The winter months can be such a festive time to transform your outdoor container gardens. Make the switch from flowering plants and tropicals to cut boughs arrangements in your containers. We asked our in-house professional florist for tips and tricks on how to create gorgeous winter containers to extend your season and welcome guests to your home. First, let's talk about your options to get materials: Some people prefer to contract with local landscapers to create these for them. This is a great option but be sure to place your order early. The waiting lists are long and understand that you'll pay a premium for that convenience. Finding professional grade materials is another hassle. Some hobby and grocery stores carry limited selections, but you wind up driving all over to buy enough to create an effective container, filled to create a generous, full visual effect. We've been there! Or you can push the "easy button" and order our Winter Greenery Kits of professional grade winter boughs that come direct to your door. Step by Step Instructions for Winter Container Gardens For existing containers, top off with dirt as needed. For new containers, please take your time to place your containers exactly where you want them. Take your time. Trust us. These suckers get heavy once they are full. Fill new containers with dirt to the top.  Grab garden gloves, an old sheet or tarp, a crafty friend, and a happy, relaxed attitude. Before you get started, take a nice, deep breath. You gave yourself an opportunity to have a cool experience today. This is a process. Making garden containers takes a while. There is no such thing as perfection. Ok, now that you are in a "good place", put on your gloves, open the box and take a nice deep breath. Mmm, we love the smell of mixed evergreen, don't you? First, take everything out of the box. Separate the materials into piles on your tarp or old sheet. Sort the evergreens into piles by type and by size. Step 1 Select the tallest, fullest bough and push it firmly into the dirt in your container. If you'll see the container from all angles, place the bough in the center. If you'll only see one side of the container, place the bough near the back and keep the "showiest" side facing out. Step 2 If you need to trim the lowest branches, cut at a 45-degree angle close to the main stem. Save all the little clippings to use later. Step 3 Add smaller boughs around the first bough. If you'll see the container from all angles, be sure to place boughs all around the largest bough. If you'll only see one side of the container, place these boughs in front of and to the sides of the largest bough. Step 4 Select smaller material to fill in the front. Use the best looking material in the front facing your guests. Step 5 Continue to fill and bundle several smaller boughs together if needed. Use your saved trimmings to fill in bare spots. Step 6 Tuck flat, small branchlets in under the other boughs as edging all around the pot. This is a pro tip that polishes and softens the look. Step 7 Add your focal point in place. It's best to bundle these together before you push them into the dirt. Step 8 Spread out the berry clusters and place them throughout the arrangement at high, medium and low points. You can wire them to the upper branches, and even use hot glue to hold in place if needed. Caring for Your Winter Container Gardens Spray the branches liberally with Wilt-pruf, an anti-dessicant starch spray. Plan to reapply as often as the directions say. If you live in a frost zone, fill the container with water. The water will freeze and keep the materials intact. It's fun to mix these up throughout the season. Try evergreen or holly branches, cut red twig dogwood stems, crabapple branches, viburnums berries, or dried Hydrangea flowers in winter pots. Get wild! Decorate them with silver accents for New Year’s or add your team colors for the Superbowl. You’ll be so pleased to make them your own. Enjoy these long lasting containers. Good job!  Shop for DoorScapes professional container garden materials

Want to know a secret? The key to attracting butterflies, beneficial insects and pollinators is to grow plants that flower. Now, you can certainly refine your approach to this, but planting flowering plants is the first step. Bees, birds, butterflies and beneficial insects love blooming plants as much as you do! These animals play an incredibly key role in the ecosystem. Declining populations from industrial agriculture and pesticides are wreaking havoc on our fruit, flower and food crops. At Nature Hills, we have expanded our plant palate to include many more natives and plants for your yard. You’ll be amazed at the many options to attract these important and beautiful creatures to your yard. Get Started Building a Butterfly Garden Flowering plants for butterflies can be added to gardens of any size. Container gardens can be filled with a variety of small flowering trees and shrubs, perennials and annuals. Include flower gardens as part of your manicured front yard landscapes – you’ll love the look! Next, remember that butterflies will need things blooming in your yard over all the seasons from early spring, late spring, summer, late summer, fall and late fall. Planning for an extended season of blooms supplies bees and butterflies with a constant supply of pollen and nectar.  Choose a diversity of plants of different types, such as shrubs, trees, perennials and vines. Create layers of bloom in your habitat and use some evergreen plants for year-round cover. Search the Nature Hills website site using the seasonal filters to see spring, summer and fall blooming plants that work in your growing zone. Shop Perennial Types Why Include Native Plants? It is very important to include some natives in your plan of succession of bloom. That’s because native plants attract beneficial insects to your yard, which help keep problem insects at bay without having to use pesticides.  Native plants are plants that are indigenous to a particular area but may be adaptable to a larger region. Eastern Redbud is “native” to the Eastern half of the United States. However, because it is widely adaptable, it also works beautifully in Oklahoma, Oregon and Ohio. Of course, sometimes plants perform a little “too well” in other regions. That’s why Nature Hills complies with all state and local regulations for invasive plants. Learn more about Plant Sentry from Nature Hills How Horticulturalists Work to Improve Native Plants Horticulturists and plant science people work with native plants to improve them. For example, Lavender Twist Redbud tree displays a unique weeping habit. The recently released Scarlet Halo Dogwood tree blooms a deep, dark pink. Plant breeders are always on the hunt for new improvements. Sometimes, plants produce a single “sport” branch that exhibits a different leaf color, flower color, plant form, or even a variegation. These sports can be propagated and grown as a new selection of the plant that it came from. Many fruit varieties have developed from sport branches or seedlings. Another way plant breeders create new introductions of plants is to take two plants of the same genus that display different characteristics. Next, they cross pollinate the two, and then plant out the seed from those plants. The result of cross pollination can result in some interesting selections. These crossed seedlings show plants with some of each of the characteristics, or a mix, or maybe even something completely different. New selections of plants are called cultivars (cultivated varieties). Selections from plants that are native in your area are sometimes referred to as “nativars” (cultivars of native plants). Although the new plant is not native, it was selected to be an improvement over the native plant.  Improved selections are propagated by the growers to ensure you’ll get a plant with those wonderful, carefully selected and tested characteristics. Those plant improvements, such as larger, longer lasting blooms, help support the unique needs of the local butterflies living in your area. Serious About Helping Butterflies? Start Doing Research Specific butterfly species have evolved to live or migrate through your area. Start studying which native butterflies and moths float nearby your landscape. It would be nice if there was a “one size fits all” Butterfly Garden design. We could tell you to plant tough prairie perennials like Black-Eyed Susans and Coneflowers. Include flowering shrubs like Butterfly Bush, Viburnum and Weigela and bing, bang, boom – you’re done. But that would only tell you a few pages out of the whole story. Those tough prairie perennials may not work in your area. West Coast homeowners in California can plant Manzanita shrubs. Southern gardeners can grow Citrus trees and develop good “integrated pest management” practices to encourage beneficial insects, which control harmful pest populations. Read on to gain a high level understanding of butterflies. What do they eat and drink? Where do they feel safe? Next, Start Thinking Like A Butterfly Imagine you are landing a gossamer-thin helicopter. What kind of flower would you prefer to land on? Butterflies really like simple, flat blossoms that face upwards. They make an easy landing pad. Yarrow and Coneflowers are great examples of this flat flower type. Buddleia, Phlox and Lantana produce clusters of flat topped flowers, which makes them a very attractive floral fast food. These plants are absolutely covered with butterflies every summer. Group plants together to create a nectar buffet. We recommend planting in curved drifts or gentle zig-zags. It looks great, and butterflies can see a mass of similar flowers better with their compound eyes. Butterflies love fragrant red, orange, yellow, purple and pink flowers. Nectar-rich selections include improved varieties of Amsonia, Asclepias, Aster, Buddleia, Coneflower, Coreopsis, Daisy, Gayfeather, Lantana, Lobelia, Monarda, Penstemon, Potentilla, Sage, Salvia, Sedum, Thrift and Thyme, among others. Shop Butterfly Bushes  Give your garden protection from the prevailing winds with well-sited trees and tall shrubs. With their delicate wings, butterflies prefer sheltered yards in which to live, sleep, feed and lay eggs. Those same large plants also provide overnight shelter for butterflies.  It’s best to plan your Butterfly Garden in either full sun or in an area with morning sun. Butterflies are cold-blooded and need to start their day by warming their cute little bodies in the sun. If you can, add a large flat rock to your garden bed for their convenience. Create a shallow Butterfly watering hole, which looks different than what you expect. They would rather not drink from deep bird baths, which can be rather a risky business for butterflies. Instead, create a muddy little “Puddling Station”. Fill a shallow saucer with a dirt, sand and then add water. Be sure to place in a sheltered area and check it frequently. If you can visit zoos with Butterfly Pavilions, ask lots of questions about butterfly care. In those facilities, you’ll see shallow dishes with rotting fruit placed in water among the flowers. Butterflies such as Monarchs, Painted Ladies, Mourning Cloaks and Admirals just love rotting fruit like brown bananas, watermelon, oranges and strawberries. Place the fruit out in the morning and pick it up at night so you won’t get too many mammal critters sniffing around. There are a lot of ideas out there – try skewering watermelon slices on a stick and placing them in the flower bed. This is a wonderful idea to spark the curiosity and interest of children of all ages. Teachers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents can create teachable moments when you take the time to share nature with children in this fun, hands-on way. Consider Including Host Plants for Caterpillars It’s important to look at the entire life cycle of the butterfly. Remember learning about metamorphosis in grade school? Butterflies prefer certain “host” plants to lay their eggs, which then emerge as hungry caterpillars. The caterpillars eat the host plant, develop cocoons and finally emerge into gorgeous flying creatures. Welcome to the miraculous cycle of life, rainbows, sunshine and lollipops for everyone! Here's the issue.... What are some of those host plants where butterflies lay their eggs and that baby caterpillars munch on? Stinging nettles, common milkweed, wild parsley, dill and other weedy, unkempt, shaggy plants which spread like wildfire. There may be some ornamental options that will work for your local area. Look for improved varieities of milkweed. Spicebush Swallowtails choose the attractive Spicebush as a host plant. These host plants are best suited for "naturalized" plantings. Is there an untended area in your backyard or side yard? Consider planting critical caterpillar food host plants behind the garage or shed or over by the wood pile.  Please call your local agriculture extension before you do that. You do not want to order weedy plants online from vendors who may not follow all state and local regulations. You don’t want to risk unleashing terrible pests or invasive plants in your yard and community.   Find your local agriculture extension office  Protect Butterflies From Pesticides By Encouraging Beneficial Insects Finally, you'll want to strive to maintain a balance in your landscape. The days of mindlessly reaching for a can of insecticide or pesticide to take care of problem bugs are over. Let’s look at some more eco-friendly options to control insects and disease that are very effective.  For those occasions that you have insect problems, consider physically removing the problem bug. Try using an insecticidal soap, followed by a high pressure water rinse as your first option.  For those cases where you may need to consider using pesticides, be sure to follow the label instructions for the plants they can be used on, and for the insects that they can treat. Look for formulas that include plant-based chemicals.  Then consider timing. Use treatments when the plants are not in flower, so you don’t harm any wildlife attracted to the bloom.  You can see why it is important to include some plants native to your area to attract the beneficial insects – like the lovely ladybug – to your garden. Helpful insects can help ward off problems with a more natural approach.  Healthier Pest Management Introduce beneficial insects and encourage them to stay Wash pests away with insecticidal soap and high pressure water  Use biodegradable plant-based sprays as a backup plan Only spray plants that aren’t blooming Follow all directions to the letter Attracting beneficial insects to your yard is smart. Limiting pesticide use is smart. And keeping harmony in the garden with a constant supply of food for your bees, butterflies, and beneficials should be your goal.  Love butterflies? Start small or go all out to create a complete habitat. You’ll love this fun rewarding new hobby. Want more advice? Call our Plant Experts at 888-864-7663

One of the top questions we get asked is how to use trees and shrubs to get more privacy without making your house and yard look like a fortress. There are so many different challenges modern homeowners face, and plants can solve these problems in a beautiful way. Use plants and hardscape together to create your ultimate backyard oasis.  Do you want a fast way to completely screen out and block something ugly or a bad view? Are you a little “too close for comfort” with a nosy neighbor? Are you looking for a soft, breezy way to create a sense of separation, without sacrificing sun or sky views? Do you dream of relaxing next to a live, flowering garden wall? Are your guests being blown away by harsh winds at your backyard barbeques? Do you live on a busy street or hear non-stop noise pollution? Hardscape Fencing Versus Plant Solutions Hardscape fencing can be gorgeous and very effective at providing both privacy and wind protection. Of course, many HOAs and cities have ordinances that prohibit the height of fencing somewhere between 4 and 6 feet tall. Sometimes, the best privacy solution may be a combination of hardscape and “softscape” – which means environmentally friendly live plants. Read on for details on solutions, selection, siting and spacing. What Kind of Privacy Do You Need? Evergreen conifers and broadleaved evergreens hold on to their foliage year round. If you have a large expanse of unsightly views, such as roadways, railroads, commercial sites, or parking lots, you’ll want to use evergreens in your privacy plan to completely screen them all the time. Adding an evergreen privacy screen in this case will add value to your property! Evergreen plants display a huge amount of diversity in terms of form, shape and size – so study the Plant Highlight Facts on every product page to learn the height and “spread” (or width) of the plant. Evergreen trees provide wonderful color in cold weather. Evergreen trees are versatile and can be used as specimens, hedges, and privacy screens.  How can you actually use this? In a short period of time, look what Green Giant Arborvitae can do for your property! This planting has only been in for a little over 10 years. Even when the plants were smaller, they were trapping snow, blocking wind abd unsightly views. No pruning was done. These Green Giant were allowed to grow naturally and why not? They grow to 50 feet tall and 18 feet wide with soft sprays of bright green foliage. Now, you may want to create an effective outdoor room for summertime fun without sacrificing precious winter sunlight. In that case, use deciduous trees and shrubs, which lose their leaves in winter. These come in many varieties, and you can enjoy the added benefit of flowers which bring beautiful butterflies. For an easy way to create an incredible outdoor room, plant ornamental trees in a row closely enough so they grow together. Crabapples, Ornamental Pears or Ornamental Cherry trees all would work to do something like this. This photo shows a disease-resistant Red Jewel Crabapple. The homeowner loves the unbelievable pink bud-white flower cloud of bloom, followed by green and disease-free foliage all summer. Let’s not forget the ruby red fruits that are showy from late summer and persist all winter long. Show-stopping red fruit then feeds the migrating robins, cedar waxwings and many other birds in late winter and in the spring. Plant these along a hardscape fence, or “underplant” them with smaller shrubs to achieve a complete screen from top to bottom. Magnolias are another flowering tree that are often used as screening plants with their lower limbs allowed to fill in naturally without pruning. What a gorgeous spring flower to look forward to! Selecting the Right Plant for Height and Width Ok, this is a no brainer. When putting together your privacy plan, select trees that reach the right height to reach your screening goal when they’re full grown. But here are some expert tips you may not have considered. If you’re planting along neighboring property lines, give the plant enough leeway to reach its full width without going over into the neighbor’s yard. Please select carefully when planting under overhead power lines, or along walkways, driveways or patios. Don’t create more work for yourself! Choose the right variety that grows the right size for your space rather than having to regularly prune for size control. Check with your local city zoning ordinances as you are planning your privacy screen or hedge to ensure you meet restrictions for height and setbacks from your property line. Special restrictions will apply to corner lots and along driveways. Trust us, it’s not fun to finish installing a beautiful new living fence only to be told you have to move it back five feet from your lot line! It definitely pays to do your homework. If you have specific guidelines to follow, do yourself a favor. Choose a variety that remains under the height requirements, or you’ll give yourself a lifetime task of regular pruning. Far better to work with the right plant in the first place. Privacy for Narrow Spaces Now, let’s say you have an upstairs window that overlooks a neighbor’s master bath. (Why do builders do that?) You might choose to selectively plant for privacy to simply block that window. Filter our plant offerings by height and width (spread) to find just the right option to solve your unique privacy challenge. Modern plantsmen are now breeding columnar varieties that grow up tall, straight and skinny. You’ll also want something that grows fast, so a Theves Poplar or Leyland Cypress (which grows up to 4 feet a year!) may be a good choice for you. Sometimes you don’t have a lot of room between houses. When space is tight, nice options include Sky Pencil Holly, North Pole Arborvitae or Blue Arrow Juniper. These beauties can be planted close together every two feet on center. Measure and dig the holes with uniform spacing so the center of each hole is the same distance between plant. These super skinny plants make superior privacy screens close to your patio or home with little care or maintenance. Upright Castle Spire Holly shrubs can also be used with a seasonal prune for size control. If you are planting these in a somewhat tight space, these plants can be spaced as little as two feet up to four feet on center.  Best Trees and Shrubs for Noise Pollution Did you know that live plants absorb sound? Plants with long needles, dense branching and lots of surface area can actually absorb a lot of sound and the ability to do so increases as the plants grow.  If you live in an area with winter snow and you’ll be planting along a road or highway, be sure to choose plants that can tolerate brackish – or salty – soil. Junipers can tolerate salt. Check with your local agriculture extension office to get their opinion on trees that perform well in your area. How Far Apart Do I Plant It? Spacing Trees and Shrubs for Privacy Are you looking for privacy up close to your patio, or do you need privacy for a large open area? The amount of space you have will determine what kind of plants to use for that particular situation and the proper spacing required to get the job done.  First, look at how wide the plant you are considering using will spread. A four foot wide plant at maturity means it will grow about two feet on either side of the main stem of the plant. Split the mature width listed on our website in half to know how far apart these plants can be planted before they would touch. If you want the plants to grow together to create a solid screen, then shorten the distance between plants by a foot. Please note that you’ll also need to measure the width of the actual plants you are installing. If you buy larger plants, you’ll get a big head start on privacy, as you’ll plant them closer together when you first install them. Arborvitae are excellent plants to use for screening because they can be planted closer together without the plants ruining each other. A row of tightly spaced Arborvitae become one solid mass of soft, feathery foliage from the ground up. They are very forgiving and can be pruned along the tops of the plants which will widen out the growth a bit and thicken up the quality of the growth. Don’t Make These Mistakes When You Plant Your Privacy Fence! You may feel a little like Goldilocks as you plan your privacy fence. Don’t plant too far apart, but don’t plant too close together, either. These Norway Spruce were planted too far apart from each other 25 or 30 years ago and they never formed a privacy screen. Instead, they appear as individual plants. Sometimes people make the mistake of planting for privacy too far apart and the plants will never touch to form a screen of any kind. Then you would end up with a row of individual plants, not what you want.  Remember to carefully calculate half of the mature width to know when the plants would touch at maturity.  On the other hand, you’ll want to use care when spacing plants that you don’t overcrowd them. Give the plants enough room to “just” touch their neighbor. Planting too close together to an effort to achieve immediate privacy will lead to crowding between neighboring trees. Spruce trees planted too close together will shade each other out and cause branches to die out. Ouch! Far better to save up and spend money on buying the largest container size you can. These are older trees that have received expert care. You’ll get an immediate sense of the character of the tree and will see a big impact in your landscape. Win, win!  The Look of Uniform Privacy Fencing If you prefer a formal look, create a privacy fence of a single variety planted in a straight line, evenly spaced. A straight line of plantings can help you to maximize the space in your yard while also giving you the privacy you desire. You might choose to create a formal hedge using Boxwood, Yew or Privet which can be sheared every year. This works best on a level site.  Be warned, it’s going to take work to achieve perfection with this technique. You’ll need to prune regularly, and it doesn’t hurt to keep your fingers crossed that all the plants perform well in order to achieve a consistent look. Mixed Tree and Shrub Borders Can Be Very Effective For a more natural look, consider planting privacy trees in a slightly staggered row. These plants can also be planted a bit farther away from your home or outdoor space allowing them to attain their natural form. The space between the plants can be increased to accommodate the mature width of the plant.  Take a page out of a farmer’s windbreak by growing two rows of privacy trees. Plant fast growing trees in the back row and slower growing trees like the densely branched Spruce in the front row. When the slower growing trees reach the desired size, remove the shorter lived trees in the back row. Use larger plants in back and include both deciduous and evergreens to make an interesting mixed privacy screen and windbreak.  Don’t forget to add color, flower and wildlife appeal in your privacy plan. Mix Lilacs in the cooler climates and Crape Myrtles in the warmer climates into evergreen fences. Birch trees have that interesting peeling bark, which shows up so well against evergreens. Creating a “shrub border” mixed with privacy trees is a great way to create year-long interest in your yard – a perfect backdrop to fun outdoor activities. You’ll attract beneficial insects and birds with more diversity. This is the same principle as those ancient British “hedgerows” of mixed varieties that contained livestock and delineated property boundaries. Map out your design on paper first and use a repeating pattern for good results. Remember, plants look most natural in odd numbered clustered groups of 3, 5, 7 or 9. Look for opportunities to add interest that you’ll enjoy from your living room or deck. Tough, Effective Windbreak Trees Trying to cut down on wind?  A quick solution to reducing wind and snowdrifts would be the addition of a natural, elongated planting on the north and/or west side of your property. A double row of White Spruce worked out well to screen off a property from a north facing windy location and a highway. Live plants block winds and can act as snow fencing in colder regions. A windbreak privacy plan will protect valuable fruit trees and tender garden plants from prevailing winter winds. You’ll appreciate the extra protection inside the house, and save a little on energy costs, too! If you have recently moved into the area or to your house, call the local airport to find out the direction of your prevailing winds. It’s usually either north, northeast or northwest. Plan to place your windbreak at right-angles to the wind and typically between 40 to 80 feet away from your house for best results. Search for Privacy Trees Search for Privacy Shrubs and Hedges Give us a call with any questions. Our “Plant Ninjas” love to solve customer problems. 888-864-7663  

Unfortunately, fall is the forgotten season when it comes to planting. Big box stores usually don’t even stock plant materials in the fall except for mums or pumpkins. Garden Centers don’t want to overwinter plants, so they typically want to dump whatever is left over and picked over all season long. These retail stores want to get rid of anything and everything. Note, these may not necessarily be plants that would transplant well in the fall. Shhh…. Is Fall Planting the Best Kept Secret? We’ll spill the beans. Did you know that many plants do extremely well when planted in the fall of the year? In fact, fall is the best time of year for planting. One of the best benefits of fall planting comes from warm soils and cool air. This combination encourages newly planted plants to make lots of new roots now. When your plant develops new roots before winter comes, it’s taken a huge step to successfully establish itself in your landscape. Plants can concentrate on establishing some new roots, rather than produce blooms or fruit. Any plant installed in the fall will take off in the spring as though it had spent an entire year in the ground, not just planted in the fall. Starting a new backyard orchard or adding on to an edible landscape? Planting fruit trees in fall will give you a jump on spring flowers and you may even see some fruit next year, too. Fall planting is a “life hack” to boost production! Nature Hills is Ready for Fall Planting Season Here at Nature Hills, we have beefed up our plant production specifically timed for our fall sales. Fresh new crops of plants are ready to ship. Pro tip? It’s actually easier to plant in fall. Many times, you can benefit from plentiful rainfall and cooler temperatures. Plants are starting to shut down into their winter dormancy, so they will use less water now, too. That’s a win-win for you and your plants. Amazing Plants for Spring Blooms Flowering Cherry, Weeping Cherry, Flowering Pear, and all of our selections of Redbud will establish beautifully in the fall. They will concentrate on making new roots now. In spring, they’ll be able to produce all of those beautiful flowers with a nice strong root system.  Magnolias and Flowering Dogwood trees have incredible flowers and fleshy roots. They will work to make a lot of nice, new roots this fall too. Early spring blooming Serviceberry are slow to establish, but you can get a jump on new roots now. They’ll be so glad they had a nice cool moist season to establish. They will be much happier next spring.  There are many spring flowering shrubs too that will greatly appreciate a fall transplant as well. Don’t do any pruning on these spring flowering shrubs when you plant them this fall, because the flower buds are already growing along their stems. Check out some of the best spring flowering shrubs well suited for fall planting: Azaleas (many including reblooming varieties) PJM and Korean Rhododendrons Forsythia varieties Quince varieties Lilacs (many varieties) Camellias Korean Spice and other Viburnums Deutzia Abelia Spring Bouquet Laurustinus Fall is the Perfect Time to Divide and Transplant Plants Large clumps of perennials such as Hosta can be easily divided to give you more plants. Fall is the right time of year for this task. If you want to relocate plants to a more suitable location, now is the time. Peonies love to be moved in the fall and so do Iris and Astilbe too.  Maybe you are looking to add some new perennials to your border this fall? Our #1 containers can successfully be planted in fall. Bareroot shrubs and trees do beautifully. Follow our instructions on how to plant bare root carefully. Mulch Tips and Tricks Don’t forget to add mulch over the top of the roots of any landscape plants, perennial borders, shrub borders, and trees to protect them from extreme temperatures and moisture loss. Just remember, don’t pile the mulch up against the trunks of trees or up against the stems of shrub and perennials.   Falling leaves do not have to a pain in your back. Hang that rake up and use your mower to shred them. On your lawn, simply mow them over and continue to mow right up until the last of the leaves have fallen. Some like to shred them and add them to compost piles or use as mulch. At the Biltmore Estate they shred and save the leaves and use them as mulch around the many annuals they plant in the spring to maintain good moisture and control weeds.  Take advantage of this beautiful time of the year! Plant in fall to help your plants grow new roots to get a big jump on spring!

The goal of pruning is to improve the overall health and usefulness of a plant: Prune to correct broken or damaged branches. Prune to remove diseased portions of a plant. Prune to control the size and shape of a plant. Prune fruit trees to keep it easier to harvest the delicious fruit. Pruning by the Pros Plant materials grown by a quality grower will have been pruned correctly from the start, so you shouldn’t need to worry about corrective pruning for a while. A good example is shrubs. Plant nursery staff work to encourage branching lower to the ground, so the plants don’t have voids and aren’t "leggy". For trees, the nurseries prune for nice straight single leaders and uniform, open branching. Tree Pruning Tips After you plant your trees, you should pay attention to your plants as they grow and develop. Some corrective pruning may be necessary on trees to maintain a single central leader. As soon as you see another branch develop that is competing with the main stem, eliminate it right away. Some species of trees will grow denser with more branches and you may want to thin out a few branches to allow more wind to blow through the plant for improved air circulation. Plants that have been thinned a bit also offer less wind resistance and may be less susceptible to storm damage as they grow and mature. Pay attention to the overall shape of the tree. In many areas, trees can become windswept from the prevailing westerly winds. These winds may push branches to the east side of the plant. You may end up having to head back (or shorten up) a few of the longer branches if they develop outside of the normal length that you would like to see. Shorten up the branch by cutting it back to another branch or to another bud that will continue in its place. If your tree gets damaged from wind or snow loads, selectively remove the broken branches by cutting them back to existing branches. Trees are pretty amazing in that if a large portion of a tree does get damaged, they do amazingly enough respond by filling in that part of the tree faster than you think. Shrub Pruning Made Simple If it flowers in spring, wait to prune. Don’t prune spring blooming shrubs in fall, or you’ll cut off all the flower buds. Shrubs that bloom late winter or early spring are blooming on last year’s wood. Don’t prune them until after their flowers open, wither and turn brown next spring. If you wait for the flowers to finish and THEN prune, you will not eliminate any flowering. Some plants that you should hold off pruning including Serviceberry, Magnolia, Redbud, Flowering Quince, Forsythia, Lilacs, Wisteria, Rhododendrons, Flowering Cherries and Crabapples, and early blooming Spiraea types. Enjoy the bloom and then do any corrective pruning if necessary. There are a few shrubs which bloom on new wood and flowers will be produced in the new growth that develops in spring. Trim the Spiraea bumalda types like Goldmound, Goldflame, Froebelii, and all of the new Double Play selections back to about half way just before they start to grow. They will bloom wildly and after that set of flowers if you dead head them will bloom wildly again for you. Thin Out Old Shrubs to Bring Them Back to Life When you have a large, old shrub that isn’t flowering as well as it used to, or has outgrown its space, you may need to consider using the renewal pruning method. This method can take several years, but you’ll love the results. In year one, you’ll prune out 1/3 of your shrub. Select the oldest, fattest stems and prune them right to the ground. This is called a thinning cut. Leave the younger thinner stems to remain. In year two, you’ll select another 1/3 of your shrub to thin out. Again, select the oldest, fattest stems and prune them to the ground. Do the same in year three. Renewal pruning is an excellent way to rejuvenate the shrubs without sacrificing the flowers or the fruit. This technique works beautifully for Aronia, Cotoneaster, Red and Yellow twigged Dogwood, Ninebark, Lilacs, Viburnums, Mockorange, Weigela, and shrub Willows. All of these plants should be maintained with stems that are younger than five years old. Renewal pruning keeps the plants more juvenile, so they are less prone to disease, and produce more flowers and if the plants fruit – more fruit too. It also reduces the height and the plants are less leggy with more branches and foliage closest to the ground. Renewal pruning allows the plants to grow in their most natural form. Keep Shrubs Small with Heading Cuts Sometimes shrubs need to have some stems shortened up. This pruning method is called heading back. It is used to reduce excessive growth to keep the overall size and form of deciduous shrubs. It is important to use sharp pruning tools so the cuts on the plants are clean and smooth. Clean cuts heal fast. Use bypass hand-held pruners and cut just above a leaf or needle at 45 degree angle. Try to keep the cut parallel to the branch. You want to avoid horizontal cuts, which can hold water and lead to problems down the road. Heading back is also used for Japanese Yews and spreading Juniper types. Snipping back the longest new growth on these evergreens causes them to branch and encourages thicker new growth. Pruning Hydrangea Types Smooth hydrangeas include Annabelle and Invincibelle series. Cut these selections down to the ground each spring. Paniculata hydrangeas should be pruned back by a third in spring. For Macrophylla hydrangeas, it is best to wait to see where the plants are starting to grow and only prune out winter damaged portions. Oakleaf hydrangeas can be selectively pruned after flowering is done in spring. Cut broken or dead wood as close to the main stem as possible. Renewal prune the oldest stems to the ground. Shearing Hedges Hedges are living walls used to define an area, to screen off unsightly views, provide wildlife habitats, or even create barriers to dissuade any foot traffic. Hedges can be short or tall, sheared formal, or left untrimmed and natural no matter the size. Hedges are plants installed close enough together to allow them to touch. Each plant in the hedge will have foliage on two sides and the top. For all hedge plants, it is important to always keep the bottoms of the hedge a bit wider than the top of the hedge. Hedges that are maintained wider at the base helps to keep the foliage healthy right to the ground making a nice solid screen. Plants that are wider at the tops can become leggy and open holes across the bottom, which defeats the purpose of a hedge. Informal hedges are not sheared across the top and sides but are instead allowed to grow naturally. Lilacs make classic informal hedges in open sunny areas. Some other plants that would work well as an informal untrimmed hedge should include Weigela, Viburnums, Forsythia, Hydrangeas, Rhododendrons, and Azaleas. Formal hedges are plants that are planted close to each other and then sheared wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. Some classic hedge plants include Privet, Boxwood, Burning Bush, Holly, Distylium, and Arborvitae to name a few. These plants will need to be sheared to maintain a more formal look. Electric shears are helpful tool, but please don’t forget the fundamentals of pruning. If you only rely on electric shears, you’ll eventually have a plant with a lot of exterior bud growth, but a dead interior. Be sure to thin the interior of your plant regularly by cutting dead branches off at the ground to rejuvenate the plant. Plants need light and air, so selectively head off branches by hand all along the entire length of the hedge. Some plants like a burning bush puts on only one flush of growth in the spring and that is all they will grow that season, so they only need shearing one time. Others like Privet may need trimming several times to keep the plants looking neat and tidy. Pruning Pine Trees Use the Candle Pruning method to prune pine trees. When the spring temperatures start the pine trees to start putting on new growth, the tips of the branches elongate, and it resembles a pencil. To keep pine trees small, this new growth should be broken about in half with your fingers. Do this in spring before any green needles show on that new growth. Breaking the new growth doesn’t harm the emerging needles. It simply lets the new bud to form and shortens up the finished growth by about half for the season. Extreme Pruning Love pruning? Try your hand at “Ninja Master” level techniques, which includes Bonsai and Specialized Topiary. 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