LANDSCAPE AND GROUNDS MAINTENANCE
by local horticulturists and from local / regional information sources .
Selected sources of plant material information : All America Selections All America Rose Selections Proven Winners University websites Local botanic gardens and arboretums Once you find a specific plant that shows promise , use an illustrator tool such as Google Images or Yahoo Image Search to help determine if the features are the ones you ’ re looking for . For example , if you ’ ve heard of ‘ Mohican ’ viburnums , simply go to the image site and type in “ Mohican viburnums ” in the search box , and voila , hundreds of photos of ( you guessed it ) Viburnum lantana , spp . ‘ Mohican ’ will appear .
After information has been gathered from these sources , contact or visit your nearest public botanic garden or arboretum . It ’ s one thing to see a plant on a web page or in a catalog ; it ’ s quite another to see it / touch it / smell it in person .
DEVELOP A PLANT PALETTE As choices are made , evaluated and adjusted , it ’ s important to create a localized list of go-to plants — sometimes called a plant palette . Such a list can be created and organized in many ways , but for the purpose of a sports field or campus grounds , perhaps the best approach is to start with light requirements , then fill each subcategory with 10-25 plant species choices in each . For example :
Full sun
Small trees Large shrubs Small shrubs Groundcovers Perennials Annuals
Light shade
Small trees Large shrubs Small shrubs Groundcovers Perennials Annuals
Don ’ t stop with five choices for each category or your facility may end up with too many of too few species . This will best serve as a handy guide for choosing plants when you don ’ t have much time to make your choice .
PROPER SPACING Spacing is commonly ignored , but can be primarily responsible for the eventual health and success of an ornamental planting for several reasons . Plants spaced too close together are likely to crowd each other , compete for water and nutrients and create a dense canopy that encourages the development of foliar diseases . Plants spaced too far apart often lack the visual appeal necessary to create an aesthetically pleasing mass .
Proper spacing is also influential in terms of the budget . Because it ’ s tempting to conveniently forget that small plants grow into big ones , planting for immediate appeal not only creates competition , but it also causes the sports field manager to spend more money on plants than they needed . The proven approach is to read the plant care tag , understand the spacing recommendations and then believe them — or at least use some restraint when the temptation for closer spacing rears its ugly head . Using plant spacing discipline is the key to success when choosing the number of plants to buy and how close together to install them . SFM
Medium shade
Small trees Large shrubs Small shrubs Groundcovers Perennials Annuals
Heavy shade
Small trees Large shrubs Small shrubs Groundcovers Perennials Annuals
John C . Fech is a horticulturist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Certified Arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture . The author of two books and more than 400 popular and trade journal articles , he focuses his time on teaching effective landscape maintenance techniques , water conservation , diagnosing turf and ornamental problems , and encouraging effective bilingual communication in the green industry . sportsfieldmanagementonline . com April 2024 | SportsField Management
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