Dogwood Tree Info

Dogwood

If you have absolutely no experience with gardening, it would be a good idea for you to take a little bit of time to learn about different types of plants, where certain plants need to be planted, and other things that will help you to build a beautiful garden that you will be able to enjoy for years to come. Fortunately, there are a lot of resources on the Internet that can help you to learn about gardening. Not only are there a lot of articles online, but there are many videos as well. One of the things that you are going to learn right away is that you need to come up with a plan for how your garden will be set up. You do not want to just plant a bunch of flowers, shrubs, and trees in any empty spot. Instead, you want to take time to make sure the landscape of the garden is going to look beautiful and that trees and flowers will be planted in appropriate areas.

Coming up with a Design for Your Garden

There are some websites that will allow you to see different garden plans that you can copy. These same websites will even sell seeds or plants that can go right into your garden. One of the basic ideas is that trees are planted farther away, bushes are planted in the middle, and smaller flowers and plants are planted close up. That this allows plenty of space for all of the plants and is much more visually pleasing. Something else that you want to consider is how how much sunlight certain plants need to receive to be healthy and to grow to their full capacity. The Internet is also a great resource in deciding how much sunlight particular trees need. For example, a person could do a search for a Dogwood Tree and then learn about how large they grow, how much sunlight they need, how much water they need, and what other plants are good to place around them.

Crepe Myrtles, the Flowering Tree of the South

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The crepe myrtle is one of the iconic flowering trees of the southern part of the United States. It grows as a shrub in its native China and Korea, but 200 years or so of husbandry have helped it turn into a full blown tree.

Types of Crepe Myrtle
There are many species, but three basic kinds of this plant grow in America. Japanese Crepe Myrtle grows to 30 feet in height and width. It has nice looking bark and white flowers and may bloom twice in a year. The regular crepe myrtle tolerates heat and is is most common of the three. It can be a shrub or a tree, and has varied colored flowers that bloom all summer. Queen's crepe Myrtle has the largest clusters of white, pink and purple flowers. Leaves are bright red in the fall, but if there is a sudden frost it can wipe out the fall colors quickly.

Caring for the plants
Crepe Myrtle are hardy plants and will grow in almost any kind of soil if it is well drained. They are resilient in heat and humidity, and most will withstand cold winters when they do happen in the south. They need to be pruned in winter to keep the shape you want, and to keep flowering well. The trees should be planted in sunny areas with room to breathe.

History
The Crepe Myrtle was a bush in China, Korea and Japan. It was brought to Britain in 1759 from China, but did not do well. It refused to bloom at all due to cooler weather. Andre Michaux brought it to Charleston, S.C., in 1786 and it took off immediately. They found it bloomed with bright flowers all summer long, and it became a hit that has continued through the south to this day.