"The Souixland Cottonwood Tree, `Populus deltoides,' features a rounded head at maturity. This fast growing, cotton-less cottonwood tree displays shi... more
"The Sourwood Tree, `Oxydendrum arboreum,' makes a very nice specimen tree for smaller spaces and will look great at the edge of a woodland. One of t... more
"The Sugarberry Tree, `Celtis laevigata,' is more or less the southern version of the common northern Hackberry. It differs from a hackberry tree in ... more
"The Sweetgum Tree, `Liquidambar styraciflua,' features an upright, pyramidal growth when it is young, but will become more spread out, open and irreg... more
"The Texas Whitebud Tree, `Cercis canadensis,' is a small, deciduous under-story tree that will typically grow to about twelve to eighteen feet high. ... more
"The Tree Lilac, `Syringa reticulata,' is a multiple-stemmed, large shrub that can be pruned into a small tree. It is a heavy flowerer, with large pl... more
"The Tulip Poplar Tree, `Liriodendron tulipifera,' is nature's masterpiece with its fast growth and beautiful, tulip-like flowers. These lovely littl... more
"The Washington Hawthorn Tree, `Crataegus phaenopyrum,' produces reddish-purple new foliage that will unfold and gradually change to a lustrous dark g... more
"The Water Tupelo Tree, `Nyssa aquatica,' is a large, long-lived tree that grows in southern swamps and flood plains, where its root system is sometim... more
"The White Mulberry Tree, `Morus Alba Tatarica,' is an excellent and handsome shade tree that is often planted on field edges in irrigated, semi-arid ... more
"The Austrian Pine, `Pinus nigra,' is an evergreen conifer that will thrive in urban locations. The densely branched tree produces long, dark green n... more
"The Bristlecone Pine, `Pinus aristata,' can live for up to five thousand years, which is much longer than any other living thing known. Its cones ar... 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.
