Last week’s blog post discussed the importance of including winter interest when landscaping, and has led to several emails from readers highlighting a common theme. The most repeated statement has been, “I have lots of evergreens but they are too big.” Further into our conversations the real problem often presents itself. It is often not the size of their trees/shrubs, but their location amongst their current landscaping. Out of curiosity I took a drive through my neighbourhood and noticed a consistent blunder in both new and old landscaping- trees and shrubs planted without regarding their mature size, with evergreens often at the heart of the problem.
Evergreens are some of the most expensive plants we include in our landscaping, and many of them mature into our largest trees at maturity. It didn’t take long to realize that these trees were often planted along driveways, sidewalks, fences, or near the house, and usually 5-8 feet to close. The problem is easily avoidable, ask your nursery or look-up the mature spread and height of the tree (in fact this information is usually located on the plant tag). Believe it or not, there is actually a house behind all of the evergreens in the picture on the right. Not only are the boughs overhanging the sidewalk, every front window of the house is blocked by arborvitae.
The real issue arises when homeowners eventually become annoyed by the large overhanging branches, and they grab some loppers or a saw and hack away until the path or driveway is clear. This not only creates a rather unsightly tree, but opens the tree to disease from fungus or insects. Worse yet is that spruce/pine planted 5 feet from your living room window, which looked great when the tree was 5-10 years old. But as soon as this tree fully matures, the window becomes covered altogether. Now you have several problems- a tree planted to close to your house foundation, and a tree blocking the natural light from entering your house. The solution is to remove the tree altogether, leaving a large stump to contend with during future planting. Further, that investment of hundreds of dollars is now lying in a pile of firewood. In case you no longer have your plant tag, I have linked to a list of the most common evergreens in our zone with their height and spread at full maturity.
Notice the careful planning and layout of the landscaping above. All of the plants and shrubs are chosen with the goal of maintaining complete view out of the front windows, maximizing the natural light within the house. In addition, the large pine in the front/side yard is far enough from the house to prevent any issues, but close enough to bring the roofline down, tying the house with the surrounding landscaping into one gorgeous package.
With this being said, do your homework. It will save you valuable time and money in the long run. Evergreens come in a myriad of shapes and sizes, some provide height without the width, and some provide width and height. Just remember to consider the mature tree size BEFORE you plant!
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