Many times when we think to landscape, we’re working with plants and trees that are of a certain size and not much thought is given to what they will grow to be. The maple trees that were planted in this court yard were small , maybe 10 ft. tall without much width.
But give them 10 years or more of growth, they start to become what a tree will be, large with a big spread and only will grow larger. Many of the other plants in the court yard started to decline for what once was a sunny location, now was pretty much shaded most of the time.
New homes were built on the hill (where this picture was taken from) and this was their view scape of the Great Bay, where the Lamprey river flows in.
There was much discussion about the problem and finally the trees were removed. New trees were installed, ones that would never get as big as the ones that were removed (could be no higher than the height of the roof) and the other plants that had survive had a better chance to thrive.
So the moral is when we are planting trees and some large shrubs is consider what they are going grow into rather than what size they are as you plant it. For in the long run are you going to lose a pleasant view as you look out your window?
antilandscaper 
Geez, if you reminded me more often maybe I wouldn’t have to move so many plants around. 🙂
So true.
And WHAT a view. That water is just lovely.
My own property is a testament to what you blogged here. There were over 100 trees and shrubs planted here before we moved in 5 years later. Now that we’ve been here another 8 years, we’ve had to remove most of the shrubs (oleander and ligustrum) and are looking at removing a few trees in a couple more years. I wish people would give more thought to the final space a specimen will required BEFORE putting it in the ground.
The bald cypress along my drive are my favs, even though they too are encroaching on space. They were barely over my head 8 years ago, but now tower 40-50 feet into the sky! What a mess (and shade) they make.
Great post. Love the before and after. 😀
I love trees that give really good shade. Lotsa trees here on Guam have got a spider problem, which is especially on mango trees. So besides trees that have got a whole lotta spiders, I think I’m a pro tree person. Interesting post about removing and planting trees. I often wonder about the cities which have very cracked sidewalks because of the very big trees which have very large roots that crack through the paved sidewalk. Sometimes it’s even dangerous to walk over those areas, let alone cycle over ’em. I think willow trees are probably the best home-y trees. Just love the way their leaves sway in the wind…aah.
Beautiful!
We have this issue with a lot of our clients. It’s a bunch of old houses with old (unpleasantly old and non-native) plant material, and the clients are unwilling to let go of this or that tree or shrub, and then all our underbrush struggles or gets really leggy. On a similar note, we know that our installs are going to blow up like a balloon in the spring and soak up every last inch of spare room in any particular bed, but the clients look at our piddly bit of work and say “what happened? Why does my landscape still look so empty?” Then they want more plants put it (>.<). Then we put them in and have to remove them in the spring. LOL. What a vicious cycle.
Thanks for your comments, you’re a fellow landscaper? and I agree thou I usually argue the case not to put more in. I also use a landscape software to show how planting will look over time. For it is usually the case most planting are over planted and being so much of our work is maintenance I don’t want to spend my time trying to keep a landscape at some ideal point in time is size and growth.
I guess I’m selective about my customers and there are plenty of other landscapers around who will do what the customer wants even if it is wrong. Maybe when my season end I will have a little more time to post about landscaping practices
That would be great! I am a “journeyman” landscaper in a small design, install and maint. company, so it would be nice to see a few more landscaping posts in my news feed, anything I can learn from. Thanks for the reply!