Kansas City Landscaping and Lawn Care Ideas

1. Allegheny Viburnum (Viburnum rhytidophylloides ‘Allegheny’)

This plant works great when you need a large shrub to add structure to the back of a bed or as a screen in the back yard.  it is not tidy enough to be used as a specimen plant or in any highlighted position With care it can grow to 12 feet tall in less than 5 years.  I have several planted as a screen against a shed in my backyard and I have pushed them hard – but they are over 15 feet tall in just 5 years. 

The shrub has thick 6” leaves that are thickly textured and beautifully colored.    It has a surprising delicate white flower that persists for Most of May and then ripen into bright red fruits by October.  I call it semi-evergreen because about 1/2 the leaves stay attached for most of the Winter.

This is one of my favorite plants and I recently used it in a  very fun project that turned out very well (despite the quality of the photographs).  These will grow beautiful and provide the perfect screen for this deck and offers an alternative to the overused juniper and arborvitae.  

 

2. Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana)

Magnolias often come and go as peoples favorite plants.  However, this one has and always will be my  favorite for planting in Kansas City landscapes.  It is better suited than many for our zone and grows luxuriously well.  My favorite form is when it is grown as a multi-stemmed shrub.  It has a striking upward growing habit that gives it a strong architectural presence and lends itself well to be a focal plant in landscape planting. 

I have two of these planted as pillars on the front corners of my house.  They have performed very well for about 4 years now and have grown taller than the roof of my raised ranch. 

3. Hardy Banana  ‘Musa Basjoo.

The Hardy Banana plant is a plant that grows VERY well in Kansas City.  I have had them growing at my house for going on 4 years and a customer has had them successfully growing for over 8 years. 

These pictures show them growing in my yard in early July.  By September they had pushed leaves higher than the roof of the porch you can see there.  That is approx 18 feet high. 

Although these look very tropical they are easily grown  even in our unpredictable KC winters.   They will die back to the ground in the winter and begin to grow again in the spring.  The more protection you give them the bigger they will get the following year because you will protect more of the plant – giving it a head start on next years growth. I try to protect several of the biggest plants so they will grow as large as possible the following Spring.  I protect them by building 4’ tall  cages around them and filling them with leaves.  This si the secret to really big plants.  However, even unprotected plants will reach 10’  

Another bonus – they reproduce madly.   You will easily triple your number of plants every year as new pups sprout around the base of the mother plant.

4. Walker’s Low Catmint (Nepeta x faassenii)

I would choose this plant as one of my all time favorite perennials to use as a llandscaper.  Not because of how showy it it or how rare it is  or for any ONE attribute.  Rather,  because it has so many very good uses and it has never let me down.

This plant has small bluish green leaves that are highly fragrant leaves that smells like mint.  The plant grows in a mound about 1 foot high and 2 feet across.  however after its first season in the bed you will not be able to tell its shape because it will have spread through runners and be taking up much more space than that.  In fact this may be the only time I would not use catmint – is if you need it to stay perfectly contained because it is so hardy and likes to spread.  The flower begins blooming in June.  If about 3 weeks later you shear off the old blooms you can easily extend its blooming into late summer.  The blooms are a pale lavender and spread across the plant like a purple mist.

It was named Perennial of the Year in 2007 for its versatility and hardiness.

5. False Indigo (Baptisia australis)

I have been in love with this plant since the first time I saw it in full bloom when driving past a very neglected garden in the middle of July.  Everything else in the garden had died including what looked like remnants of stella d’ oro’s and some poorly placed care-free roses.  I quickly took a mental note and the next time I was at my favorite nursery I bought a couple plants. 

I was not immediately impressed.  The plant just stood there for the entire season.  The next year it was about the same.  But, by the third year it had really taken off and is now one of the plants people always notice when they walk around and see that part of my garden.

Baptisia has since proved its worthiness in many designs and ahs often become a favorite plant to use in landscape designs.  It does have it quirks though.  Number one – it is a plant that you have to plant and leave it alone.  it does not transplant well once it is established in your bed because of it unique rooting structure (which is also responsible for its durability.  Secondly – I have found it is incredibly sensitive to any kind of sprays.  In my incessant meddling I am always trying things that will supercharge my plants. During one of these ‘experiments’ I was spraying a mixture of compost tea and iron on  few plant in my garden around the Baptisia – and it turned black over night – the entire plant.  The plant recovered fully – but it took a while.  I have since learned that any foliar spray will have varying degrees of the same effect.

6.  Little Henry Sweetspire (Itea Virginica)

This shrub is a great plant that fits into almost every kansas city landscape in some part.  In order for a plant to become a favorite of mine, it has to be versatile, tough and at least interesting in all season.  Sweetspire does this.  It is deciduous shrub that can grow up to 5 foot tall in a roughly globular fashion.  There is a very similar variety call Little Henry’s Sweetspire that is nearly identical – but more compact.  This shrub has two times of the year that it is a knockout.  One time is in early June when it shows off its long beautiful blooms.   It is equally beautiful in the fall when the foliage turns into a striking shade of crimson…and…the leaves persist well into mid winter.  

7. Drift Roses (Rosa ‘Meijocos’)

I will have to admit that although I hate to admit it I do love Knock Out Roses.  I was one of their first big proponents and had a bush that was kind of secretly handed to me before they were publicly being sold.  However, in the last 10 years they have become victims of their own success and are now way over planted and used in every subdivision entrance, every front yard bed and around every park sign.  Now I feel a little guilty when I  reach out for the knock-out rose once again for the customer that says they want low maintenance year-round color.  There just is not another plant that can match up in those situations – unless – you were looking for something smaller.

From the same breeders who gave us the knockout rose we now have the Drift rose.  This is essentially a groundcover rose (around 3 feet high) with all of the great benefits of the knockout rose, but in a  smaller package.  It blooms from early spring until the first frost, it is disease resistant, and it is extremely cold hardy. 

I find it works great to line a walkway with when you do not want the height offered by a knockout rose.  It can also work great planted at the edge of a rocky wall.

 

I am going to continue this list – so check back soon – or better yet sign-up here to get regular updates.

Kansas City has had a record snow storm this week. Gary Lezak reports that most areas received between 10 and 14 inches in Kansas City. Although snow can be a hassle for traveling and moving around in, it is GREAT for plants.

Not only does the snow insulate the plants crowns from widely swinging temperature extremes, it also will add important winter moisture applied slowly and evenly.

You can even help your plants out with extra moisture by choosing where you toss the snow when shoveling your walks and driveways. By piling it on flower gardens and around trees you will be giving them extra moisture. However, if you used any kind of deicer or snow melting product, be very careful as concentrating these in one area could be harmful. Here is a great article on using deicers around your plants.

About the only time snow can be damaging is if it stays around for weeks and weeks without melting it can cause some disease issues. However, in Kansas City we rarely see snow stick around for longer than a week before it melts away.

So enjoy the snow and rest well knowing that your plants are well taken care of while you enjoy them from the outside.

One of the landscaping projects I am most excited about this year is the remaking of a new clients complete backyard in Brookside.  These clients called me in April, looking to have the work done by their wedding in May.  In order to get things done in time I knew we would have to work fast to be able to schedule, plan and get everything ready.  Right now, we are on track.

The Landscaping Plan

The plan was fairly simple and drawn out on the spot since we were going to have to move fast.  Essentially, we will be removing all the existing shrubs in the back since they were not part of a cohesive plan.  New beds would be created around the perimeter of the property and then new sod would be installed.

The Plants

Here are the plants that we will be using in this landscaping project.

The Dirt

Dirt is quite a misnomer.  I don’t use dirt for many of my Kansas City Landscaping Projects.  This is 8 yards of pure compost.  Generated organically from a local yard waste recycling center.  It is the single most important thing to the the landscapes I plant not just surviving, but thriving.  This dirt will be spread out and tilled into all bed and new lawn areas.

The Removal

A lot of plants had to be removed before anything else could be accomplished.

Once all the shrubs were removed.  This is what it looked like as it filled my trailer! There is a lot of plant material in that trailer !

Moving the Dirt

Here are progress shots as the

compost is trucked around to the back.  Because of the layout of this yard, the dirt could only be moved by wheelbarrow.  10,000 – 12,000 pounds of compost was used for this project.

That was the stage 1 of the project.  Next, will be the more exciting part of preparing the beds and installing the plants.

Stay tuned

Its a purely human phenomenon – really. If you see a mistake repeated often enough then it becomes perceived not as a mistake, but as the way things should be done. This is being done in Kansas City Landscapes right now

This is the case with the dreaded Mulch Volcano. Mulch volcanoes are not a Kansas City landscaping phenomenon, they effect cities all over the US

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Despite recent public campaigns by The Johnson County Extension Office and the City of Overland Park, there are still instance found all over the city.

The above example was just yesterday ata very nice office park. I am sure that the manager of this office park paid good money to a “reputable” landscaping company to maintain their landscaping. However, what has now happened is that these trees have been forever weakened by this ignorant practice

When mulch is spread more than 2″ thick against the base of a tree several things happen — and none of the m are good. First, the mulch will hold moisture against the trunk pf the tree. This si dangerous because it encourages rotting and disease. It will also rot the bark away adding additional avenues for insects and disease to attack the flesh of the tree. Roots are also damaged by the moisture held in the mulch because they will grow upwards seeking this moisture. As they do they will begin to circle the trunk. These circling roots will eventually kill the tree byessentially strangling it.

How should trees be mulched then? Trees should be mulched 2″ – 3″ thick (about one finger deep) and all mulch should be pulled away from the trunk of the tree truck 2 or 3 inches. Think doughnut instead of volcano. How big you want the mulch ring to be is up to you. Ideally — it should extend to the drip line of the tree — but that is not always practical or aesthetically the best choice. However, a good minimum is a 6′ diameter.

Here is what a tree looks like when you peel away the mulch volcano after several years. This particular was at a new customer in Overland Park that I started working with this season. I did not pull the mulch away — it was done before he had moved in. You can see that this tree will NEVER be a beautiful specimen again and will likely die prematurely from earlier neglect.

Mulch volcanoo aftermath

Kansas City’s Lawns and Landscapes will benefit dramatically if you know how to properly water them. There is no other homeowner controlled aspect of caring for your plants more critical than proper irrigation. It is also the number one mistake I see Kansas City homeowners doing

It is essential to first understand what your plants want in an ideal world. Most of our lawns and landscapes in Kansas City will thrive on 1.5” of water per week. This can come from either rainfall or irrigation. Ideally 1.5 inches would be applied in one long and slow watering. However, in Kansas City, our clay based soils have a hard time absorbing more than ½ inch of water per hour before water begins to run off the surface so we have to water very slowly – hard for sprinklers to do – or water on multiple days in smaller amounts. Counter intuitively, we want these watering cycles to be on successive days, not spread evenly through out the week since our goal is to water deep into the ground and not to keep the surface moist.

Knowing how much water we need is the first step – the next step is knowing how to apply that water and for how long. Most homeowners will either be applying water by manual sprinklers or an automatic irrigation system. Both require you to know how much water is applied in a given amount of time by your system.

To measure the output of your sprinkler heads…

1. Set a container with straight sides (I use a butter dish) in the middle of the sprinklers path. a Turn on the sprinkler and monitor the amount of water in the container.
2. Turn off the sprinkler when the amount of water in the can has reached one inch (measure with a ruler – it can be deceiving)
3. This is how much water that sprinkler system puts out in one hour.

Now, I know most of you will not take the time to accurately measure out your sprinklers output – despite its importance. So here are some rules of thumb for determining your sprinklers output. For automatic irrigation systems – spray heads (the ones that pop up and don’t move) typically need about 45 mins to put down 1” of water and rotors (the ones that sweep back and forth) need about 2 hours. So a generic program that I suggest for my customers is designed to put down 1.5” of water spread between 3 separate watering cycles. I set it so that the lawn gets watered Monday, Tuesday and Friday. This is a good compromise of watering deeply but also making sure that the water does not run off.. I set zones with spray heads to come on for 30 mins and zones with rotors to come on for 60 mins. This is adjusted if the soil is unable to absorb this amount of water. Also, all watering should be done to supplement mother nature. If she gives us ½” of rain then you can reduce watering by that amount.

For those of us unlucky souls who do not have automatic irrigation it takes a much longer to water our lawns. Most of the typical impact sprinklers used if set on full circle put out about 1/3 of an inch per hour. Since they water slower they can be left on longer. I usually suggest you water twice a week for 2 hours before moving the sprinkler. If you are only using the sprinkler in a half circle then you can cut that in half

It is time for Kansas City Landscapers to prepare for the heat.  Weather forecasts are showing that Kansas City will soon be hitting 90 degrees for the first time this year.  This tends to be a  tipping point for the lawns and landscapes.

You can help your landscaper and lawn care service by taking care of your lawns watering needs.

New Trees or Plants

Water new trees or plants when the top 3″ of the soil dries out completely.  Water the plants slowly and deeply allowing the entire root system to become soaked.  larger plants take more time.

This is very important.  You cannot give a time to water because every soil will absorb water at a different rate.  The goal is to water the plants entire root system and then let the entire roots ystem dry out just before adding new water.

Lawns

Lawns should be water with 1″ of water per week.  This is best done with one long slow watering if your soil will absorb that much water.  Most Kansas City lawns will do just fine with one long irrigation.  Depending on the type of sprinkler being used — This may require up to 1 hour of watering.  It is best to measure the water rather than guessing.  I use a straight sided margarine tub placed int he middle of the sprinklers path to tell.

Watering is an essential part of maintaining your landscapes.   It does not have to be difficult but it does have to be consistent and done correctly.  If you have any watering questions feel free to leave a comment to this post and I would be happy o help you out.

Landscapes in Kansas City will soon be hitting the deep freeze.   Well, maybe not the deep freeze.  However even with temperatures reaching down into upper 20’s — it is important to have all the information necessary.

First of all this is not at all like the freeze of 2007 — although the dates are not that different.  The difference lies in the weather of March.  In 2007, Kansas City’s weather was unseasonably warm.  Plants were a good 3 – 4 weeks ahead of normal development.  Last year I already had Iris blooms poking up in my yard.  This year, I barely have leaves coming through last falls leaves.  Freezing temperatures this weekend will only be a slight problem for landscapers and homeowners in Kansas City.

Different plants will need different amounts of care this weekend.

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The stage has been set for a fantastic year of growing grass in Kansas City. The mildwinter temperatures have been ideal for the fescue and bluegrass lawns in Kansas City. Soil temperatures have stayed mild and precipitation has been adequate to allow the grass to grow roots through the winter. With the right care this spring and summer, your lawn could look its best ever. Through my experience, I see certain mistakes repeated each year and regretted by Kansas City gardeners.

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FERTILIZING KANSAS CITY LAWNS

Managing the fertility of your lawn can be deceptively complex.

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Water — the life blood for trees, flowers and shrubs and is exactly what Kansas City gardeners pray for more than anything else.  EXCEPT when it comes down and freezes on the branches, leaves and trunks of the trees in our landscapes.  Then it becomes a massively destructive force.

The victims are predictable, elms, silver maples, birches, Bradford pears and willows.  These are some of Kansas City’s favorite landscape trees — but they are on a landscaper’s hit list.  There wood is brittle and their growth structures is suspect.  They cannot withstand the mighty weight that ice puts upon their branches.

If your trees have major damage, your first course of action is to make a decision. IS THE TREE WORTH SAVING?  Look at what the damage is.

Is it major damage to an already weak tree?

Will the aesthetic value of the tree be ruined permentantly?

Will the damage make a weak tree more prone to disease and future damage?

The costs of major repairs can be the same as removing a tree altogether.  Kansas City has a plethora of UGLY trees dotting our streets and landscapes from past years growth.  Many of these trees, even under the care of a certified arborist, would not be able to saved and would have been better off if cut down and replaced with another high quality tree that would add to the homes value and looks.

Remember – -the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago! The second best time is today!The next question to answer is – Can you handle the repair y0ourself? Small limbs can be easily repaired with pruning shears or pole-loppers provided they are within reach. Otherwise you will have to climb a ladder up into the tree. Unfortunately – more people are killed from ladders and tree climbing in the United States than are killed skydiving – so this can be more dangerous than you might expect. Power tools should NEVER be used from a ladder since this compounds the danger incredibly. Some repairs you might consider doing yourself.Broken limbs – These should be removed back to the next major branch. Do not leave branch stubs – they lead to decay and disease.Broken tops - For trees with tops broken out, remove the snags to the next major interior branch. Generally, this will be a major fork. Avoid topping the tree to allow small side branches to grow out and continue the tree’s height growth. These branches will be weak and prone to breakage.

If the bark has been stripped from the trunk of the tree when it the ice broke the limb then cut any ragged edges off the trunk. Take care not to pull any extra bark off the tree. Cut any loose bark away with a sharp knife in the shape of an elongated football standing on it tip.

To avoid doing further damage to the trees as you cut it then this 3 step procedure should be used when cutting any heavy branches off of the tree. The first cut is made on the underneath side of the branch about 18 inches out from the trunk. The cut should be approximately half-way through the branch or until its weight first starts to bind the saw. The next cut should be made on top of the branch about 1 to 2 inches in front (toward the end of the branch) of the bottom cut. Continue cutting until the branch drops free. The last cut removes the remaining branch stub from the trunk. The cut should be made from the top of the branch at the branch collar. The collar is the slight ridge where the branch attaches to the tree’s trunk or another major branch.

Trees with split trunks or major limb forks may possibly be salvaged if the split is not too extensive. Repairing this type of damage will involve a cable and brace technique that should be left to a professional tree service. Some small to medium-sized trees may have been uprooted. It may be possible to straighten these trees and brace them with guy wires. Do not attempt this unless one-half to one-third of the tree’s original root system is still in the soil and the remaining exposed roots are relatively compact and undisturbed. Before straightening the tree, remove some of the soil from beneath the root mass so the roots will be placed below the existing grade level. Attach two to three guy wires to the trunk and anchor the wires 10 to 12 feet away from the tree. Corrective pruning to help improve the shape of damaged trees is best done now. The tree will respond quickly this spring if it has not been severely damaged. Take care not to remove more than one-third of original branches. This will severely retard the tree’s growth in the spring and may damage it beyond recovery. Treatment of the trunk and limb wounds with tree paint is not necessary. In fact, research shows that painted areas can lead to increased rot and decay due to trapped moisture in areas where the paint cracks open. You may want to fertilize your tree this spring with a good quality tree fertilizer now to encourage new growth in the spring.