Foundation Plantings

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Simply put, foundation plantings are those closest to your home. They have an important job – they make your home more welcoming, soften your architecture’s hard edges, and ties together your house to the surrounding landscape of your yard. Unfortunately, many homes underestimate the impact of foundation plantings and leave the job to a few scraggly shrubs or undersized and underwhelming annuals. These poorly chosen foundation plantings just can’t pull off the job.

The place where your house meets the yard begs to be softened by greenery. As a homeowner, your goal should be a pleasing mix of evergreens, shrubs, flowers, and perhaps even grasses.

  • Boxwood is a foundation staple. Boxwood can work as both an accent and a hedge. Easy to trim, it can remain compact and low growing. And they will keep your landscaping fresh even in winter when there are no flowers.
  • Rhododendron is another favorite foundation plant. An evergreen, they have large clusters of flowers in spring, grow well in the partial shade of a bed near a home, and have attractive leaves. And, rhododendrons are native to the Eastern U.S. woodlands.
  • Hydrangea flowers will pick up the slack when your rhododendron blooms are done. They can bloom from the beginning of summer until fall.
  • Dwarf Trees such as a weeping Japanese maple or dwarf eastern white pine off to one side where you don’t block your windows add a bit of height to your foundation.
  • Perennial flowers such as catnip, lavender, or sunset hyssop are hardy plants and they appeal to butterflies and hummingbirds.

Here’s a good rule of green thumb when choosing foundation plants: aim for 50% evergreens, 25% flowering shrubs, and 25% perennials so your plantings look good all year round. And make sure to slope your beds so the drainage moves water away from your home.

Need a little help? Augustine Nursery is ready to help you pick out your foundation plantings, and even design and plant the beds for you. Since foundation plantings stay in place for years to come, advice on plant proportions, layering, and drainage is important information we’re happy to be a part of. By industry standards, a well landscaped front yard can increase the value of your home by a national average of 11%, so it pays to invest in getting it right.

rhododendron

 

Best Summertime Plant Watering Tips

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Watering the shrubs, trees, and plants in your yard is a judgement call that depends on your yard’s soil, the weather, and the drainage on your property. Getting watering right also depends on observation and experience. So when watering, it’s important to take mental notes.

That said, there is only one hard and fast rule that applies to all plants: focus on the roots. It’s the roots that need access to water, not the leaves. You need to go beyond the quick dribble from a hose. Lawns and annuals have shallower roots – in the top 6” of soil. For perennials, shrubs, and trees, water needs to penetrate down to as deep as 12”.

Here are a few other tips:

  • Mulch – Two to three inches of mulch provides an effective layer of protection for your plants and shrubs. It reduces water runoff and slows evaporation from the soil so your plants stay moist longer.
  • Potted plants – Water your potted plants until you see water flowing freely from the pot’s drainage holes. As plants mature and summer heat rises place saucers beneath pots to catch runoff so plants can ‘sip’ water throughout the day.
  • Use the right tools – Use a soaker hose instead of a sprinkler to help you get down to the root zone. They deliver water directly to the soil while sprinklers leave much of their water on the leaves. Wet leaves can promote disease.
  • Seasons & time of day counts – When the weather is cooler, plants need less water. During summer’s dog days, it might seem like you can’t water enough, especially with potted plants. Water plants in the morning so leaves have time to get dried off by the sun.
  • Saving water from rain – Rain barrels are an excellent way to collect rain from downspouts, especially when located close to your garden beds. Just make sure the barrel overflow drains away from your home to avoid water in your basement.
  • Weeds – Weeds are annoying and unsightly. While weeding is never fun, it’s important as they steal moisture away from your plantings.

 

Planting & Caring for Deciduous Trees

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Deciduous trees are great if you’re looking to create shade on your property. They are also capable of helping to deal with erosion and rain water run-off by being planted on embankments. Learn how to plant and care for deciduous trees with complete instructions and helpful tips.

  1. Measure the depth of the root ball so that the top of it will sit 1-inch higher than ground level, but never lower.
  2. Dig a hole that is 1–1½ times larger than the ball.
  3. Center the root ball in the hole and untie or cut away the top ⅓ of burlap by either folding it back or trimming it off. If a wire basket is present, cut it open and either fold it down or discard.
  4. Clean the excavated soil of rocks and other debris.
  5. Make a mixture (enough to back-fill the hole) of 50% cleaned, excavated soil and 50% compost (peat moss/fertilizer/compost).
  6. Back-fill the plant half way with the soil mixture, then water thoroughly. Continue to back-fill with the remaining excavated soil while leaving room for an approximately 3-inch deep saucer of mulch to completely surround the plant.  Make a mound of soil around the outer edge of the hole and tamp it firmly to create a moat.
  7. Water thoroughly.

Optional: 
Tree wrap and staking are optional based on actual location conditions, i.e. wind & grade changes.

 

GENERAL MAINTENANCE TIPS

Watering Trees and Shrubs
After planting, water trees and shrubs 2–3 times per week 
for the rest of the growing season. Each tree or shrub should receive 1–10 gallons of water depending on its size.
Note: In times of stress or extreme heat, increase amount of water.

Root Feeding/By June 30th
For acid loving plants use Holly-tone®. All other plants should 
be fed with specially designed fertilizer stakes.
Foliage Feeding/As Early As April 30th. For acid loving plants, apply Miracid® every 7–10 days until mid-August. All others apply Miracle-Gro® every 7–10 days until mid-August.

General Pruning and Trimming
For flowering trees and shrubs, the rule of thumb is to cut them back after they have flowered.
For evergreens, pruning should be done after the new growth hardens, which is usually mid-July up to November.

Anti-desiccant
As a treatment to reduce moisture loss due to winterkill, windburn, drought, etc. all plants should be treated with an anti-desiccant or anti-transpirant. Suggested applications:
 All newly planted material
s, Annual fall application

Insect Infestation
A watchful eye should be kept for any signs of an infestation. If an infestation seems to be occurring the problem should be identified and addressed immediately.

Tree Stakes
Stake deciduous trees that are 2–2½ inch in diameter and larger. Stake evergreen trees 5–6 feet tall and larger. Tree stakes, wire and hose should be removed after 1 year.

Planting & Caring for Shrubs

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Learn how to plant and care for shrubs with complete instructions and helpful tips to get the most out of your landscape.

  1. Measure the depth of the root ball so that the top of it will sit 1-inch higher than ground level, but never lower.
  2. Dig a hole that is 1–1½ times larger than the ball or container.
  3. Center the root ball in the hole and untie or cut away the top ⅓ of burlap by either folding it back or trimming it off. If the plant came in a container, first remove the container then make a series of four vertical scores to the soil/root mass at a depth of about ¼-inch, at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock positions.
  4. Clean the excavated soil of rocks and other debris.
  5. Make a mixture (enough to back-fill the hole) of 50% cleaned, excavated soil and 50% compost (peat moss/fertilizer/compost).
  6. Back-fill the plant half way with the soil mixture, then water thoroughly. Continue to back-fill with the remaining excavated soil while leaving room for an approximately 3-inch deep saucer of mulch to completely surround the plant.
  7. Water thoroughly.

 

GENERAL MAINTENANCE TIPS

Watering Trees and Shrubs
After planting, water trees and shrubs 2–3 times per week 
for the rest of the growing season. Each tree or shrub should receive 1–10 gallons of water depending on its size.
Note: In times of stress or extreme heat, increase amount of water.

Root Feeding/By June 30th
For acid loving plants use Holly-tone®. All other plants should 
be fed with specially designed fertilizer stakes.
Foliage Feeding/As Early As April 30th. For acid loving plants, apply Miracid® every 7–10 days until mid-August. All others apply Miracle-Gro® every 7–10 days until mid-August.

General Pruning and Trimming
For flowering trees and shrubs, the rule of thumb is to cut them back after they have flowered.
For evergreens, pruning should be done after the new growth hardens, which is usually mid-July up to November.

Anti-desiccant
As a treatment to reduce moisture loss due to winterkill, windburn, drought, etc. all plants should be treated with an anti-desiccant or anti-transpirant. Suggested applications:
 All newly planted material
s, Annual fall application

Insect Infestation
A watchful eye should be kept for any signs of an infestation. If an infestation seems to be occurring the problem should be identified and addressed immediately.

Tree Stakes
Stake deciduous trees that are 2–2½ inch in diameter and larger. Stake evergreen trees 5–6 feet tall and larger. Tree stakes, wire and hose should be removed after 1 year.

Fall is the New Spring

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Let’s make this the year we redefine the boundaries of the growing season by annexing fall to our planting season! There is so much to love about fall as a gardening season. For one, we can tend to our yards without the blazing heat, not to mention the beauty of the colors as they change around us.

No, fall will no longer simply be the season of the things we have to do to survive winter like raking leaves or cleaning gutters. This fall, let’s do the things we want to do because we want to make our yards and gardens more beautiful than ever when spring awakens once more.

Plant a Large Tree

Fall is a perfect time to think big! Does your yard need a focal point to increase curb appeal? Do you need some shade or perhaps something to help stave off erosion? The root system of a large tree will grow stronger when planted in the fall as the cooler temperatures allow for greater growth without the competition of new top growth. The result is a stronger, better established root system for next spring’s growth.

Get Bulbs in the Ground

It’s easy to pop bulbs in the ground. And you’ll be handsomely rewarded in early spring as they begin to show their beauty. Iris, daffodils, and tulips are just a few varieties that are easy to care for while rewarding you year after year with color.

Fall Vegetable Favorites

Instead of bidding farewell to your vegetable garden for the year, dig in to some of the following fall favorites.

If you love garlic, there’s good reason to grow your own – the spicy flavor of homegrown garlic just can’t be beat and you can use the stalk like scallions. Plant in fall and by June you’ll have an incredible harvest of garlic.Asparagus is a perennial vegetable and doesn’t need anything special to thrive for years to come. All you need is patience because you shouldn’t harvest year one asparagus. Allow them to grow into dill-like brush. When the brush turns brown, cut it back and wait another season.
Onion are another fall vegetable that will yield a harvest by early summer. Bought in sets, they are easy to plant.

Augustine Nursery can help you with all your fall gardening and yard needs. Did you know we even have our own tree farm? Augustine Tree Farm trees are already established for our climate, and we’ll deliver and plant it for you! No need to wait a generation to enjoy the majesty or shade of a beautiful large tree.