Landscaping - Using Trees

Plan from the beginning to plant new trees that will harmonize with the colors of your house and best suit its architectural style. When you are planning for new trees bear in mind the annual cycle of the tree; how long it holds its leaves, what its colors are during blossoming, when it is in fruit or full berry, and in fall, when its leaves change color. Plan to contrast flowering deciduous trees with evergreens; slender trees that owe much of their virtue to the color and line of their trunks and branches�the white clump birch, for example�with trees that are chiefly beautiful in mass, such as the weeping willow or the new purple fringe. (The latter is a tree that looks like a cloud of smoke when in bloom.)

If you are planning vistas for large grounds�and this is a useful rule even for smaller spaces�have in your design a foreground, a middle ground and a background. A background is most naturally composed of large trees. Here can be used many of the species of rough and irregular growth which would not look too well at close range. These trees will give a gentle texture to what would otherwise be an unbroken and monotonous background surface. In the foreground use flowering shrubs. Then, for the middle ground, use the many medium-sized trees and large shrubs which can be singled out for colorful foliage or blossoming.

This advice applies mainly to new planting. If you have just bought your property and are thinking of taking out a tree that blocks a view, or is otherwise objectionable, wait at least a year. Live with the tree, observe it in its various colors through the seasons and carefully consider its advantages as well as its disadvantages, remember that a tree once de-stroyed is difficult to replace. Aside from the ornamental quali-ties of trees, the two most important ways in which they can improve your property are by screening and giving shade.

Perhaps you are overlooking a chance to use one of the shade trees on your grounds for a pleasant gathering spot. Put down some paving, place a few deck chairs there, and come summer everyone will gravitate to this spot. Use the shade of your trees for the children's area, and if you don't have a tree on the south, southeast or southwest side of your house, plant one or two there. If you are using trees to screen off an unpleasant view, use evergreens which will do the job the year round.