Beautiful flowering trees. They pick up your spirits, bring a smile to your face and convince you that better days lay ahead. This White Princess Dogwood, in full bloom, truly is a royal majestic site to see!
Part of the landscape design process is knowing how trees and shrubs grow, and what they will look like during each season. This walkway is gorgeous throughout the year.
Our maintenance team was glad to be working at this home today.
Spring has Sprung! Adam, our Dir. of Maintenance, took these photos and said “I just love those colors. The white flowers almost look like cotton plants and the blue siding of the house+ the stone and the grey sky.” Landfare Ltd built the fireplace w/TV mounted on it, perfect for spring evenings. #spring2022 #customlandscape
For this home, we added climbing hydrangea to the chimney to create a balance between the tree to the right and the lower landscaping details. Although the hydrangea was not in bloom at the point this photo was taken, it will feature large, fragrant clusters of white flowers that bloom in late spring and summer against a backdrop of dark green, heart-shaped foliage. These vines climb columns, trees, and other supporting structures. A climbing hydrangea plant grows 30 to 80 feet tall, but it tolerates pruning to shorter heights.
Long-lasting and vibrant landscape design requires trees, shrubs and plants that not only work well together but can thrive in our climate. Some of our favorite ornamental trees are in the magnolia family.
Generally, they bloom in the spring and create a torrent of color – a very welcome sight after a midwest winter. The blooms are white or pink and though they look delicate, they are very hardy. Saucer magnolia is quite common and always a great selection. The flowers on the star magnolia are white and they do look like stars!
When selecting any tree, it’s critical to consider its location – the growth both in height and width impact overall landscape design.
If you love the sound of birds singing and enjoy sightings of cardinals, gold finches and robins in your backyard, there are trees and shrubs that will attract them through every season. We suggest trees that will enhance the landscape design and offer shelter and food for native birds. Some of our favorites at Landfare Ltd. include:
Flowering Dogwood
This ornamental tree is popular in Central Ohio because it blooms white, pink or red flowers in the spring – always a welcome sight after a cold winter. In fall, their scarlet berries attract robins, bluebirds, thrushes, cardinals and many other species of bird.
Crabapples
These medium sized trees have beautiful spring blossoms but it is their fall fruits that are winter-persistent that make birds sing! There are several varieties available, with some bearing fruit as small as 1/4″ round, which makes the easy for robins, bluebirds, cardinals, finches and other birds to easily eat.
Northern Bayberry Shrub
A semi-evergreen shrub, the Northern Bayberry is known for its fragrant, waxy, silver-gray berries that stay on the shrub throughout the year. Tree swallows and bluebirds love the fruit and often will nest in the shrub.
Staghorn Sumac
This shrub is most beautiful in the fall when it shows brilliant red foliage. That’s also when its winter persistent fruit ripens, attracting robins, bluebirds, cardinals, chickadees and starlings.
Unless you have a very large lot where trees can be planted far from your entertaining and service areas, we do suggest avoid planting any Mulberry trees. While they are lovely and birds certainly do enjoy their summer fruit, they among the messier trees, with berries staining whatever they fall on.
Creating a landscape sanctuary for you and native birds is part of the process we work through at Landfare Ltd.
While they may look innocent enough, maybe even beautiful, plants that have been labeled invasive by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) will take over your landscape. A new list of invasive plants was released November 30, 2017, and it is now illegal to sell those plants anywhere in Ohio. While most nurseries do not sell invasives, there may be some who still have them in inventory. Buyer beware!
These plants not only crowd out other plants, they can actually change the ecosystem in landscapes, around rivers and in woods. They takeover and choke other plantings that are important for birds and wildlife. Be aware that management of these invasive species is difficult and complex; obtain more detailed information before using controls such as herbicides.
Landfare Ltd. designers and crews are well-educated about the plants we incorporate in our landscape designs. Recently a new list of 38 invasive plants was announced. Our clients can be assured we do not use these plants in our designs. We want our clients and friends to know which plants they should never purchase and, if found in their landscape, should contact a professional to properly manage the invasive plants.
This issue was featured in a January 2018 article in The Columbus Dispatch – read it here.
List of top ten invasive plants in Ohio on the ODNR website (includes photos of each).
See the list of 38 invasive plants on the Ohio Invasive Plant Council website.
