Evergreen trees are a fantastic option for creating natural privacy screens in your yard. Not only do they provide year-round greenery, but they also contribute to a serene and functional outdoor living space. This summer, ensure your evergreen trees thrive by following our maintenance guide, which includes advanced watering options like smart garden watering devices. Additionally, discover how living privacy fences can enhance your outdoor spaces for play, relaxation, and pool privacy.
Table of Contents
- The Importance of Evergreen Trees for Privacy
- Summer Maintenance Tips for Evergreen Trees
- Enhancing Outdoor Living Spaces with Evergreen Privacy Fences
The Importance of Low-Maintenance Evergreen Trees for Privacy
Evergreen trees like the Nellie Stevens Holly and Green Giant Arborvitae are popular choices for privacy screens in the Mid-Atlantic area due to their dense foliage and fast growth. They provide a natural barrier against noise, wind, and prying eyes, creating a secluded oasis in your backyard. Their aesthetic appeal and environmental benefits, such as supporting local wildlife, make them a superior choice over traditional fences. Given how close developers are building homes in our Maryland, DC, and Virginia areas, personal privacy has been a very desirable landscaping feature for homeowners. With so many of our customers transitioning to working from home during COVID, homeowners have a heightened awareness of their surroundings. COVID also created a boom in swimming pool installations and the need for additional privacy around the pool.
Summer Maintenance Tips for Evergreen Trees
Maintaining the health of your evergreen trees during the summer is crucial for ensuring they continue to provide effective privacy and beauty. Here are some essential maintenance tips:
Watering Options
Proper watering is vital for the health of evergreen trees, especially during the scorching heat of the summer months. Overwatering or underwatering can lead to various health issues. Below are some effective watering strategies:
1. How Often to Water Evergreen Trees?
Daily watering of new evergreen tree installations encourages deep root growth, which helps trees withstand drought conditions and strong winds. We recommend watering the trees daily with about a 5-gallon bucket of water per tree, allowing the soil to absorb moisture thoroughly. If located along a river, ocean, or the Chesapeake Bay where sandy loam is present, you may need to water a bit more during extreme heat and droughts since sandy loam does not retain water as well as other soil types. The first summer after installation is the most crucial time for watering evergreen trees so they can establish deep roots. After that, watering is only needed during extreme heat and droughts. A common myth that plant roots will grow toward where there is water, is not true. Plant roots do not reach out from the plant seeking water. So only water at the base of trees.
2. Smart Garden Watering Devices
If lugging 5-gallon buckets of water daily to each of your trees is not appealing, there are several tech-savvy ways to accomplish watering easily. Investing in smart garden watering devices can automate and optimize the process, ensuring your trees get the right amount of water without waste. These devices can be simplistic or include features like soil moisture sensors and weather forecasts to adjust watering schedules accordingly. The added features can be perfect for those with hectic schedules as they can monitor their watering schedule from their phone anywhere in the world!
- Hose Watering: If you elect to do this by hand, we instruct our customers to water at the tree’s base while counting to 20 for each tree. That should provide approximately 4-5 gallons per tree. When you are hand watering, and you see the water running rapidly away from the new plant, this is soil rejection, wasting water, and not benefiting the tree. There is no need to overwater the trees. The goal is to apply 4-5 gallons at the base of each tree.
- Drip Irrigation system: We recommend a drip system with an Orbit digital water timer attached to the outlet hose for our customers when installing evergreen trees from late spring through early September. Many options and features are available to fit your needs.
- Soil Moisture Sensors: These sensors monitor the moisture level in the soil and provide data to your smart watering system, ensuring your trees receive adequate hydration.
- Weather-Based Controllers: These devices adjust watering schedules based on local weather conditions, preventing overwatering on rainy days and ensuring sufficient watering during dry spells.
3. Drip Irrigation Systems
Drip irrigation delivers water directly to the tree’s roots, reducing evaporation and runoff. It is an efficient way to water evergreen trees and can be connected to a smart watering system for automation. Many of our customers ask if they can connect the drip system to their current lawn watering system. A drip irrigation zone can be added to an existing irrigation system; unfortunately, a lawn spray head irrigation zone system would not deliver enough water to each tree. All the major irrigation manufacturers state that the shrub zone should be separate from the turf zones as by the time the new trees receive a few gallons, the entire lawn would be supersaturated with several gallons deep in water, wasting thousands of gallons.
Fertilizing – What is the Best Fertilizer for Evergreen Trees?
Evergreen trees benefit from a balanced, slow-release fertilizer applied in early spring. This ensures they have the necessary nutrients to grow and maintain their lush foliage. In keeping with modern science we choose fertilizers low in phosphorus and potassium to prevent excessive nutrient runoff into the creeks, rivers, and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.
- Nitrogen: Promotes healthy leaf and stem growth.
- Phosphorus: Supports root development.
- Potassium: Enhances overall health and disease resistance.
Mulching
Mulching helps retain moisture, regulate temperature, and reduce weed competition. We recommend applying a 2-4 inch layer of organic mulch around the base of each tree annually, keeping it away from the trunk to prevent rot. At installation, we provide the initial layer of mulch to aid in the rapid establishment of the trees.
Pruning
Regular pruning helps maintain the shape and health of evergreen trees. Remove dead or diseased branches and trim for shape and size control. We recommend late winter or early spring is the best time for pruning, but minor touch-ups can be done in summer.
Enhancing Outdoor Living Spaces with Evergreen Privacy Fences
Evergreen privacy fences do more than block out nosy neighbors—they can transform your backyard into a functional and inviting outdoor living space.
Play and Relaxation Areas
1. Creating Play Areas
Evergreen trees can be used to create safe, enclosed play areas for children. These natural barriers provide shade and protection, making outdoor play more enjoyable.
2. Relaxation Zones
Customers regularly ask me, “Can evergreen trees reduce noise?” Why yes, they can! The evergreen trees’ dense foliage can help absorb and block some noise, thus creating a quieter outdoor space.
Designing serene relaxation zones surrounded by evergreen trees can help reduce stress. The natural greenery provides a calming atmosphere, ideal for reading, meditating, or napping. Add comfortable seating and garden decor to enhance the space. Many of our customers who live in the city or along busy streets find our evergreen living fence perfect for screening and providing them with their own private oasis to escape our hectic world.
Pool Privacy
1. Privacy Screens for Pools
Over the years, we have installed hundreds of evergreen privacy screens around our customers’ pools. These screens are perfect for creating tall privacy around swimming pools by blocking the prying eyes of neighbors and adding a touch of elegance to your pool area. Evergreens are a better option than deciduous trees since they do not drop their leaves and hold their color and fullness year-round.
To ensure your evergreen trees continue to provide good pool privacy, we recommend planting them strategically around the pool area and considering their mature height and spread. Regular maintenance, including pruning, will help maintain an effective privacy screen.
2. Reducing Poolside Wind
Tall evergreen trees can act as windbreakers, reducing the amount of wind reaching your pool area. This makes swimming and lounging by the pool more comfortable, especially on breezy days. In our areas of Maryland, DC, and Virginia, it can help extend the pool season and make for more swimmable days that would otherwise be too windy/chilly to swim.
3. Enhancing Poolside Aesthetics
Incorporate a variety of evergreen species to add texture and color to your poolside landscape. The year-round foliage ensures your pool area looks vibrant and inviting, even in the off-season. This can be done by alternating Nellie Stevens Hollys and Green Giant Arborvitae trees, plus incorporating smaller plants in front. The bright red berries of the Nellie Stevens Hollies makes for a striking contrast against the green backdrop of the foliage in the fall.
Fast-growing evergreen trees like the Nellie Stevens Holly and Green Giant Arborvitae are excellent choices for creating natural privacy screens. They enhance the functionality and beauty of your outdoor living spaces. You can ensure your trees remain healthy and vibrant by following our summer maintenance tips, using smart watering options, fertilizing, mulching, and pruning.
Investing in smart garden watering devices they can simplify the care process. Thus ensuring your evergreen trees receive optimal hydration throughout the hot summer months. Additionally, evergreen trees can transform your backyard into a serene haven for play, relaxation, and poolside enjoyment. Providing year-round privacy and aesthetic appeal. Evergreens not only increase privacy but boost the value of your home.
