• Blog
    • General Gardening
    • Gardening for Children
    • Gardening Videos
    • Insect Pests
    • Landscape Design
    • Trees
    • Vegetables & Fruits
    • Weeds
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Event Announcements
  • Gardening Videos
  • Resources
    • Western North Carolina Gardening Guide
    • Online Resources
      • Soil Testing Information for Home Gardeners
    • Speakers Bureau
  • Garden Helpline
    • Collecting Samples of Plants and Insects
  • The Learning Garden
  • About Us
    • About Us
      • How to Become an Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer
    • The Association
    • Contact Us
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Sponsors
      • Sponsors: 2019 WNC Gardening Symposium
    • Donate
Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers of Buncombe County
Blog / Landscaping / Landscape Design / Looking for Bones in the Garden

Looking for Bones in the Garden

December 27, 2015

Photo by Diane PuckettDid you ever think about your garden having a skeleton? Look at it during the winter when most trees are bare, and frost has killed back tender plants, and you’ll see the “bones” that serve as the framework for your landscape.

One advantage of taking a careful look is to evaluate this underlying structure for landscape planning. Too often, we plant things for immediate gratification, with little attention to their long-term impact. Are the evergreens you hoped would screen a distant view now obscuring everything or getting so scraggly that you can see right through them? Is the lawn you envisioned carpeting the front yard struggling with too little sun? Do the flowerbeds and vegetable garden look like weed patches?

Think about what each planting adds to the landscape. Sometimes overgrown trees or shrubs need to go, or the lawn needs replacing with groundcover. Conversely, maybe you need something more: Adding two more lavender plants to the lone one standing your flowerbed will show you the value of repetition in creating continuity. Planting a cover crop might make your vegetable garden look like something in progress rather abandoned.

How about the “hardscape”? Are the driveway and sidewalks or paths working for you? Do they take traffic where you want it go and provide an inviting way through your property? Are arbors, benches, containers, garden art and window boxes well-integrated with your plantings? Using a tuteur in your flowerbed or garden statuary in a clearing will create focal points that can lead viewers on a visual journey through the landscape.

HelleboreA winter look at our gardens not only shows us what endures from season to season and what is and isn’t working, but reveals where we can provide winter interest. Here in the mountains, our gardens can shine through all four seasons. Shrubs and trees with winter berries, cones or fruits can brighten dull corners, as can those with interesting or colorful bark or stems. Early-flowering bulbs and perennials can even add a few flowers throughout the winter months.

by Debbie Green, Extension Master Gardener Volunteer

Resources:
http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/19-landscape-design

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Categories Landscape Design Tags garden structure, hardscape, landscape planning, winter garden

NC Cooperative Extension; Empowering People, Providing Solutions

Blog posts written and published by Extension Master GardenerSM volunteers in Buncombe County.

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to our blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,716 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • Saturday Seminar: Pruning Tools Workshop—Tool Selection and Sharpening, February 18
  • Online Seminar: Fruit Trees for Home Gardens February 16
  • Dramatic Winter Damage? What Should I Do?
  • What’s THAT Evergreen? Can I grow it?
  • A Gardening Guide for Our Mountains: The Perfect Holiday Stocking Stuffer

Categories

  • Events
    • Extension in Buncombe County
    • Extension Master Gardener Plant Clinic
    • Lectures & Seminars
    • Plant Sales
    • School Garden Grants
  • Flowers
    • Bulbs
    • Perennials & Biennials
    • Roses
    • Wildflowers
  • Gardening for Children
  • Gardening Videos
  • General Gardening
    • Installation & Planting
    • Mulch
    • Native Plants
    • Propagation
    • Seasonal Chores
    • Soils & Fertilizers
  • Houseplants
  • Landscaping
    • Firewise Landscaping
    • Landscape Design
    • Site Conditions
    • Water Management
  • Lawns
  • Pest Management
    • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    • Invasive Plants
    • Pesticides
    • Weeds
  • Plant Diseases
  • Plant Insects
    • Beneficial Insects
    • Insect Pests
    • Invasive Insects
  • Shrubs
  • Special Gardens
    • Container Gardens
    • Herb Gardens
    • Pollinator Gardens
    • Rain Gardens
    • Shade Gardens
  • Trees
  • Vegetables & Fruits
  • Wildlife

Contact Us

Buncombe County Extension Office
49 Mount Carmel Road
Asheville, NC 28806
Helpline 828-255-5522

Events

Keep up with our events by subscribing to the blog or checking our Events Calendar.

Explore the Archives

Back to Top

Copyright © 2023 Extension Master Gardeners of Buncombe County. Privacy Policy.