A few tips for adding variety to your landscape
Published 8:00 am Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Many landscapes have a tendency to look similar with the same types of plant materials such as hollies for foundation and corner plants and azaleas everywhere. Try using plants from the western coast of the U.S. to add variety and interest. There are truckloads arriving with uncommon plants that will grow well in this area and create wonderful accents in your landscape. A great accent plant is Blue Atlas Cedar; it will give you good height and has a nice blue shade to its needles. They are great for eye-catching detail. Consider adding a beautiful Japanese Maple to your yard, most quality Japanese Maples are grown on the west coast. A couple of varieties are Sieryu green lace-leaf that is taller growing and has great orange-red fall color, or Red Leaf Japanese Maple that is available in lace-leaf or regular leaf and comes in either a dwarf or taller growing variety. Japanese Maples are very popular as accent pieces for landscapes.
For good corner or entry plants, try using Dwarf Alberta Spruce or Degroots Spire Arborvitae. Compact Hinoki Cypress is also a good corner plant with its unique foliage and is easy to maintain. Another great corner or entry plant is Black Knight Cryptomeria, which is slow growing and has interesting foliage that is different from the common holly. Another good accent plant is Gold Mop Cypress; the foliage has a juniper-like gold tint to it and is great to use by itself or in groupings. The west coast is well known producing high quality boxwoods. Boxwoods come in several great varieties. American Boxwood is the most commonly used. Dwarf English Boxwoods are slow growing and can be kept small with very little maintenance. Pyramid Boxwood has a conical growth habit and is great for entryways, pots and as accent pieces. The colorful Variegated Boxwood is great to us because of its year round color and can be used in numerous ways in a landscape.
Check out the different and interesting plants from the west coast and see what great interest they can give to your landscape.
Happy gardening.