Roll Gardening & Green
Trees: Why not plant one this Spring?
by Luanne Panarotti
...Are you hungry for color, fragrance or edible fruit? Next, decide where you want to place your tree(s) and consider the conditions there, jotting down everything you observe about the amount of sunlight, soil type, moisture and so on. Armed with this information, you can then visit a reputable nursery or garden center and begin exploring. Here is a sampling of the myriad choices.
Fences make good neighbors…
But living screens offer both privacy and beauty. Consider members of the spruce family, Picea glauca (white spruce) or Picea pungens (Colorado blue spruce). The medium-sized conifers are beautifully upright and neat of habit, and can live up to 300 years. Hardy and deer-resistant, spruces also offer cover and food for birds. The evergreen foliage of the species provides a backdrop against which other shrubs and perennials really “pop”.
Shady investments
The USDA Forest Service estimates that trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent. A single Red Maple (Acer rubrum) located at the south corner of your home will mature to shade and cool your home in summer, while allowing sunlight through its lovely “bones” in winter. A grouping of sugar maples (Acer saccharum) will add bold visual interest to your property, with the future potential of tapping the trees for their sugary sap. The long-lived white oak, Quercus alba, provides outstanding shade for the backyard, but should be situated away from buildings to allow it to reach its full, majestic size. Its yellow-green catkins give way to acorns, and deeply-lobed leaves mellow to a rich, burnished burgundy in the fall. CONTINUE...
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