas I get for things that I want to try. But then again, that's one of the main reasons that I wanted to move to a larger property in the first place -- to have the space to try different things. Better to practice on my own yard than on a client's.

With that in mind, one of the things that I have been doing is testing out different shrubs that are ideal for the fringe locations -- those being the edges of the property or sections that border the roadway. Shrubs for these locations need to have a few qualities: 1) they need to be shrubs that will eventually become privacy screens, 2) they need to be drought tolerant, and 3) they need to be very hardy and care free. So far, some of the things that I have planted that meet these criteria in my zone (5) include Rhus typhina (Staghorn Sumac), Rosa rugosa 'Alba' (White Rugosa Rose), Shepherdia argentea (Silver Buffaloberry), and Elaeagnus angustifolia (Russian Olive -- both shrub and tree form). Others, such as the Gray Dogwood that I wrote about in an earlier post were also purchased for this reason, but so far have been struggling to stay afloat when neglected.

I am now going to plant a new section of Staghorn Sumacs near the front of the property. These will screen out the roadway and the home across the street, and will also provide a flush of fall color. They will be situated close to the Horsechestnut and will eventually become an understory for this.

Hardscaping

2004-07-14T09:50:00.000-04:00

Finally got a little more rain last night. We had 2+ hours of intense thunder and lighting starting at 2:00 a.m. This was accompanied probably by a quarter inch of rain -- maybe half an inch at the most. When it comes down hard and heavy it usually doesn't amount to much.

In the days ahead, I will be focusing more time and effort on some hardscaping projects, giving myself a minor break from the planting (which will kick into gear once again soon enough). Next on the horizon that I will write about are the following: building the wooden walk-through structures (the privacy screens that are actually a cross between a pergola and an arbor); building the pond and waterfall; setting the flagstone patio around the gazebo; constructing the quaint seating area (with another one of those arbor/pergola screens) around the willow area.

Is the Hackberry really all that tough?

2004-07-13T07:08:00.000-04:00

Since all I did yesterday was water trees and shrubs for four hours when I got home (the sweltering temps and lack of rain are taking their toll), I don't have much to report in the way of landscaping progress on my own property. But I did come across a good topic as I was plodding along with my Ross Root Feeder...the Common Hackberry: how tough is it?

Drought tolerance and the ability to handle exposure are key criteria for the trees and shrubs that I am planting on our property -- particularly those that are far from the house (or more specifically, are far from easy watering access). So, as I researched appropriate trees and shrubs, I decided to plant a couple of Celtis occidentalis, commonly known as, well, the Common Hackberry. This tree is often referred to as a tough customer that can handle desert-like drought, wind and tough soils without blinking. Do a quick search on it and you will see what I mean. So, it sounded like a good candidate for my tough terrain.

With all of this in mind, I planted two Hackberrys last year -- one early in the season (May 2003) and one later in the year (October 2003). I planted a number of other trees around the same times, and all have been treated equally and exposed to the same conditions, so I thought that I would provide a brief update on how the Hackberrys are progressing.

As you have probably guessed, I am less than pleased with their performance so far. At this stage, both of the Hackberrys are very stressed -- much more so than their neighboring trees planted at the same time. The foliage on both Hackberrys is currently quite yellow and weak and scorched. Predictably, the tree planted later in the year (it was planted after its leaves had fallen) is in worse shape than the one that went through the entire 2003 growing season. Still, both trees are struggling and stressed. In fact, there is a good chance that they may drop their leaves from stress, as they're looking rather like they're in fall mode.

So, which trees are comparatively doing better? I will start by saying that nearly all of the trees are showing some sign of stress, simply because I now have close to 300 trees on two acres that I have planted in the past 18 months and keeping all of these watered by hand in drought conditions and excessive heat and humidity (yes, even here in Southern Ontario Canada we get 90-degree weather) is no mean feat. That said, the Hackberries are actually among those in the worst condition. So much for having a reputation as a tough tree.

The better performers include Tilia cordata 'Greenspire,' the Greenspire Linden. These trees are also showing some sunscorch on the edges of their leaves (I have five of these to compare), but all in all they are in much better shape than the Celtis. Another good performer is the Fraxinus pennsylvanica, the Green Ash. I have a few varieties, including Patmore, Summit and Marshall's Seedless. The Patmore actually went in late last year -- at the same time as one of the Hacks -- and the comparision is remarkable. The Patmore Ash looks pretty good -- barely showing any stress at all. The Marshall ashes are also in fairly good condition, with very minor scorch evidence, but all in all heads and tails above the Hackberrys. Another better performer is the Pyrus calleryana, or the Ornamental Pear family. Again, I have a couple of cultivars to compare, including Chanticleer, Aristocrat and Redspire. All of these are in much better shape than the Hackberrys. In fact these pear trees look among the best of all. At this stage I would have to rate them near the top of the trees-that-you-can-plant-and-ignore list (not that you would want to do that, of course). The final tree that I will mention is the Prunus virginiana 'Schubert,' the Schubert Chokecherry. Like the Pyrus, these trees seem to be stellar workhorses in a tough environment. I haven't event watered them once this year and they show no signs of stress at all.

So, while it is very early in the game and none of the trees that I have mentioned are established as of yet, I have to say that I am somewhat surprised so far that the tree that I thought would be the best performer at this stage, is actually probably the worst performer in my landscape. It will be interesting to see how it fares over time. Perhaps it becomes the rock that it is purported to be after it is fully established. But at the early stages after transplanting, my Hackberrys appear to need to more TLC than their counterparts.

Planting Trees in Hot Weather

2004-07-12T06:30:00.000-04:00

That's what it was all about for me this weekend -- planting trees in hot weather. Our strange summer continues, with this past weekend being very hot, humid and dry. The week before felt like fall. And so it goes.

As hoped, I did manage to get out and pick up another eight trees this weekend -- all of which I managed to get in the ground, despite the less-than-comfortable conditions. I picked up four Acer rubrum 'Red Sunset' clumps (Red Sunset Red Maple in clump form) and four Fraxinus pennsylvanica 'Summit' (Summit Green Ash).

The Red Maple clumps are a great tree. Hardy, drought tolerant and providing good screening. Even at the relatively young size that I found (in the six-foot to seven-foot range) they are excellent screens right away -- basically acting like a large shrub. I placed three of these near the back of the property in front of the three Golden Weeping Willows. This spot is starting to take on the feeling of an outdoor room, which is my goal here. The willows, maples and various other plants are planted in a loose circle. The open area in the middle will become somewhat of a courtyard, or secret garden and I plan to build one of my pergola-like cedar structures in here. The fourth red maple was planted along the pathway that I am developing that leads up to this area (which is on somewhat of a plateau at the base of the larger hill on our property).

As for the Summit Green Ash trees, I planted three of these on the large hill -- near the top. There are now five of these up there in close proximity (within eight feet of one another) and they are starting to provide the immediate screening that we are after. In time, they will form the forest canopy of our planned woodland. Planting on this steep hill is a real challenge -- even moreso when the temps are in the upper 80s and the sun is scorching. The soil was dry as a bone. Basically, when planting on a slope, I mound up the soil that I remove when digging the hole and make a lip/ring on the downhill side of the hole. This will serve to catch some rainwater and prevent erosion. I place a full watering can of water into the hole with the tree before backfilling. I stabilize the lip as much as possible with softball-size rocks and then mulch the whole thing to further decrease erosion potential and also to keep in moisture. Still, with a slope this steep, I will have to keep an eye on the situation after torrid rains and will likely have to do some remedial work on the planting hole until the trees stabilize. A key feature of the Summit Ash is its drought tolerance, which is why I am leaning heavily on these trees for this location.

The fourth Ash was planted on the side hill, amidst a patch of Cornus racemosa (Gray Dogwood), which are really struggling in the hot dry weather this year (crispy dying leaves on up to 40 percent of each of the nine plants here). These dogwoods were planted last year, but are not thriving as of yet. They are supposedly heat and drought tolerant (as far as dogwoods go), but so far they have not lived up to this claim. I will be in a better position to judge by next year. In the meantime, I am planting some shade trees in the vicinity to give the dogwoods some (minor) shade assistance. This hill, unlike the back, is like a rock right now. I had to bring out the pick-axe to hack away at the ground just to dig the hole for the ash. Unfortunately, much of the good topsoil was washed away from this area over the first year of our time in the house because the developer (Auburn Developments) had not graded the property properly, so this is likely the cause for the rock hard expanse of land.

Scouting Locations for Privacy Screens

2004-07-09T08:12:00.000-04:00

This weekend I plan to continue planting trees in various key locations around the property. All of these are still part of the perimeter plantings for screening purposes (and as part of the woodland I am creating). I probably need roughly 50 more trees at this point (perhaps more), but if I can get six or eight in the ground this weekend, that will be good. Enough to plug a few holes in the sitelines. Bit by bit, it will get there.

Also this weekend I am going to identify and mark the key locations for the cedar (wood, not the plant) privacy screens that I am going to build. These will actually be more than simple screens, more of a pergola-type of creation with a gable roof.

This is probably a good place to note that one of the most important things to remember when landscaping for privacy is that whatever you do -- be it wood, or plant materials, or garden architecture -- your landscape should not look glaringly like something is there for the sole purpose of blocking a site line. The trick to a good landscape plan is that all of the elements should flow and blend, so that you achieve both your landscape design goals and your privacy landscaping goals in a well-designed yard. This challenge (and the increasing desire for privacy in our yards) is one of the main reasons that I decided to focus my landscape design business on privacy landscaping.

I will use these screens that I am building as an example of what I mean. There are a few spots in our yard where the sitelines to a neighboring house are still visible. I have planted many trees and shrubs, but still there are gaps. Many of the plant materials are deciduous, so in these key locations still to be filled I want to ensure that the blockage I create is all-season. I could use conifers here, but because this is on a slope, getting conifers of size (spruce work best in our location), I would need a Bobcat to move the large root balls up the hill (I would need eight-foot spruce trees). I did do this last spring ('03) when planting a number of five-foot Picea pungens on the hill, but this can no longer be done without damaging the landscaping. Given these circumstances, the alternative of landscape architecture was a good choice.

Now, I could simply put two 4x4 cedar posts in the ground and put up a nice-looking lattice screen between them, but this would obviously be something constructed to block the view. That may be okay in some circumstances, but my philosophy is to blend into the landscape wherever possible. So, here is my solution. I have cut walking trails through the four-foot wildflowers along these hills. What I plan to do is to locate a few of these screening structures at strategic points along the walking trails, so that they appear to be there as rest areas or seating areas. In this way, they serve a dual purpose and are not clearly and obviously plunked somewhere in order to block an undesirable view.

This is one example of how you can strategically block a siteline without doing so in an overtly obvious manner -- so you achieve your privacy landscaping goals and add to the aesthetic value of your landscape at the same time. When I start to build these creations (hopefully within the next week or two), I will explain how to do it step-by-step.

Comparing Three Vines for Privacy

2004-07-08T06:14:00.000-04:00

A vine is another good soldier in the battle for privacy in the landscape. Vines can be combined with fences, trellises, lattice work and garden architecture elements to create added privacy in key locations. For my purposes, the key criteria that I was looking for when selecting a vine included fast growth, tolerance for both sun and shade, good aesthetic value and some capacity for drought tolerance. Also, the vines had to be proven zone hardy for my zone 5 location.

For this reason, I decided not to try Polygonum aubertii (the Silver Lace Vine), which is a vine I normally would have chosen. This is a great vine for fast, spreading coverage. Plus it has attractive flowers. However, it has demonstrated some spontaneous death in recent winters, even in the zone 6 area of our last home (Oakville, Ontario, Canada). So, I was hesitant to bank too much on this vine in our exposed zone 5 location. At some point I will plant one to see how it does here, but for now I turned my focus to other (hopefully more resilient) selections.

Based on my criteria, I am currently testing out three vines at various locations on my property. The three vines are 1) Akebia quinata (Chocolate Vine, or Five Leaf Akebia), 2) Aristolochia macrophylla (Dutchman's Pipe) and 3) Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia Creeper). I planted multiple numbers of each of these vines in April, and will now provide an update on how they are doing three months later.

Akebia quinata: The Chocolate Vine was chosen as the vine to cover the cedar pergola that I built. The pergola is 30 feet long by 8 feet wide. I planted three Chocolate Vines on the pergola -- one on each of the three 6x6 cedar posts at the back. The vines should grow up the posts and then spread out across the top of the pergola, creating a nice canopy effect. At planting, each vine was roughly 12 to 18 inches. I attached a 1"x1" strip of wood to the back of each post so that the vine could twine and climb. I have watered as required to the keep the vines happy. Status: All three vines are doing well, however two of the three seem to be doing much better. Two of the vines are within inches of the roof area -- that's a distance of eight feet from the ground, so their leaders have grown seven feet since April. Impressive. The third vine is in some sort of state of suspended animation. It has grown to roughly five feet and then stopped. It appears as healthy as the other two, but its vertical growth has not visibly changed over the past few weeks. Overall, I am very happy with the performance of this vine in the early going.

Aristolochia macrophylla: Originally, I had planned to grow the Dutchman's Pipe on the pergola. But after reading up a little further on the vine, I was hesitant due to some accounts of the vine attracting flies and also an unpleasant smell that it supposedly emits. There are varying opinions on these points, but I will have my own made up at the end of the season. Like the Chocolate Vine, I have planted three Dutchman's Pipe in our yard. In this case, two of them are in one location and one is in a different surrounding. Two of the vines are planted on a cedar arbor bench that I built. It has lattice up both sides and I planted one vine on either side. This vine will eventually grow far too big for this seven-foot structure, but I will keep it pruned to order. The other Dutchman's Pipe is planted in a cedar trellis planter that I built, which is located next to our shed. The two vines on the arbor bench are basically in full sun. The vine in the trellis planter is in primarily shady conditions -- it gets a few hours of morning sun, but that's about it. Status: the two vines on the arbor bench are doing okay. They have grown from four inches when first planted, to roughly three feet now. They are twining nicely around the custom lattice work. By comparison, the vine that is in the shade is not performing nearly as well. It has grown from four inches to maybe 10 inches. Plus, it has been attacked by insects. It is growing and relatively healthy, but certainly not as robust as its cousins.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia: Finally, the Virginia Creeper. I planted 15 or so of these vines on the chain link fence at the very back of our property. Plus, last year I planted 10 of them on the hill as groundcover. The 10 on the hill are lost among the wildflowers, but I believe they are still going strong down there. The 15 that I planted in April are struggling on the fence. Admittedly, I have left these completely alone to fend for themselves back there. They have not been watered nor otherwise cared for. They have gone through a four-week period of no rain and hot temperatures. Still, they are plodding along. Growth has not been stellar by any means. The main leader on each of the vines has put on perhaps two feet since planting. And there has been evident sunscorch and dieback. None have died, nor do they look to be near death. So, given the tough life I have thrust upon them, I suppose that they are holding their own.

In summary, all three of these vines are doing alright, but clearly the early favorite is the Chocolate Vine. Two of the three have put on admirable growth and it is living up to its reputation as a rampant grower. Just what the doctor ordered. For privacy purposes, the Dutchman's Pipe is a good bet because of its very large leaves, versus the much smaller foliage of the Chocolate Vine. The Creeper is somewhere in between.

At this point I am happy with all three choices, but the real test will be next spring -- to see if they all survive the winter. I will update again in the fall after the leaves fall.

Understory Planting for Privacy

2004-07-07T06:26:00.000-04:00

As I plan the types and locations of the trees that I will be using for the various layers of privacy screen across the back of the property (which I wrote about a couple of days ago in the post entitled Privacy Planting), I am now starting to consider the plants that I will select for the understory planting.

The goal for much of the perimeter of my property is to create a woodland setting. This will provide both the privacy that we are after, but will also achieve the aesthetic appeal and landscaping objective of a woodland garden. A naturalized setting is our overall landscape objective, so our privacy landscaping needs must fit into the overall objective. If our landscape design was for a formal garden, then the privacy landscape needs would be addressed in a much different manner.

Understory planting is important because it achieves two goals: 1) it provides added privacy in terms of a visual screen below the branch-line of the deciduous trees and 2) it achieves the natural look and structure of a natural woodland setting. Plus, since the area is being planted with primarily deciduous materials, more plant materials -- and more layers of plant materials -- are required to ensure some level screening during the non-leaf periods of the year. At this point, the trees that I am planting are relatively immature -- in the 40mm range at max. As a result, the canopies are not large and there is still significant sunlight reaching the ground. This is basically still a full sun situation and will likely be that way for at least three more seasons, until the trees begin to spread a little more. This means that I should look to select understory plant materials that will survive and thrive in both sun and shade.

With this in mind, the shrubs that I am leaning towards at the moment are some species of Cornus (Dogwoods) and Viburnums. Selected plants from both of these will take both sun and shade and will therefore grow and adapt with the landscape as it matures in the coming years. Something like Sorbaria sorbifolia could be a good choice along the edge of the woodland area -- I have planted 15 of these in a similar arrangement along the side soon-to-be-woodland area.

In any event, I still need a minimum of 15 more trees in this area, so I may or may not get to the understory in the next couple of weeks. Much of this will also be determined by the quality of plant materials available at this stage of the summer. Supplies of quality trees and shrubs do tend to start to dwindle at this time of the year.

Hummingbird Feeders

2004-07-06T06:13:00.000-04:00

Since yesterday was very cool (as in cold) and very windy, there was not much going on in the way of landscaping at my place. I still have one tree to plant from the weekend (Acer platanoides 'Columnare') a Columnar Norway Maple, which I hope to get into the ground this evening. This tree will screen out (on a site-line from the hammock) one of the two monolith play structures that is adjacent to our property (there is one on each side). But with the gale force winds blowing, there was no point in trying to plant in that weather.

So, I turn my interest for today's post to another side project we have been working on: hummingbird feeders. Over the past few weeks I have noticed that hummingbirds were frequenting our back patio area, poking around the Million Bells (Calibrachoa), an annual that my wife likes to put out in planters. Also, a few weeks ago, a hummingbird was trapped in our garage -- apparently it was attracted by the red handle on the rope that hangs from a garage door opener so that you can manually open and close the door if need be. It took me a good 45 minutes to get the poor little thing out of the garage, but eventually I was successful. On top of this, our neighbors had put out a hummingbird feeder on their back patio and are having good success in attracting hummingbirds to it. So we decided to try one out for ourselves.

I have read quite a bit on hummingbird feeders and know that it is somewhat of a commitment to nature (and particularly to the hummingbirds themselves) to set up a feeder. You can't just hang it, fill it and forget about it. The feeder needs to be kept clean and the nectar (either store bought or home mixed) needs to be replenished if empty or refreshed if it starts to go bad -- within four to seven days, depending on how much sun exposure exists. Our feeder is in the shade for most of the day. It gets some early morning sun and some later afternoon sun, but is protected from the sun's rays during the harshest hours.

We bought a nice glass 24 oz feeder with three feed stations and perches. We hung it from a decorative iron bracket on our patio wall just outside of a family-room window. This way we can see the feeder from inside the house. Within minutes of hanging the feeder, a hummingbird arrived to check it out. This was encouraging initially, but I quickly noticed that the bird didn't seem to be getting any nectar. It tried again withing two minutes, but still nothing. Discouraged, I went out to check to see if the feeding holes were blocked or something. As it turned out, the nectar was not reaching the feeding holes because there was air at the bottom of the feeder (it's basically a water cooler design). After tilting the feeder, a few air bubbles came up and I could then see the nectar at the feeding holes awaiting a hungry hummingbird.

We haven't seen a hummingbird since.

I am wondering if they have discounted this feeder because it didn't provide any nectar. That was two days ago. Hopefully they'll give it another chance. If it proves successful, we may place another feeder around the corner. I read that hummingbirds are very territorial and tend to lay claim to a feeder (this could be why we saw two hummingbirds fighting it out at our neighbor's feeder), so it is good to have more than one assuming you have hummingbirds around and can manage the maintenance. With any luck, a bird will be back to try again and all will be well (perhaps they have been back and we just haven't seen them). In any event, I will post the updates as time goes on.

Privacy Planting

2004-07-05T09:19:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday it finally rained. We got about three-quarters of an inch according to my rain guage. Not as much as I would have liked, but I'll take what I can get at this point. It had been nearly four weeks since it last rained and the newly-planted trees and shrubs were detiorating despite my best attempts to water. The day before the rain, I spent four hours watering with my Ross Root Feeder -- a deep root watering. I managed to cover approximately 75 percent of what I needed to hit (in the range of 100 plants). Hopefully more rain will fall this week.

Other than watering, my focus has turned to privacy landscaping across the back of the property. In this scenario we have a large hill at the back of our yard. Looking out from the house, the hill is low on the left side and ascends towards the right (I would estimate three stories tall at its peak). The total length is 170 feet. We have a cedar rail fence just inside the property line and a five-foot chain link attached to the outside of the cedar rail. Why the double fences? Because the land right behind ours is public land and the town put a public pathway in there (parallel to our property) to lead to a single grave stone in the woods at the top of the hill (a pioneer cemetery). We didn't know they were going to do this when we bought the house, so now I am working on privacy landscaping to keep the eyes of gawkers out of our yard.

People walk up the path and when they get to the top they stop and stare out into our yard -- like we're zoo animals. Anyhow, I am working on several staggered layers of plantings that will (over time) screen out the onlookers and become a nice woodland setting (which is my overall theme for the property). It will be a good backdrop for the yard.

Here is the plan. On the chain link fence I have planted Virginia Creeper vines approximately every 12 feet (closer together in some key spots). In the worst spot for gawking (right at the top) I put in four large (seven-feet tall and four-feet wide) trellises with privacy lattice on top. Not the nicest looking things, but they screen out a good portion of the areas. The vines will eventually cover these. I have lobbied the town to plant a couple of spruce trees on their land in this spot to keep the peeping toms away from the fence and to act as a screen. They agreed to do this, but I'll believe it when I see it. All the way along the cedar rail fence I have planted Rosa rugosa 'Alba' every three feet. They are one- to two-feet tall right now, but will grow to four- to six-feet tall over time -- completely rambling over the cedar rain. Should be nice. Next, I planted 50 bare-root Theves Poplars this spring. These are in a row along the fence line and they are every three- to four-feet. Since they were bare-root, they will not leaf out extensively this season (there isn't the robust root structure to support them). But so far they are doing well and will provide a good screen as they fill in. To avoid the little-soldiers-all-in-a-row look, I planted some of the poplars in front of the straight line, added a dimensional effect.

So, over the weekend I began what will become the next row of staggered trees -- offset from the poplars to begin plugging the holes. For this row I am using various Green Ash cultivars (Fraxinus pennsylvanica). I planted two 12-footers on the weekend. They look good up there. I will need another 10 to the 12 to complete this row. Because the hill is rather steep and difficult to work on, I am working with potted trees as opposed to ball and burlap/wire basket. Potted materials are easier to work with given the location. Because I am working on a woodland setting, I am planting relatively close together and I will then be interspersing shrubs to fill in more blank spots. More on this project as it progresses.

Aside from the back hill, I planted an additional eight trees over the weekend in various parts of the property.

Weather forecasts: Don't rely on them

2004-06-29T09:09:00.000-04:00

Some days I wish I were a weather forecaster... or should I say "meteorologist" (so official sounding). The weather people in our area are absolutely pathetic. In no other job can you be so grossly and completely wrong all of the time and it doesn't matter. You don't lose your job, no one yells at you and puts you on probation. You can pretty much say whatever you want and go on your merry way. One of our local guys who is on a local radio station and a local TV station is regularly wrong. He can get the temperature right within a few degrees (they have a "weather guarantee" -- but they really mean temperature guarantee), but he couldn't predict a rainy day versus a sunny day if his life depended on it.

I am ranting about this, of course, because he predicted a day of complete rain today with thunderstorms for good measure. Naturally, it is completely sunny without a cloud in the sky. I believed his naive and uneducated forecast and did not water my 70 most newly-planted trees. So I am out of town for two days and my investment will be thirsty and wilting when I return, I am sure. On days like this, I wish weathermen like that would get the boot from their jobs. Heaven knows that you and I would if we were so blatantly bad at what we do.

Okay, enough ranting for now. Not much I can do about it.

For the past couple of days I have been trying to straighten out something that has bothered me for quite awhile, and that is the subtle variations that seem to exist between various Russian Olive trees (Elaeagnus angustifolia). Some times their leaves appear slim and sometimes they seem fatter and rounder. I started wondering if some of the local retail nurseries are mislabelling the Russian Olive shrubs and perhaps they are truly Silver Buffaloberries (Shepherdia argentea). So, a quick check of my Dirr bible and I am set to find out next visit (probably on Thursday). The Russian Olive has alternate leaves, while the Buffaloberry has opposite leaves, so it will be pretty straightforward to determine if this is what's going on. If both plants have alternate leaves, then let's dig deeper into this pseudo mystery.

Feels Like Fall Planting

2004-06-28T06:30:00.000-04:00

So here we are on June 28, 2004. Today's forecast? A high of 18C or 65F. Plus a few possible showers for good measure. Ah well...it feels like fall planting.

The unmitigated gall of some people never ceases to amaze me. For the past few months in particular, I have been managing my own privacy landscaping situation at the back of our property. To act as a visual screen in the problem area, I built four trellises with lattice tops and attached them to the chain link fence at the back of our yard. Some Virginia Creepers are now working their way up the trellises. Between each of the four trellises, there are gaps of roughly eight to 12 inches. Would you believe that nosy gawkers actually stick they faces into the little gaps to look into our yard? So annoying. I really can't believe some people. So, tonight I will pick up another strip of lattice and I will close off those little gaps. Amazing. Once the plants fill in, this will no longer be an issue. But for now it's pretty annoying. But that is why I got into specializing in privacy landscaping in the first place. For problems just like this. The problem will be solved this evening. There is always a decent (and cost effective) solution to any privacy landscaping issue.

Over the weekend I picked up another eight trees. I had a good find at a local retail nursery sale, where I bought four beautiful Fagus sylvatica 'Laciniata', the Fernleaf Beech. A very nice tree. Wind tolerant, drought tolerant and persistent foliage. Just what the doctor ordered. These were small specimens (about six feet tall), but that's okay. I also picked up three more Marshall's Seedless Green Ash, of which I have several already. Again, these are drought tolerant shade trees, which is what I look for for the far reaches of the two acres. One thing in the back of my mind with respect to all of these ash trees that I am planting is the possibility of the dreaded ash borer finding its way to my yard someday. That would be most unfortunate.

I also decided to take a risk when I came across a beautiful Sweetgum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua). I had always wanted one of these, but I am on the zone border (and particularly because we are in a windy location) so I had avoided it until now. So I am hoping that this tree will do well. I planted it away from the lawn area so that the fruit-dropping issue is really not a problem in this situation. I will monitor its progress over time and report on it here.

Next on my hitlist are more Green Ash and I may try a Black Ash cultivar that I saw over the weekend. I believe it was Fraxinus 'Northern Gem.' I believe that the cross is Fraxinus nigra x fraxinus mandshurica 'Northern Gem.' It is a medium-sized tree with bark on the young tree that reminds me of the snakebark maple. I have read that it is less drought tolerant than the green ash, so I will take this into account and try not to place it too far out of reach of the watering can. At the same time, it is more cold hardy than the green ash, so that is always a good thing in our neck of the woods.

At the back of the yard where the developer killed my poplars, I am now considering substituting some columnar norway maples offset with a second row of a few cedars/arborvitae. Again, we are looking for privacy back there and there is an existing young golden weeping will. So the columnar maples will not invade the willow's space and the cedars (offset in a second row from the maples) will offer some year-round privacy in that area (and some much needed evergreen accent back there). But, I am still not totally committed to this option.

Plant hardiness descriptions and a grain of salt

2004-06-25T07:14:00.000-04:00

One thing that has always interested me is the range of reference that exists for the conditions of individual plant materials. I have seen plant tags for Astilbes, for example, that say full sun. Even in my Zone 5 garden, if I put an astilbe in full sun, it is going to fry to a crisp. The same goes for trees and shrubs of course. Each book, article, Website or plant tag can have a slightly varying description of the conditions for a particular plant. This is where experience really comes in.

One of the benefits of our new two-acre lot is that I have a fair bit of space to play with in terms of planting things (hopefully, I will never again have to say "I don't have any room for that"). Having the space is obviously valuable because as a landscape designer I don't want to plant something or recommend something to a client that is supposedly hardy, but that is going to end up looking like heck after a couple of winters. After 18 months here I can say with some authority that there is a big difference between a Zone 6 garden (our old place) and a Zone 5 garden (where we are now). It's good that I learned this in my own yard rather quickly, before working on a client's. Here are a few examples of plants that are purportedly hardy in Zone 5, but that could not survive here. Naturally, there are many many factors that will affect a plant's performance (including soil, exposure and how well it is cared for), but generally speaking, all of the plants below were in seemingly good stead.

Abies concolor (White Fir): I planted two 11-foot specimens. Thousands of pounds each. Needed a crane to plant them. Both of them had 80 percent of their needles killed after the first winter. The Picea pungens 'Glauca' (Blue Spruce) that was between them was unfazed. So, while the White Fir may be cold hardy, it cannot take winter winds (our place is largely an exposed and windy site). Those were removed and replaced with two more blue spruce, which are flourishing.

Pinus flexilis 'Vanderwolf' (Vanderwolf's Pyramid Limber Pine): This tree is not only supposedly cold hardy, but it is also billed as a good windbreak! Don't believe it. I had three of these (beautiful specimens when new), and while they survived (barely hanging on by the tips of their needles, as it were), after two winters in windy zone 5, they were brown, battered and beaten. These trees cannot take wind. I am amazed that they are so often listed as wind tolerant and windbreak trees. They have been pulled.

Picea glauca (White Spruce): Zone hardy, sure. But wind hardy as I have read so often? Not a chance. Here in my windy zone 5 garden, the four white spruce that I had were lookalikes for Charlie Brown's Christmas tree after one winter (actually three bit the dust after one winter and the fourth actually made it through the second winter before biting it). So, like the Limber Pine, I would never plant a White Spruce in an exposed location again, no matter how much you read about them as windscreens.

Gleditsia triacanthos 'Sunburst' (Sunburst Honey Locust): Here is a deciduous tree now, that is supposedly cold hardy and drought tolerant. Several of these in our area (including mine and some planted last year by a few different homeowners) had fairly severe dieback after the first winter. These trees were well care for etc. My own tree had approximately 65 percent branch dieback after its first winter. It is not dead, but it now looks like a sapling. I will be monitoring this species in our conditions. I planted another one to see how it does after the forthcoming winter of '05.

Liriodendron tulipifera 'Aureo Marginata' (Variegated Tulip Tree): Okay, so this one is borderline zone hardy here. But still, relatively speaking these (I have two of them) are not doing too poorly. Both trees suffered dieback off of the top and on their windward side. But right now they are fully leafed out and look quite nice. They have survived two very harsh winters in a row, so my hope is that they will eventually have a nice long life here.

So, what does do well? What is impervious to these harsh conditions? What are the bulletproof plants (as I call them) that I will now be recommending and using in my area? Here are a few top performers that are unfazed by an exposed Canadian Zone 5 landscape:

Picea pungens/Picea pungens 'Glauca' - yes, the Colorado Spruce is indeed tough as nails. Blue or green, all of these plants (roughly 20 in total) are doing very well -- puttin on 18" to 2' of new growth in their first year here.

Juniperus scopulorum (Wichita Blue and Moffettii) - these Rocky Mountain Junipers can sure take the elements. They may have lost some of their bright blue color, but they survived like champions. Another good hardy evergreen conifer.

Pinus nigra (Austrian Pine) - While the Limber Pine browned and died, the Austrians don't even flinch. Standing tall and putting on impressive new growth.

Pinus mugo (Mugo Pine) - Another pine that is tough as nails here. No signs of weakness or exposure damage at all.

As far as deciduous trees go, I have had much better luck in this regard. I had opted largely for drought tolerant, hardy trees and with the exception of that locust, the others all faired well. A laundry list of trees (multiples of each in most cases) that I have planted and that are doing well include (common names only, to save space): Tulip Tree, Horsechestnut, various ornamental pear cultivars, Ivory Silk Lilac, Red Maple, Red Oak, Hackberry, Twisty Baby Black Locust, Schubert Chokecherry, Autumn Purple White Ash, various Green Ash cultivars, various Beech tree cultivars, Eastern Redbud, Serviceberry, Ginkgo, Northern Catalpa, Norway Maple, Freeman Maple, Golden Weeping Willow, Quaking Aspen and Theves Poplar. I have probably forgotten some, but that is the bulk of them.

This weekend I will be focussing on some hardscaping most likely. Looking forward to building some landscape architecture items. Yes, it is back to landscaping for privacy! Here is my Website (which is slowly under construction BTW). Too busy to finish it at the moment. But I will get there.

Rocks, Rain & Riverbeds

2004-06-24T06:34:00.000-04:00

As planned, I did pick up a few Viburnum dentatum last evening and planted those next to some that I already have. Someday this will be a nice little grove. I also spent some time last night laying our more rocks in one of the dry riverbeds I am creating on the property.

Dry river beds are a great way to make the permanent drainage swails on your property both functional and interesting, from a landscaping perspective. Before creating our riverbeds, we basically had swails of dirt -- which became swails of mud in the rain. To create a basic dry riverbed, I begin by reshaping the swail to ensure that it is deep enough (between eight and 12 inches) and wide enough to handle water flow at max capacity -- in a downpour thunderstorm, for example. The rest is easy. Simply line the swail with landscape fabric (to keep weeds from taking over and to stop erosion of the underlying dirt) and then fill the swail neatly by placing rocks or beach pebbles (also known as river stone). I prefer to use rocks in the three-inch to six-inch range. They're a little bulkier and allow for more gaps in which the water can flow.

A dry riverbed left just like this looks good, but once you start planting around it, it can really look great. Basically you want to achieve a natural-looking dry riverbed. The neatly-arranged line of rocks snaking through your property can look great with plantings of natural plant materials complementing the flow. Good plants would be things like ornamental grasses and perennials such as Rudbeckia fulgida (Black-Eyed Susan), Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) or any Coreopsis. Good shrubs could be Caryopteris or Salix (Arctic Blue Willow is a good choice). I suppose the point that I am making is to keep the planting informal. A line of boxwoods next to the riverbed, for example, would not look very natural.

One point of note is that you should avoid (if possible) creating a dry riverbed that is a straight line. This does not look natural in most situations. Even a subtle curve can go a long way towards giving the feeling that this old riverbed has been here since the dawn of time. Some larger rocks or boulders placed strategically along the edge of the riverbed will complete the picture. Even an old log or piece of driftwood can be a great addition. Little garden ornaments or statuary -- particularly of wildlife -- also add to the effect. This can be a fun project for kids as well, who generally enjoy placing the rocks in the riverbed -- sort of like a jigsaw puzzle.

As for me, I will have approximately six hundred or seven hundred feet of dry riverbed by the time I am done. With this much ground to cover, laying the initial rocks is very time consuming. I am looking forward to the time when I will be able to do the riverbed landscaping, as outlined above.

Beyond that, last night I added another coat of Cabot stain to the gazebo (we're almost finished now) and then planned out where I will be placing the two cedar garden benches that I am planning to build in the next couple of weeks.

It rained a little last night, which is always welcome. More is forecast for today -- but the weekend is looking nice (albeit somewhat cool for the end of June, with forecast temps hovering around 70F or 21C). The wet and cool spring we had certainly boosted the insect activity. I have seen quite a large number of caterpillars this year in particular and the spittle bug activity was at frenzy level as well. At some point this will die down and I hope the mosquitoes do as well.

Building the Kingdom Walls

2004-06-23T06:02:00.000-04:00

One of the key goals that I have for our property is privacy. This was another big reason for moving to the country. (In our old sub-division of 30' lots we had neighbors on all sides and it felt too cramped and exposed. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to a traditional sub-division again.)

When we purchased this lot, it was pretty much clear on all sides (two acres of mud when it rained). Within three to five years I hope to have it landscaped to the point where we pretty much have privacy on all sides. So this is the building of the kingdom walls. The kingdom walls will be comprised of trees, shrubs and landscape architecture. My initial plan (it is a phased approach overall, of course) is to construct the skeleton of the the property. I started with a cedar rail fence as a boundary marker. As a landscape designer, I like my boundaries. I planted 250 Rosa rugosa 'Alba' along the cedar rail fence on three sides. These will eventually grow to equal height of the fence -- and possible higher.

The town then pulled a fast one on us by putting in a public path at the rear of our property after we moved in (it wasn't on the plans), so I have had to adjust the plan to account for this annoyance. The adjustment basically meant 200 feet of five foot chain link attached to the cedar rail across the back. I planted approximately 15 Virginia Creepers (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) on the fence to soften it and add privacy as the vines fill in. In front of the fence, I planted 50 15-foot bare-root Theves Poplars (Populus nigra 'Thevestina')this spring. Eventually these will fill in to create a nice block of the fence and a nice forest-like backdrop for the property. (On a side note, a contractor hired by the idiot developer entered our property recently without our knowledge to address a drainage issue and proceeded to rip out of the ground 23 trees and shrubs. Needless to say, half of these are dying and we are in quite a battle, which may end up in court for damages, unfortunately.)

Overall, so far, I have planted approximately 225 trees and 150 shrubs. I would estimate that I have another 100 trees and 100 shrubs to go as part of the basic framework on the perimeter (aka, the Kingdom Walls). Good thing that as a landscape designer I get trade pricing on plant materials :) We're broke enough as it is with all this. I am sticking with drought tolerant, hardy plant materials for the most part. Having to water that many trees and shrubs several hundred feet from the hose faucet is no mean feat. I have 250 feet of hose extension, but still it's a chore. Last summer I regularly spent five hours a day watering during the hot and steamy days of July and August. Hopefully it won't be as bad this year, but I will have to keep on top of those poplar, for sure.

The other pain about the country is that the weeds are much more aggressive here, or so it seems. In particular the Cow Vetch or Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca). We're letting a lot of the property naturalize, but even trying to keep the weeds at bay in the main foundation gardens is a challenge. Lots of mulch and herbicides (if there's no wind). Round-Up and the like are questionable in my opinion in their effectiveness, but they're all we have. I seem to have to bump up the dose quite a bit to get them to work well. In fairness, we could actually consider the vetch to be a wildflower and in fact in the large expanses of the property that are naturalizing, the vetch (which is currently in flower) looks pretty nice. But since a weed can be defined as "any plant growing where you don't want it to grow" the vetch is both a weed and a wildflower on our property. The one thing that we do need to battle aggressively is the Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia). My wife is allergic to Ragweed and there is a fair bit of it growing on our property. It's just starting to pop up now -- won't bloom until August. I pull and cut as much of it as I can before it blossoms and releases its infamous pollen.

On the way home from my day job today I may pick up a few Viburnum dentatum 'Blue Muffin' just for fun. They don't get as big as I'm looking for right now, but nice blue berries nonetheless. I'm sure I'll find a spot for them (I have several already). I'll also need to do some work on one of the many dry river beds I have underway, they're calling for rain this evening...

Day One & Summer has arrived

2004-06-22T13:50:00.000-04:00

Well, you'd never know it by looking out the window, but summer has officially arrived. And so, by coincidence, has the first day of my new blog.

Two of my key interests in life are landscape design (horticulture) and woodworking. Neither of these are my full-time job, but both are hobbies that pay, so to speak. I have a diploma in horticulture and my woodworking skills are self-taught. I have a small number of clients for whom I do landscape design and/or horticultural consulting. At the same time, I build custom fine furniture out a small 1000 sq. ft. shop in my basement.

A year-and-a-half ago we moved to a new home on a two-acre lot in the country. We live about an hour outside of Toronto. We moved, in large part, so that I would have more room to landscape and a bigger shop ;) These items -- particularly the hort angle -- are what I will be writing about on these pages (and the experience that we have in landscaping this property).

All for now. MJB.