PEACE RIVER, Alta. – Trees people choose to plant say something about their personalities.
In a session called Farmyard Facelifts, horticulturist Ellen Dalke told Peace River district women about landscaping and several farm designs.
She said plants define what spaces are used for through their presence, color, form or texture. Dalke encouraged farm families to first plan on paper where they want buildings, driveways, decks and sidewalks.
Then plants, hedges and shelterbelts are added to help deflect wind, provide shade or create privacy. It is important to put on the plan the mature size of the tree or bush. Flower annuals can fill in the bare spots until the plant grows.
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“It may look ridiculous to plant one tree here and another 12 feet away but in five years or 10, it’ll look fine. If you plant too close you may have to dig it out and then it’ll ruin the look of your design.”
Determine desires
As well, she said the best plans can run afoul of a husband’s desire to see the cows in the corral from the house or have enough room in the yard to turn the combine around, or to monitor the grain bins and fuel tanks.
Dalke’s eight objectives in planning a yard and garden are:
- Comfort – Vegetative barriers reduce noise, odor and dust, but plan shelterbelts carefully so you don’t encourage snow to drop right on the driveway.
- Emphasis – Highlight treasured good points of the yard but screen undesirable views of barns, implements or feed storage areas.
- Proportion and space – Farms seldom divide public, private and service areas. Granaries should be grouped and derelict buildings torn down. Grass cutting should be minimized with no-care trees, bushes or perennial beds.
- Harmony – Use native bush such as saskatoon berries for an informal design. Repeat groupings of flowers to create unity. Individual specimens tend to look disjointed.
- Design – Most farms prefer a natural setting. Don’t mix formal and informal design.
- Balance – Avoid strict symmetrical balance with the house. Foundation plantings can be boring if the same evergreens are used in the same pattern. Plant trees behind the house to frame it.
- Flexibility – Remove old plants that don’t fit the plan and use temporary plantings until something is established. Buy smaller cedars under waist height. In five years they’ll be just as big and healthy as the shoulder-height ones that you could have bought. Plan to have color all seasons – even in winter – with interesting bark or evergreens mixed in with deciduous trees.
- Cost – Plan the yard on paper to scale and estimate the costs. Design in phases as you can afford it.
