Best time to overhaul the landscaping?

[Anonymous]

We want to overhaul the landscaping the we inherited from the previous homeowners. We need to remove bushes that are growing against the foundation of the house and replace them with lower, more compact bushes. We also want to move some of flowering bushes to new spots. And we need to mulch (or otherwise cover) large swathes of the yard to get rid of weeds. What time of year is best to do all this?

[Anonymous]

Now's a good time for new plantings so that they can generate root growth before the winter. Before you take out those bushes though, you might consult a nursery about what you have. Many shrubs are fairly resilient to cutting back. When we bought our house, the bushes surrounding the house were huge, all growing well above the window sills and against the house. I cut everything WAY back and everything grew back very full and lush. I am able to trim and shape them into a very compact hedge that is nothing like the giants they were before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now's a good time for new plantings so that they can generate root growth before the winter. Before you take out those bushes though, you might consult a nursery about what you have. Many shrubs are fairly resilient to cutting back. When we bought our house, the bushes surrounding the house were huge, all growing well above the window sills and against the house. I cut everything WAY back and everything grew back very full and lush. I am able to trim and shape them into a very compact hedge that is nothing like the giants they were before.

Can’t I just pull everything out by the roots?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now's a good time for new plantings so that they can generate root growth before the winter. Before you take out those bushes though, you might consult a nursery about what you have. Many shrubs are fairly resilient to cutting back. When we bought our house, the bushes surrounding the house were huge, all growing well above the window sills and against the house. I cut everything WAY back and everything grew back very full and lush. I am able to trim and shape them into a very compact hedge that is nothing like the giants they were before.

Can’t I just pull everything out by the roots?

That’s a lot of unnecessary expense to tear out old bushes and replace with new bushes. Just a thought. Good nursery stock is pricey.

[Anonymous]

Fall is a good time but it might be getting a bit late now. You might want to do in in early spring just after the first frost. You can check with local landscapers or go through Stadler’s or American Plant. AP will do a free consult and give you a proposal; Stadler’s charger a few for the consult, but I think their labor prices are considerably lower.
I would do research beforehand about what you want to replace those shrubs with. There are SO many options. Think about what you want, and whether you want to incorporate native species, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now's a good time for new plantings so that they can generate root growth before the winter. Before you take out those bushes though, you might consult a nursery about what you have. Many shrubs are fairly resilient to cutting back. When we bought our house, the bushes surrounding the house were huge, all growing well above the window sills and against the house. I cut everything WAY back and everything grew back very full and lush. I am able to trim and shape them into a very compact hedge that is nothing like the giants they were before.

Can’t I just pull everything out by the roots?

That’s a lot of unnecessary expense to tear out old bushes and replace with new bushes. Just a thought. Good nursery stock is pricey.

Good point. I don't know anything about plants, is the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fall is a good time but it might be getting a bit late now. You might want to do in in early spring just after the first frost. You can check with local landscapers or go through Stadler’s or American Plant. AP will do a free consult and give you a proposal; Stadler’s charger a few for the consult, but I think their labor prices are considerably lower.
I would do research beforehand about what you want to replace those shrubs with. There are SO many options. Think about what you want, and whether you want to incorporate native species, etc.

Thanks for those tips! I'll check out Stadlers.

[Anonymous]

Spring or fall are best for planting but you can do it pretty late in the year and you’ll be fine as long as you stay on top of watering through the first summer.

[Anonymous]

It’s getting late now. I’d wait till spring to do any actual planting. Lay mulch down early next year before weeds germinate. In the meantime you can consult with nurseries to get an idea of what go plant where.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fall is a good time but it might be getting a bit late now. You might want to do in in early spring just after the first frost. You can check with local landscapers or go through Stadler’s or American Plant. AP will do a free consult and give you a proposal; Stadler’s charger a few for the consult, but I think their labor prices are considerably lower.
I would do research beforehand about what you want to replace those shrubs with. There are SO many options. Think about what you want, and whether you want to incorporate native species, etc.

Thanks for those tips! I'll check out Stadlers.

You may want to check out American Plant and Stadler’s — walk around and take a look at all the shrubs they have now. You’ll need to figure out how much sun the front of your house gets, and figure out what level of maintenance you’re comfortable with. Ten years ago, I had a bunch of things planted and didn’t do much maintenance.... this time around, I’ve been doing my research and learning more about different plants’ fertilizing needs. I suggest you plant some evergreen shrubs that will be green all winter, some flowering perennials that will come back every year. And if you want, leave space for annuals and bulbs (if you see yourself taking care of them). Or just do evergreens and perennials.

Think about some native plants too! https://www.laurensgardenservice.com/our-top-10-favorite-maryland-native-pollinator-perennials/

[Anonymous]

The biggest reason that it’s ‘late’ now for retail is that the selection available to you will be very limited - especially this year. Also-any plant that can be recast as a Christmas plant will have its price raised.

I have three large installations still to go in in the next few weeks and a few pretty simple jobs. With the continued mild weather I kind of wish I’d been a little more aggressive in getting more work as I foresee planting well into December (and the plants I’ll be using were reserved a while back so, except for some very specific perennial that I’m not going to be able to get until Spring my clients will get full landscape make-overs before Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

For us retail plebes, mail order is generally better. You can buy fall blooming perennials for Spring planting, you can get more things bare root, etc. The retail nurseries only sell things in bloom which is really a bad time to plant them (although they’ll be fine). But the plants are smaller mail order.

[Anonymous]

what problems are they causing against your foundation? we have some bushes close to the house and wonder to what extent it really is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what problems are they causing against your foundation? we have some bushes close to the house and wonder to what extent it really is a problem.

Not any huge problems but our inspector said we should not let plants grow against the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what problems are they causing against your foundation? we have some bushes close to the house and wonder to what extent it really is a problem.

Not any huge problems but our inspector said we should not let plants grow against the house.

Every single house in my neighborhood has mature bushes growing right next to the foundation.