From Tinsel to Timber - Your Christmas Tree's Second Life as a Privacy Screen
by Ken Lain, the mountain gardener
Now that the holiday lights are out in full view, the conifers grab the attention in the landscape. These are the Christmas tree-shaped evergreens that look so good with lights and decor on them and thrive in the winter season ahead. If you are thinking of more evergreen trees in the yard, or need more privacy from prying eyes. This is your season, especially if you want to use your new purchase for dual purposes: as a Living Christmas tree for the holiday season, and then planting it after the holidays for years of enjoyment to come. Living Christmas trees are gaining popularity, especially if you need more trees in the landscape. Let's cover the hardiest holiday varieties and how to plant them after the celebrations are over.
The Foundation for Fast Growth
The correct planting technique is even more critical when planting is done in winter. To successfully add evergreens to a landscape, several essential steps are worthy of your time and energy. The most crucial requirement for trees to thrive is drainage. Heavy, compact soil is a death sentence for most evergreens.
When planting, blend one shovel full of Watters Premium Mulch into every three shovels full of native earth to pack around each root ball. This ensures the soil stays loose and drains properly.
Next, you need to feed your new plants. Use my trusty 7-4-4 All Purpose Plant Food right after planting. The cottonseed meal in this natural food promotes robust root formation while maintaining good foliage color—it's like giving your trees a powerful head start!
Finally, deep-soak each plant in a solution of 'Root & Grow.' This specially designed compost tea encourages deep, strong roots. Use this natural root stimulant every other week until spring for truly exceptional growth.
Best Evergreen Trees Used as Screens and Accents
When you're ready to choose the trees for your living wall of green, read through these popular choices of local screening plants that fill in fast, all available here at Watters Garden Center. Many of these also make magnificent, festive holiday trees!
My favorite native evergreen screener is the Arizona Cypress. It is like a giant alligator juniper in size and color. It grows faster and fills in more thoroughly than other screening plants. Growing to over 20 feet tall and 12 feet wide in just a few years, you can see why this is the number one choice for a planted screen. It handles our mountain climate beautifully and requires minimal water once established. Plant these in a staggered pattern for the quickest, thickest privacy wall.
Very cold-hardy, this spruce has the perfectly symmetrical Christmas tree shape. This makes it an excellent choice for a front yard holiday tree decorated with lights, or as a semi-formal accent in a large yard. It makes a pretty evergreen background against contrasting foliage colors, flowering shrubs, or highlighting autumn leaves. Line up several for a windbreak or to quickly diffuse lights and sounds along busy streets. They prefer full sun and consistent watering to maintain that dense, blue-green foliage.
This is the largest screening plant, growing to over 50 feet tall and 20 feet wide. It is one of the fastest-growing screens, growing 2–3 feet each year! This cedar thrives on low water use, drought conditions, and drip irrigation, as with most upright evergreens. Make sure to give it plenty of growing space because, with its long, swooping branches of Arizona Blue foliage, this tree is going to need it! Its graceful, nodding top makes it a striking specimen tree.
Junipers: Spartan, Blue Point, and Wichita
Let's look at the Juniper family. Spartan, Blue Point, and Wichita are on the extensive list of junipers available at Watters Garden Center now. Juniper forests surround us, so be assured, junipers are natural to add to a landscape. Whichever color and height you like, all grow well in this part of the world. They are highly adaptable to poor soils and extremely drought-tolerant, making them a low-maintenance, reliable choice for a fence-line privacy screen.
The Austrian Pine is a handsome evergreen tree with a densely branched, conical form when young, becoming umbrella-shaped with age. Needles are long and dark green. Tolerates poor soils and harsh, drying winds. A great conifer for windbreaks or used as large landscape specimens. If you need a dense screen that can handle the most challenging conditions, this pine is a winner. They love being planted during the cold of winter for stronger growth in spring.
There are many more choices, such as the larger evergreen shrubs and deciduous trees like aspens. We'll discuss those varieties another time.
Stop by Watters Garden Center this week, and let's pick out the perfect holiday evergreens to bring joy to your home and privacy to your yard! Happy planting!
Learn the secrets to fast growth: always use Watters Premium Mulch for drainage and feed with my trusted 7-4-4 All Purpose Plant Food and 'Root & Grow.' Get started now to maximize root growth for a lush, private landscape by spring!
A gift the gardeners in your life will love - Watters Garden Calendar. It's stunning, locally relevant garden photos and professional monthly tips offer year-round, practical guidance uniquely tailored to their mountain growing season. Gardeners will be in tune with the local environment with this one thoughtful gift. She will cherish it all year long. Heck, get one for yourself while at it:)
Until next issue, I'll be helping local gardeners create their own traditions here at Watters Garden Center.
