"The Flame Amur Maple Tree, `Acer ginnala,' features a green summer color that will be mixed with bright red samaras, or `helicopters,' in mid summer.... more
"The Japanese Red Maple Tree, `Acer palmatum autropurpeum,' produces leaves that are reddish purple in the spring and will change go a brilliant colo... more
"The October Glory Red Maple Tree, `Acer rubrum,' is fantastic for its intense fall color and medium to fast rate of growth. This is one of the best ... more
"The Red Maple Tree, `Acer rubrum,' produces leaves that are shiny green above and pale green beneath. The leaves have three to five lobes and are th... more
"The Red Sunsetr Red Maple Tree, `Acer Rubrum,' is a large, deciduous tree with a pyramidal form than will slowly become rounder as the tree matures. ... more
"The Shantung Maple, `Acer trucatum,' has glossy, dark green star-shaped foliage that will remain in good condition throughout the growing season. Th... more
"The Silver Maple Tree, `Acer saccharinum,' is an ideal tree for wet lowland sites, because it can easily recover from extended periods of flooding. ... more
"The Sugar Maple Tree, `Acer saccharum,' produces a sap that is commonly collected in the spring months for creating a variety of flavorful confection... more
"The Tatarian Maple, `Acer trucatum,' will readily hybridize with the Amur Maple when grown together, as these two trees are very similar. The Tatari... more
"The Trident Maple Tree, `Acer Buergerianum,' produces beautiful, three-inch wide, tri-lobed leaves that are glossy green in color with somewhat paler... more
"The Black Oak Tree, `Quercus velutina,' is a deciduous tree with deeply furrowed bark that is nearly black on mature trees. Very similar to the Red ... more
"The Bur Oak tree, `Quercus macrocarpa,' is a tall, fairly slow-growing, long-lived tree. This majestic oak tree is highly desirable for windbreaks, ... 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
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.
Flame Amur Maple, Japanese Red Maple, October Glory Red Maple, Red Maple, Red Sunset Red Maple, Shantung Maple, Silver Maple, Sugar Maple, Tatarian Maple, Trident Maple, Black Oak, Bur Oak
