Sorry for the longwinded post. Below pictured is our front drive way. What not apparent is that on either side of the cedars lining the driveway is a crumbling wood retaining wall in need of replacement. Next spring, I plan/dream of replacing the retaining wall, removing the cedars and putting in... you guess it JM's to line the drive. I can widen the planting area at this time to limit incursion into the drive. Above this area is a very tall oak canopy which provides filtered sun for most the day. One one hand this seems like a nice place for them to thrive in terms of protection from winds and afternoon sun , and a sloping well draining site. However here are my concerns and questions. 1) I am concerned that there might be too much shade/lack of direct sunlight for adequate spring and fall coloration. The pictures are taken at about 9:00 am. To combat this I was thinking about cutting back the brush some, and leaning towards more shade loving varieties, variegates (filigree, shigatsu sawa, butterfly?) as well as trees found in this thread: http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=31987&highlight=shade 2) The driveway gets de-iced about 5 x year. Worried that this will be too toxic? To combat this I have thought about raising the entire bed by a few feet off the ground. But this too comes with problems: expense!, nowhere for the plowed snow to go, and concerns that the snow guy will take out the medial portion of the built up beds if he can't see them. 3) Spacing. I have rough ideas of how big these will get but from what I can tell there's just no telling until you try them under local conditions. Any guidelines here? Please respond with any recommendations, tree suggestions, etc, or else I will bump up this thread out of self pity :)))
It is a little bit hard for me to tell what's going on, on either side of the driveway, but it looks like you would need to clear out a LOT of the brush, which it sounds like you are ready to do. I think you will be OK with the sunlight as long as you pick cultivars that do not depend on the sun to appear at their best, like you mentioned. To be honest with you, the de-icing situation concerns me the most. If we are talking enormous quantities of rock salt, that can't be good. Is there anything else you could use that is non-toxic to plants? You also want the trees far enough back so that the plow isn't burying the trees under 9 feet of snow.
It's funny for me Paxi, we're facing totally different circumstances: while you want to clear your driveway from those cedars due your concerns for too much shade/lack of direct sunlight; I'm here with 95 degrees and 15 hours of inclement sun and practically without any tree bigger enougt to provide natural shade for my maples... My last concern now is fall coloration due lack of sun (If I could, I can trade some sun for some natural shade....). So my best advice from someone that don't have your beatiful mature trees is: Think very well before cut any tree... As you know, it takes only minutes cut a tree, but it take a lot of time (decades maybe?) to replace them.... Probably, before you cut down them, you can choose to prune them to provide some more sun exposition for your maples. That way would be less drastic. It's just my suggestion. Good luck, Paxi.
Hi Paxi, Most of my garden is just as you describe: tall oaks that filter the sun. This setting is good for most Japanese (and Chinese) maples except: - Cultivars that require a significant amount (i.e.: half a day) of direct sun to keep the colours for which they were selected. This includes most reds (except 'Enkan' which stays red with dappled shade and a red palmatum selection I own that stays red in deep shade, all other reds I own green out, more or less, in the summer when in dappled shade all the day) and some yellows like 'Summer Gold' or 'Jordan' - Cultivars that require a significant amount (?) of direct sun to put up the Fall colors they are supposed to have. This point is much more difficult to assess since Fall colours also depend on several other factors (temp., rainfall,...). In my garden for example 'Osakazuki' colours as expected in dappled shade while ‘Seiryu’ is a disappointment. I also do a lot of tree pruning to keep some sunshine reaching all the plants. As said above, de-icing and snow accumulation could be harmful to the maples, specially if they are small. Raised beds could be a solution. Gomero
Thanks for the replies, all helpful. Even though the project isn't planned for spring 2009 (with a big fall 2009 planting), this would be a fairly large expenditure for me so I want to get it right the first time. Worthy 42: Yes the deicing is a big concern From what I have read maples are more sensitive than other trees. Problem is that I don't do it myself (some guy with F 150 comes by) so we can't be sure/dictate what gets applied. I am strongly considering doing the raised beds. I would help alot with the soil and mulch run-off no matter what we end up doing. Nelran: No large mature trees would be injured. I probably wasn't clear in part because of faulty terminology. The tall oak canopy is what provides the shade and these would remain untouched (I couldn't touch then if I wanted) Currently 3 -4 ft tall "cedars" (I put "cedars" in quotation because in retrospect I think they are more like juniper bushes)line the driveway which I would replace with the JMs. I don't feel too bad about this (I do hate cutting anything down as well) but it seems like we are cutting out bigger brown spots out of these each year, aesthetically they provide little and just blend it with the background brush. But I must be honest: the real reason is that I would love to use this as a place really showcase some great maples! Gomero: Good to hear your garden has some similar conditions. I've seen your album and if mine looks 1/10th as good. I'll be quite happy. Tree pruning would be problematic/expensive as this canopy is really quite high, so it may come down to plant selection. your suggestions are noted. The spring comment doesn't bother me too much as I happen to be partial to the greens. My reds elsewhere have greened out a bit early but I don't mind as long as I get enough of a "red show" The fall comment concerns me a bit more. I have to accept the fact that my first layout will be far from my last and I will have to be open to much experimentation. I am just a bit paranoid because many of my young plants (which I have had for less than a year) don't show much coloration. While I know that it can take a couple of years for them to stretch their wings, I have a recurring nightmare that I just end up with a string of non descript frumpy stringy all green palmatums lining the driveway. My wife would never let me hear the end of that one :) whew! this post went I longer than I thought. If anyone has any cultivars that have done well for them in fairly dappled shade, I am all ears.
Great pic. I remember it from last year. I looked through the osakasuki photo gallery thread and counted four independent accounts of good fall coloration in relatively dense shade! This one goes on the shade list. Please keep those suggestions coming! Any pairing suggestions? I just looked at the Vertrees decscription. In the picture caption he states, "the most brilliant of all cultivars in fall coloration". Now how is somebody not going to get this tree after reading this :)?
Paxi I realized after reading your post that one of the areas of my garden may have a similar appearance to the look that you may be looking for lining your driveway. This garden is approximately 120 feet long and varies in dept from 4 to 12 feet and is in almost full sun. Sorry I do not have much shade in my yard so I can not help on the shade questions. This started out as a mixed border of Japanese maple, dwarf conifers and perennials about 13 years ago . The dwarf conifers have been relocated and now the only perennials are hostas. The remaining plants are 22 maples planted about 12 to 20 feet apart. This bed started with 5 or 6 larger plants in the six-foot tall range and other small 1 to 2 gallon plants filling in. There were over 30 maples originally used in the bed and I continue move plants as the garden matures. The garden had an arborvite hedge on my neighbors property about 4 to 6 feet tall and 90 feet long along the west border. Three years ago the neighbors approached me to ask if I would mind if the removed the arborvite hedge so that they could enjoy the beauty of the maples. The view of the maples from their house is even better than from my side and it has provided better air circulation and more light from the west. The first photos are from 2005 and 2006. The hostas die back completely in winter and this makes for easy cleanup and a low maintenance design. This mulched bed now produces thousands of seedlings each year and is one of my favorite spots to observe in the spring. My son has worked on snow and ice removal here in NJ and they use a Lesco product called Ice Melt that is supposed to be safer around plants. This is from their website link below. The other major benefit which makes the LESCO snow and ice melting products the best ice melting products in the industry is the increased safety around turf and landscaped areas because of the reduced usage of sodum chloride. (http://www.lesco.com/ProdCatalog/ProdCatalogNav.aspx?ProdGroupID=81) Good luck with your project. Ed
aahh, thanks for the pics. yes, the layout would be similar and your spacing and tree #s are quite helpful although secretly I was hoping to space closer together to have a filled in look sooner. The better half of me is trying to stay patient and give the trees more room to breath although I am aiming for trees that end up on the smaller side to help encroachment onto the drive. While elsewhere I am going for a very natural look to blend in with the landscape, here I wish more of a "gallery" look to put these beauties on display. Perhaps some japanese painted ferns or lady ferns in between the trees, and to reward myself in about five years, underlighting under each tree which I dream will make a great nightime display leading up to the house. Ahh to daydream!
hee hee. Even the internet world can be small. Surfing the web for more examples and looky what I found: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/maple/hpgal0111173823336.html
