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Yes, winter weather can be a challenge for West Coast landscapers but I love winter because I have time to take care of details. Once spring hits, the days get longer and busier and all of a sudden it’s hard to stop for minor adjustments.

Landscape editing

Rescued Rhodos

Just this past week as my helper and I were searching for missed corners, I discovered two Rhododendrons under the foliage of Viburnum tinus and Abelia x grandiflora. Now what? You can prune both shrubs to expose the rhododendrons or you can move the rhodos. I chose to move the Rhododendrons because the shrubs will grow back eventually. So be brave and edit your gardens and landscapes as required.

Both Rhododendrons were stuck by the fence in the far right corner. They will have more light in their new location; and we covered up dead space in the landscape.

Shuffled entrance plants

This is the after shot so it looks normal. Where the triangle is now, the back Nandina domestica was squeezed in between the Pieris japonica and the Rhodo. So I moved the heavenly bamboo shrub back a little to create much-needed plant separation.

Where the star is now, there were Rhododendron branches covering up the Pieris japonica on the right. So I snipped a few branches off the Rhodendron to create more plant separation. And the Rhododendron still looks normal.

Nandina

This Nandina domestica was very leggy, not the bushy little shrub we want. It was also jammed right against a Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) hedge. We already know that Nandina domestica doesn’t regrow from pruning points. It’s best to flush cut it and let it regrow. So we have a little experiment here.

If it regrows, it will match its bushy cousins nearby. And if it doesn’t, well, then the Ilex crenata hedge will thank us. Either way, don’t be afraid to edit your gardens and landscapes.

Many strata complexes look great when they are first installed but over time, as plants mature, we can’t forget about plant separation. Often, complete editing is required. We move what we can. Some plants go missing altogether.

Have some fun with your landscape editing.

Winter is perfect for checking your deciduous trees. Since the leaves are gone you can clearly see the branches. Ideally, you can do this work annually, making a few cuts each season. This should leave you with healthy, good-looking trees you know well.

No man’s land

Some strata sites have out-of-the-way semi wild zones that don’t get regular maintenance. Normally the idea is not to discriminate and, instead, attend to all areas equally. But on large complexes that’s not easy to accomplish. So some areas away from the beauty strip get slightly short-changed.

This, then, was my mission. Taking advantage of the slower winter season I got to attack one of these wild zones. I will cover the maintenance work in a future blog post. Here I wish to mention a tree I ran into.

Since time was short, I did the obvious work in just a few minutes:

I removed stubs, dead branches and one crossing and rubbing branch which also reached into the road.

Stubs

These are ugly cuts. Don’t forget to make your cuts at the branch collar so the tree can cover up the wound. Otherwise the stubs eventually die, like the smaller one visible in the back.

Much better, no stub, and the tree can heal itself.

Dead branches

Dead branches are dead so they are to be eliminated as soon as possible. They will most likely break off anyway.

Crossing branches

The branch with the pointer is a good candidate for removal because it crosses through other branches where it rubs; and it’s growing into the street where it’s likely to interfere with delivery trucks.

The final product

This is the final product with ugly stubs removed, dead branches gone and one crossing and rubbing branch that interfered with local traffic eliminated. And it took me a few minutes with my Japanese hand saw.

Is the tree perfect? No, far from it but why stress? I will be back in twelve months to do more work on it.

And if you need help with your trees, call Proper Landscaping. You can also learn more about tree maintenance from my inexpensive Kindle e-book. Landscape Tree Miantenance by Vas Sladek. Please leave a review.

Fall is a perfect time for landscape projects like soil and river rock installs. Take today for example. My whole day just flew by and it was nice and sunny. I remember these days when snow starts falling in winter. Let’s take a look at my day.

River rock

This was actually round two for river rock installs at this particular strata complex. Round one involved removing a weak lawn. It was basically a dog patch and the smell in summer was overwhelming. So I removed it and installed river rock.

Round two involved removing Vinca major (periwinkle), which is now considered invasive, and replacing it with 2″-6″ river rock. I like these permanent solutions. I wouldn’t be surprised if next year there will be round three.

Once the periwinkle was removed I dug deeper and cut a few selected roots off the two poplars. Since the soil was fine I disposed of it on site in the back wild zone.

Since efficiency is important, I moved my truck as close as I could to the bed and went at it. The entire load was 1.5 yards of 2″-6″ river rock; tax included $78.

There is one important step you have to take before you pack it in. Find a hose and wash off the river rock. Leaving it all sandy would detract from your finished look. I had to find hoses and outlets which was annoying but well worth the effort. Also hose off the curb.

Remove some soil so the river rock is nicely anchored.

Take the time to hose off the sandy river rock.

All done!

Aged mulch install

Next I moved to the front entrance. The main strip bed has newly planted trees and shrubs but the soil didn’t look great. So I installed two yards of aged mulch at $80 tax included. It gives this high-profile bed an instant new look. It will settle eventually but I love the fluffy look. It’s money well spent.

Aged mulch purchased literally two blocks away.

All done. Note clean edges.

Cool down

I wasn’t done yet. My end of the day ‘cool down’ involved one unwanted Thuja plicata tree. I hate removing perfectly healthy trees but I had to complete all work listed in the strata quote. That way the boss can send out his invoice.

Some days click perfectly and the hours fly by. This was one of those days. And I hope there are many more.

Fall is a great time for landscape projects like soil and river rock installs. What can you change about your property?