Landscaping

Design Under Your Backyard Trees

Design under your backyard trees without the extra cash to afford such things as designer landscaping bricks or other pre-made landscaping elements, I turned my attention to the resources of the internet for some inexpensive do-it-yourself ideas. I found some incredibly interesting and unique tree landscaping ideas that nearly anyone can do for little to no money at all. As a matter of fact, there were so many great ideas that I had to share these creative tree landscaping ideas with you. If you also are looking to “spruce” up the landscaping around the trees in your yard, check out these examples of outside-of-the-box solutions.

Plant it, it will grow

You may have a wild, free, and untamed approach to your floral landscaping for around your tree. There are many unique designs that can be created with color, height, and season when dealing with shade loving plants and flowers.

To get the most out of the landscaping, it pays to make sure that many of the plants that are prosperous in these types of areas are perennial varieties. This will ensure a yearly re-occurring landscaping element to which you can add your choice of annuals each year.

Many ferns have evolved to live in the forest understory, where they receive very little light and have to tolerate the poor soil beneath the canopy of trees. For such hardy forest plants, thriving in the area around a tree is no problem. The hard fern or Blechnum spicant is particularly desirable for this purpose. It is an evergreen fern and many strains are cold hardy. It has rich, green fronds and grows well in many soil conditions. The giant Dryopteris filix, or male fern, is another choice which will thrive in the shade beneath the most dense foliage.

Picnic Spot

The shade of a tree is an ideal place to hold a summer picnic. Landscape to create an ideal picnic spot without impeding the flow of water by building a patio around its base. Create a broad stone border around the base of the tree and fill in the area with gravel. Add a picnic table and any other pieces of outdoor furniture you desire. Install a grill, a small firepit of both at a distance from the base of the tree. You will have a fine spot for afternoon barbecues and evening campfires.

Stumps

As for dead stumps instead of trying to chip them out, use them as decoration, stools, or checker boards.

Then Sit On It

Creating a beautiful space around the base of a tree can not only create a pleasant look, but it may also provide you and your family with an extra gathering area to sit and enjoy the pleasant outdoor weather. The cost of this type of landscaping solution can vary depending on from where you obtain the building materials. Lumberyards and do-it-yourself centers are great resources for purchasing brand new materials. For those who are in search of a cost-free solution, it is possible to use boards that are left over from other projects or are re-purposed if they are in good condition.

Benches can be shaped and formed to enhance the beauty and natural flow of a landscape without compromising the natural beauty of the greenery. If a wooden bench is not what you are looking for, check out these metal alternatives. These weather resistant benches are both beautiful and durable. Unfortunately for the population who do not dabble in metalworking, these benches often carry a heavy price tag.

A more economical approach is to use more of the materials that are found naturally around your property such as sticks and stones. There are endless possibilities for creating your very own seating element for around your trees when considering bench ideas. But, if a bench is not what you are looking for, perhaps a more floral solution is the answer.

Enter the Magical World of Tree Fairies or Gnomes

Creating a home for these illusive creatures can add a mystical and decorative element to the base of trees without the need for live plants. This type of tree decorating is even effective long into the throws of winter in many cases. There are no limits to the amount of fairy dwellings or accessories that you can introduce to this type of magical landscape. Whether they are handmade, or store bought, these tiny little homes bring a smile to visitor’s faces while creating a unique and fun landscape element for around your trees.

 

Regardless of whether you choose to add the comforts of a wood or metal bench, the beauty of flowers or greenery, or the fun and whimsical elements of a fairy village, these elements will entice your visitors into your garden to take a stroll among your trees and share in the enjoyment of your labor of love.

Garden Pests

Cedar Apple Rust Disease

There are several cedar-rust diseases that spend part of their life cycle on Eastern red cedar and other junipers, and another part of their life cycle on apple, hawthorn, and other members of the rose family. Both hosts are required for the fungus to complete its life cycle.

DISEASE CYCLE

The rust organism spends one full year of its life cycle on junipers. During the second spring, usually around the time crabapples are in bloom, the galls become rain soaked and swell, producing jelly-like tendrils (spore horns) that project out of the galls. As the spore horns begin to dry, the spores are released and carried by the wind to young, newly developing leaves of apples and other susceptible plants. Dispersal of spores can range up to 5 miles from a juniper but most infections develop within several hundred feet. About a month after crabapples have bloomed, the spores are exhausted and most leaves are no longer susceptible. Ten-to-14-days from initial infection, small yellow spots can be seen on upper surfaces of infected leaves. Several weeks later, the fungus appears as orange or brown spots with hairlike appendages on the underside of the leaf. In late summer, the rust spots release the spores and are carried to nearby junipers.

Orange jelly galls on Junipers

Rust spots on apple leaves

Cedar-apple rust is the most common of the three fungal rust diseases and attacks susceptible cultivars of apples and crabapples. It infects the leaves, fruit, and, occasionally, young twigs. The alternate host plant, Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), is necessary for the survival of the fungus. Spores produced on rose family plants only infect juniper plants, and those originating on the evergreen host only infect rose family plants. Repeated infections of cedar-apple rust can be unsightly and seriously weaken and destroy the ornamental value and health of susceptible plants.

 

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Cultural Control
Because this disease requires two hosts, the separation of the hosts for a distance of one mile will help reduce infection. Ideally, to minimize disease host availability, plant trees and shrubs that are resistant to rust diseases. There are many apples, crabapples, hawthorns, and junipers that exhibit resistance to these diseases.

Chemical Control
Protective fungicides can be applied to help minimize infection. A minimum of three applications should be done. These applications protect the new leaves from spores that are dispersed from the juniper host in mid-spring. Spraying apple and crabapple foliage after symptoms develop has no controlling effect.

Apples and Crabapples: Begin spraying when new growth appears and flower buds show color but are not yet open. Repeat three to four times at 10 to 14 day intervals.

Tree and evergreen pests

Browning Needles in Evergreens

A few spruce trees and other evergreens are showing some browning needles. Needles behind the new growth and truck will shed, this is natural.  With the unseasonable drought, heat, wet, and cold that we have experienced over the past several years, many of the evergreens especially blue spruce and firs.

Needle drop can exhibit several problems caused by weather, environmental problems, insects, and diseases. There are many noninfectious problems that can mimic diseases. A few possibilities include an imbalance in soil pH, poor fertility, fertilizer or chemical burn, root injury, and drought stress. I think the main cause is not watering the tree right before soil freeze. Later, browning occurs from some diseases on the blue spruce include the Cytospora canker and Rhizosphaera needle cast. It could also be mite damage. The mites are spider-like creatures that suck the sap from spruce needles, so that when viewed under magnification, the needles appear speckled with yellow flecks. You can scout for mites by shaking a symptomatic branch over a white sheet of paper and then looking for tiny, moving dots (mites).

It is important to correctly identify the issue causing the branch die-back before proceeding with any solution. I am going to suggest if you want to, bring a sample down to the office for identification or any other problems you may be having.