Friday, March 7, 2014

Cunninghamia China Fir

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Cunninghamia

Among the very few coniferous trees that can reproduce from stumps; the Cunninghamia are a very small family of trees native to China with only 2 species:

Cunninghamia konishii ( Konishi Fir )
A narrow-pyramidal, very large tree, reaching over 100 feet in height with the Some records include - 10 years - 20 x 13 feet; largest trees recorded being 170 x 60 feet with trunk diameters up to 10 feet.
The Konishi Fir can live up to 2000 years.
This tree is extremely endangered with extinction.
The leaves are in rows that spiral around the stem and are up to 2 x 0.5 inches in size. The foliage is less prickly than the more common Cunninghamia lanceolata making it easy to identify.
The cones develop at the stem tips and are brown, small and round opening widely upon ripening.
The bark is reddish-brown.
Hardy zones 8 to 11 ( with reports of 7 ); this tree should make an excellent landscape tree in the southeast U.S. as does Cunninghamia lanceolate listed below which prefers somewhat cooler climates.

Cunninghamia lanceolata ( China Fir )

Native to central and southern China, this fast beautiful evergreen conifer can grow very large. It can grow up to 3.5 feet with a trunk width increase of 1 inch in a single year. Other growth rates recorded include: 15 years - 40 feet, 25 years - 66 feet with trunk diam. of 15 inches. its eventual size can exceed 100 feet with the record being 200 x 50 feet with a trunk diameter up to 10 feet. The largest in Maryland so far has been 80 x 30 feet in Calvert County. In Pennsylvania; a 70 foot tree grows in Dauphin Co. and across the Atlantic in England the largest planted tree has already reached 102 feet in height. Hershey Gardens and Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania both have sizeable trees.
Its sharp tipped linear leaves grow to 3 inches long and are shiny dark green ( blue in the form Glauca )
The cones are borne on the branch tips and are up to 1.5 inches wide. They are sticky while still green.
The attractive peeling bark is reddish-brown.
It is hardy from zone 6 to 9 ( -20 F kills foliage and branches ). The China Fir is drought and very heat tolerant and has no pests or diseases. It grows best on deep, fertile, well-drained soil in sun or part shade. The China Fir is best pruned to a single leader when young. Can be reproduced from seed or cutting and is easy to transplant while small.

* photos taken on May 8 2010 @ McCrillis Gardens, Bethesda, MD









* photos taken on Mar 23 2011 @ Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, MD




Chasons Gift
Fast growing and densely symmetrical pyramidal with deep green foliage.

Glauca
Powdery-blue foliage, otherwise similar.

* photos taken on Feb 2009 @ U.S. National Arboretum, D.C.


* photos taken on 4th of July 2010 @ U.S. National Arboretum, D.C.







* photo taken on Aug 25 2011 @ Scott Arboretum, Swarthmore College, PA


subsp unicanaliculata
Very large triangular leaves, up to 2.5 inches in length, are steel-blue.
Otherwise similar.

landscaping designs for backyard

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landscaping designs for backyard


You can alter many things in the backyard to make it a lot more beautiful, peaceful and inviting to visitors. Unfortunately, sometimes there is nothing that can be done about the next story neighborhood friends next door which take smoking breaks on their own balcony whenever youre laying in the sun, or which uber-bright multi-colored 40 ft . high perform set.

There are some things you can do, however, aside from shifting far distant from your neighborhood friends. You can employ a landscape designer or perhaps architect to make backyard landscape designs personalized to your area and needs. Even though, if you are a do-it-yourself kind of person or even on a tight budget, you could make a natural privateness screen with only the help of your neighborhood garden center.

Action number one is usually to lay out in which you want your level of privacy screen. Focus on a quick drawing on paper of your respective backyard. If you have the sizes of your backyard, notice them within your sketch.

To generate this organic screen, you will need to plant any row involving trees that can grow into any "wall of green" that can become a taller hedge. Take the backyard landscape designs in your garden center as well as nursery in order to find a knowledgeable one who can spend time with you. Inform them you are setting up a natural personal privacy screen along with evergreen trees and shrubs (which will keep green throughout every season). You should obtain planting, applying water, pruning sessions and the space requirements of every tree selection, which will figure out how many you will want.

Your gardening shop or garden-center skilled will know which usually trees will likely be suitable for your own climate sector. To get you started out, ask about these kinds of trees that produce great trees and windbreaks:

• Your Pyramidal Arborvitae is an time tested tree together with bright environmentally friendly foliage then one of the best offering hedge plants in the us.
• The "New" Speedy Shade Imperial Carolina is really a fast increasing tree kind, which expands six toes per year.
• The actual Hybrid Poplar Populus deltoides a Populus nigra is also a quickly growing grow variety and really should grow half a dozen feet annually. Works very well grown as a hedge, monitor, windbreak, or to series a highway or travel.
• The Siberian Sony ericsson elm or Ulmus pumila will be hardy, and also drought-resistant once set up. It is also thought to be a great windbreak shrub when selected and planted in lines.
• Clumping Bamboo can produce a bold declaration in fashionable and contemporary backyard landscape designs, also. You will want to seed Clumping bamboo instead of Running bamboo bed sheets which limbs its root base out in the rest of the garden.

Once you have your current trees, bring them home and also plant these people as soon as possible right after preparing the particular soil. Make sure you ask about thick mulch for your sapling choice, which in turn hinders weed growth and keep dampness in the ground.

landscaping designs for backyard with pool
free landscape designs for backyard
landscape designs for backyard pictures

Landscape Design Likes Custom Fire Pits

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Custom Fire Table burning a 200K BTU Crossfire Burner

We here at Warming Trends take pride in our ability to build our customers exactly what they want. We receive custom templates from builders, architects, contractors, homeowners and businesses who are interested in having us build a custom fire pit exactly to their specifications. Where other companies say they cant, we say, "Wed be happy to!"


Custom Fire Table with a 200K BTU Crossfire Burner

Below are a just a few examples of ready to finish fire pit frames that we have custom built for our clients. For a more comprehensive look at what we have built, check out our custom fire pit frame page or our finished fire pits on our portfolio page.


Custom Eyeball Fire Pit.


Custom fire pit before adding concrete fiberboard.


Ready to finish 8 9" custom fire table.


Custom dual linear crossfire burner fire table.


13 custom offset fire table.

So if you are a landscape designer, architect, builder, architect, homeowner or business who is looking for custom fire pits, please visit us online or call today, 1-877-556-5255. We are here to serve you and help make your fire pit dreams a reality.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Pink Muhly Grass

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Muehlenbergia capillaris

A clump forming hardy perennial grass reaching up to 5 x 6 ( rarely over 4 ) feet.
Native to southeastern North America, it is endangered in the wild in Connecticutt, New Jersey and Maryland, and is extinct in the wild in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The fine textured foliage is wire-like and blue-green to deep green.
The foliage clump is topped from mid August through October by pink cloud-like inflorescences up to 10 x 8 inches in size.. The flower inflorescences are exceptionally beautiful when backlit by the sun. Occasional deep irrigation during late summer will enhance autumn blooming.
Hardy zones 6 to 9 in full sun on very well draineds soil. It is not eaten by deer. Extremely drought, heat, salt and poor soil tolerant. Mostly found on sandy and rocky soils in the wild and does not need much fertilizer. Pests and disease problems are very rare.
Great for urban garden and against white stucco walls.
Also a great plant for drought plagued parking lot islands.
Cut plants to ground during late winter to make room for fresh new growth.


* photo taken on October 17 2010 @ U.S. National Arboretum, D.C.




Regal Mist
Reaches up to 4 x 4 feet ( foliage up to 3 x 3 feet ), with spectacular dusky-pink, hazy flower panicles.
Hardy zones 6 to 10 in full sun on very well drained soil. It is extremely heat, drought as well as humidity tolerant, making it a great landscape plant for both the desert southwest and the southeastern U.S.

White Cloud
Reaches up to 4.5 feet, with deep green foliage and creamy-white, massed, cloud-like plumes throughout autumn. It is among the most beautiful of all ornamental grasses.
Tolerates as low as -5 F.

Muehlenbergia emersleyi El Toro ( Bullgrass ) A very attractive, clumping grass, reaching up to 3 x 3 feet. It forms a denser clump than Muhlenbergia rigens. The species is native to hilly oak woodlands from Arizona to Texas. The coarse foliage is blue-green. The leaves are wider than that of Muhlenbergia rigens. The showy flower spikes are fluffy and rose-purple, eventually fading to tan. Hardy zones 6 to 9 ( the species only hardy to zone 7 ) in full sun to partial shade on well drained soil. It is clay tolerant and very drought / heat tolerant. Soak weekly during summer during the first season, biweekly the following summer to establish new plants. Established plants can be soaked every 3 weeks. Deer resistant. Cut clumps back hard during early spring every other year to eliminate thatch.

Muehlenbergia lindheimeri ( Lindheimer Muhly Grass )
A perennial grass, reaching a maximum size of 4 x 4 ( rarely over 2.5 ) feet, that is native to the Edwards Plateau of Texas as well as northern Mexico.
The fountain-like foliage is blue-green. The foliage is deciduous and clumps are cut back hard during early spring.
The purplish, turning to silvery fountain-like plumes, up to 5 feet high, are borne during autumn.
Hardy zones 7 to 9 in full sun. Very heat, drought, clay, salt, mediterranean climate and deer tolerant.

Muehlenbergia Pink Flamingo
A narrow, upright, vigorous hybrid, reaching up to 5 x 4 feet. It is a hybrid between Muehlenbergia rigens and the Gulf Coast Muhly Grass.
The very narrow foliage is blue-green.
The soft pink flower spikes are borne during early autumn.
Hardy zones 6 to 10 in full sun on very well drained soil. It is extremely heat, drought as well as humidity tolerant, making it a great landscape plant for both the desert southwest and the southeastern U.S.
Great for the confined urban garden and against white stucco walls.
Also a great plant for drought plagued parking lot islands.
Deer resistant.

Muehlenbergia reverchonii ( Autumn Embers Muhly Grass )
A perennial grass, reaching up to 3 x 2 feet, that is native from southwest Oklahoma to northern Texas.
The finely-textured foliage is mid-green.
The flowers appear in a very attractive pinkish-red, haze during autumn.
Hardy zones 5 to 9 in full sun on very well drained soil including clay. It is extremely heat and drought tolerant, making it great for the inner city as well as suburban strip mall landscaping. Considering its native range, it is very tolerant of the heat + humidity combination found in the southeast. It is highly deer resistant.

Muehlenbergia rigens ( Deer Grass )
A very attractive ornamental grass, reaching up to 5 x 7 ( rarely over 4 ) feet, forms a dense, evergreen clump of gray-green foliage turning to buff-tan during winter. It is native from California to Texas; south into northern Mexico.
Hardy zones 6 to 9 in full sun to partial shade on rich, well drained soil. Extremely adaptable and very drought tolerant. It is not prone to pests or disease.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Landscape Architecture for Dummies 1

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Ive written pretty extensively in the past about why I dont like the term, landscaping, applied to the fields of design and landscape architecture.


Despite my often indignant writing, I understand that for the majority of the population, landscape architecture is not really something theyre familiar with and that many lack the vocabulary to discuss it. As it happens my default response when, landscaping, crops up in conversation is generally to smile my most patient, parish vicar smile and explain what the correct terms would be. You see, I actually think that using the correct terminology is helpful to all involved. Heres an example:


I was recently (but to protect the guilty, not that recently) asked by an architect to review a design and access statement that he had prepared for a new building, for landscaping content. Apparently it had not gone down that well with the local authority. In his summary of landscaping he described the area to north of his building as landscaped, the area around the building as to be landscaped and similarly, the area south of the building, also as to be landscaped. In actual fact, the area north was existing woodland, the area around the building was to be planted as gardens and the area south of the buildings was to be hard paved. Do you see the problem? This kind of sums up why using landscaping as a catch all for our work is such a problem, because it doesnt really explain what is actually being done.


So in a benevolent effort to spread the gospel of landscape architecture, I thought Id produce a brief glossary of landscape terms:


landscape - the stuff all around us from when we step out of our, houses, offices and generic buildings, and look around. A particularly handy term to use, when youre not referring to buildings.


soft landscape - the stuff that grow; trees, shrubs, grass and all things green.


hard landscape - the stuff in the landscape that isnt green; think surfacing, furniture and other man-made features.


existing vegetation - trees and shrubs that are already there. In fact theyre free - how cool is that?!?


landscaping - mowing the lawn, tarmac-ing and general maintenance done by men with pick-ups and overalls.


For more a more thorough, if rather USA-centric list of terms, see ASLAs Landscape Architecture Glossary:


http://www.asla.org/nonmembers/publicrelations/glossary.htm


If that left you felling a little overwhelmed, my advice is to just try to memorise the top two or three. Or maybe just the top one - landscape.


Imagine, and Im looking at you Mr Architect, how much time youll save over the course of your life by referring to landscape, as opposed to landscape-Ping!. Think of every Ping! as a second you wont spend with your children or designing your masterwork (perhaps future man will consider your sargasso blue, clad distribution shed in a similar light to the works of Palladio). And what is the carbon footprint of every superfluous Ping! Not only will you help to preserve the sanity of pedantic landscape architects, but youll also help to save the planet too!