What is wrong with the picture above?
A few days ago, I decided to start writing about some of the “landscape no-no’s” that I see when I am doing landscape consults.
From time to time, I will focus on a particular “landscape no-no” and its solution.
My hope is that it will help you to avoid or fix these problems.
My first “landscape no-no” post, featured the photo above. Readers were invited to figure out what was wrong and leave a comment.
Quite a few of you left comments, correctly identifying the problem.
But, for those of you who aren’t sure what is wrong with the tree above – look closely at the drip emitter….
The problem is that the emitter is too close to the trunk of the tree.
Initially, when trees are first planted, it is a good place for the drip emitter to be. The roots are primarily near the trunk.
However, as a tree grows, so do its roots. The single emitter next to the trunk of a mature tree, isn’t doing it any good.
The roots grow outward and their ends are concentrated where the branches end. The reason for this is that when rain falls, the majority of it drips off the ends of branches – so that is where roots tend to grow out to.
So, if your tree and emitter(s) look like the photo above; how can you ‘fix’ it?
As your tree grows, you need to add more emitters, equally spaced around your tree. They should be located where the tree canopy (branches) end. (I do recommend burying your drip line – it looks better 🙂
Below, is a photo of a large tree and I have drawn in recommended emitter placement…
You can see the emitters are widely spaced around the tree and are located where the tree canopy ends. As your tree grows, you need to continue to move the emitters outward.
The Arizona Municipal Water Users Association has a great, free publication that guides homeowners through landscape watering, including recommended watering schedules….
The diagram above, from “Landscape Watering By the Numbers” shows recommended emitter placement along with how deeply trees should be watered.
It’s important to note that trees do not need to be watered as often as your other plants. But, they do need to be watered more deeply – 3 feet.
(Here is a link for how often to water your trees and other plants if you live in the greater Phoenix metro area).
**If you don’t have a separate irrigation line for your trees, you can periodically deep water your tree by turning your hose onto a slow trickle and let it slowly soak into the soil. Move the hose until the entire outer canopy of your tree has been watered.
So, do you have this “landscape no-no” in your garden? Don’t worry – now you know how to fix it 🙂
**Stay tuned for our next “landscape no-no” soon!**
To receive your own copy of “Landscape Watering By the Numbers”
simply click the link above. You can also view it online. Note – this publication is written for residents of the greater Phoenix area, but the information is very helpful to anyone who lives in a hot and dry climate.
The Good and The Bad….
AZ Plant LadyThe other day, I was driving home from a landscape consult and as usual – I was on the lookout for examples of good and bad landscaping.
This particular day, I saw some great examples that I would love to share with you.
First the good…
my favorite flowering shrubs
Isn’t this landscape grouping, attractive?
There is great texture and color.
The Mexican Bird-of-Paradise (Caesalpinia mexicana) is one of my favorite flowering shrubs, which can be trained as small trees – I have 3 at home.
The spiky foliage of the Red Yucca help to provide contrast with the softer edges of the tree and Lantana.
Speaking of which, you cannot beat Lantana for summer color.
Here is another good example of landscaping…
Although, the Texas Sage, above, is planted a bit too close together, the homeowner has solved the problem by pruning them back severely to approximately 1 ft. using loppers. Notice that they did NOT use hedge shears or trimmers, which is a good thing!
What this does is to keep the shrubs within bounds, but since they weren’t sheared, the flowers and natural shape of the shrubs can be enjoyed.
You can really tell the difference when you see the photo below from the house next door – which is a bad example by the way…
The same shrubs, planted too close together. But, the homeowner elected to shear them back with hedge-trimmers.
The flowers and absence of the shrubs natural shape make these look like green ‘cones’.
Finally, I saw this really bad example of landscaping…
Isn’t this terrible?
Believe it or not, this is a Mesquite tree that has been ‘poodled’ – meaning sheared into a round shape.
Pruning trees this way is very unhealthy for them for many reasons:
– Shearing trees actually stimulates excess growth meaning that you will need to prune them more often then a properly pruned tree.
– Sunlight has difficulty penetrating the interior, which can lead to the eventual death of interior branches.
– New branches will grow at a ‘weak’ angle, which makes them more susceptible to breakage.
These are but a few of the reason of why not to ‘shear’ or ‘top’ trees.
**How about you? What examples of good and bad landscaping have you seen this summer?
You can learn more about why it’s wrong to ‘top’ trees in this article from the International Society of Arboriculture.
Tagging Along…
azplantlady, CitrusThis past weekend, I had a special helper accompany me on one of my landscape consults….
My son, Kai.
He has never expressed any interest in going with me before – but I think he was bored and his best friend (who lives across the street) wasn’t going to be home.
So, Kai offered to come with me and be my ‘photographer’.
As I was talking to my clients, Kai would take photos of certain plants, landscape areas or problems, which I would later include in my report.
He caught me gesturing to this evergreen pear tree, above.
Kai also took some good close-ups as well…
Salt damage from lack of deep watering.
Manganese deficiency in citrus tree.
Kai did also take a few photos with me in them, but he neglected to press the ‘skinny button’ on my camera so I elected not to include them in this post. (Okay, I know that a ‘skinny button’ does not exist on a camera, but I wish someone would invent one, don’t you?)
As our consult progressed to the backyard, Kai was no longer taking pictures.
Instead, he was finding himself in some of the photos I took….
Meeting my client’s new chickens.
Swinging from rings in an old citrus tree.
Kai and I both had an enjoyable time. The clients were very nice people who had a beautiful landscape.
I hope that Kai was able to see more clearly what I do for my work, (besides writing blogs and articles).
But all he said on the way home was, “Can we get some ice-cream?”
“Absolutely.”
Reading The Leaves: Diagnosing Common Plant Ailments
Landscape No-No’s: Wrong Plant, Wrong Place
Landscape No-No, Shrubs, Southwest gardenThe ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea Dilemma
In my last post, I showed you a photo of a “landscape no-no” and challenged you to guess what the problem was.
Were you able to guess what is wrong with this planting?
I gave a hint that the plant in the middle is ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea.
Well, I am happy to report that most of you were right about the problem.
Size Matters: ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea
You see, ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea (or any bougainvillea) for that matter, is too large to be planted in such a small area.
Although this bougainvillea shrub is small now, it will soon grow very big…
I planted the ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea, above, in my father-in-law’s back garden. At the time I took this photo – it was less then 2 years old.
Personally, I like this variety of Bougainvillea – it has an unusual shape compared to other types of Bougainvillea and produces less litter. It does grow very fast and will soon outgrow a small area. At maturity, it can reach heights of 8 feet and 4 feet wide.
So, back to the original planting in the first photo. The problem that will soon occur is that the ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea will grow wider and overhang the pathway to the entry.
Of course, at first, the homeowner will attempt to keep the Bougainvillea pruned back – but he would be fighting a losing battle. This shrub grows too big.
Did I also mention that this particular plant has THORNS?
You never want to put any type of plant or tree that has thorns, next to an area where people walk. No one likes to get stuck by a thorn.
The Rosemary Predicament
This homeowner also had another landscape problem directly across the pathway from the bougainvillea…
He has a bush Rosemary planted in a tiny area that was 3 inches wide.
As you can see, he was already busy pruning it to keep it from hanging over the pathway.
Soon, the base of the plant will become more woody with less leaves as it grows, which will make it very unattractive.
In addition, the small amount of soil, will affect the ultimate health of the rosemary as well. It might become difficult to irrigate with a tiny root space as well.
The Lesson Learned: Research and Plan
**So what is the lesson learned from this “landscape no-no”?
Take a few minutes to research the plants you select before you plant them (don’t always rely on your landscaper’s advice – check for yourself). Make sure the plants will fit that particular area once they reach their mature size.
I hope this will help you to avoid a similar mistake in the future in your garden.
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I am still patiently (not really) waiting to plant my fall vegetable garden. We are buying compost and manure this weekend to replenish the existing soil in the gardens and I hope to have everything planted soon.
I promise to keep you updated 🙂
Landscape No-No: What’s Wrong With This Plant?
azplantladyAre you the type of person that notices what is wrong more then what is right?
Although I would describe myself as having an outlook as a “glass half-full” and tend to observe the positive – it doesn’t carry over when I look at landscapes.
I think that it is because I am supposed to find problems and help people avoid or fix them.
A few weeks ago, I shared my first “Landscape No-No” post, which showcased a common mistake people make with drip emitter placement and trees.
My hope is that by sharing some “Landscape No-No’s” that I will be able to help you avoid making the same mistakes in your garden.
This time, I am showing you a picture from a landscape consult that I did a few years ago.
This featured “Landscape No-No” is from a consult I did years ago. The homeowner was very excited to show me his newly landscaped front yard.
However, I did find a few problems, including this one along the pathway to his entry…
Torch Glow Bougainvillea
Can you tell what is wrong?
Hint: The plant in the middle is a ‘Torch Glow’ Bougainvillea.
I would love to hear your thoughts about what the problem is in the area above.
Please come back for a visit next time, when I will explain why this is a “Landscape No-No” and show you another photo of another problem with this newly landscaped garden.
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I hope you all have a great start to your week!
A Welcome, Wet, Week
ArizonaRain shaft heading straight for us. Torrential rain began to fall just a 1/2 hour after I took this picture.
You would think that living in the desert – that we don’t get much rain.
While it’s true that we don’t get as much rain as most people, we do experience periods of torrential, summer rains.
That has certainly been true, this summer.
Actually, this week, we have had rain every day – often very heavy.
I had a landscape consultation yesterday and the back yard was not landscaped – there was just plain dirt, which had turned to mud.
My shoes are still muddy and drying out in the garage 😉
Approaching thunderstorms as seen from Double S Farms.
My garden has enjoyed the rainfall. I have shut off my sprinklers and drip irrigation because there is a danger of over-watering plants.
My husband is very happy with how nice our back lawn looks. The rain and high humidity have really brought out its best. (The entire garden is my domain, except for our lawn – that is my husband’s).
Unfortunately, we aren’t the only ones who have enjoyed our wet, humid summer – so have the mosquitos. We have gone through 1/2 a bottle of repellent in just 5 days 😉
And so, as the rain threatens to fall again tonight, I will cheerfully sweep the entry and patio for the fourth time this week because I know all too soon the rain will taper off and become an infrequent visitor.
A Tree Given a ‘Second Chance’ Arises…
TreesSome of you may recall me telling you about a young tree that had suffered terrible frost damage during the winter of 2011.
The tree was located at Double S Farms, which is where my mother, my sister and her family live.
This Sissoo (Dalbergia sissoo) tree had turned brown and ‘crispy’. We waited until June to see if there would be any green growth to show us that it was alive.
The entire tree died, except for a little ‘sucker’ that started growing up from the base.
I wrote about this back then in, “Second Chance for a Frost-Damaged Tree”.
My brother-in-law and I cut off the dead tree (the entire part we are holding in our hands in the photo above) and staked up the tiny sucker, hoping that it would grow…
And now, just 14 months after we removed the frost-damaged tree, this is what the single sucker has grown up too…
Posing by the tree with my sister’s new 3-legged dog, Johnny.
It is hard to believe that just over a year ago, there was nothing but a single tiny branch growing from the base of the tree that had been killed by frost.
The majority of the time, people simply dig up their frost-damaged tree and start over with a new tree.
I recommend waiting a few months to see if there is any part of the tree that is still alive. Often, they will grow a few small branches from the base, even if the rest of the tree is totally dead.
Select a single small branch and remove the dead tree and the other small branches – you want to concentrate your energy on a single branch (sucker) to grow into a new tree.
You may be wondering, isn’t it easier to just start over and plant a new tree?
The answer is “no” for a few reasons:
1. It is wasting your money buying a new tree that you may not need.
2. Save yourself the extra labor of having to dig up your old tree and plant a new one.
3. Your little branch (sucker) will grow faster then a new tree will. The reason for this is that it already has a large established root system from the original tree. A new tree does not have a large root system and has to spend a lot of time to grow roots. Until a tree has a good root system, the top will not grow as quickly as a tree that already has established roots.
**And so, next winter (I realize it is hard to think of winter in the middle of August), if your tree is unfortunate enough to suffer extensive frost damage – don’t remove it right away.
You may be able to save it and have a beautiful “new” tree in its place.
A Box of Seeds and an Impatient Gardener…
AZ Plant Ladycool-season vegetable
Oh, I have been imagining the bounty of vegetables that will come from my cool-season vegetable garden.
I have visions of of harvesting lettuce, garlic, carrots, green onions, cauliflower, spinach and radishes fresh from the garden.
Marigolds and nasturtiums will also be included in the vegetable garden to help keep bad bugs away and they make the vegetable garden pretty.
Of course, I still have cucumbers, peppers, bush beans and tomato plants in the garden, which keep me busy. But, I can hardly wait to plant my cool-season vegetables.
And so in a few weeks, I will add 3 inches of new compost and 1 inch of manure to my gardens, to get them ready for the seeds that I will plant.
I prefer starting vegetables from seed, except for cauliflower & garlic. Cauliflower does best when started from transplants. I’ll plant my garlic in October from cloves (I still have about ten heads of garlic left from my spring harvest 🙂.
I am putting my order in for my seeds now so that they will be ready to plant.
How about you?
What are you going to plant this fall?
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For information on what kind of vegetables to plant in your garden and when to plant them – check out this link(simply enter your zip code for a customized vegetable planting calendar).
**Here is a link of when to plant cool and warm-season vegetables Maricopa County, which is where I live 🙂
Seasonal Gardener ‘Malady’
AZ Plant LadyEvery year, I hope to avoid a certain malady that always pops its head up in mid-August.
I was pretty sure I had skipped it this year, but early this week – it hit me.
What is this malady?
“I don’t want to venture out into my garden.”
seasonal malady
Shocking, isn’t it? Now, there is nothing wrong with my garden. In fact, it looks its best this time of year.
My summer-flowering shrubs are absolutely covered in blooms, my trees are growing beautifully and my lawn is thick and green (thanks largely to increased humidity and monsoon rains).
Bougainvillea ‘Barbara Karst’
Arizona Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans stans)
Orange Jubilee
The fact that I haven’t spent much time out in the garden is rather obvious from the photos of my slightly overgrown plants below…
Rio Bravo Sage
Gold Lantana
So, why on earth don’t I want to go out in the garden?
Well, I must admit that I get a little ‘burned out’ on gardening. It has to do with the fact that I get a bit tired of the summer heat and living in the Desert Southwest, means that there is always something to do in the garden 12 months of the year.
Sometimes, I just need a little break. I don’t think this makes me a bad gardener or horticulturist – do you?
So, maybe some of my plants are a bit overgrown and need a little pruning. Well, they can grow for a couple more weeks and I’ll get to it in early September.
Besides, I would rather have a overgrown plant covered in flowers then one that is over-pruned and ugly, wouldn’t you?
I will shake off this seasonal ‘malady’ and be out in the garden, eager to plant seeds for my winter vegetable garden the beginning of September.
**How about you? Do you suffer from the same malady from time to time? Please tell me about it – it will make me feel better 🙂
Showing Love Through…..Pruning?
Pollinators in the Garden
AZ Plant LadyA beautiful and successful garden, attracts pollinators. My three favorite pollinators begin with the letter ‘B’ – bees, butterflies and birds.
First, the bees…
Icelandic Poppy
Begonia
Rabbitbrush
Now, butterflies…
Swallowtail and Dianthus
Pipevine Swallowtail
White Checkered Butterfly
And, my favorite – birds…
Black-Chinned Hummingbird feeding from Ocotillo flower.
What kind of pollinators do you have visiting your garden this week?
What are their favorite plants?
Landscape No-No: Tree Emitter Placement
desertWhat is wrong with the picture above?
A few days ago, I decided to start writing about some of the “landscape no-no’s” that I see when I am doing landscape consults.
From time to time, I will focus on a particular “landscape no-no” and its solution.
My hope is that it will help you to avoid or fix these problems.
My first “landscape no-no” post, featured the photo above. Readers were invited to figure out what was wrong and leave a comment.
Quite a few of you left comments, correctly identifying the problem.
But, for those of you who aren’t sure what is wrong with the tree above – look closely at the drip emitter….
The problem is that the emitter is too close to the trunk of the tree.
Initially, when trees are first planted, it is a good place for the drip emitter to be. The roots are primarily near the trunk.
However, as a tree grows, so do its roots. The single emitter next to the trunk of a mature tree, isn’t doing it any good.
The roots grow outward and their ends are concentrated where the branches end. The reason for this is that when rain falls, the majority of it drips off the ends of branches – so that is where roots tend to grow out to.
So, if your tree and emitter(s) look like the photo above; how can you ‘fix’ it?
As your tree grows, you need to add more emitters, equally spaced around your tree. They should be located where the tree canopy (branches) end. (I do recommend burying your drip line – it looks better 🙂
Below, is a photo of a large tree and I have drawn in recommended emitter placement…
You can see the emitters are widely spaced around the tree and are located where the tree canopy ends. As your tree grows, you need to continue to move the emitters outward.
The Arizona Municipal Water Users Association has a great, free publication that guides homeowners through landscape watering, including recommended watering schedules….
The diagram above, from “Landscape Watering By the Numbers” shows recommended emitter placement along with how deeply trees should be watered.
It’s important to note that trees do not need to be watered as often as your other plants. But, they do need to be watered more deeply – 3 feet.
(Here is a link for how often to water your trees and other plants if you live in the greater Phoenix metro area).
**If you don’t have a separate irrigation line for your trees, you can periodically deep water your tree by turning your hose onto a slow trickle and let it slowly soak into the soil. Move the hose until the entire outer canopy of your tree has been watered.
So, do you have this “landscape no-no” in your garden? Don’t worry – now you know how to fix it 🙂
**Stay tuned for our next “landscape no-no” soon!**
To receive your own copy of “Landscape Watering By the Numbers”
simply click the link above. You can also view it online. Note – this publication is written for residents of the greater Phoenix area, but the information is very helpful to anyone who lives in a hot and dry climate.