Backyard Landscaping for all Seasons!

Landscaping for a Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter Backyard that Rocks!
People are demanding more and more out of our landscapes. For the upscale homeowner, this may take the form of outdoor kitchens with all the amenities of home, or, perhaps, large in-ground swimming pools with jacuzzis built right into them. For the average person, the trend is toward something a bit more modest: namely, landscaping back yards.  As a horticulturist, I like to look at landscaping with an eye to all four seasons.
Modest, yes; unimportant, no. Since we use our properties year-round, why shouldn't there be something to catch our attention at any time of year, even in the dead of winter? Something to lift our spirits and put a smile on our face, so that our back yards continually delight us? That is the goal of landscaping back yards for a 4-season interest.
Using trees and shrubs to achieve the 4-season interest is the basis.  Conifers are often the first to come to mind, since they are noted for keeping more or less the same appearance throughout the year. But lets also look at other kinds of trees and shrubs.
It is important to take care in selecting the trees and shrubs in such a way that, as soon as one plant is done putting on a show, you'll have a different plant ready to step up. In selecting plants for landscaping back yards for a multi-season interest, there are two key points to keep in mind:
1. Timing - You must discover when particular plants put on their best show.
2. Planning - You must aim for a planting plan that is "staggered." Make sure your back yard doesn't end up with a plethora of high-performers for the spring and summer displays while neglecting the fall and winter displays. Instead, distribute the beauty across the four seasons, as equally as possible.
Landscaping back yards begins by drawing up a landscape design. Trees and shrubs simply take up too much space for you to plant them haphazardly. It is better to allocate space for trees and shrubs in a methodical and disciplined manner, so that they don't end up outgrowing their homes and causing you problems.
Consequently, tree and shrub selection must include consideration of the mature plant sizes. Other practical issues must also be addressed, such as the zone in which you live and the sun and soil requirements for the trees and shrubs that you have in mind.
Once you've researched the practical issues, you can get creative. Again, the idea is to distribute the color that trees and shrubs offer across the four seasons, as equally as possible, so as to achieve year-round interest.

The Spring Season
By the time winter's over, let's face it: we want color, and we want it fast! Thus the popularity of one of the earliest blooming shrubs, forsythia. Forsythia blooms in early spring, well before many of the other flowering trees and shrubs. Achieving color on the landscape in mid-spring generally isn't a problem, since there are so many flowering trees and shrubs from which to choose. Look for more specific blogs to come!

If you plan carefully, late spring needn't take a backseat to April and early May, in terms of color. Lilacs are a long-time favorite that will bring color to the landscape in late spring. To supplement your lilacs, two other plants to consider are mountain laurels and hawthorns.
The Summer Season
In summer, the brilliant spring blooms on trees and shrubs give way to just plain leaves. It can be a challenge to find any trees and shrubs that will bloom for a significant amount of time during the summer season. The long blooming period of crape myrtle trees is a boon to summer landscaping. Another great option is the long-blooming rose of sharon, whose flowers conveniently hold off until the second half of the summer. Again be sure to research what grows best in your area.
The Fall Season
While floral color reigns triumphant at the beginning of the growing season. I love the exquisite harvest colors of autumn. To get a jump on the fall foliage display, plant sumac shrubs, which usher in the autumn season well before the maples. Sumac's fall foliage will help bridge the gap between the last rose of sharon bloom and the first hint of color on your maples.
But don't stop there! The best color of the maples will be gone part way through October, so you also need a fall foliage specimen that takes the torch from the maples and carries it a bit closer to the winter season. Oak trees will do just that, albeit usually with less flare than the incomparable maple trees.
The Winter Season
Despite your best efforts to prolong the fall foliage season, winter will surely come, eventually. What then? What do you have to work with once the trees have dropped their leaves and the spring blooming period is still months away? Indeed, winter poses the greatest challenge to the goal of achieving year-round interest on your landscape.
As remarked above, your choices for color are more limited in winter than in the other seasons. With the exception provided by evergreen trees and shrubs, the winter landscape is largely dominated by the colors, white, grey and brown. That is not to say that you do not have some choices. Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea 'Allemans') has an attractive reddish bark. A patch of fiery red osier dogwood against a backdrop of pristine snow makes for an unforgettable winter scene.
Red osier dogwood and a few other exceptions notwithstanding, the wise designer will think in terms of "form" to provide winter interest. After trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves, leaf-color becomes irrelevant and more attention is drawn to their form and other characteristics.
But the form of one particular shrub in the winter yard has elicited many a double-take over the years: namely, Harry Lauder's walking stick. This shrub's other nicknames speak volumes about its form (to be more specific, the form of its branches), for it is also called "corkscrew filbert" and "contorted hazelnut." Its branches contort themselves in every which way, resembing corkscrews.
Now you can witness the performance your home paradise will provide, year round. 
Want your your own paradise ? Call the ?Paradise Designer? at JPC Landscape Designs
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