Think down the road

When adding plants and trees to your landscape, be sure to see how big they are suppose to get when they are fully mature. It seems that when landscapes are put together, the landscaper tries to sell extra plants to fill it in. It looks great when he walks away, but usually the home owner has requested a “low maintenance” landscape. His theory is that he should not ever have to touch it. Then before he realizes it, the landscape is out of control. I am constantly hired to cut out bushes that have gotten way to big for the space that they were put in. The reason that I bring this up is because I noticed on one of my properties that I maintain, there was an identification tag on one of the trees that the last landscaper installed. To my surprise, it was a white oak tree that says it grows 50′-60′ tall and to expect that for the width. I about fell over. I could not believe that someone would plant a tree like that in the spot that they did. That tree is going to be a constant maintenance for the owner to keep it at a descent height.

When planting that new bush or tree, be thinking about when it is fully mature. Is it going to grow into the power lines, crowd out another plant, or will it be hanging over the sidewalk. The house I just bought has a 5′ deep landscape area up front. The bushes that were installed, filled the 5′ area plus was hanging completely over the 3′ sidewalk. You had to walk in the mud to get to the front door. I lived in the house right at a week before I cut down all of the bushes up front just so I could walk on the sidewalk.