Here at The Tree Center we try to post about the topics that seem to matter the most to our clients. We hope you can find the information you are looking for here on our blog. Our specialty is obviously trees as well as an equal wealth of knowledge on shrubs, hedges, flowering bushes and many types of popular fruit plants.
As you can imagine, the horticulture field is extremely vast with hundreds of thousands of varieties, hybrids, climates and other factors to consider. Since we are based on the east coast of the United States we try to focus on the most widely popular and often used plants in landscaping and gardening in America. Frequently our informative category blog posts are answers to questions that we receive frequently about the best plants to install, exposure to sunlight watering etc..
If you have a question you would like answered or have a suggestion for a blog post you can contact us here.
Evergreen azaleas are among the most attractive and colorful flowers we can grow in our gardens. It used to be that spring was the season for them, and they brighten our beds and planters as few other plants can. Their rich glowing colors shine out, in a wide range of tones, from pure white, through […]
Across the hills of a large part of eastern North America, carpeting the forest floor beneath trees, growing on slopes, or edging streams, grows the mountain laurel. Found all the way from southern Maine to northern Florida, and abundant in New England, it spreads west into Indiana and down to Louisiana. Called by botanists Kalmia […]
Lilacs hold a special place in gardens, and in the hearts of garden lovers. Praised by poets, they spell ‘home’ to many of us, with their old-fashioned charm and their association with older gardens, perhaps of a grandparent or older relative. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a place in the modern garden – not […]
Most gardens look their best in spring and early summer. That is when the majority of plants flower, so is easy to have flowers then, and if you don’t plan your planting, you will pretty much automatically end up with a garden blooming in those seasons. But the last time I checked there are four […]
November will soon arrive, and that means increasing cold and shorter days in the garden. Especially in the north, some preparation is needed, although in warmer zones this is also a good month for planting trees and shrubs, especially deciduous ones. If you have plants in your garden that went in earlier in the year, […]
As the days shorten, and the nights turn cold, gardeners in cold zones start to worry about their plants. Will they survive the winter? Will they flower next year? There are lots of reasons why plants don’t survive in winter, or never flower, and when choosing what to grow, and how to grow it, knowing […]
Using shrubs in planters and pots is a great idea, and widely suggested, not just for anyone with limited garden space, but also in larger gardens, to decorate terraces, frame garage doors, or along driveway. They look great, and they really add a whole extra dimension to your garden, so its really is a wonderful […]
Old-time gardeners think of September as the start of the gardening year, not the end of it. This might seem odd if you are a summer gardener who sees their garden as ‘resting’ in winter, and you aren’t alone – plant sales and interest always rockets in spring to a peak and then are much […]
Boxwood bushes are garden standards – evergreen bushes with many uses, from the traditional boxwood hedge to less formal shrubs in modern gardens. Because they have such a well-known name, new gardeners can easily think they are all the same, and that one boxwood is just like any other, so why not just grab the […]
We have all seen it, and some gardeners have even come to dread it – those words in the description of that tree or shrub you are aching to have – ‘Grow in fertile, moist, well-drained soil’. The first two parts are not so bad, after all, if we enrich our soil, and we water […]
About one billion rose blossoms find their way into florist shops around the world, and in America alone about 30 million are sold on just one day – February 14. These specialized blooms have planted a vision in our minds of what ‘roses’ look like, but they are so much more than that. Wild roses […]
The peak month of summer is also the pivotal month in the gardening year. Although a tradition has developed that puts spring as the time to get your garden going, a far better time is fall. Warm ground, the return of rain, and time for new plants to establish themselves so they can make an […]
Everyone loves roses, and it is impossible to have too many in your garden. Except for the work, right? If you think that way you probably grew roses a while back, because a lot has changed in the rose world since the new century began. As 21st century gardeners, it’s time to take advantage of […]
Pines – big and small – were the subject of a recent blog, and they are beautiful trees that bring a unique look to any garden, with so many to choose from. Pine trees are usually trouble-free, but, like all plants, they can be attacked by insects from time to time. Often these attacks are […]
When July rolls around, that first flush of spring flowers is over, and even some of the early summer plants are finished too. If you haven’t planned ahead you may be looking at a lot of green right now, and if that sounds like your garden, now is the time to do something about it. […]
When we think of ‘home grown’, it is usually vegetables, or fruit, that most people think of. Yet there is a valuable food – nuts – that is often overlooked. Yet nut growing is certainly the easiest way to grow edible plants. No elaborate annual bed preparation, seeding and planting, as you do with a […]
Junipers can be confusing plants when you first start gardening. Someone will casually say, “It’s a juniper” when pointing at almost anything from a tall tree or a narrow, upright shrub, to something a few inches tall creeping across the ground. It might have fuzzy or smooth leaves, and it could be green, blue, yellow, […]
We all want the best plants in our gardens – healthy bushes covered in flowers that bring color and often perfume for us to enjoy. Yet sometimes we are disappointed. A bush produces a few initial flowers and then stops for the rest of the season, or has a good flowering one year, and then […]
In everyday talk around our gardens, we often talk about cypress trees, but that name seems to cover many trees that look very different from each other. So what is going on with all these ‘cypress’? The name is an old one, going back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and was applied to trees […]
When you start gardening, the biggest lesson is knowing what to do when. Good timing gives you plenty of blooms in their seasons, and makes planting go smoothly, with plants developing quickly. It prevents (or greatly reduces) winter injury and drought problems, and it makes your work much more effective. In different parts of the […]
In a perfect world we would walk out into our spring gardens and be surrounded by beautiful flowering shrubs and trees, with a lush, green lawn, and the promise of another perfect gardening season. Too often, though, the reality falls short of our vision, and we instead find a tired collection of unhappy plants, with […]
In this series of blogs, we have been looking at a different approach to designing your garden. Forget about drawing plans, and work instead right on the ground, thinking out your garden right in the garden, and laying it out directly on the ground. The great thing about this approach is you don’t need to […]
In the extended plant descriptions and advice which are a unique feature of The Tree Center website – and a great resource for our customers – we often describe a plant as being ‘suitable for foundation planting’. Experienced gardeners will know exactly what we are talking about, but new gardeners may be a little mystified. […]
Once warmer weather returns, and the days start to grow longer, the garden tempts up back into it, after a winter of rest, perhaps buried beneath snow. The early-spring garden can look sad, and some early work will pay dividends, as well as getting you out in the fresh air and spring sunshine. Here are […]
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