Now is the time to start planning your entry garden. This welcoming patch has the power to set a warm and friendly tone for those who pass through your garden on the way to your front door. It does take some planning to set the proper mood, however, and you need to consider architecture, setting, scale, boundaries and maintenance.

Architecture and Setting

First, it is critical that your garden style suits your architecture and setting to create a cohesive, uniform look. Try to match the hardscaping and plants to the style and feel of your house. A cottage or farmhouse would be accentuated by a friendly, loose informal garden with plants spilling onto the walkway and colors blending together at the edges of beds. A more formal and symmetrical building, however, should be paired with a more structured garden that includes well-groomed shrubbery, stately flowers and a well-defined path.

Plant Scale

Pay attention to the scale of the plants you choose. Plants that will grow too tall or broad can overwhelm the house or crowd the walkway. Plants that are too small can make the house feel too large and unwelcoming. Investigate the mature sizes of plants and be sure they are positioned appropriately within your entry garden so they will not crowd one another or block key features of your home, such as house numbers or security lighting.

Garden Boundaries

Consider setting boundaries for the garden using a fence, wall, hedge or gate. The boundary could encompass just the area around the front door, might include a flowerbed border or could frame the whole yard, but keep in mind the size and style of your home. A white picket fence around the entire yard is a quaint option for a cottage-esque home, but would look out of place with an elegant brick manor, which would be more suited to a wrought iron boundary or classic boxwood hedges.

Maintaining Your Entry Garden

Be realistic about the amount of time you have to maintain your entry garden. If you have limited time, choose native or easy to care for plants that will require little attention. Also consider using containers for some of the plants. They can be easily rearranged throughout the seasons to give a different look to the garden, and plants can be brought in over the winter months. Keep in mind essential tasks such as weeding, pruning and watering, and plan the garden to suit your abilities, time and budget so you can always keep it in perfect condition to welcome visitors.

With a little planning, you can create a welcoming entry garden to beautifully greet guests as they visit your home.

Azaleas are true garden favorite and are popular in all types of landscape designs. To keep them blooming prolifically and as beautiful as they can be, however, you will need to follow a few special directions for their best care.

Planting Azaleas

Azaleas need a well-drained location, as they will not thrive in an area that stays overly wet. They prefer afternoon shade, and too much sun can harm their leaves and fade the flowers, depleting their beauty. For their best growth, it is important to shelter azaleas from drying winds. The best locations in the landscape will be along the north, northeast or east side of a building or stand of evergreens or in the filtered shade under tall trees.

Azaleas may be planted any time of the year, even when in full bloom. Spring and early fall are ideal planting times so the plants are not stressed by the heaviest summer heat. Before planting, loosen the matted roots with a hand cultivator so they can spread and establish more easily.

To give azaleas the excellent drainage they require, they should be planted high, with half the root ball above the existing ground level in a hole at least twice as wide as the root ball. Amend the planting soil to provide good nutrition for these hungry plants. Once the plant is set in the planting hole, fill in around it with the planting mix, packing firmly to eliminate air pockets. Mound soil up to top of root ball. Water shrubs thoroughly with a diluted plant starter fertilizer to encourage root growth and help them establish more quickly. Mulch 2-3 inches deep over the planting hole, with mulch pulled away from plant stem to avoid insect infestations and rotting.

Watering Azaleas

Spring and summer plantings should be watered 2-3 times per week until fall the year they are planted, then once a week until Christmas. Plants may need to be watered as often as once a day if they are small or the weather is hot. Always check the soil moisture level before watering. It should be lightly moist several inches down, but if it is drying out more frequent watering may be needed. In following years you will need to water your azaleas about once a week unless there is a good soaking rain. Plants will need more water in hot summers and while in flower to keep their growth and form lush.

The Need for Mulch

Mulching around azaleas is always a good idea, and can help them thrive. A 2-4″ layer of mulch should be maintained at all times over the root area of the plant, but pulled away from the stems. This keeps the soil cool and moist, helps control weeds and protects roots in winter.

Pruning Azaleas

Azaleas rarely need to be pruned. When pruning is required it should be done immediately after blooming, since if you wait to prune until summer you may cut off next year’s blooms and miss an entire flowering season. Azaleas may be sheared, as they will send out new shoots anywhere on a branch, or you may choose hand-pruning to create a neater form.

With a bit of considerate care, azaleas can be a showstopper in your landscape. Stop by today for help choosing the best azaleas and learning all you need to know to keep them gorgeous year after year!

Gorgeous yellow, pink, red, orange, white and purple blooms put on a show in early spring from plants like forsythia, lilac, azaleas, rhododendron, mockorange, weigela and bridal wreath spirea. Summer then greets us with bold blossoms in hues of purple, magenta, blue and red from butterfly bush, hydrangea, crape myrtle and rose-of-sharon. These deciduous shrubs provide a beautiful backdrop for the garden and most of these plants only require basic watering, fertilizing and pruning. Why not add them to your yard today?

More Blooms, Better Blooms

To keep your shrubs healthy and blooming prolifically, it is important to know which plants to prune at what times. Before you go chopping away, do a little research about when your shrub should be pruned. If you don’t do it at the right time, you won’t get many (or any) of those gorgeous flowers to enjoy.

Shrubs to Prune When Dormant

Shrubs that produce flowers on wood grown in the same season should be pruned in late winter or very early spring. This allows time for the wood to grow and the current year’s buds to set to produce more beautiful blooms the next year.

• Abelia
• Beautyberry (Callicarpa)
• Bluebeard (Caryopteris)
• Butterfly Bush (Buddleia – except Alternifolia)
• Cinquefoil (Potentilla)
• Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia)
• Hydrangea (Paniculata and Arborescens)
• Rose
• Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus)
• Spirea (all species that bloom in summer)

Shrubs to Prune Immediately After Flowering

Shrubs that bloom on year-old wood and need to be pruned just after blooms fade. This allows enough time for the new branches to form next year’s buds.

• Azalea
• Barberry (Berberis)
• Beautybush (Kolkwitzia)
• Heather (Calluna)
• Daphne
• Deutzia
• Forsythia
• Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
• Hydrangea (Macrophylla, Seratta and Quercifolia)
• Kerria
• Lilac (Syringa)
• Mock Orange (Philadelphus)
• Pieris
• Rhododendron
• Scotch Broom (Cytisus)
• Spirea (spring blooming varieties like bridal wreath)
• Weigela
• Witch Hazel (Hamamelis)

Still Not Getting Any or Many Blooms?

Even with proper pruning, it is possible you may not be seeing the blooms you’d hoped for. Some routine maintenance will help keep your plants healthy so they can produce those fantastic flowers.

If you haven’t already done so, fertilize plants this spring with Plant-Tone, Holly-Tone or similar products (for those acid-loving azaleas and rhododendron). Move the mulch and sprinkle the food lightly over the soil at the outer edges of the plant, then water well. Replace the layer of mulch to help conserve moisture and prevent most weed growth.

Though an established shrub can endure a moderate drought, it will flower more reliably if you help it through the dry weather with a weekly watering. Consider a drip system to provide good water and minimize evaporation.

Other reasons your shrub may not be putting on its best flower show might include improper lighting or incorrect soil conditions. Similarly, if a plant does not receive enough sunlight or if the soil pH isn’t suitable for that type of plant, it will not flower as it should.

If you’re having trouble with a particular plant, stop by or call us to help you find out why. And, remember, sometimes it just takes patience. Some plants, like wisteria, can take up to seven years to produce flowers, but will be well worth the wait for the amazing show they produce.

More water is always good for plants, right? Wrong! When water stands in the soil, air is displaced, which in turn smothers the plant roots. Once the roots are damaged many symptoms appear on leaves and shoots including wilting, marginal and inter-veinal browning of leaves (scorch), poor color and stunted growth. But the excess water isn’t always coming from overwatering, it may be the result of poor draining soil.

Poor drainage is often produced in disturbed sites when heavy clay soil is compacted by construction machinery or other excessive use, such as yards where several children are often playing. Areas cultivated for plantings, such as flowerbed or borders, then collect water running off the compacted ground – this is called the teacup effect. Wet areas may also be the result of swales, drain spout runoff and low areas even when soil percolation is adequate in most of the site but when general moisture levels are routinely high.

To check for a potential drainage problem, dig a hole at least 2 feet deep, fill it with water and note how long the water remains. If it doesn’t drain completely away within 24 hours a severe drainage problem exists.

Fortunately, you can correct drainage problems in different ways. Easy options include…

• Divert water past plantings using drainage pipes, splash blocks or rain chains.
• Plant in mounds or raised beds so water will run off and away from the plants.
• Install drain tiles in saturated areas or use French drains to contain excess water.
• Amend the soil with organic matter such as compost to improve its structure.

An even easier solution is to simply select plants that tolerate wet sites. The following trees and shrubs tolerate wet sites and flooding better than most. Few tolerate standing water for long periods (those that grow in truly swampy conditions are marked *), but all will do better in wet areas.

Shade Trees

• *Acer rubrum/Red Maple
• *Betula nigra/River Birch
• Liquidambar styraciflua/Sweet Gum
• Alyssa sylvatica/Sour Gum
• Platanus occidentalis/Sycamore
• Quercus phellos/Willow Oak
• *Salix spp./Willow
• *Taxodium distichum/Bald Cypress

Flowering Trees

• Amelanchier Canadensis/Serviceberry
• Magnolia virginiana/Sweetbay Magnolia

Evergreen Trees

• Calocedrus decurrens/Incense Cedar
• Ilex opaca/American Holly
• Thuja occidentalis/Pyramidal Arborvitae

Deciduous Shrubs

• *Aronia arbutifolia/Chokeberry
• Clethra alnifolia/Summersweet
• *Cornus spp./Twig Dogwoods
• Enkianthus campanulatus/Enkianthus
• Ilex verticillata/Winterberry
• *ltea virginica/Virginia Sweetspire
• Lindera benzoin/Spicebush
• Myrica pennsylvanica/Bayberry
• *Rhododendron viscosum/Swamp Azalea
• *Salix spp./Pussy Willow
• Viburnum spp./Viburnums

Evergreen Shrubs

• *Andromeda polifolia/Bog Rosemary
• *Chamaecyparis thyoides/White Atlantic Cedar
• *llex glabra/Inkberry
• Kalmia atifolia/Mountain Laurel
• Leucothoe spp./Leucothoe

Perennials

• *Arundo donax/Giant Reed Grass
• Aster nova-angliae/Asters
• Astilbe spp./Astilbe
• Chelone/Turtlehead
• Cimicifuga racemose/Snakeroot
• Helenium autumnale/Helen’s Flower
• Hibiscus moscheutos/Hardy Hisbiscus
• *Iris kaempferi/Japanese Iris
• Iris siberica/Siberian Iris
• *Lobelia cardinalis/Cardinal Flower
• Lobelia syphilitca/Blue Lobelia
• Monarda didyma/Bee Balm
• Myosotis scorpiodes/Forget-me-nots
• Tiarella cordifolia/Foam Flower
• Trollius europaeus/Globe Flowers
• Viola spp./Violets

Ground Covers

• Gallium odoratum/Sweet Woodruff
• Gaultheria procumbers/Wintergreen
• Hosta spp./Hosta
• Mentha spp./Mint
• Parthenocissus quinquifolia/Virginia Creeper

Annuals

• Cleome hosslerana/Spider Flower
• Myosotis sylvatica/Forget-me-nots
• Torenia fournien/Wishbone Flower
• Viola wittrockiana/Pansies

Not sure which water-loving plants to choose? We’d be happy to help you evaluate your landscape moisture and other conditions to help you choose the very best plants for your yard!