Evergreen Tree & Evergreen Shrubs for home landscape …

Use Landscape Evergreen Trees and Shrubs in your yard for year round color and interest. Unlike annuals and perennials, the landscape evergreens, also know as conifers, evergreen shrubs or evergreen trees, retain their foliage or needles year round. Rhododendrons and some Azaleas are considered to be evergreen shrubs also because they retain their leaves during the winter. Landscape evergreen trees and evergreen shrubs require very little care after they are established. As with all plants extra care and attention to watering evergreen trees and shrubs in the first year of planting is essential. Evergreen trees live for mulch. Well aged bark, peat moss and or pine straw are excellent mulches for all conifers. Maine evergreen trees that produce large decorative cones: Pine cones are most well known. White Pine produces the long cylindrical cones that often will have a "sugar" coating on them. The "sugar" is tree sap somewhat hardened. Austrian Pine cones are large but more compact than white pine and very solid. Their shape is more triangular with a wide base. Muhgo and Red Pine have cones similar in look to the Austrian but theirs will be about half the size and weight. White and Black Spruce have small but still usable size cones. The real prize cones are found on the large Colorado spruces. Spruce cones are more papery feeling than Pine and lighter in color. They are similar in shape to white pine but more round at the tip and wider at the base. Evergreen cones will close up when wet. Allowed to dry most will reopen fully. Here, in Blue Hill, Maine many Rhododendrons and some Azaleas are considered tender evergreen shrubs also because they retain some of their foliage over winter. But our focus is on the hardy evergreen trees and evergreen shrubs that are so at home in the cold north.

Dwarf and miniature landscape evergreens are an excellent choice for home landscaping projects. Very little trimming is needed for miniature or dwarf evergreens. They fit into today's more compact yards easily and they can be combined in their own endless mix of color and texture. There are enough cultivars available now that person could have a bed of all dwarf blue conifers or all gold. Dwarf conifers are the ideal choice to use in a bed that will be seen from inside your home. They are also ideal to use as foundation plantings if acquired at a large enough size to be seen. While the dwarf evergreens start out very small and slow they won't usually overgrow their allotted space.

Unlike annuals or perennials, landscape evergreens will be there for you year round. Once established evergreen trees and shrubs need little maintenance. They provide shade that inhibits the growth of weeds. In spring the colorful new growth on evergreen trees and evergreen shrubs is a delight. Often a lighter shade of color the new growth lends a bi-tone effect to plants. As new growth hardens off the shrubs become one solid color again. Except for those that are actually bi-tones like the Snowtip Cedar. In Summer and Fall the dark green conifers are a lush backdrop for bright colored annuals and perennials. And what would winter be without a dusting of snow shown off on a rich green backdrop of evergreen shapes?

In our garden we have also used evergreen trees as hedges to outline the space, block the wind and road noises and provide privacy. One of the pleasant side effects of these evergreen hedges has been an increase in small song bird population in the garden.

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Evergreen Tree & Evergreen Shrubs for home landscape ...