When we moved into this house 6 years ago, it was a house in a field with only a handful of trees worth counting. My husband soon set to work planting trees like a madman to the tune of several hundred pines, and dozens of ornamental and shade trees.
When I’m in the zone, it’s every tree for itself. For the first year or two, they had a pretty low survival rate.
To make it easier to mow around the trees in our immediate yard, we took to planting flowers at their bases. Or mulching rings around them.
In the picture above, you can see that one of my favorite flowers to plant at the bases of trees is the Black Eyed Susan. Note, though, that my trees are still relatively small, and the flowers still get a healthy amount of morning and evening sun.
I like to add in a few purple Irises for spring color. This combination doesn’t even need mulch. So if you already have bunches of flowers which need to be divided, as I did, there will be nothing to buy!
I started a few patches of Vinca Vine last year and I’m looking forward to seeing them fill in and show off some pretty purple blossoms.
The trees are easier to mow around, and the flowers quickly crowd out the grass and weeds. I love not having to go back and trim around each tree.
More beautiful colors and less work throughout the summer means more time with my family. That Works for Me!
Don’t forget to check over at We Are THAT Family for more Works For Me Wednesday Tips!
Incidentally, now is a great time to be dividing and planting both Black Eyed Susans and Irises.
11 comments:
That looks so pretty! It reminds me of my grandma's yard.
It looks like you have a beautiful yard. We had the opposite problem. There were woods within 20 feet of our house. We cleared a large section, then planted some shade trees. We do put flowers around our trees too - it works well!
Thank you for this tip! I love color outside our windows... and I love anything that will cut down on yard work! Thanks again!
Amy Ellen of HealthBeginsWithMom.com
I love all the shade, but I say "If hubby plants, hubby mows."
In fact, we don't have all those trees and hubby still mows.
Great tip! I will have to try this with my overabundance of daylilies and irises. We have 2 full size trees on our property....so are planting new trees whenever we can, I love trees and we really need the windbreak they can provide out here!
My husband's remedy for weedeating is to spray everything with chemicles so it DIES!! We are left with brown circles around every tree. I'd love to have grass or even weeds growing instead!!
your yard looks so relaxing and fun. we have quite a ways to go to get it looking that pretty!
You're right...trees do make it difficult to mow around. Thankfully I have a strapping 17 year old boy to do that sweaty job! :) I love planting flowers around trees too...but when my husband gets behind the mower, look out flowers! He just mows right over them without thinking twice. :)
Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. I'm glad when people comment because it gives me the chance to come visit them as well. Have a great day!
I really had to laugh about the "every tree for itself" comment. I'm invisoning these poor trees shaking on their roots hoping they'll be spared!
Wow your yard looks AWESOME! Great ideas, my husband has been wanting to mulch around our trees for the past few years...maybe we will if we get to stay here! (He just lost his job)
-Ash
www.bosssanders.com
That's a great idea! We have two trees in our front yard (all the trees in the back are already inside a winding flower bed) that we could definitely do this with. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. It's great to meet other families who camp!
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