We are beginning our landscaping project. My wife and I like colorful trees and vegetation. We want to keep weeding, labor, watering, etc to a minimum. I am looking for suggestions as to trees, bushes, ground cover, etc that meet these requirements. Also if anyone knows of particularly good sources for these, it would be most appreciated. We are located in KC, MO where we enjoy all 4 seasons with full extremes of weather.
Thanks in advance for the suggestions and advice.
3.5 acres
<font color="red">"We want to keep weeding, labor, watering, etc to a minimum." </font color>
You'll probably get lots of suggestions on this one. We all want the same thing! [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] I have an acre and a quarter and my goal is to have all gardens and only enough grass left that I could cut it with a weedeater! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Try to grow as many native plants as possible... they are used to your environment. Mulch and Roundup(c) will definately help with the weeds. Mulch also retains moisture. Shrubs will give you the best variety of low maintenance plants. There are also plants that draw birds and butterflies. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
A trip to a couple of your plant nurseries and you should be well on your way. Good luck!
Gary
Bluegrass Music ...
Finger-pickin' good!
Have you considered some short or longgrass prairie. They have blossomming flowers summer long. Add a few trees and flowering shrubs and its all done . No mowing, most of the grass does not respond to fertilizer and if really require collecting seeds for sale could be a lucrative sideline.
Egon
We are in the process of doing the same thing and and have put in about a hundred flowering trees. Cleveland pears, flowering plum, Japanese maples, red maples, crimson kings, lilacs, and so on. There are several books on trees that were helpful for us but the most help came from the nurseries in our area. They are not the cheapest but the information on the trees and shrubs is great.
We bought all our Cleveland pears from Lowes. I find out when the load is coming in an get there to have the best choice. I really don’t want to buy a tree that has been there very long. Also I think the trees that I saw there this year were the rejects by the larger nurseries. You have to check out the structure or plan on pruning to solve the problems. A year ago all the trees had much better shape.
The flowering pears came from Walmart and we did not lose a one.
The Japanese maples were gifts from a friend that has three very old trees and lots of seedlings. They transplant thirty or so a year into a field behind their home and now have row after row of them. The most expensive trees we own are free for the asking.
Jane and I have not had much luck with the mail order trees and the mortality rate makes them just as costly as the nursery stock in our area. The only exception was a group of eighty hybrid poplars that were planted as a screen. They have done very well. In fact they have grown about six foot this rainy summer.
The best buys were found were at auctions. There is a consignment auction that is close by and we have bought over a hundred and fifty spruce and pine trees there. That is also where we got the lilacs. I paid five dollars a piece for full four foot lilacs in a variety of colors. By the way the deer have not touched them. These trees come from wholesale nurseries and are the stock from the previous year that they wintered over. These I purchased in April and lost none of the larger trees this summer. The spruce and pines range from four to ten feet and the birch and others were ten to twelve feet. We try to water them if it does not rain as needed.
Also we use a 10-10-10 fertilizer but go lightly on the new transplants. After the first season we increase the frequency and the amount of fertilizer.
You will have a large investment in trees and shrubs but the look of our property has changed so much in the last two years.
I found an informative website/forum on trees, plants, shrubs, etc. Website is: www.au.gardenweb.com Don't be thrown when you see australian trees, etc. Click on the US and Canada site. I have learned a lot and have made decisions based on this site. I live in SE MI and have planted Aristocrat pear trees (more hardy than Clevland pears), sweet gum, tulip poplar, crimson kings, and river birch trees. I need a lot of shade plus want some color/flowering trees.
The Missouri Department of Conservation distributes seedlings that are very inexpensive. I think they start taking orders in November. Here's the link:
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/forest/nursery/seedling/
These are all plants native to Missouri, though some which grow in the bootheel might not be suitable for the KC area. I've been planting hazelnuts, black walnut and pecan, and I think the seeldings would have done pretty well if not for deer damage. If you often see deer on your property, I would suggest razorwire bush and cyanide tree.
Chuck
tenebrous:
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Also we use a 10-10-10 fertilizer but go lightly on the new transplants. After the first season we increase the frequency and the amount of fertilizer.
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How do you apply your 10-10-10 to your established trees?
We have at least 20+ trees on our 3.5 acres (most of the varieties already mentioned plus a fruit "orchard" of apple, cherry, peach, pear, plum and almond). I've been using the Jobe's tree stakes but that is getting tiresome and expensive as the trees get bigger.
<font color="green"> How do you apply your 10-10-10 to your established trees?
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My farmer neighbor helped me come up with the right amount for each size tree. I just walk the property with my scoop and bag and spread it by hand under the drip line of each tree.
Half a scoop for the new trees, full for last years transplants and up to five for the old established trees. I do not drill holes but do keep the weeds and grass down with Roundup. I fertilized three times this year because we had plenty of rain. Only twice last year when it was very dry. The trees have done well this year and the hybrid poplars are still growing fast. I measured some this morning and they has grown ten feet this summer. They sure change the landscape in a hurry.
Sounds like a plan. When you say three times do you mean spring, mid-summer and fall or three times during the spring/summer? (i.e. do you do a fall feeding?)
Thanks
The expert tells we that I should do it April, June and the last of August if there is rain. Our trees lose their leaves in October and if it is like last winter we will have snow on the ground in early November all the way through to the first part of April.
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