Posts Tagged ‘Snow’

Yes, Good Landscape Design! Oh, and Conifers aren’t Just Green Anymore

Conifers provide winter interest and gives something for the pretty snow to fall on and drape over. There are many, many more evergreen varieties that provide all shapes, sizes, and colors. So much for just forest green, add some color to your yard, even in the dead of winter!

Now there are Junipers, Arborvitae, and Cedar that provide burgundy foliage in the winter: Creeping juniper ‘Youngstown’; Arborvitae ‘Degroot’s Spire’; or White Cedar Red Star ‘Rubicon’. All of these varieties turn either bronze or plum-colored in the winter.

If you want chartreuse to add a little winter interest, choose from Sea of Gold Juniper and Sawara falsecypress ‘Lemon Thread’.

Or still like that blue-green foilage? You can go with Dwarf Alberta spruce ‘Blue Wonder’ or Dwarf Himalayan pine ‘Nana’, both with blue-green needles.

If you can’t have flowers, you might as well have color. Good design stands out in every season. Get a good designer (that’s us) and a good design that offers structure to show off winter and all its wonder and beauty. Oh, don’t forget to invite the birds. Plant conifers, shrubs with winter berries, and ornamental trees — add a birdfeeder and they will come.

Winter 2009/2010 – No doubt you either have seen or experienced some broken branches from the BIG Snow this past winter. If you have Arborvitae or White Pine, you most likely had some damage from the heavy snow, ice or high winds.  What to do?

1. Be careful removing the broken or torn branches – If you prefer to repair yourself, be careful. Do not attempt to remove branches near or around electrical wires. For lower tree repair, have the proper pruning equipment and safety equipment. Do not pull or rip away broken or split limbs from the tree. Open wounds can invite disease.

2. On evergreens, give bent branches time to “pop back” — once temperatures warm up, you should see this happen within a few weeks. If this doesn’t happen, then remedial steps can be taken.

3. Homeowners with badly damaged trees may want to call a professional (that’s us) to handle the repair safely.

4. Call Ganshert’s and let our professional horticulturists and staff prune, repair, or remove your damaged trees and shrubs. Sometimes, it’s Mother Nature’s way of saying, it’s time for something new to be planted in your yard.

5. For larger tree repair, if the damage is to severe to overcome, we will refer you to several certified arborists (that we have a working relationship with) to handle large tree damage repair or removal.

6. Get your yard in tip-top shape for your enjoyment this season!