Are you looking for an experienced landscaper, one who will upgrade your yard’s looks at affordable rates? Then look no further. The Landscape Expert will sort your needs. With over two decades of experience, the Orange County, CA-based landscaping company has the required expertise to transform your outdoor space with any landscaping idea, including the use of hedges and plants to beautify your home. Our landscapers can work with you from the planning stage of your project to its execution, and ensure that you get free advice on maintaining your hedges and plants or any other project.
Why Landscaping is Important for You
The art and science of topography improvement by professionals or DIY homeowners is called landscaping. Landscaping also covers design walkways, gates, fences, and lighting. A landscaper will undertake the preparation and propagation of yards, lawns, and gardens. They also formulate the best visage using plants and hedges and transform them into havens of tranquility.
To landscape or to attempt a topographical transformation on your own is a massive undertaking even with professional help. It requires detailed research, intense labor, and subsequently a lot of investment. However, the input of a landscaping expert helps to bring your design and vision to its final functionality. The experts consider several factors like irrigation, sunlight direction, and the space available beforehand. This will allow you to avoid the problems that are brought about by stalled landscaping projects. Planning is crucial for successful landscaping, and the initial thing is to take measurements or photographs of everything that is detailed in your design.
How to Take Care of Plants
Summer in Southern California comes with intense heat that is tough on garden plants and hedges. The plants must be watered first thing in the morning and mulched to conserve moisture. Ensure deep watering or drenching at least after every fortnight. Consider using garden hose pipes to help saturate the grounds around trees with a water depth of 3 feet. On the other hand, flowers and hedge bushes should be drenched with at least 1 foot of water to ensure that their roots have sufficient water and mineral supply.
Mulching will maintain the moisture content at the base of shrubs, bushes, and younger trees. Find out from a landscape designer near you on the best material for mulching your plants, and how much of it should be used. Furthermore, to supplement plant nutrition, use fertilizers but ensure you apply the correct amount or blend. This is because different types of plants and hedges require specific combinations of fertilizer. For Instance, rose bushes thrive on fertilizer that helps them to flower while slow release types will be more suitable for potted and container plants.
Which Plants Are Suitable for Your Garden?
There are a few essential things that you need to look at when deciding on the types of plants to have in your garden. These factors include the changing weather or climatic conditions and the water or fertilizer suitability of each kind of grass, tree, hedge, or shrub. You have to know about the native species and ensure that the chosen plant species adapt well in its environment. Some species may even contain edibles fruits or leaves, and only an expert can blend them with the inedible species.
With the rising number of lifestyle diseases, everyone has to be cautious about the food they are taking. Hence, most people are opting for keeping a garden with edibles. To bypass prolonged refrigeration and puts your garden into good use, the choice of the plant must be suitable for a Southern California garden. Some of the plant species that double up as landscape plants include:
Lettuce
It is easy to grow and can be done in a container. It perfectly blends in with your flowers and shrubs. Lettuce is appropriate during fall and spring. Although there is a summer variety in Southern California, most users term it as undoubtedly bitter. Your landscaper should advise you on which type is heat-tolerant and how to water it.
Basil and Fennel
The plants can either be grown in your garden, flower pots, or windowsills. They create the effect that they’re part of the natural design of foliage. Tufts of basil and strands of fennel can be used to add flavor to food, which is advantageous to you especially if you don’t prefer the usual supermarket versions of food flavors.
Blueberries
Their bushes produce delicious fruit while sprucing up your landscape. They are a bit tricky to grow especially in low acid soils. You can consult your local landscaper to learn how to improve your gardens soil ph. levels to support the proper growth of berries.
Sage and Artichoke
Artichoke is a vegetable of great beauty and ornamental value to your landscaped garden. Additionally, sage is a perennial Mediterranean sprig that resembles a mound. Their gray leaves sprout, making it one of the perfect edible plant in your Southern California garden. They blend in well on grassy lawns or containers and look marvelous in your hanging pots.
Spinach and Radishes
These will tolerate the shade of flower bushes and trees already in your garden and are suitable for the moisture and sunlight associated with most gardens. This is a crucial factor as some others may require more than six hours of direct sunshine to integrate correctly. The moisture content can be regulated during the hot and dry period through mulching, while regular watering will prevent the plant from dehydration.
Carrots and Beets
Carrots and beets flourish best in soft, moist, and level ground. You can incorporate them into your flower beds and plant nurseries. According to experts, you should grow all your subterranean vegetables in the midst of your blooming flowers when they are still small.
Landscaping with Hedges
People have always used hedges to enclose farmland and protect their animals. Some ancient hedges are still in existence after hundreds of years in Europe, and the word ‘hedge’ appears in old English loosely translating from German and Dutch meaning ‘enclosure’. Hedges help to increase your privacy, demarcate land and add sophistication to an open space. A hedge has many advantages over wooden, brick, or metal fences.
A hedge is a wall consisting of plants; some are used for decoration and others have more specific functions. For security as a perimeter, the hedge is usually dense with mostly spiky leaves or thorns while décor ones come in many shapes and sizes. Not only is a hedge part of your landscaping as topiary, but also forms as a windbreaker. Additionally, the hedges help to keep pets within and pests outside your perimeter.
Plants to Use for Your Hedge
Hedges consist of one plant species or a combination of many. Talk to your landscaper and get insight into the best hedge bushes or trees depending on the soil composition, climatic condition, and location of your property. You should be careful when selecting hedge plants as some are perennial while others annual. Though annual plants are more colorful, they’re temporary and may leave gaps in your hedge if they aren’t properly integrated with perennials.
When trimming the bushes, make the top narrower than the base to get a perfect pattern. Make a shape like the inverted keystone. This way, the bottom parts of the shrub get sufficient sunlight that allows it to thicken as it grows.
Types of Deciduous and Evergreen Hedge Trees or Bushes
Deciduous hedges shed their leaves annually. Below are examples of these kinds of hedges alongside being evergreen.
Conifer or Yew (Taxus Baccata)
This is an evergreen, poisonous shrub that bears needles and survives in shaded areas. They should not be grown near habitation areas due to the danger they pose to children. Yew grows fairly slowly; but if well taken care of, they can make a beautiful penetrable wall with massive thorns to repulse invaders.
Carolina Cherry
It thrives in arid climates and can be propagated as a shrub or a small tree. It provides excellent wind and noise protection. Its conical shape and upright stature make it fit for a perimeter barrier. The Carolina cherry requires minimal tending or watering but needs constant shearing to maintain the shape.
Mountain or Portuguese Laurel (Kalmia Latifolia)
This hedge plant is late spring or early summer bloomer that requires less water. Mountain Laurel requires minimal or no trimming to help it maintain its extensive shade. The hedge plant variety with pink flowers is more popular for homeowners who want to beautify their surroundings.
Podocarpus
Podocarpus are drought resistant hedges and are best fit for privacy. They need constant trimming to help regulate their growth. The hedge plant can be shaped into different shade shapes.
Japanese or English Holly (Ilex Crenata Convexa)
Holly is one of Southern California's favorite hedge plants. It is hot and cold tolerant with green leaves throughout the seasons. The English variety has prickly leaves for both security and aesthetics; cultivars, too, are available to meet your height requirements.
Boxwood Shrubs (Buxus Sempervirens)
These quintessential plants fit best on bordering gravel paths. The plant can survive in almost every homestead since most herbivores cannot feed on it. It is easy to shape, and its users can attest its elemental value in garden design.
Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacus)
This plant flourishes all year round. It has deep pink flowers with a prominent stamen that helps it maintain continuity in the overall garden bloom. This is due to its late summer and early fall flowering stage.
American Arborvitae (Thuja Occidentalis Smaragd)
This plant is mostly used as a privacy screen and wind protection due to its dense growth. They come in different sizes and types, making them applicable in different settings. For instance, the Green Giant Arborvitae fits best in large spaces due to its flourishing potential.
Other suitable hedge and hedgerow trees or bushes include:
- Forsythia (Forsythia X Intermedia)
- Canadian hemlock (Tsuga Canaedensis)
- Azaleas (Stewartstonian Azalea)
- Privet (Ligustrum Vulgare)
- Lilacs (Syringa)
- Barberry (Barberis Thunbergii)
Edible Trees of Southern California
There is a variety of trees that produce edible fruits and nuts for both home and commercial use. These plants must be planted in places where their falling fruit or wide branches don’t interfere with people and property. Also, consider the fact that some adult tree roots also spread deep and wide to the detriment of structures and buildings. A landscape designer will recommend the right seedlings or deliver suitable trees. Some of these will have their roots in burlap sacking or balled up, while others might have theirs left clean and bare.
Tree-Lings with Burlapped and Balled Roots
This is a standard method of packing dormant winter trees. The roots or placing in burlap is done to larger trees after having been uprooted from the ground directly. These young trees, with their branches tied up for damage control during transportation, are more susceptible to success in southern California.
Shrubs and Trees with Bare Roots
In late winter, most trees that are transported will be in their dormant period and have their roots cleaned. Except for those that are evergreen, the deciduous trees would have shed their leaves. In their annual dormancy, the trees have their roots wrapped in shredded paper or moss to prevent dryness.
A Shade with a Treat
Living in southern California, a fruit tree in your garden will give you cool shade during summer, juicy fruits in autumn, and put out a beautiful flower bloom in spring. Some types of fruit trees that are bound to suit your landscaping needs are persimmon, avocado, Meyer lemon, fig tree, and grapefruit.
Find an Expert Orange County Landscaper Near Me
Sometimes, the southern California weather is hot with dry winds, and other times, the region experiences Mediterranean-like climatic conditions. For home entries, walkways, and backyards that suit the weather changes and offer a people-friendly visage, hedges and plants are paramount. Still, you need an expert landscaper to help you in selecting the best plants or hedges to use from the many varieties available. If you are based in Orange County, we invite you to contact The Landscape Expert by calling 741-855-3479 if you want to know more about using hedges and plants for your landscape.
