LANDSCAPING YOUR YARD USING TREES, SHRUBS AND EDIBLE ORNAMENTALS

— Research the trees, shrubs and plants you want to use in your landscaping scheme. What will be the height and spread of the plant at maturity? (See following table.) Will it shade out anything else? Take direction into consideration; watch how the sun throws shadows over the course of a day. Don't put tall plants on the South side of smaller ones. Don't plant anything so close to a building that you can't get behind it when it is a mature plant.

— Mix species for diversity. This makes a more natural landscape that is less prone to diseases or pests. It also gives you a variety of niches in your garden. For instance, a  tall tree might offer welcome shade under which to stretch a hammock on a hot day. Flowering trees welcome Spring with their masses of beautiful blossoms and provide nesting sites for birds. Bush cherries, currants and juneberries with their clusters of fruit offer a smorgasbord to gardeners and birds. A low-growing potentilla hedge gives a splash of yellow color bordering a walkway, while the taller Rugosa rose fills the air with beautiful fragrance all summer. Native dogwoods like red-panicled and red osier dogwood can be difficult to contain, so save them for areas where space is not at a premium.

— For privacy and property line delineation, there are commonly-used northern hedges like highbush cranberry and Peking cotoneaster, as well as more unconventional hedges like hazelbert, juneberry, or cherry Prinsepia.

— Research the particular requirements for each plant in your landscape, for example acid soil, frequent cultivation, full sun, etc.;  then place plants with similar requirements adjacent to eachother.

The following table lists the mature height, spread, and shape of many edible landscape plants, fruit trees, and yard trees.

MATURE SIZE OF SOME LANDSCAPING PLANTS & TREES
 

	HEIGHT	SPREAD	SHAPE
SMALL PLANTS under 1 ft.
Lingonberry	12 inches	8-12 inches	globular, ground hugging
SMALL SHRUBS 1 to 3 ft.
Potentilla	2-3 ft.	18 in.	rounded, filled-out
Red currants & Gooseberries	3-4 ft.	5 ft.	upright, rounded
Northsky, Northblue, Northcountry,  Putte, St Cloud blueberries	1 1/2 -2 ft.	3 ft.	upright, rounded
Ben Conan, Ben Sarek black currant	3-4 ft.	3 ft.	upright, compact
MEDIUM SHRUBS 4 to 6 ft.
Peking cotoneaster	5 ft. if unpruned	6 ft.	upright, rounded,  dense, suckering
Consort, Titania black currant	4 ft.	5 ft.	upright, slightly nodding canes
Crandall ornamental black currant	4-5 ft.	5 ft.	many irregular,  somewhat arching stems
Bluegold, Northland, Chippewa,  Friendship, Patriot, Polaris blueberries	4 ft.	4-6 ft.	upright, rounded
Chokecherry	4-6 ft.	4-5 ft.	upright, many suckers;  can be grown as small tree
Dwarf ground cherry	4-5 ft.	4-5 ft.	upright, rounded, suckering
Joy, Joel, Jan bush cherries	4-5 ft	4-5 ft	upright, rounded
Sand cherry	5 ft.	4-5 ft	upright, rounded
Red osier dogwood (likes wet areas)	4-6 ft.	5-6 ft.	upright, many-stemmed;  suckers freely, forms thickets
Rugosa rose (salt tolerant)	5 ft.	6 ft.	upright, thorny, suckers moderately,  makes dense hedge
Edible honeysuckle	4-6 ft.	8 ft.	rounded, filled-out, dense
Red-panicled dogwood	4-8 ft.	forms thickets	multi-stemmed; suckers freely, forms thickets
Cherry Prinsepia	6 ft.	6 ft.	thorny with stiffly arching branches; ball-shaped; impenetrable hedge
Nero chokeberry	5-8 ft.	5 ft.	leggy with bottom third bare; suckers slightly
LARGE SHRUBS, SMALL TREES 6 to 25 ft.
Nanking Cherry	6-10 ft.	8-12 ft	broad, open, spreading shrub
Nannyberry	8-12 ft	8 ft. crown, 2 ft. base	vase-shaped open shrub with loose, gracefully arching branches
Juneberries, lowbush Amelanchier alnifolia	6-10 ft.	12 ft.	large, open shrub or small tree; multistemmed
Lilac	8 ft.	12 ft.	broad based with  cloud-shaped top
Pin cherry	13-15 ft.	18-25 ft.	shrubby, multistemmed tree
Buffaloberry (salt and alkaline tolerant)	6-12 ft.	6-10 ft.	silvery leaves, thorny;  makes a low, dense hedge
Basket willow,  Corkscrew willow	15-25 ft.	8-12 ft. crown, 2 ft. base	many flexible, tall stems; cut down & allow to renew
Hazelberts photo of hazelbert hedge	8-15 ft.	8-15 ft.	suckers thickly at base, multiple stems arching upward to form rounded or vase-shaped crown
Highbush cranberry	5-10 ft.	10 ft. crown, 2 ft. base	vase-shaped with open crown
Siberian peashrub	10-12 ft	8-10 ft.	coarsely rounded, full
Winterberry (likes wet areas)	8-12 ft.	5-8 ft.	upright, open,  oval or rounded
Sea Buckthorn (salt tolerant)	10-12 ft.	7 ft.	crooked, thorned,  silvery leaves;  can develop many stems
Elderberry (likes wet areas)	5-9 ft.	6 ft. crown, 3-4 ft. base	upright suckering canes, no foliage near base, die back some in winter
Autumn Brilliance juneberry Amelanchier canadensis	15-25 ft.	10-15 ft.	Multiple smooth, grey trunks; slender, gracefully nodding branches
Manchurian apricot	10 ft.	8 ft.	single or several trunks; rounded crown
Russian olive (salt tolerant--can become invasive in Zones 5 and up)	20 ft.	20 ft.	crooked, thorned, silvery leaves; can develop several trunks
Amur chokecherry	to 20 ft.	18-25 ft.	oval or rounded top, tree may be single or multi-stemmed
Homestead Hawthorn	15 ft.	15 ft.	small, thorny tree with broad, spreading crown
Siberian Pear (prune minimally)	20-25 ft.	20-40 ft.	beautiful pyrimidal shape with strong, sweeping branches
FRUIT TREES 10 to 25 ft.
Grafted Apple; Wild Apple (grafted needs yearly pruning)	10-15 ft.	15 ft.	sturdy, open, spreading tree  with strong limbs
Grafted Pear	20 ft.	10-12 ft.	sturdy, upright; more columnar than  apple, plum or cherry
Bali, Meteor, Northstar pie cherry	10-12 ft.	10 ft.	compact rounded crown on short, sturdy base
Montmorency pie cherry	to 25 ft.	20-30 ft.	spreading
Seedling plum	10-12 ft.	8-10 ft.	small tree, "Y" shaped, prone to weak crotch angles
Grafted plum (A or B pollen type)	12-20 ft.	10-20 ft.	usually small, a "Y" shaped tree; prone to weak crotch angles
YARD & TIMBER TREES 15 to 80+ ft.
American or European  Mountain Ash	20-25 ft.	4-12 ft.	slender branches, narrow crown
Northrup Mulberry	15-25 ft.	20-40 ft.	upright, rounded, attractive bark
Black Walnut	60-90 ft.	30-50 ft.	stately upright tree with  sweeping branches;  foliage allows some light to penetrate understory
Butternut	40-60 ft.	25-40 ft.	upright, but generally more squat than black walnut; open crown
Bur oak	15-80 ft.	10-40 ft	very attractive; straight trunk with gnarled branches, corky bark
Red oak	75+ ft	50-70 ft.	stately tree; sturdy and spreading
Shagbark Hickory	60-80 ft.	30-40 ft.	irregular, rounded crown; beautiful straight trunk, shaggy bark
Horse Chestnut	50-70 ft.	40-50 ft.	oval or rounded form; spreading, impressive
Ohio Buckeye	30-60 ft.	18-40 ft.	broad, rounded crown  with very dense, low branches
Sugar Maple	70+ ft.	50-60 ft.	oval or rounded; dense, spreading branches
Silver Maple (fast growing)	70+ ft.	50-60 ft.	similar to sugar maple in shape, gracefully arching branches
Red Maple Acer rubrum	40-70 ft.	20-50 ft.	oval or rounded; more subject to limb damage than sugar maple
Amur Maple	15-20 ft.	20 ft.	shrubby tree; often multiple-stemmed, vase shaped
Thornless Honeylocust	40-60 ft.	40-60 ft.	graceful, outward/upward-reaching branches, flat-topped crown
White Ash	60-70 ft.	40-60 ft.	very symmetrical branching habit; straight, solid trunk
Amur maackia	20-25 ft.	20-25 ft.	attractive, rounded shape; trunk divides 2-3 ft. from ground
Hackberry	50-70 ft.	30-40 ft.	long, spreading branches, cylindrical or "Y" shaped
Black cherry	50-60 ft.	30 ft.	tall trunk, cylindrical shape; subject to limb damage