I am looking for some advice on which ornamental trees to plant around our pool deck. For reference, we live in a pretty temperate climate (Kentucky) which I believe is a zone 5 as far as hardiness (I am a beginning gardener so don't quote me on this haha). My research so far has told me that whether you are picking decorative trees like I am or any other type of plant, you want to pay attention to what zone they suggest on the package because it tells you how well they can withstand the weather and growing season. Anyways, I was wondering if anybody has advice on ornamental trees zone 5 compatible so I can narrow down my search a bit. I truly never realize quite how many varieties of plant there are to choose from when it comes to landscaping yourself.
A lot of people don't realize how versatile ornamental trees are in that the can beautify a variety of landscaped areas beyond your more formal front yard or back patio. I actually like to use these fast growing trees in the more entertainment-centric zones of the yard like pools, basketball or tennis courts, and other areas like this. As you can see from the photos, we used a variety of trees and shrubs to hide the large basketball court that would otherwise be quite an eye sore against the rest of the beautiful backyard. The ornamental pear tree and large shrubberies were the first things that we added, and just filled in more as we went. You can use just about any type of ornamental trees for a job like this, just make sure that they are varieties that grow quickly.
For beginner landscapers I always advise that, when in doubt, throw in some ornamental trees for an instantly elegant and "professionally finished" appearance. Whether you have the space for large flowering varieties or just a few small ornamental trees, these plants really take the guesswork out of landscaping because you can pretty much see from the beginning what they will look like long term, or you can trim and sculpt them to your preferences. For this stone clubhouse, we put in a lovely dwarf tree in the center of the lawn that will retain those Burgundy leaves during the growing season. I think that the best ornamental trees for any spot are those that provide an interesting color palette like this.
Landscaping with ornamental trees like these gorgeous cherry blossoms is definitely my guilty pleasure (my partner will attest to this). I suppose that there is nothing really to feel guilty of (except for the high cost) since they are natural and they add such a refined beauty to any landscape you incorporate them in. As you can see from how I designed the entrance to my personal home, the ornamental cherry tree is probably my favorite of all the varieties because the pink blooms (although short lived) are so stunning and unique. The weeks that they are in bloom are certainly worth the months and months of waiting. If you pick any landscape trees, I would definitely go with this one if your climate zone is agreeable.
For years now, we have been talking about adding ornamental trees around the perimeter of our home to breakup all of the empty white space. The yard felt very bare and the house unfinished without landscaping, so we really wanted make the change before company started visiting in the summer. Our landscape architect suggested dwarf ornamental trees because they fill out quickly, but are intended to keep sculpted for an elegant feel around the yard. We decided to take the plunge and planted dozens of them around our patio, bordering the garage, and even in the little mulch areas around that back doors of the house. I love that these evergreen shrubs stay a pretty vibrant green all year round, and have such a bold contrast against the white siding.
I have always been a bit intimidated by ornamental trees because I feel like that take so much care in order to let them thrive. Apparently this is not the case, because our landscaper gave us a whole list of ideas for ornamental evergreen trees that would be easy to maintain and fill out pretty quickly in our yard. Pictured here is the back corner of our property that we were really focusing on. Our main goal was to shield the backyard from the neighbors behind our home. We initially started researching fast growing privacy trees and found that a lot of ornamental species were used for this purpose. Quite a few websites suggested planting a thick evergreen in the back, then layering on ornamental varieties in front to give some design and further coverage.
