By Gary L. Wade
University of Georgia

Most landscapes today are overplanted. With too many plants for
the given area, each plant is less healthy, requires more
maintenance and just doesn’t look as good as it should.

The really sad thing is that such landscapes cost more money than
they should, too. If you’re planning a new landscape or shopping
for plants to add to your landscape, proper plant spacing is a
great way to stretch your dollars.

It’s hard to imagine cute little 1-gallon plants growing 10 feet
wide within five years. But knowing the mature size and shape of
the plants you want can help you avoid buying more than you need.

Move over, Bud

When plants are spaced too closely in the landscape, they begin
competing for space, light, water and nutrients. Internal foliage
begins to die off. Air circulation within the plant canopy is
restricted, and the plants become stressed and more susceptible
to insect and disease problems.

Close spacing reduces curb appeal, too, when plants lose their
individuality and are sheared as huge blobs of intertwining green
foliage.

Horizontal groundcover junipers, like Shore and Blue Rug, will
form layer upon layer of foliage when they are planted too
closely.

Creating chores

When this happens, the dense inner growth begins to die out, and
it becomes a haven for spider mites and twig blight diseases. To
avoid these problems, thinning the plant canopy to increase light
infiltration and air circulation becomes an essential chore every
three to five years.

Shrubs look their best when they have enough space to achieve
their full size and shape without fighting for space with their
neighbor.

The label that comes on the plant often tells about the plant’s
mature height and width. But it doesn’t hurt to double-check for
more information in a horticultural reference book or on the Web.

Whoa!

I recently bought several dwarf Burford hollies, for instance,
and the label said they grew 12 inches to 15 inches tall and
wide. Fortunately, I knew the plant grows 12 to 15 feet tall and
wide. The label was misprinted. What a disaster this would have
been if I had planted them 12 inches apart!

One of the most commonly used foundation plants is dwarf Yaupon
holly. This plant will eventually grow 8 feet high and 8 feet
wide. Ideal spacing, then, would be 8 feet apart.

Hedge plants are often planted so their canopies touch,
particularly if they’re to be sheared into a formal look. To do
this, take the projected mature width of the shrub and decrease
it by 2 feet. In other words, if the plants’ mature width is 12
feet, space them 10 feet apart in the row to allow the canopies
to overlap slightly.

Happy plants

By spacing plants properly, you’ll likely find that you don’t
need as many plants as you thought you did. The landscape may
look a little sparsely planted at first. But it will grow
healthier, require less maintenance and look better.

It will stretch your landscaping dollars, too. That’s something
you can bank on.

(Gary Wade is an Extension Horticulturist with the University
of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.)