Tip #3 The Money Shot
Do you believe that an evergreen garden means no maintenance because you don’t have to rake leaves? Guess again little grasshopper. The most interesting and easiest gardens are ones that have a variety of evergreen and deciduous. If the plants are spaced correctly and layered with tall plants in the back and short plants in the front (exceptions are permitted) then the leaves and needles can fall and remain to be composted right there in the bed. The lower plants in front skirt the mulch you may not want to see. It’s the plant’s way of protecting and feeding itself.
We have clients who request evergreen gardens and we have learned not to drop our jaw nor furrow a brow.
*Conifers drop their needles, drip sap or scatter cones. The Dwarf White Pine begs to be preened of its old brown needles every spring. Some conifers decorate the neighborhood with yellow pollen.
*Evergreen grasses look so much better if the old blades are combed out yearly.
*Evergreen ferns need annual hair cuts.
*Broadleaf evergreens drop their leaves, but just not all at once.
