"The Yellow Buckeye Tree, `Aesculus octandra,' produces small creamy yellow or occasionally pink flowers from late spring to early summer. The flower... more
"The Southern Crabapple Tree, `Malus angustifolia,' is a small, deciduous tree that grows fast and will reach a mature height of thirty to thirty-five... more
"The Sargent Crabapple tree, `Malus sargentii,' is most known for its stunning flowers. The fragrant flowers bloom profusely in the spring, opening f... more
"The Zumi Crabapple Tree, `Malux x Zumi Calocarpa,' is a semi-dwarf crabapple that may be used as a street tree. It is most valued for its profuse, s... more
"The Kousa Dogwood Tree, `Cornus kousa,' will make for a handsome small specimen tree or shrub. It is not as susceptible to diseases as the White Dog... more
"The Pink Flowering Dogwood Tree, `Cornus florida rubra,' will grow to a mature height of up to fifteen feet. This small tree features very large, pi... more
"The Red Flowering Dogwood Tree, `Cornus florida,' produces red new growth. This moderately growing tree is somewhat resistant to mildew. Its beauti... more
"The Snow White Flowering Dogwood Treee, `Cornus florida,' is an erect growing tree with a straight central leader. It is an early and heavy flowerer... more
"The White Flowering Dogwood, `Cornus florida,' has an excellent show of white flowers in the spring. The breathtaking look of its snowy white flower... more
"The Balsam Fir, `Abies balsamea,' has very similar characteristics to the Fraser fir tree and exhibits a relatively dense, dark green, pyramidal crow... more
"The Concolor Fir Tree, `Abies concolor,' is a large, densely growing, narrow tree that exhibits a dome-shaped crown, and will reach a height of fifty... more
"The Douglas Fir Tree, `Pseudotsuga menziessi glauca,' features dark green to bluish-green needles. This is a splendid pyramidal evergreen. Growing ... more
Pruning trees and shrubs to enhance garden views
by Nicole Martins
For a homeowner who doesn't nec-essarily spend much time in their garden but wants to enjoy it from above, taking into account the garden views from upstairs windows and/or decks will help in dictating the planting plan.
In San Francisco, where garden space is typically 30' X 30', people look to maximize the design effects: creating outdoor rooms with patios, paths, fountains and arbors. The same is true with a garden that is mainly viewed from an upstairs deck or window. One example is a garden that we have been main-taining and restor-ing for over a year. The objective is that homeowner be able to see as much of the garden as possible from the 2nd and 3rd story decks.
An existing 35' Podocarpus tree adjacent to the deck requires annual pruning and is due to be thinned and reduced on our next visit in October. While we typically schedule an arbor-ists to prune trees larger than 25', deck access from the homeowner and neighbor's property make it possible for us to safely work on the tree.
Once the Podocarp-us has been pruned the garden will require only minimal adjust-ments for the next 8 to 10 months. In the past year, we have pruned several Plum trees along the fence line and through out. At this point, they are in far better aesthetic shape: having opened up the garden as well as enhanced views.Tip pruning the canopy and
select branches of Angel's Trumpet: Datura, is also necessary through-out spring and summer for maintaining the deck views of the rear planting areas. Although this tree is frost tender in many climates, we are fortunate that it thrives in the Bay Area, and that there are several nice varieties to choose from.
Badly formed plants such as the leggy growing, purple flowering Princess Tree: Tibouchina, are also candidates for a severe heading back. While this pruning technique leaves the tree looking hacked and butchered for several months afterwards, on a healthy specimen, dormant buds will grow from the woody stumps creating a new floriferous head.
As with all gardens, the seasons bring about changes, creating new expressions. With fall upon us, our job for view enhancement is nearly complete, once the Podocarpus tree is pruned. After that, we will have many months to concentrate on the under story and plantings.
Trees
Yellow Buckeye - S.E. Wild Crabapple - Sargents Crabtree - Zumi Crabapple - Kousa Dogwood - Pink Flowering Dogwood - Red Flowering Dogwood - Snow White Flwrng. Dogwood - White Flowering Dogwood Balsam Fir - Concolor Fir - Douglas Fir
Nature Hills Nursery, Inc.
was originally founded as 2 Shop Trees, Inc. a conifer and decid-uous tree nurs-ery. Nature Hills Nursery started as a local tree nursery serving a limited geograph-ic area. To keep up with the times Nature Hill Nursey launched its first web site, in August 2001.
As Nature Hill evolved and respond to the customers' de-mand of quality nursery products, they continued to improve their on-line capabilities and expand their product offerings.
Nature Hills Nursery mission is to continually improve all aspects of their business in order to exceed their nationwide customers' expectations. Nature Hills Nursery strives to offer one of the largest selections of high quality live plants and related products, complete with extensive plant information, while maintain-ing an exception-al level of custom-er service. Nature Hills Nursery will not sacrifice the personal atten-tion given their customers.
Nature Hills Nursery is still mostly a family operation, they are proud of the strides made in customer satis-faction through expanded offer-ings and enhanc-ed capabilities. Nature Hills Nursery successes are attributed to marketing and competitively priced products.
Nature Hills Nursery guarantees all of its products.
