Have you made any of the 7 biggest landscaping mistakes?

It’s time to ask and answer an important question: What are the biggest landscaping mistakes?

We’ve written about landscaping on the Inexpensive Tree Care blog. Specifically, we wrote about the difference between a tree service company and landscapers. In that piece, we pointed to a few things that distinguish the two related industries.

“Since there is some overlap in responsibilities and expectations,” we wrote, “it’s understandable why there might be confusion. But make no mistake: Tree services and landscaping services have distinct and widely varying roles to play in our urban forest canopy.”

Not hiring Inexpensive Tree Care for your tree service needs is a mistake. It’s always a good idea to let an arborist, landscape designer or landscape architect (or at least the good folks down at the local garden center) teach you what to be paying attention to, including:

• Foundation plantings
• Sun and watering routines
• Focal points
• Garden beds/flower beds
• Buying plants
• Curb appeal
• Facts about shrubs and trees in general

But what are some of the biggest landscaping mistakes that people make when they work on their properties themselves?

Let’s take a look at some common mistakes that homeowners and property owners make.

7 Landscaping Mistakes You May Not Have Thought About

1. Overwatering. This is an easy mistake to make in the wet and wild Pacific Northwest.
2. Underwatering. This is an easy mistake to make in the wet and wild Pacific Northwest — in the summer, which is typically dry for long stretches at a time.
3. Failure to prune. (Landscaping Mistake No. 3A would be not letting a professional, certified arborist prune your trees and shrubs for you.)
4. Planting in the wrong place — e.g., too close to the sidewalk or driveway or too close to the house, where it will drop leaves and twigs and all sorts of noisy, cloggy tree debris onto your rooftop.
5. Planting too deeply. This may seem counterintuitive, but it makes perfect sense. Too much soil around the base of a tree encourages (among other things) root rot.
6. Planting nonnative or invasive species. This is bad not just for your personal space but for your neighbors both near and far. Nonnative and invasive species can crowd out native trees and shrubs, leading to a chain reaction of miniature eco-disasters that add up in a big way.
7. Failure to do proper research. This is actually a mistake in landscape planning. People will plant trees that they’re not prepared to manage as the seasons change from one to the other. Think about a tree that drops messy fruits or seeds or a tree that sheds its leaves right into your rain gutters.

If people can’t perform proper maintenance on the trees they plant in their front yard, then they shouldn’t plant those trees. And it’s tough to perform proper maintenance without having done the research.

Remember to always research which trees and shrubs to include in your landscape plans. Failure to do enough research can lead to a load of headaches and problems down the line — not to mention work!

Don’t let these landscaping mistakes ruin your homestead.

Be sure to get in touch with Inexpensive Tree Care in Portland OR when you need advice or guidance.