Heaters Portable

Keep in mind the fact that foundation plantings “wear out” much as do the clothes we wear. Do not be disappointed at the looks of some plants after 10 or 15 years.

Instead of trying to shear them down into so many inverted ice cream cones or spheres or flat topped cylinders, you should be willing to tear them out and put in a new planting that will last another 10 or 15 years.

Quality

In plants, as in everything else, there is good and inferior quality material, and the latter will not save you money in the long run. It grows quickly and you pay less for it in the beginning; but it requires a lot of care over the years, and it never really becomes attractive. Moreover, because it overgrows the place quickly, an inferior quality planting cannot be expected to last much more than 6 to 8 years.

On the other hand, plants of good quality look more attractive as long as they are in place and often such a planting will last for 20 or even 30 years. So take your choice. It is your money and your landscape.

Front Elevation Sketch

It is a good idea to make a front elevation sketch of your foundation planting ideas before you decide on a final plan. You do not have to be an artist to do this; it is simply a question of drawing straight lines that will represent solid masses. This shows how this can be done without knowing about the plant which you will eventually decide to use. Here, as in our discussion on how to purchase trees, it is important to figure out first the areas to be filled with plants. Later on you can decide what plants to use. The sooner you acquire skill in using your imagination to picture masses of foliage, the sooner your landscape designing efforts will take on professional tone.

Keith Markensen continues learn more about plants and enjoys sharing that knowledge providing resources, advice and tips on topics like orange jasmine plant care. Drop by for a visit at www.plant-care.com increase your education of houseplants, outdoor color, lawns and landscape.

In drawing a landscape plan, always make the circles that indicate plants of such size that they represent the ultimate spread of the specimens. In fact, to play safe you might add an extra 6 to 12 inches of diameter.

Generally speaking, the spread of a plant is almost equal to its height, the exceptions being those plants that have a definite upright habit. Thus, to indicate a forsythia at an outer corner of your house where it would be best if allowed to grow at least 6 feet tall, you should show a circle 6 feet across your plan.

This means, of course, that the bush (at the center of the circle) will have to stand at least 3 feet from the building, porch, or walk. Although older forsythias grow much larger than that when location and space permit, as part of a foundation planting they can be pruned annually and be kept beautiful as 6 foot specimens.

Combination Plants

Shrubs that can be trained into small trees are often useful combination plants in a foundation planting. An example is the widely distributed deciduous blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium). While young it makes an excellent flowering shrub with a beautiful horizontally branched habit and handsome foliage right down to the ground. Placed 5 or 6 feet out from the corner of a house and given ample room to spread, it would be a perfect subject there for at least ten or twelve years, after which it would become a little too large for that spot.

However, you could then begin pruning off the lower branches and thinning out the top to make it a most attractive small tree that would not exceed 18 feet in height even after thirty years. A new corner planting could be developed beneath its branches. This is a good way to satisfy the impatience that most of us have in gardening we should choose plants that, like the black-haw, produce a desired quick effect, and then, years later when we have a few dollars to spare, can serve as part of a new planting.

We’ve just scratched the surface looking at the topic of planting vines. Visit us for lots of free information at http://www.plant-care.com/1568-choosing-planting-vines-garden.html.