Planting

Update on my 2021 blog post

Yesterday, on the way home I stopped by a site to check on the progress of our project. I published my post in September 2021 and on my last visit in 2023 everything looked fine. Briefly, there was a gap in a Berberis shrub and the kids would run through it and turn left to go play in the fields. However, there was a problem.

Just beyond the Berberis gap was a cedar hedge which hid the kids from view for exiting cars. The drivers wouldn’t see the kids until the last few seconds. And while I don’t recall any fatalities, there were several close calls.

Enough close calls for the strata to call for a solution.

Natural solution

I’ll be honest, this was an exciting, small project. It involved plants and saving kids’ lives. Sign me up.

Now, Berberis is widely available in local nurseries and it’s reasonably priced. I think we planted only three specimens so it wasn’t a huge hit for the strata; my labour charges were a different story.

Why Berberis? Because it’s already there making a big, mature hedge. The prickles on the plant are soft so if any of the kids decided to cheat and run through the gap, they would feel it but they wouldn’t lose any blood.

When I checked on this gap last year (2023), it looked fine. The new specimens were slower than the existing hedge so the gap was closing nicely but mainly from the top. Which was good enough for me.

Disappointment

Yesterday, on my follow-up visit, I was disappointed. Take a look and you’ll understand why.

The three specimens I planted in 2021 showed signs of being cut and trampled. The tops on both sides were also pruned back. Now, I have no idea what exactly happened. Sometimes strata management changes; and so do their wishes. Perhaps some parents wanted the gap opened up again but I doubt it. Remember the close calls with cars?

I suspect the kids frequenting the gap sabotaged the plants; and then somebody asked the current landscape contractor to prune the sides. Whatever the case, somebody ruined this project. Red Seal isn’t saving kids’ lives anymore. Too bad. I tried.

Think about your planting spots

Some planting spots are better than others. This is what I was thinking today on a visit to my client’s place. I had to remove remnants of a pruning job I did to keep mature Photinias from touching the house; and I also had to knock down some blackberries.

As you can guess, this isn’t a well-maintained landscape. The owner calls me to put out fires periodically; I wish she would pay for regular maintenance throughout the year.

Shrubs in lawn

To reach the Photinia debris I had to walk past the front lawn where one small rhododendron sat. It’s a sad-looking specimen. The reason it’s struggling is because it’s sitting in a lawn and competing with grasses for resources like water and food. Never underestimate your turf grasses.

Even if you cut out a small tree circle around the rhododendron, you will likely get no growth or very slow growth. And I’m not making it up. Even the legendary gardener Christopher Lloyd agrees on page 17 of his excellent book “The well-tempered garden“.

Sadly, this isn’t my first blog on this topic. In 2022 I published a blog about a struggling Pieris, now long gone. This poor shrub struggled with grass competition and lawn care machine abuse. It never had a chance without a circle cut out to warn workers to stay away.

Trees in plastic turf

Next door to my client lives a homeowner with three Chinese windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei). Two are planted in beds and doing fine; one sits in plastic turf! I’m not kidding. It looked all brown a sad with only a hint of green this past summer. Today I found it beheaded with only a “joystick” left.

Why the difference? Well, water falling on the turf runs off and in summer the plastic heats up. That’s why soccer fields are watered down in summer; and why pet owners do the same. A palm standing in plastic turf gets cooked; and surface roots can’t find the resources they need under plastic, assuming they are alive . It’s a terrible idea.

Conclusion

Choose your planting spots well before installing trees and shrubs. Plants struggle to survive in lawns and plastic turf. Now you know.

Water is the key

It’s pretty sad but I have to say it, newly planted cedars (Thuja occidentalis) require frequent watering after planting. That’s the only way they can establish and thrive. And it sounds so simple and obvious you could be forgiven for thinking I’m wasting your time with this blog post.

And yet, it happens over and over. Every season I’m sent in to catalog and remove dead cedars from multi-family (strata) sites. Then, once the rejects are hauled off to the dump and turned into soil, I visit nurseries to buy new specimens. More time, more labour and more money.

Then comes the hole digging and planting. Obviously, not every site is easy to dig up so the labour involved in this step can be huge. Also, Red Seal Vas doesn’t come cheap but this isn’t about me. I want you to think about watering.

Proper planting

Every time cedars I planted die, I second-guess my planting technique. I always remove burlap before planting but people don’t like that because it voids nursery return agreements. Potted cedars are easier but you still have check the roots, planting depth and water each tree in properly.

Once I’m done, I beg the owners to please water the cedars. After all, you wouldn’t breast feed your baby for just a few days. My wife breast fed for years. Unfortunately, people are busy. And it shows when I show up on site months later.

Night and day

It’s clear what happened here and, shockingly, this is the owner’s patio where they play with their kids and legally smoke copious amounts of marijuana.

Other people on the same site try harder. These specimens look decent so obviously they listened to me. This gives me some hope and stops me from second-guessing my planting technique. It was always about proper, frequent watering. Young cedars are thirsty so water them for at least one year. But don’t drown them. If you’re not sure about moisture levels, stick your finger in the planting hole.

Conclusion

Water your newly planted cedars well and frequently!