Gardening

Evergreen Trees and What They Can Do for Your Garden

trees in the snow

Decidous trees and plants lose their foliage and leaves at certain times of the year such as in the winter, evergreen trees keep their foliage and have leaves all year round. Evergreen trees do lose their leaves but they lose them gradually, unlike deciduous trees evergreens do not lose all their leaves at once.

Evergreens can offers numerous benefits to gardeners, benefits include the ability to shade the garden from strong sunlight or stopping snoopers from seeing what is happening on the property.

Landscaping

Evergreen trees are popular with landscapers, they can be scattered around the garden amongst other plants and shrubs. They can have an extraordinarily enormous range of shapes and sizes, they are well adapted to many different soil types and different growing conditions. In this post we are going to look at a few different species of evergreen tree and discuss their uses.

Screening Trees

Besides the shading, landscaping and privacy benefits we have already discussed above evergreen trees can improve the security of your property. The fast growth and foliage of evergreens can offer a security benefit because would be thieves will struggle to gain access and observe your property, you may want to plant trees around the parameter of your garden as opposed to just having a wall or fence. Spruce or pine trees have needle like foliage which may help deter less enthusiastic criminals and even unwanted wildlife.

The Leyland Cypress

The perfect choice if you want to create privacy or hide a view because it is a very fast growing tree, this tree will grow between three to four feet a year and it can reach 50 feet in 15 years. It can be clipped, should you wish to keep it’s size and height down. It is mid-green in color with soft foliage and a symmetrical shape. These trees can tolerate poor soil, drought, air-pollution and salt-spray.

The Tree Center say, “This tree grows well in all kinds of soil, in both full sun and light shade. Once established it is very drought tolerant, although some water during very dry periods is beneficial.”

Thuja Green Giant

The Tree Center would also recommend thuja green giant to those want a fast growing tree that will screen out unwanted attention, wind or unwanted views. thuja green giant has a rich green color, it has an extremely fast growth rate, it is a hardy tree which grows well in all conditions and easily reaches its full-size (up to 12 feet) within a short period of time. If you want a brighter looking tree thuja emerald green offers the same benefits but is a much brighter green.

The above trees are good if you want to plant them in a row and create a kind of bush, if you want just one tree to block out a street light or stop passers by looking in a specific window an evergreen magnolia grandiflora maybe for you. This tree has thick green leaves all year round.

Holly for Security

If you want to create an evergreen bush for security purposes holly maybe the tree for you, holly trees stay a deep green color all year round and they have red berries in the winter. The holly berries are great for attracting birds and wildlife. They can grow up to 25 feet high, they are quite hardy and their growth rate is about 2-3 feet a year. As you probably know holly trees or bushes have very prickly leaves so are excellent for keeping out unwanted visitors.

Espalier Trees

According to bhg.com, “Espalier is the term used to describe the process of training trees, shrubs, and woody vines against a flat surface, such as a wall. You can also train them to a freestanding fence or trellis.” Fruit trees such as apples and pears make an excellent espalier choice.

Royal Horticultural Society says, “Training apples and pears as espaliers is a space-saving way of growing fruit on a wall or fence. They require little pruning once established and are attractive in blossom and fruit and architectural during winter.” Fruit trees are not evergreen and this post is about evergreen trees, if you are looking for evergreen espalier trees you may want to consider holly oak, cherry laurel, beech or red robin.

One Comment

  1. My personal favorites are the leyland cypress and thuja!

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