Reduce Your Pruning!

Written by Jungle Jim

I have been writing about landscape design over the last few weeks. As I write I try to describe what techniques I use when I design and common mistakes I see while driving around and visiting gardens. Too often these mistakes make for more work than necessary in the garden.

The layered look that creates “negative space” in graphic design is an important part of my goals when designing gardens. One of the ways I do this is by giving plants enough space to grow. Remember that these three things will make your plants grow larger than anticipated: plant health, our long growing season, and time.

This means that the size stated in the literature or even on our signs often is too small. You need to give plants enough space to fill out. This is especially true at the edge of a planting bed or next to contrasting plants. If you plant too close to a lawn or walkway you will eventually have to prune and may even be tempted to hedge. As I have mentioned in my conversations about Natural Pruning and Horti-torture, hedging often causes a complete change in the character of the plants and stops them from blooming.

The biggest problem I often see is, for example, a three foot wide planter bed with three foot plants that will fill the planter from the ground up. You HAVE to give them more room!

Keep in mind that if a plant grows four foot across and four foot tall you need to plant at least three feet from a lawn or walkway. If a plant tends to grow wider than it will tall you need to give them even more room.

Creating an easy-maintenance garden starts with reducing pruning and an easy way of weed control. Layered design and giving plants enough space will reduce pruning. In my next blog I will write about making weed control simple. Correcting these two aspects in your yard will help you save time, money and effort while allowing your garden to grow to its best potential.

Happy Gardening,

Jungle Jim