Suburban native options
docmom_gw
8 years ago
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s8us89ds
8 years agolisanti07028
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Best Native Oak for Suburban lot
Comments (12)SOD probably would not be an issue because I will avoid the secondary host plants (did a bit of research). SOD seems to prefer a cooler moister climate than mine. Summers here are hot and dry. Buut, Oak Root Fungus probably is an issue. I have a peach tree that has looked sickly for years. I think it survives because I forget to water it in the summer. I really need to remove it. Cost has been a barrier. Q Lobata is the only Oak listed as being resistant. It seems likely that I might end up with a huge monster on my hands if I plant one. P'raps I need to consider another kind of tree altogether. Chilopsis or Western Redbud would not get too big. As to prickly barrier plants: Rosa Californica is super easy to grow. I call it the Rose from Hell. It sends up super spiny canes and spreads like crazy. I planted it in the hedge on the north side of my back yard which is right next to the road. I have trouble with what ever I plant out there getting trampled -except the rose. People stay away from it for some reason. :D...See MoreSuburban Meadow Projects
Comments (2)What zone/state are you in Watchnerd? We have a little hayfield behind our yard and one thing that does compete with the tall grass there is native orange flowered Butterfly Weed (asclepias tuberosa). That might be a good one to try. It's definitely ornamental. We have fescue in our field but also other grasses. It's not a native meadow. There aren't a lot of perennials that can handle that kind of competition. If you plant butterfly weed, it might need some help in the beginning. I think it would be perfectly fine to kill a little area of grass to give the butterfly weed or some other perennial a chance to get started. Are there any tall grass areas near you where you can observe to see what's surviving and blooming there?...See MoreNative TX Gardner Needing to Use Non-Native Bamboo
Comments (6)Bummer. That said, I am not a purest about anything. I think that if most of your yard is catering to wildlife , that this will not tip the long term effect. I think that bamboo is a good dirt builder and birds love it. Wildlife is also attracted to non native species.. My only concern is the damage that it might do to the foundation over the years. The clumpers do expand out in a formidable root mass when happy. Are they allowed to build right up to the plot line? I had old ubiquitous running bamboo that we contained in retaining walls and it got above 2 floors and would have done most of the third floor. I imagine with the hanging over of the crown yours will create zones of privacy, maybe not complete privacy. I think that you will get used to it after a decade or so. I found that we are flexible humans and the allusion of privacy is often just as good as complete privacy in our minds.. Is there anything else that you can plant. I suspect that the bamboo does capture rain in the leaves and mosquitos love it or so some people say. Others say that is a myth. I had an awful mosquito problem and I had a lot of bamboo in the neighborhood. I also had a river not far away and a dry creek bed with wallows.. I read somewhere that it was the bamboo that attracted them but I have also read the opposite.....See MoreHow to make by country house look country, not suburban
Comments (33)Yardvaark, thanks for your comment. I wrote a reply earlier that ended up in the internet ether, so I’ll try it again. I am beginning to think that scale is key in the look I’m searching for. Large trees rather than small (especially small ornamentals) and large shrubs as specimens, or large, mass plantings, are found in acreage (country) rather than on suburban lots. I suppose what I’ve been focusing on is my experience in Central New York, where we lived for several years. Most of it is rural, and houses are old (sometimes several centuries). Invariably, those houses originally had very large deciduous trees planted quite close to them, obviously for shade, in an era sans air conditioning. What we’ve found is that contemporary homeowners often are terrified of trees, and dislike deciduous trees and plantings as well, so the old, majestic trees are cut down, or new ones that are planted are taken out as soon as they get to be roof-height. (One of the most common phrases we heard in CNY, I think, was “that tree is too big”.) Then, to correct the lack of green in winter, evergreens are planted, including trees, and also in the form of the ubiquitous yew hedge to serve as a foundation planting. It seems to me that these things may have to do with a difference in tastes as well as knowledge between people a hundred years ago, and those today. I do think that very few people realize that there are wonderful varieties of large trees that can be planted close to a house –not all trees are the same! People used to plant trees with tap roots and ones not susceptible to breakage. Those trees not only protected the house from sun, but “ensconced” the house, often to great visual advantage from the outside, and to a wonderful effect from the inside as well. And: Overall, I think there’s less appreciation for the various forms of natural beauty that many deciduous plants can give; whereas, most folks I talk to today think only about green leaves and colorful flowers. I love evergreens, but they seem somewhat out of place, or at least a preponderance of them do, in regions outside of the Northwest and upper reaches of the entire U.S. In summary, I suppose I associate certain plantings, especially evergreens, with the suburbs due to my experience in New York, where all the rural homes had an emphasis on the deciduous. Also, I think scale, as you mention, and type of trees, such as the small, ornamentals, are to be avoided in the look I’m going for. My vision is a classic sort of looking house (such as Georgian or Greek Revival) without a lot of the detail that I associated with a “city” look, set off amid some well-placed enormous trees. (Unfortunately, I likely won’t be around long enough to enjoy them as “enormous” trees!)...See MoreWoodsTea 6a MO
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8 years agonaturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan
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8 years agoPlant4wildlife
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8 years agoWoodsTea 6a MO
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