Maze Evergreens
My garden maze now includes arborvitae, western red cedar, false cypress, cherry laurel, and more interesting varieties of yew, holly, and boxwood.
As many of you know, I am in the process of planting a living maze in a lush pasture just outside my Winter House. More than two-thirds of the three-acre area is completed and growing nicely. As each puzzling path bed is cleared of sod, the spaces are measured and marked, the plants are carefully counted and placed, and then planted, watered and top dressed with nutrient-rich mulch.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- I knew these specimens would make excellent additions to my maze. I designed the maze with a variety of interesting trees, hedges, espaliers, and shrubs that would all grow tall enough to prevent walkers from seeing the paths ahead.
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- Many of our new plantings are from Monrovia, a wholesale plant nursery specializing in well-nurtured shrubs, perennials, annuals, ferns, grasses, and conifers with several nursery locations across the country. Tiny Tower® Green Giant Arborvitae is noted for its upright, compact habit with lively green foliage that is soft to the touch.
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- Here is a closer look at its rich green evergreen sprays which remain green through winter.
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- We’re also planting Hick’s Yews. Yews are known for being slow-growing, but in the right conditions, yew hedge trees can grow about a foot per year. These yews are spaced closely, so they become a closed hedge in time.
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- The long, upright-growing branches of Hick’s yew have dense, glossy, green foliage that naturally forms a narrow habit.
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- This is Tight Squeeze Western red cedar. This evergreen has a great, compact growth habit that develops into a uniform, narrowly conical tree with shiny foliage.
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- Paul’s Gold threadleaf false cypress, Chamaecyparis pisifera, has year-round golden green foliage and is a great contrast to the darker green specimens.
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- The soft sprays of Paul’s Gold threadleaf false cypress emerges yellow in the spring and retains its gold color throughout the winter.
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- Green Tower boxwood is a nice evergreen hedge for tight spaces because of its upright and narrow growth habit.
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- It features lustrous dark green leaves with lighter green undersides.
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- Gold Coast English holly is a small evergreen shrub that holds many branches of dense, small, toothy, dark green leaves edged in bright golden yellow.
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- Red Beauty holly has bright red berries combined with glossy, dark green foliage. Many varieties of holly, Ilex, have compact habits and glistening leaves that’s excellent for hedges, borders, and yes, mazes.
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- Volcano cherry laurel is a versatile evergreen shrub with a rounded, compact form and attractive, dense, leathery, glossy foliage.
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- Here’s Ryan placing nicely sized dense spreading yews which are low maintenance and do excellently in well draining soil.
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- For each section of plantings, the first step is to remove the sod from the designated area. The sod is used in another section of the farm, so nothing is wasted.
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- Each hole is dug precisely with enough room for the plant’s root ball. The rule of thumb when planting is to dig the hole two times as wide as the rootball and no deeper than the bottom of the rootball, similar to how it is in its pot.
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- Each potted specimen is placed into the hole to ensure the hole is the right size and depth. When planting, always check that the plant is positioned with the best side facing out, or in this case, facing the path.
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- As each specimen is planted, fertilizer is dropped into the hole and mixed in with the existing soil. This is Scott’s Miracle-Gro Shake ‘n Feed for Flowering Trees and Shrubs.
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- The plant is taken out of its pot and the rootball is scarified. Scarifying stimulates root growth. Essentially, small portions of the root ball are cut to loosen the roots and stimulate growth.
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- The specimen is then placed into the hole and backfilled with soil. It’s that easy to plant! Next, all the surrounding soil is raked, so the bed looks neat, tidy, and finished.
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- My overall plan is to plant as many interesting trees, hedges, espaliers, and shrubs as possible in this space and to create a fun and challenging living maze. Follow along and see it develop with me!
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