Flower Landscaping is one of the most important aspects of your home in terms of aesthetic value. The first thing that people see when they approach the house is the garden and to make a great impression of your house, your garden should be vibrant. There is no better way of making a garden stunningly beautiful than adding brilliant colors amidst the green backdrop and this can be done by planting flowering shrubs.
What Are Flowering Shrubs?
The term flowering shrubs refers to a particular group of flowering foliage whose stems are woody and whose branches form an intricate network as opposed to the single-trunk structure of trees. Shrubs typically grow to about 10 to 20 feet, and can serve as great focal points for any garden with the stunning color of their flowers that could hover over a landscape.
What Flowering Shrubs Are For
Flowering shrubs are planted in home gardens for a variety of reasons. They make great garden borders when planted side-by-side or in between other types of plants. Other people plant them mainly for their aromatic flowers especially shrubs like purple leaf sandcherry, lilac and viburnum. Some homeowners plant shrubs to establish some privacy by shielding the home against prying eyes. Flowering shrubs can also help control noise with their rich leaves that absorb sound.
What Flowering Shrubs Need to Grow Well
Most popular flowering shrubs are not really difficult to grow and maintain. They are hardy plants and usually just need regular watering, some fertilizing and the occasional pruning. Shrubs may also be trained to follow certain directions of growth to define a certain look in the landscape. While shrubs may indeed grow practically on their own, you could expect more progress if you take more care of them.
What Flowering Shrubs Are Available
There are many popular flowering shrubs, each having their on characteristics that make them ideal for different kinds of situations. Here are some of them:
1. Viburnum Shrub – viburnums are among the easiest of flowering shrubs to grow and maintain. While there are over 150 species belonging to the viburnum genus, it is not commonly seen in home gardens. Most viburnums are found in arboretums and botanical gardens. Viburnums are very hardy plants, a lot of them are quite resistant to diseases and pets, making them quite self-sustaining.
2. Weigela Shrub – weigela shrubs are very popular in both home and public gardens. This deciduous plant grows with an upright weeping tendency. They can add a lot of color to any garden. The leaves themselves can become purple, dark green or even bright yellow. The flowers’ colors can range from milky white to bright ruby red. Weigela are also very attractive to butterflies, so if you like beautiful critters aside from beautiful blooms, this type of shrub may be right for you.
3. Forsythia Shrub – forsythias are another popular type of shrubs. This deciduous plant typically grows to about 8 to 12 feet with upright or arching branches. Forsythias are quite easy to grow as they do well with most types of soil, although they thrive best in rich loose soil, needing only the occasional pruning after flowering. This shrub produces vibrant yellow flowers during early spring.
4. Hydrangea Shrub – this is another popular kind of flowering shrub that can also come as trees or vines. Hydrangeas can produce different kinds of flower colors that can be modified by altering the pH level of the garden soil. Basic soils result into pink flowers, while acidic soils result into blue flowers. Hydrangeas that have white flowers usually do not get affected by the soil pH level, but are nevertheless attractive shrubs.
5. Lilac Shrub – lilac shrubs are among the most favorite home flowering shrubs. While the term lilac usually refers to purple with pinkish tinge, lilac flowers may come in a variety of hues including blue, red, pink, white, and of course, lilac. Lilac shrubs like sunny weather and soils that drain well. They attract butterflies and bees. This resilient plant needs only occasional pruning after flowering and some mulch as fertilizer.
Flowering shrubs are good additions to any flower landscaping project. They provide shade and color that can make any garden look vibrantly beautiful.
This article was written by Lee Dobbins. She writes for http://www.backyard-garden-and-patio.com where you can find out more about gardening and landscaping as well as how to do container plantings, installing a garden pond and decorating your garden.
Ground Covers as part of Flower Landscaping
Ground covers can dress up, cover up and add a finishing touch to a landscape bed. Groundcovers also offer a convenient way to blend or hide landscape speakers, low voltage lighting and soften the lines of a large landscape rock.
Ground covers come up in all shapes and sizes from evergreens,perennials, vines, flowering plants like roses, and lantanas as well as ferns and more. Usually groundcover plant material usually grows quickly and easily. Although many plants can be used as to cover areas most good ground covers grow very low, such is the case of mondo grass that grows only a few inches high. When planted they quickly take over the area they are planted in.
Another benefit ground covers provide besides filling and covering up dirt and bear spots in the landscape, they can choke out weeds. The uses for ground covers vary, some plant groundcovers instead of planting regular grass reduces the need to mow grass. Others create texture variations, color shades and beautiful splashes of flowers.
Enhance or Cover Up
Ground covers can enhance the appearance of rock a wall, fill in rockway paths, and cover up areas where the ground dries fast or shady area where nothing seems to grow. They also perform the task putting down roots to keep soil from blowing away and keeping dust down. If you stop and think about it, grass is actually a ground cover keeping down weeds, dirt, dust when the wind blows and stopping erosion.
Ground covers are also a great remedy for steep embankments or berms where rainfall washes soil away. A quick spreading ground cover with an established root system anchoring the soil on a steep slope keeps the soil from creating a mini “mud-slide” every time it rains.
Vines used as a ground cover can give the illusion of a carpet of flowers since the vines has nothing to climb up on. Small shrubs can also be used to create barriers and others like the English ivy that looks great as a container or potted plant can aggressively cover large areas when left unchecked on their own. Ivies for example can actually kill other plants by covering and choking them out.
When selecting any ground cover look around your neighborhood and see what others are using, ask at the garden center what they recommend and make sure you find out the details of any maintenance required. Ground covers can be a great addition to a flower landscaping plan, creating new views, softening lines and drawing the eye to other focal points in your garden.
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