Landscaping provides so many benefits from increasing privacy and creating shady areas to preventing soil erosion and, of course, adding eye-appeal. Here’s another benefit that’s hard to resist: landscaping you can eat!

In most cases, this means you’re actually eating the fruit of the plants, rather than getting down on your hands and knees to graze on the green stuff. Fruiting plants and fruit trees can be an excellent addition to your landscape. You can literally enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing and your mouth watering.

Strawberries
Strawberries are a welcome addition to any home garden. Even for relatively inexperienced gardeners, they are quite easy to grow, do not require much space and virtually no chemicals are needed.

From as few as 25 transplants to start a matted row, you can achieve a berry yield in excess of 50 pounds or so one year after planting, depending upon the variety. You will want to select a site that is open to direct sunlight most of the day and you should avoid very low-lying areas prone to spring frosts.

I strongly recommend that you also invest in some spun-bonded row covers to help protect open strawberry blossoms from spring frosts and freezes. The row covers work by allowing light and moisture to penetrate while trapping the heat inside. Temperatures under the cover can be 8 degrees higher than on the outside. Agricultural Extension studies have shown that using covers can accelerate flowering by up to two weeks and increase the fruit yield. When flowers appear, remove the covers during the day to allow pollination.

There are a number of strawberry varieties you can choose from, each with different characteristics.

Ozark Beauty: This is one of the hardiest varieties as well as being a heavy producer of fruit that will be showing up from early summer to first frost.

Honeoye: This strangely-named variety has been around since its introduction in 1979. It produces large fruit with a distinctly tart flavor, starting in early June. Honeoye is also an attractive groundcover.

Sweet Charlie: If you prefer a really sweet strawberry, look for this early season variety. Vigorous and disease-resistant, too.

Raspberries
Raspberries require a good soil with slight acidity and adequate drainage. New plants should be planted in the spring before they start to grow. Raspberries also require one to three inches of water a week. More water is required as the berries get close to harvest.

For easiest harvest and to reduce the risk of fungal disease, provide some types of support for the canes. A simple wire trellis set between posts is often adequate. Cut spent canes to the ground after they finish fruiting.

Domestic raspberries are either summer-bearing plants, which produce fruit in June, or fall-bearing plants, which produce fruit in the late summer and fall. Summer-bearing plants like the Red Latham, flower and bear fruit on canes that grew the previous year. Once they fruit, those canes won’t produce a crop again and should be removed.

Red Latham: A reliable favorite producing fruit that is cold-hardy and disease-resistant with a remarkable bright red color and sweet flavor. A good choice if you enjoy home-made jams and jellies.

Caroline Raspberry: This is the fall-bearing standard of raspberries, producing large berries with a strong flavor. Because they are susceptible to verticillium wilt, so do not plant where potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant or peppers have grown in the past 3 to 4 years.

Heritage: An ever-bearing variety producing a crop in June and a larger crop from September through fall. It has a good holding ability on the vine, meaning the fruit is somewhat forgiving if you wait a day or two longer when it has reached its prime harvesting point.

Strawberries and raspberries. Just two of the many edible landscaping options. You are welcome to contact me via e-mail if you have specific questions. In future columns I’ll take a look at some of those other options.

The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve’s free e-mailed newsletter, visit www.landsteward.org

A good groundcover can be a landscaper’s best friend, but despite being a relatively simple family of plants, there can still be some confusion and misunderstanding. This seems like a good time to take a look at the pros and cons of groundcovers and how and when to use them.

At its most basic, a groundcover is a plant that spreads out horizontally, rather that sprouting up vertically like most other plants.

As for the pros and cons, the benefits definitely outnumber the disadvantages. The main “con” to be aware of is that certain groundcovers can spread out further than you intended. Before planting any groundcover, check into its invasive tendencies, if any, and be prepared to corral the area with a sturdy barrier such as lawn edging that you can find at most garden centers.

Now to the benefits of planting groundcovers.

Groundcover plants provide a thick, attractive mat of foliage that suppresses the growth of weeds. This is a major advantage if you dislike weeding!

For the most part, groundcovers are the low-maintenance heroes of the garden world. You can almost set ‘em and forget ‘em. Almost.

Hilly or sloping areas can be difficult or dangerous to mow. Replacing sod with an alternative groundcover in these areas provides a safe and attractive solution.

Regular lawn grass around the base of trees can be patchy due to the shade, but a shade-loving groundcover such as Pachysandra terminalis can be an excellent alternative.

If soil erosion or moisture control are problems, a suitable groundcover could be your answer. As you can see, groundcovers can solve a lot of landscape problems.

When choosing the right groundcover for the site, you need to consider hardiness, size, growth rate, sun, shade, soil requirements, blooming time, and perhaps fall color. Be aware of the conditions of your land and select plants that meet those conditions and are best suited for any specific situations, such as hillside soil erosion. You are welcome to send me your particular groundcover questions and I’ll send you a personal response. My e-mail address is steve@landsteward.org

Now for a brief look at a few groundcovers you might find useful:

Pink Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata)
Ideal for banks, slopes and difficult-to-mow hilly areas, it also looks good in rock gardens and atop retaining walls. Look for other varieties such as Emerald Blue or Candy Stripe.

Pachysandra terminalis
Just about the only plant that will grow successfully under pine trees or other spreading trees, against deeply shaded walls and in enclosed patios. It’s a low, dense, compact beauty that eliminates the need to mow around, and possibly damage, exposed tree roots.

Trailing Periwinkle (Vinca minor)
An excellent choice if you want a very low, trailing groundcover that does well in full sun, shaded or semi-shaded areas, particularly in rich, moist, evenly-drained soil. The dark green, oval-shaped foliage is a delightful background for the bright blue flowers that appear in early spring.

Elfin Thyme (Thymus serpyllum)
This one is ideal for planting between bricks or paving stones. As an added advantage, it is highly aromatic, providing the delightful scent of fresh thyme as well as tiny lavender flowers in the summer.

Purple Wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei)
If controlling erosion on a slope is a concern, this one is worth considering. It’s a dense, woody, broadleaf evergreen that grows from 6” to 9” tall and can spread indefinitely by rooting stems. It can also be trained into a climbing plant for covering walls or chimneys.

Planting groundcovers is not particularly complex. Generally, you will need to rid the soil of all weeds and debris, till the soil then mix in some organic matter such as compost or manure. Usually, you will plant groundcovers about a foot apart and then water regular for the first year until established. Be sure to follow specific planting directions, however, as the needs of different plants will vary.

The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve’s free e-mailed newsletter, visit www.landsteward.org

QUESTION: “This spring we had a hard freeze mid April that killed all tree and shrub greenery. All have thankfully recovered but the growth now is mostly new stems and sprigs especially on the crepe myrtles, rose of Sharon, and lilac. Do I trim back the new growth this winter so that the shrubs are not bushy? I’d really like to have no more than 3 stems to the crape myrtles and one main stem to the Roses of Sharon and lilac.” – Earlene

ANSWER: Simply select the stems you want to keep and trim back the others to the top of the soil. They should be fine and you will put more energy back into the remaining stems.

QUESTION: “I was wondering if you have a good solution for getting rid of ants that are all around and on my Tulip Poplars. I used Sevin on the lawn surrounding the tree but have been hesitant to use it on the tree. If you can help me it would be greatly appreciated.” – Brenda Stevens

ANSWER: One of the ladies here in the office, also named Brenda, had a severe ant problem recently in her back yard as well. She used Spectracide Bug Stop Indoor/Outdoor Insect Control around the area and it took care of the ant problem. Brenda noted that she saw a huge difference after the first spray, but she sprayed a second time to make sure. You should be able to find it at most any hardware store. The ants are attracted to the sweet sap in the tree.

QUESTION: “Last year I purchased several plants, four of which were viburnum. They are doing great but starting to get “leggy”. When is the best time to trim them back and is there any special way to trim them?

“Also, I have many Black Eyed Susans in my yard and they are all starting to have black spots on their leaves, mainly the leaves closest to the ground.
Do I need to worry? The plants seem to be doing fine, just don’t look as nice.

ANSWER: As you’ve found, viburnum is an easy plant to grow. In fact usually, the only issue is directing and managing the growth. As soon as possible after flowering, trim back and shape them to create a good framework while they are still young. Regarding the Black Eyed Susans, trim or pull away the affected leaves and you should be fine.

Now here are some comments from a reader responding to issues raised in previous columns…

“Steve, I read one person’s concern that their peonies don’t bloom. One thing that’s certain to cause this problem is not enough sunlight. I bought an old house with lots of peonies on the half-acre grounds, and I think they were planted when the trees here were much smaller, giving the peonies more sun.

“I’ve also had some problems with peonies forming flower buds that don’t open up. I’ve heard that the potassium in banana peels is good to remedy this. I dry all my banana peels during the winter, then grind everything but the stem with a coffee grinder, and keep the resulting powder in a tightly sealed jar for sprinkling around my peonies in the spring. I did get many more open blooms this year.” – Holly Helmstetter

Thanks for sharing that idea, Holly. If you remember a recent column about remedies for brown spots on the lawn caused by dog urine, you might find this additional comment from Holly amusing:

“I don’t have any pets (except for the wild birds at my feeding station) but I find that people walking their dogs in our pretty little village will actually let their leashed dogs go up onto my property and do their business. I made a cutesy but effective sign, ornamented with flowers, that says, ‘I don’t let my grandkids poop in your yard—please don’t let your pooches poop in mine!’”

I hope your dog-walking neighbors take note, Holly!

The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve’s free e-mailed newsletter, visit www.landsteward.org