into your plans could benefit everyone involved. The more you identify your goals and familiarize yourself with your yard’s features — current and proposed — the better your chances for success with your landscaping projects. Selecting and Planting Trees and Shrubs Trees and shrubs come in all shapes and sizes. How you select your trees and shrubs and how you plant them will directly affect your home’s comfort and energy efficiency. Trees and shrubs have a life span of many years and can become more attractive and functional with age. But poor planning of landscape improvements often creates trouble. Ensure proper plant placement and minimal maintenance before you plant! Shape Characteristics Tree shapes are very diverse think of the difference in shape between an oak and a spruce. The “Shading” section under “Climate, Site, and Design Considerations” above discusses how to use varying tree and shrub characteristics to maximum advantage when landscaping. The density of a tree’s leavesor needles is important to consider. Dense evergreens, like spruces, make great wind- breaks for winter winds. If you are just looking to impede summer winds, choose a tree or shrub with more open branches and leaves. Such trees are also good for filtering morning sun from the east, while denser trees are better for blocking harsh afternoon summer sun. Growth Should you plant slow-growing or fast-growing tree species? Although a slow-growing tree may require many years of growth before it shades your roof, it will generally live longer than a fast-growing tree. Also, because slow-growing trees often have deeper roots and stronger branches, they are less prone to breakage by windstorms or heavy snow loads. And they can be more drought resistant than fast-growing trees. Consider growth rate, strength, and brittleness when locating trees near walkways or structures. Ask whether the mature tree s root system is likely to damage sidewalks, foundations, or sewer lines. The smaller your yard,the more important it is to select a tree with manageable roots. Selecting, Final Planning, and Purchasing Landscape professionals can help you choose and locate new trees, shrubs, or ground cover. Share your drawings and tentative ideas with your local nursery or landscape contractor. As long as you have defined intended uses and spaces in which planting is actually possible, a competent nursery or landscape specialist will be able to help you make decisions. When planting trees, shrubs, hedges, or bushes, find out how large the mature specimen will grow. In all cases, determine spacing by the mature sizes. For those plants close to your house, plan for at least 1 foot (30 centimeters) of extra clearance between the full-grown shrub and the wall of the home. This will prevent heavy pruning or damage to home siding in the future. After considering the placement of your trees and consulting landscaping and nursery professionals, go back to your drawings or plans and add the newinformation on species, shape, and mature-size spacing. This provides a final, prepurchase review to make sure that all elements will work well together — in the short and long term. When you are ready to purchase your trees and shrubs, avoid buying damaged specimens. Thoroughly inspect the bark, limbs, and roots to make sure the plant was handled carefully during growing, digging, and shipping. Reject plant stock with signs of insects or disease (cocoons, egg masses, cankers, or lesions). After you purchase the plants, be sure to keep tiny root hairs damp and shaded at all times. The plants will not survive if these root hairs are allowed to dry before planting. Contact your public libraries, local nurseries, landscape architects, landscape contractors, and state and local energy offices for additional information on regionally appropriate plants and their maintenance requirements. Source Information The following resources provide more information on landscaping for energyefficiency. * American Association of Nurserymen (AAN) 1240 I Street, NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 789-2900 AAN serves as a network of organizations representing garden centers, landscaping, and horticultural interests. * American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) 4401 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008 (202) 686-2752 ASLA is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, education, and skill in the art and science of landscape architecture. * National Arbor Day Foundation (NADF) 100 Arbor Avenue Nebraska City, NE 68410 NADF is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to tree planting and conservation. NADF sponsors National Arbor Day each spring. For general information about many kinds of energy efficiency topics, contact: * The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse (EREC) P.O. Box 3048 Merrifield, VA 22116 (800) DOE-EREC (363-3732) Fax: (703) 893-0400 EREC provides free general and technical information to the public on the many topics andtechnologies pertaining to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Reading List * Common Sense Pest Control, edited by C. Timmons, available from Taunton Press, Inc., 1991. * Cooling Our Communities: A Guidebook on Tree Planting and Light-Colored Surfacing, H. Akbari, J. Huang, and S. Davis, available from Government Printing Office (Document #055-000-00371-8), Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15220-7954, 1992. * Landscaping Design that Saves Energy, A. S. Moffat and M. Schiler, William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1991. * Landscaping for Energy Conservation, W. R. Nelson, available from the Building Research Council, College of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, One East Saint Mary’s Road, Champaign, IL 61820, 1991. * Xeriscape Gardening: Water Conservation for the American Landscape, C. Ellefson, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. This document was produced for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by the National RenewableEnergy Laboratory (NREL), a DOE national laboratory. The document was produced by the Information Services Program, under the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse (EREC) is operated by NCI Information Systems, Inc., for NREL/DOE. The statements contained herein are based on information known to EREC and NREL at the time of printing. No recommendation or endorsement of any product or service is implied if mentioned by EREC. DOE/GO-10095-046 FS 220 April 1995 Related posts:
