Shape Your Outdoor Space
The right tree or shrub for the purpose can help shape your outdoor space. If you are planting one tree or re-landscaping your entire yard this landscape plan can help give you ideas. The goal behind this landscape plan is to show how trees and shrubs can used in 8 different key ways to shaping your back yard.
Define Boundaries
You can shape your yard with a wall of evergreen shrubs or you can stagger trees to create a park-like atmosphere.
a. Pyracantha
Pyracantha is a great evergreen for the north state. It can bring good color from its berries and makes for a strong security fence because of its sharp thorns. Pruning of this shrub can be painful if you get cut by a thorn.
b. Broadleaf Evergreen
This evergreen can help block wind, sunlight and other unwanted views. Place this tree on the west side of your home and it will provide cooling in the summer months.
c. Italian Cypress
If space is an issue this tree can help you out. This tree can get up to 60 feet high but you can prune it to keep it shorter. Great for driveways and property lines.
Develop Corridors
With large yards, divide areas into outdoor room settings. This also can apply to smaller yards by connecting them with passage ways. If a formal yard is more your taste then Embossed concrete walk ways can give you a clean setting. Use Dusty miller to boarder your walk way and it will give you a clean look almost all season.
Natural looking pathways can give a small or big yard great connectivity.
Invite visitors to sit and relax with a bench. These Iris flowers have a huge color impact but the bloom is a short cycle. So this area of the yard might not want to be a year round focal.
Set A Focal Point
Picking a focal point can be as large as a tree or small as a flower. Where you put your focal point is where you want to draw attention from or away something.
With a modest budget you can get a 5 gal Flowering Plum for around $20.00. This will make for a great display of flowers in the spring as well as purple foliage in the summer.
With many people having thoughts of Hawaii Rose of Sharron brings a tropical look to gardens. Many different varieties grow well in Redding Ca.
New Zealand flax is a favorite at Gold Leaf for making a focal point. In fact Sunset Gardens book suggests using it as a focal point.