Living Fences™ made of ornamental evergreens such as Hollies, Leyland Cypress and Green Giant Arborvitae. Instead of using hard goods such as metal or wood fences for screens in the landscape, these natural barriers create privacy, shade and closure to your landscape. Evergreens are an excellent biomass filter, producing oxygen and helping to reduce your carbon footprint.
Not only do Living Fences of evergreen trees provide you with privacy screening, they also help in reducing our carbon footprint, thru biomass filtration of the air we breathe.
Its that time of year again when bagworms could appear and unfortunately, they damage plants. Bagworms prefer juniper, arborvitae, spruce, pine, and cedar but also attack deciduous trees. The bags hold over 300 eggs in the cocoon and disperse in late spring by "ballooning" or crawling. The caterpillars feed for up to six weeks. Larvae … Continue reading Bag Worm Control
Early this spring a client asked me to plant our Nellie Stevens Holly trees to form a privacy screen at his place in Oxford, Maryland. Wow!! Oxford Maryland is where, about 100 years ago, gardener Nellie Stevens experimented with holly cross breeding and created a new variety which carries her name today. The trip to the … Continue reading Maryland: Home of the Original Nellie Stevens Holly
At our evergreen tree farm, we experimented with different soil types and potting mixtures over 20 years ago. Leafgro, which is manufactured by the state of Maryland, proved to be an excellent addition to the planting medium. Made of leaves and grass clippings collected from the surrounding cities, it is professionally recycled into Leafgro at … Continue reading Organic Soil Amendments
Why do I like the Nellie Stevens Holly ...let me count the ways. The Nellie Stevens is denser than most upright pyramidal hollies. It responds well to pruning, creating additional lateral tip buds at each pruning cut. Nellie Stevens hollies tolerate wet feet well. At our evergreen tree farm in Damascus, Maryland, the clay soils are … Continue reading Nellie Stevens Holly
Today we also use holly trees to create beautiful living fences for year round privacy screening. The holly trees can be trimmed a bit during the holiday season so you can make your own wreath or kissing ball. Or, you can go eco friendly by using a live holly tree as your holiday tree, then plant it in your yard afterwards.
It is very IMPORTANT that you FREQUENTLY check the soil moisture content at the base of each evergreen tree.
Bagworms are easy to control when they are young and there is minimal damage to the plant. Look for bagworms in late June. Use the Fourth of July as a reminder date. The bagworms will be very small at this time and are easy to stop with most any product. They may be as small as a … Continue reading Bagworm Treatment
Thirty years ago in 1989, I bought a soybean field in Montgomery County, Maryland to start the home of the Living Fence. Our contracting company, Earth Beautiful, Inc had been up and running for 9 years by then. Having already planted an enormous amount of evergreens for privacy screening at our landscape customers properties, … Continue reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 30 Years of Tree Farming at Pryor’s Nursery
The late spring is the time every year when the Nellie Stevens holly creates new berries. The hollies are cross pollinated by the bees. Hollies that have pollinated flowers will develop small green berries that will grow and become red in the fall. The formation of berries requires plant energy and the holly will … Continue reading Holly Berry Time