Outdoor Living: Four Great additions to any planting area tight on space

When most of us think about landscape plantings we think spring and fall. Get it in at the start of the year so it has the summer to settle, or get in that one last outdoor project done before the snow flies! If you find yourself in the latter category you may be looking to spruce up a sidewalk or front entrance to your home with a little something other than pumpkins and mums this September. Here’s my picks from a few streets I walked down this year!

(Note: these are recommendations for the Midwest, central WI, zone 4-5)

Japanese Maples

The Japanese Maple (pictured above as the short fringed bush with the burgundy leaves and the green version next to it) is one of the best examples of a small tree for the front yard. They can be notoriously hard to grow in hard winters and benefit from the protection of a foundation and protected landscape. As a result of their seasonal struggles, they will be slow growing and occasionally require pruning that will also keep them small in size. This makes them a great addition for a confined space.

The red leaf variety is by far a favorite for it’s color but I also appreciate the delicate weeping shape it adds to the landscape. There aren’t a lot of shrubs or perennials that can give you this wispy look and it makes a great foreground to more sturdy and upright plants.

Blue Star Juniper on Standard

Directly center of this photo, between the tall white hydrangea flowers and the shorter pink, lies a prickly looking blue cloud on a sturdy trunk. This is a blue star juniper that would normally be closer to the ground but in an amazing mad-science way is able to be grafted to a trunk to raise it two feet off the ground. What this does is make it more versatile for the small scale landscape. Ground covers have space to roam beneath it and it allows an evergreen to be mixed in at a more desirable height without as much mass. Expect them to get wide and fat without light pruning. They are best kept like a looking like a blue lollipop.

Upright Juniper

These barberries are big. They aren’t your pygmy variety that dominated front foundation plantings and commercial concrete islands for years. They are tall and upright and vibrantly red. But those are the very reasons you should take a second look at them. The leaves are small and circular and they give the appearance that they are twisting or swirling up the branches. In a planting like this their shape and mass is the perfect contrast to the hydrangea tree and the lady’s mantle. And their color against the terra cotta shade of this house is striking.

Blue Oat Grass

When ornamental grasses became an acceptable perennial among the more formal foundation plant scape a whole new world of textures and seasonal interest was unlocked. These blue grasses are the perfect fit for a narrow bed along a walkway and a great height to mix in under lamp posts, house number signs and other small trees. They especially stand out when planted in groupings of three.

While it will be tempting to throw in a few shrubs for fall color when shopping the landscaping centers right now, make sure you love the way they look the rest of the season and plan for their full size. Famous fall color favorites like Burning Bush can be massive at 7 feet in height and without flowers they aren’t the most interesting option from May-August. That’s not to say that when they light up fire engine red in October they aren’t a show stopper! I have two and they live up to their name! But consider the color and textures that will compliment your landscaping all season long and if you are stumped on how to get started with a plan- give me a call! I will be offering even more services and a division of design called Katie Jane Exteriors is in the works!