Category: Gardening and Landscaping

Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) are powerhouses from the house landscape because of their graceful beauty and shocking, long-lasting color. These deciduous trees display lace-like, delicate foliage in an assortment of warm hues, including shades of red, orange and yellow. With a lift and height of 15 to 25 feet, these plants tolerate pruning and training well, making them a versatile option. For best operation, develop Japanese maples in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5b through 8b.

General Care

Providing optimal services to plants is vital for a wholesome landscape. Gardeners should plant Japanese maples in regions of the garden which provide some shade, whether beneath taller plants or next to structures which block out some sunlight, as these deciduous plants thrive in partial sun to full shade. They prefer moist, well-drained land with an acid pH of 3.7 to 6.8. Dry soil conditions increase the potential for scorch, particularly when trees are subjected to higher amounts of sunlight. Irrigate soil when the upper layer feels dry to the touch to prevent allowing soil to dry out while preventing excessively moist conditions.

Specimen and Bonsai

Although Japanese maple trees grow naturally as multi-stemmed plants, gardeners may train them according to their liking. To get one pop of color, including a Japanese maple to the landscape as a specimen plant works well near a deck or as a focal point in a smaller lawn. Gardeners can train the plant as a single-stemmed tree to get a less shrub-like look. Additionally, Japanese maples work well as Bonsai plants. Japanese maples can be found in a wide array of cultivars based on the gardener’s curiosity. “Shishigashira,” for example, is known for its streamlined growth and orange color during autumn while “Sumi nagashi” is prized because of its purple foliage that becomes reddish during summer and red during autumn, describes the Texas A&M; AgriLife Extension.

Mass Plantings

By planting Japanese maples within their multi-stemmed, complete glory in either one or a variety of colors, “you are able to make an interesting landscape with nothing but Japanese maples,” suggests the Auburn University College of Agriculture. A gardener may opt to plant a set of one color of Japanese maples, like by planting them en masse behind briefer plants for a large dose of color. However, playing around with color mixtures by grouping an assortment of trees as a main garden appeal creates a unique visual. Planting purple-hued cultivars in conjunction with those displaying yellow foliage creates a brilliant study in contrasts.

Border Plants

Whether planted near one another for a tall, complete visual or trained carefully side for a more formal look, Japanese maples are well-suited to be used as border plants. Gardeners may think about lining the exterior of a garden or planting the trees along a fence to get color and elegance. Moreover, planting shorter cultivars known because of their spherical habit creates a softer impact when branches droop to the ground, including a tranquil look to walkways or driveways.

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Including a water feature to your landscape is a fantastic way to draw wildlife to your lawn and infuse your outside space with a component of tranquility that beckons one to pull up a chair and relax. If you want to add a pond to your landscape but aren’t interested in spending a great deal of time digging a hole, then an appealing above ground pond designed with concrete blocks provides the option.

Pick a level location for your pond. Don’t place your pond beneath trees that may shed leaves into the water. If you plan on using a fountain or even a pump that requires power, make confident the pond is situated close to a grounded electrical outlet.

Step half of the diameter of your pond on a piece of garden twine and cut the twine to this space. Place a stake in the ground to indicate the middle stage of the pond. Bend the measured string to the stake. Rotate the string around the stake and mark the outline of the pond by means of a rope.

Eliminate the sod, if needed, from inside the pond outline and set it apart on a tarp. Rake the excavated area until it’s smooth. If there is no sod, rake the area and remove any debris.

Lay your initial plan of conrete blocks around the roped outline.

Scatter 4 inches of crushed gravel above the pond website. Compact the gravel by means of a hand tamp. Lay a 2-by-4-inch round the gravel and use a level to verify the website is level.

Position a second path of blocks in addition to the first, offsetting the blocks so the ends are staggered.

Line the interior of the pond with roof felt and make it overhang the cinder blocks by at least 18 inches. This will definitely pad rough corners and provide a buffer for the lining.

Place the flexible pond lining within the pond, in addition to the roof felt. The lining should fully cover the exterior of the cinder blocks with a 24 inch overlap at the ground level.

Fill the pond with water.

Stack flat stones around the pond one row at a time. Arrange them so that the lining is completely covered. Fill small gaps with smaller stones, top soil or clay for a natural appearance.

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The moon gate is an ancient Chinese landscape element that functions as a portal between gardens as well as between outside and inside. The shape of those gates, a ring of the land, has many disadvantages.

One interpretation of this moon gate is it’s finished, representing and celebrating the cohesiveness of the family. This comprehensive circle offers a pathway for your family members with entry to return home to celebrate one another.

Another interpretation is that the moon, as it lifts itself out of this landscape, is emblematic of renewal and birth. The arrival of a new moon becomes the manner in which time is marked as well as the brand new comes about.

Still another interpretation is that the moon gate is, such as the moon, a link to other planets and other worlds. The moon gate, traditionally made as an opening in a walland garden, inside to outside, public to private, connect garden together.

Read a huge number of gate layout photos

Leonard Design Associates

The moon gate is a round opening in a wall. Even if the wall is transparent, more virtual than actual, the moon gate provides an opening at the barrier and also a link between two worlds. And this traveling between the two worlds becomes much more pronounced as you step up and over the brink.

McHale Landscape Design, Inc..

Made of stone blocks cut and fitted together to form a perfect ring, this moon gate stays even through the wall has vanished. And as the gate rises out of the ground, such as the moon rises in the sky, it observes life’s cycle.

Archaeo Architects

Moon gates may be used indoors. As a portal site between chambers, particularly in a thick wall, a moon gate makes all the more real the transition from 1 spot to another.

Dan Nelson

A quintessentially American version of the moon gate relies on the iconic picket fence and arbor for its layout. With a arch built to a circle by a gate, the American moon gate that is traditionally styled is skinnier dimensional and fresher than its Far Eastern antecedent.

More: 12 Inspiring Garden Gates

Pictures: Read thousands of gate layouts

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