Landscaping

Reducing Lawn Areas to Enhance Property

Posted on by

By Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

Grass alternative landscape planting under dense shade tree.
Grass alternative landscape planting under dense shade tree. Photo by Pamm Cooper

The trend in North America of having a lawn surrounding a house is not a world-wide one. As a matter of fact, it’s only since the 1940s that American lawns took a turn toward a neat, manicured, park- like atmosphere. Almost every house that is built today features a lawn and some type of decorative plantings. Shrubs are planted along the foundations of houses, and often an ornamental tree or two are strategically planted to accent the landscape. It creates the idea of a little park surrounding every home, accented with walls, decks or a patio according to individual preference.

Sometimes it is desirable to reduce lawn areas, especially when an acceptable turf grass stand cannot be maintained without a great deal of expense or work. A lawn is not like a garden that can be tilled over and started anew when things turn out poorly. A lawn is intended to be a permanent part of the landscape. Problem areas that chronically fail to produce the desired dense stand of turf grass may need to be converted into something else. The idea should be to look at the home landscape as a property, and not necessarily as a lawn.

The best way to begin determining what may look better on your property may be to take a drive around your area and see what other people have done. This is especially helpful when dealing with shade problems where grass can’t be grown so that it fills in properly. Sometimes homeowners have limbed up trees, like oaks or maples, to allow enough sun to grow a suitable stand of grass. Some people have given up and may have tried some other type of planting. As an example, Flowering Dogwoods are native trees which do best planted beneath taller trees with no grass or other plant within three feet of their trunk. Sometimes you see ground covers planted around the bases of trees, filling in up to the point where grass can form an acceptable dense stand.

There are some properties that have no lawn areas at all. Instead, perennial flowers, ornamental grasses, shrubs, and walkways are incorporated sometimes with a grass walkway. Almost any plants and trees can be selected if they are suitable for our climate zone and soil type. Keep in mind, though, that there may be quite a bit of maintenance involved in any landscape planting. Even low maintenance plants may need to be pruned or divided periodically.

Modified mowing is another way to reduce lawn area. This works especially well where there is a large area that can be left uncut for most of the year. In spring, before letting the grass grow, a wildflower mix suitable for the site can be scattered in. Or the grass can just be left alone and mowed down in the spring or fall to keep it tidy and prevent trees from getting established. Often the uncut area is contoured to enhance a driveway or other feature.

A lawn can drastically affect one’s enjoyment of one’s home landscape. Turf can be looked at as more of a “floor of a garden,” rather than as the focus of the property. If having a great looking lawn is out of reach, consider alternatives that can enhance both the visual appearance of your home and the overall enjoyment of being at home.  Where a lawn constantly struggles, do not hesitate to consider planting something else. It will help lessen the load of things to worry about.

For questions about lawns, lawn alternatives or other gardening questions, feel free to contact us, toll-free, at the UConn Home & Garden Education Center at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at www.homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu or contact your local Cooperative Extension center.

This article was published in the Hartford Courant Jan. 25, 2025

Berry Good Pick for Winter Interest

Posted on by

By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

Winterberry shrub with no leaves and bright red berries.
Winterberry shows winter interest with no leaves and bright red berries. Photo by dmp2024

Looking for a splash of color in your yard amid winter’s dreary landscape? Check out one or more of the many winterberry (Ilex verticillata) cultivars. This deciduous member of the holly family sports bright, shiny red berries from early fall through late winter. Branches may be cut and used in holiday arrangements.

Winterberry can be found growing throughout eastern North America from Canada down along the east coast and west to Texas. Look for the brilliant red berries when driving past marshy areas in particular. While winterberry will grow in well-drained soil, it is a great candidate for areas that stay moist and aren’t particularly well drained. These plants naturally occur in forested wetlands as well as along the banks of streams, ponds or other water sources.

There are several factors to consider when selecting a winterberry bush for your yard. One of the most important is the mature size of the plant. Cultivars are available that vary from dwarf, 4-foot, compact plants to 15-foot, more rangy specimens. ‘Red Sprite’ and ‘Berry Poppins’ are two red-berried, compact cultivars. ‘Winter Red’ and ‘Sparkleberry’ typically top 10 feet. Check out suggested cultivars for Connecticut with the UConn Plant Database (https://plantdatabase.uconn.edu/). While initially slow growing, winterberries may eventually form clumps through suckering and depending on the cultivars, may form dense stands if allowed.

The berries on most cultivars are a brilliant red. There are, however, some that have gold or orange fruits. ‘Goldfinch’ boasts golden yellow berries while both ‘Aurantiaca’ and ‘Afterglow’ offer delightful orangey fruit.

Do realize that plants are dioecious, meaning that individual plants may be male or female. Only the female plants produce berries. The male plants supply the pollen to fertilize the female’s flowers so that berries are produced. One male plant can fertilize at least 10 females if located within 50 feet or closer. Look at tags so a compatible male cultivar is chosen. Appropriate pollinators should be listed on nursery tags.

Unless plants are in bloom or have berries, it is not possible to tell males from females, but they should be marked on their tags at the nursery. When in bloom, the female flowers have tiny green immature berries in the center while the males have fluffy, yellow, pollen-bearing anthers. Occasionally the female flowers have non-pollen bearing anthers, probably effective is luring pollinators to fertilize their flowers. Although not common in Connecticut, one native species of cellophane bee, Colletes banksi, is a specialized pollinator of winterberry.

Winterberry with full berry display.
Photo by dmp2024

Winterberries do best in full sun to partial shade. The shadier the site they are grown in, the fewer blossoms and berries they will produce. Being native New Englanders, they prefer acidic soils rich in organic matter. If your soil pH is between 5 to 6.5, plants should happily grow. Once plants are established, only minimal fertilization is usually required. For the first few years, about a cup of a complete organic or synthetic fertilizer could be lightly worked into the soil surrounding the plant each spring.

Plants can be used in foundation plantings, as a hedge, in rain gardens and when setting up areas attractive to wildlife. Not only are pollinators attracted to the flowers but over 48 species of birds feed on the berries, typically after they soften following periods of freezing and thawing.

Pruning can be tricky and is best kept to a minimum so selecting the right sized cultivar for your particular site is crucial. Winterberries have an upright growth habit but may sucker. They bloom on old wood meaning the flower buds that open in the spring were formed last fall. If grown as a multi-stemmed shrub, a few stems can be removed if plants seem crowded.

Complaints about little or no berry production may be due to lack of a male pollinator, too much shade, young plants that have not established a good root system, improper pruning or excessively dry conditions. In general, winterberries are rewarding, easy to grow shrubs that make quite the impact when little else in the landscape stands out.

For questions about selecting or growing winterberries or for other gardening queries, contact the UCONN Home & Garden Education Center, toll-free, at (877) 486-6271, visit their web site at www.homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu or contact your local Cooperative Extension Center.