Tim Birch's Articles in Landscaping

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Easy Care Shrubs
Shrubs are essential to a successful garden. They provide fragrant flowers in the spring, lush green foliage during the summer and colorful foliage throughout the fall. Evergreens add...
Creating Japanese Gardens
Japanese gardens create landscapes which resembles nature through the careful placement of trees, shrubs, rocks, sand, artificial hills, ponds, and water. Zen and Shinto traditions have greatly...
Colorful Summer Gardens
In mid-summer the perennial border is at its peak with a wide variety of sun-loving flowers in bloom. There are even some long lasting, early blooming flowers still...
A Guide To Planting Trees
Before planting new trees, determine both your needs and the existing conditions of your site. Like all plants, trees have specific light, soil and space requirements. Remember that many trees...
Gardening 101
Successful garden designs create landscapes which are practical, beautiful and compatible with a site's natural conditions. Gardens should be designed to...
Lawn Alternatives and Natural Gardens
From coast to coast the lawn is one the most ubiquitous garden features in the landscape. Planting a natural garden can help restore the landscape, attract a variety of bird species and provide the garden with a wonderful mix of beautiful plants...
Gardening With Groundcovers
There are always those spots in your garden where grass just doesn\'t seem to grow or that are either too rocky or rooty for shrubs. Groundcovers can solve all kinds of gardening problems and are often...
Designing An Entrance Garden
Foundation plantings have traditionally been intended to screen cement foundations of houses. This is a bit short sighted, however. Creating a welcoming entrance garden is a more appropriate way go about designing these spaces. Entrance gardens are...
Garden Design & Preparation
All great gardens have one thing in common, they were thoughtfully planned before they were built. To plant a successful garden you must have a clear understanding of your site’s conditions. A thorough site analysis enables the gardener to make informed decisions regarding design and plant selection. Determined in this site analysis are the following factors...
Natural Gardens
Natural gardens utilize native species of plants which are often quite easy to grow. These plants have adapted to certain site conditions and are generally self sustaining. They'll need little, if any, fertilizer and no more water than is provided by rain. Natural gardens consist...
Spring Flowering Bulbs
Bulbs are the earliest blooming flowers in the garden blooming as early as February or early March. Bulbs can be used in the perennial garden where they can complement other early flowers. Planted in the lawn or beneath deciduous shade trees, bulbs can provide your property with spots of vibrant colors.
Creating Woodland Gardens
Often times site conditions are such that it\'s best to work with the existing landscape rather than make extensive changes. These types of sites often become very successful gardens. A shady spot beneath a stand of trees, for example, is the ideal location for a woodland garden. Instead of trying to impose a garden through extensive pruning and soil conditioning, prepare the site for
Planting Cutting Gardens
Many perennials, annuals and even flowering shrubs not only make great garden plants but wonderful cut flowers as well. Shrubs such as hydrangea, lilac, viburnum, witchhazel and forsythia work well as cut flowers. Though, generally, they don't last as long as perennials or annuals. To make flowering shrubs last as long as possible as cut flowers...
Choosing The Appropriate Tree For Your Garden
Before planting new tree assess both your needs and the existing conditions of your site. Trees, like all garden plants, have specific light and soil requirements which can influence its health. Trees also have specific space requirements. Some trees spread wide and need a lot of space, such as the beech, while others...
Planting Your New Spring Shrubs
Thoughtful planning, careful plant selection and proper site preparation are the essential to the success of new plants in the garden. In spring, searching for new shrubs can be exciting yet overwhelming. With so much new stock at the nursery, it can be difficult to decide what to buy. To be sure your investment in new shrubs pays off...
Planting Hydrangeas in the Spring for Late Season Color
A common complaint among gardener is that late in the summer, before the fall foliage, there seems to be lull in garden color. There is, however, no shortage of shrubs which bloom in later in the season. Hydrangeas are one the most versatile. In fact, they are...
Creating a Wildlife Garden
Creating a wildlife garden allows you take part in your larger surrounding environment. Often gardens are completely shut out from the natural landscape around it and aren't welcoming to birds and other wildlife. Adding a few well placed and well chosen shrubs or trees can...
Deciduous Shrubs in the Garden
Deciduous shrubs are among the most versatile of all garden plants. Whether used to frame architecture, provides privacy or attract birds, deciduous shrubs are an indispensable part of the garden and are the starting point of great...
An Introduction to Annuals
Annuals provide gardeners with an inexpensive way to add variety and long lasting color to the landscape. Though they will bloom all season long, annuals sprout from seed, flower, set seed and die within one growing season and need...
Seaside Gardening
Gardening along the coast presents even the most skilled gardeners with challenges not encountered elsewhere. Natural conditions along the coast create a very hostile environment for garden plants. Wind, salt spray, dry sandy soils as well as actual sea water can make gardening along the coast difficult. All of these factors can cause problems for landscape plants and effect how they grow. In fact...
Gardening In The Shade
If you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to garden in the shade beneath the canopy of mature shade trees you will find many advantages not found in the full sun garden. Shade trees moderate temperatures during the hot summer months and provide gardens with structure, privacy and...
Perennial Garden Basics
Perennials are any plants which live for more than two seasons and produce stems which die back to the ground each fall. They’re at the heart of most flower gardens and offer wide ranging benefits to the landscape gardener. Perennials are treasured for their ability to flower, spread and...
Planning, Creating & Maintaining Rock Gardens
Often there are those areas of your garden that just aren\'t suitable for lawn or have exposed ledge and rocks making it impossible to plant shrubs. These areas can easily be transformed into beautiful rock gardens...

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