|
|
  |
|---|
All the sun and heat this summer has made me think about how a home’s landscape can impact its resident’s comfort. A deciduous tree planted on the south or west side will shade a house from the beating sun and keep the interior significantly cooler. Then, after the leaves drop, the welcome winter sun can get through.
Don’t have enough property for big shade trees like oaks, elms and chestnuts? There are many smaller trees that will usually top out at 25 feet or less. Just position them properly to the southwest of the windows on the sunny side of your house.
Small trees worth growing
Japanese maples are available in a variety of heights, shapes, leaf forms and
colors. Vine maple is perfect for those who like the ideas of using natives.
Amur maple has outstanding red fall color. Paperbark maple does too and also
has reddish, peeling bark for winter interest.
Redbuds are trees for all seasons. The purplish pink flowers borne on bare branches are followed by pods and pretty round leaves. The foliage colors up nicely with the first frost and falls to reveal an attractive branch pattern.
Goldenchain tree is a show-stopper in spring with flowers that resemble golden yellow wisteria. The best one is Laburnum wateri ‘Vossii.’ It requires a little pruning each year to keep it neat, but is very pest-free.
Flowering crabapples provide lovely white, pink or reddish blossoms and then showy fruit. Although they are less trouble-prone than ornamental cherries, you will need to pick a cultivar with resistance to apple scab and powdery mildew. (WSU Master Gardeners can advise you.) As a bonus, the fruit will attract birds in the winter!
Japanese snowbell trees are hard to beat. In June the fragrant flowers look like dangling white (or pink in ‘Pink Chimes’) bells. The tree has a graceful, horizontal branch pattern and nice yellow fall color.
Vines for summer shade
Another possibility is to build an arbor along the south or west side of the
house and train a deciduous vine to serve as a living awning. I’ve
seen grapes used this way, but wisteria is probably the most common vine
used along eaves. Like the grape, it grows vigorously, so regular pruning
is essential.
Clematis vines can be evergreen or deciduous and may bloom anytime through the season, depending on which one you choose. The striking flowers come in a broad range of colors and most are 4 or 5 inches across.
Japanese honeysuckle adds fragrance to the garden from late spring through early fall. Its white flowers are attractive to hummingbirds and other birds relish its red fruits. It’s tolerant of damp soil, but, once established, can also take drought.
I have extolled the virtues of a few trees and vines. To complete the topic of woody plants, I’ll close with some shrubs. Most of these are common as dirt, but worthy because of the summer color they add to the garden.
Abelias must have one of the longest bloom seasons of any flowering shrub. The pink, tubular flowers start in early summer and continue into the fall. As a bonus, the foliage is bronzy as it emerges in spring and again in autumn.
Caryopteris or bluebeard is drought-tolerant, late-flowering and the flowers are blue, my favorite color. What more could I ask for?
Clethra or summersweet, an eastern US native, deserves to be grown here more often. It blooms mid- to late-summer with 3-4 inch stalks of tiny, white, fragrant flowers. There are also pink cultivars, if you prefer.
Hardy fuchsias don’t usually start blooming until summer, but then they keep it up for months. There are lots of flower sizes and colors and, now, even some with interesting leaves.
Hydrangea’s big flower
clusters dry on the plant, usually looking good for a long while. If watered
well, they take full sun, but hydrangeas flower
nicely in shady gardens as well.
Hortsense: Managing plant problems with Integrated Pest Management
