In article , Pam wrote:
For year round appearance, at least a few (if not most) of your
foundation shrubs should be evergreen.
pam - gardengal
I've not found this to be the essential approach. And while all my
gardens' examples don't necessarily apply to the querier's zone, here are
some deciduous examples that have proven to be eye-catchers in winter so
there's no sense of loss in any season: The contorted hazel stands at the
sunny opening of a shade corridor, about seven feet tall. It's pretty year
round, but it's STRONGEST time is winter, both for revealing the contorted
limbs & for the catkins. Across from it on the opposite side of the path
entering the corridor is an unchanging alpine fir, pretty much a defacto
dwarf at sea level at about eight feet but looking as though it's a
hundred years old. So one evergreen, one deciduous, separated by a path,
& they're the biggest things until one reaches the other end of the path.
The alpine fir is the more tasteful thing, but the contorted hazel is the
most exciting & active. This area is also not far from a three-trunked
Japanese maple on a humpy hill, with dwarf evergreen azaleas around it --
the deciduous tree being the primary foundation, supported by very short
evergreens. It's autumn color & its winter trunks-&-limbs make it a
dynamic shrub-sized foundation tree.
In a sunnier garden, the biggest items are a weeping green beech & a
short-&-wide weeping white birch, with mid-sized evergreen rhodies &
deciduous native shrubs & a half-wild old rose filling in. The two trees
are amazing in all seasons, the birch catkinned & dangly-twigged with
contorted white trunk very impactful in winter though hardly any taller
than the fence, & the beech revealing all its twists & bends & mottled
bark in winter -- as powerful foundation plants, winter leaflessness does
not weaken them in the least. The opposite side of that yard is a major
shade garden including Pulpit Hill, & the shade is mainly from two old
evergreens (western hemlock & a greatly underlimbed large old holly) -- so
one side of the yard's deciduous-dominated & the other side's
evergreen-dominated, & for physical beauty autumn & winter the deciduous
side has the greater impact, but the evergreen side blocks sight of the
street so that the whole of that yard always feels enclosed (plus the
evergreen side preserves shade for late-winter/early spring shade plants
-- the deciduous side by contrast is still opened up late winter/early
spring for sunniness to support early flowering bulbs). Even on this
evergreen-dominated side of the yard, however, it's actually a paperbark
maple that becomes the focal point not for size but because it is more
central to the yard & it's so interesting in all seasons. The vastly
bigger old holly tree, even when loaded with berries, just can't compete
for attention.
Then there are deciduous azaleas -- big ones are the best foundation
shrubs with spectacular seasonal interest (& for colder zones the northern
lights series should really be considered if sizeable specimen-worthy
sizes are available). Our White-throat azalea is huge, maybe six feet by
six feet, & it stands across the path from the Black Swan Beech (another
weeper). These are all-season focal points -- the color of the leaves for
both beech & azalea are awesome in autumn. In winter the twistings of the
beech & the azalea's stark upright budded limbs keep them impactful for
winter foundations; then for spring the releafing beech goes through such
interesting color-changes as the leaves slowly darken to nearly black, &
the azalea goes into full flower before leafing out. Watching these
changes is a daily wonder. Around the beech & azalea are numerous smaller
shrubs & vines that are for the most part evergreens, so in this case it's
the evergreens that are the support features rather than the anchors, &
there is plenty of greenness there even when the largeset things are
leafless.
One spot where I really thought the central shrubs should indeed be
evergreen strikes me as one of my few failures. Two dwarf cypresses & an
evergreen eunonymous stand in a corner framed in by two street sidewalks.
Fortunately an old Japanese maple keeps them from being TOO important, but
they do dominate that little corner, & they've never looked exactly right.
I've expended energy trying to "correct" the error by shifting attention
to newer additions, but those three evergreen shrubs have a changeless
appearance, hence a little dull. Instead of those three shrubs I should've
had one thing bigger, & probably it should've been deciduous or at least
flowering so there'd be at least one dramatic seasonal occurance.
One evergreen foundation shrub that worked out joyously is the Loder's
white rhody obtained a couple years ago at the R.S.F. sale, & for its
mounding elegance nothing could look better, as much luck as skill I put
it in the perfect spot for the greatest sense of presence & beauty. No way
a deciduous shrub could've been any better there. But this week I
installed nearby a deciduous Western Azalea, quite tall with old trunks
that burst into twigginess overhead. I haven't yet seen the impact it will
make in full leaf (let alone in full flower) but as well-aged & lichened
trunks & limbs & twigs it's already a maximum impact shrub; & in the past
it has always worked out well assuming that if a deciduous shrub is that
dramatic in winter, it certainly isn't going to be crummy the rest of the
year. So now the Western Azalea together with the Loder's white form a
foundation pair, for a length of the garden filled in with hardy fuchsias
& crane's-bills & sundry perennials & three much smaller shrubs (one of
those deciduous). I've actually come to regard a mix of deciduous &
evergreen to be the ideal, but lean toward the deciduous as most dramatic,
though they have to be selected with the winter appearance well in mind if
they're to be effective focuses at all times. Too much focus on evergreens
can make the garden static & passive (though evergreens that change color
in winter help alleviate that, or flowering broadleaf evergreens aren't so
changeless -- I often wish I had room for more winter-blooming evergreen
camelleas, but just don't have room for just everything). For autumn
color, & for unusual limbs & barks revealed in winter, an area almost
entirely of deciduous weepers is much more dramatic than an area mostly of
evergreens.
So for drama of changing physical impacts season by season, I'd put
well-chosen deciduous shrubs & small trees way ahead of evergreens on
average, but if one needs a year-round shade area, or to block a view of a
neighbor's yard or shut out the street, then additional factors require
the choices be evergreen. With the evergreen it is not necessary to give
such careful thought to what it'll be like in winter, but WITH thought the
deciduous choices are apt to be the most significant foundation shrubs &
little trees no matter the season.
-paghat the ratgirl
--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl:
http://www.paghat.com/