Garden Tips Newsletter
Landscaping Under Trees? Loose and Natural
is the Way
June 22, 2009
An easy way to establish foreground interest in a yard is to make a feature out of existing trees. Rather than addressing each tree as a separate item, unify them into a large landscape mass by planting underneath a group of trees. A large planting can be much more satisfying and appear less arbitrary than the “10 little Indians” effect of separate treatment around each tree.
For example, homeowners confronted with three or four lonely pine trees sentried across their lawn should key their design from nature. Instead of circling plants around the base of each tree, which is the visual equivalent of a tractor tire around the tree base, drift plants casually underneath the tree canopy.
Since the planting will be informal and not rigid or geometrical (nature doesn’t plant material that is loose and informal in growth habit—for instance, the large azaleas (Indica, Obtusum, and Glenn Dale hybrids). Give some attention to color selection if a blooming plant is chosen. Drifting colors in groups of three or four looks more informal than alternating two colors throughout the entire bed.
In a large area with strong vertical elements (a bed that will comprise several tall, straight-trunked trees like pine trees), it may be necessary to introduce a plant material—a smaller tree for instance—that will create contrast between the strong upright forms of the trees and the shrub level. This is called understory planting.
The natural understory tree throughout much of the South is the flowering dogwood. In addition to the spectacular spring show of color, dogwoods grown as understory can be expected to develop their own relaxed shape as they stretch their branches in an effort to find light.
Many other suitable plants (redbud, sourwood) can be used for understory planting. But whatever materials are chosen, develop boldness in the planting pattern. Don’t belittle your shrubs by forcing them to cower at the foot of a tree—develop the bed to be as imposing as the trunks they tie together.
Lelia Scott Kelly, Ph.D., writes Garden Tips weekly and is a Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Her office is in the North Mississippi Research & Extension Center, Verona.