Landscape Care

Good Earth Landscaping

Taking Care of Your Natural Landscape

Proper Pruning:

Respects Tree Beauty - Respects Tree Defense Systems - Respects Tree Dignity

When you make a cut flush with the trunk, a major tree defense system is destroyed.

When you leave a stub, you leave food for organisms that start rot and cankers.

So, please make your cut where the branch meets the branch collar. The collar is the place where the bark and wood of the branch and trunk come together. There is great variation in size among trees and even on the same tree. The angle of the cut depends on the collar.

Wound dressings do not stop rot - some stimulate rot- so, do not paint wounds.

(from Alex Shigo - Tree Pruning)

Prune out dead branches and branches that cross each other, and do light pruning for shaping if you wish. Don’t top any trees unless absolutely necessary.

Fertilizer

No feeding is better than over feeding. If you wish to fertilize, do so very lightly in Spring. Remember that plants native to your area have evolved to thrive in a natural soil, so unless your soil has been stripped or contaminated, your native plants should do fine without amendments. Usually the best way to improve your soil is to mulch it and let the worms and micro-organisms do their work. Save the compost for your vegetable garden and fruit trees, which love and need extra nutrients. You may notice that the annual weeds love fertilizers also.

Irrigation

The first summer after planting, water once a week to once a month - you can tell if water is needed by checking the soil a couple of inches below the mulch. After the first year, extra water may be given in the Spring or Fall if needed. Regular summer watering of established natives should be avoided unless there is obvious drought stress.

Grooming Plants

Spring & Summer

	Periodically, remove the spent flowers and seed pods from flowering plants such as Penstemon & Daylilies.
	Mexican Evening Primrose - You may mow or shear to 3 inches at the beginning of June and again in August. Water afterwards.
	White Sage (Salvia Apiana) When it starts blooming, remove most of the flower stalks for a fuller, bushier plant. (Native Americans use the leaves to make smudge sticks to burn for purification ceremonies.)

Winter

	Sage (Salvia) & Lavender - Cut back by at least 1/3 after they have finished blooming.
	Gaura - When it has finished blooming, cut back the flower stalks; when the foliage is no longer attractive, you may either shear or mow the entire plant to about 3 inches or to it’s newest leafy growth. This should be done by January, to make way for new growth.
	Santolina - Cut back or trim after bloom as you wish for a neat appearance. It can also be cut back to about 1/3 in February or March.
	Zauschneria - When it has finished blooming, and is no longer attractive, cut it back to about 3 inches or less. It will grow back in the Spring.

Good Earth Landscaping has been designing and installing natural landscapes
in the valley, foothills and mountains of Fresno and Madera counties since 1988.
Call (559)855-3513 for more information or to make an appointment.

Contractors License #727750