Pruning, consulting and fine-tuning a Rogue Valley landscape at the BIRD ESTATE

 

This Bird Estate is a large home and landscape in Rogue River, Oregon, where I started working back in October, 2018. It involves regular pruning, but also a lot of hedge shearing which is something I usually don't persue. I am not responsible for this landscapes mowing. My work here involves pruning, consulting and fine-tuning parts of the landscaping. I thought this place would be a good addition on the website to explain a few changes and the reasons. This is on about 200 acres with 4 other houses combined together. The large house here and grounds on top of the hill are available as a wedding and event venue.

 

Lets start with the entry and driveway which has arbors and Wisteria on both sides. There is 360 feet of 4 inch thick Port Orford wood supports on top of the pillars with Wisteria up and across the entire 360 feet. Keep scrolling down for more.

 

 

A textbook pruning should be like grape vineyards where vines are cut back bare-bones to few spurs, but this homeowner enjoys the arbor with more stem cover. So I heavily thinned to increase air circulation, headroom and mountain views, but kept plenty of "meat on the bone" per request. More can be done in winter after the foliage falls. These large older Wisteria vines had sunburn damage on the west side of many of trunks. That means somebody topped them too hard years ago in the growing season. To avoid further damage, I prune these incrementally.

 

 

This is a broad view of the property. The driveway of the first photo is in the top right corner of this image. In landscaping the lines and shapes of the boxwood hedges can make or break the appearance of a place like this place, as well as other landscapes. I will add closer views below and explain further.

 

Here is a zoomed photo from the driveway of the amphitheater which can seat 200 to 300 people. The hedge top undulates because whoever sheared previously followed the ground contour. That is not the solution for a place like this where the grade settled in a few places over time. The hedge top should remain as straight and consistent as possible, independent of ground contour. This kind of thing takes 2 to 3 growing seasons to correct. High parts of the hedge can't be taken down too much because leaves make food and this hedge needs all the food it can produce for health of stem and roots.

 

 

The hedge line is close to the view of people sitting on the terraces. With such strong lines around the terrace seating, the hedge matters a lot. When this kind of residence is in the country the forest's naturally irregularity looks fine off in the distance. But the hedge needs detail and precision. And a straight top seems to fit best since the tops of the stage platform, terraces and patios are all straight of level.

 

 

On the opposite side is a pool, patios and view of more mountains. I used a laser rangefinder here to learn whether the bent twigs could be reached with a long pole pruner and ladder among these Italian cypress. For reference, the ladder is 10 feet tall. The top of the statue on the right is about 25 feet above the pool deck.

 

 

The other end of the pool area has two Sphinx, one in each corner enclosed by boxwood (there are 4 Sphinx altogether on the property). This corner also had Wisteria hiding the house windows.

 

This is the same Sphinx after pruning. I tried something different - dipping the center of the hedge contour lower on the side visible to guests using the pool. Showing more of the Sphinx base from a distance seems to look better. The vine was left a little lower than the entryway to reduce heat fron the sunset to this side of the house and windows.

 

This is the old brick walkway the owner wants to preserve for nostalgia. It is about the only thing they did not modify or update. For some reason the Italian cypress planted in this area look a bit ragged and not just due to snow. Possibly due to a bit more irrigation than they need since the irrigation zone was timed for the shrubs, flowers and hedges to stay green in warm summers. The owner also wanted to keep these Italian cypress rather than remove them. The next photo following shows the reconfiguration.

 

This photo was taken 5 days after the one above and shows the change of a single day's work . The arch idea was the homeowner's request. I used to do a lot more of this kind of thing and topiary back in the 1980s and veered away from that stuff due to the increased hours needed yearly for shaping. But for this specific group I think it was a reasonalble alternative. With new growth and one more year, these will look even better.

 

The top and front of this arborvitae hedge are straightforward about what was needed from this side. Shear the top and shear the front.

 

The part that can't be seen was the hedge getting too wide (deep) and the inside looked like decades of severe topping with more dead than living. I pruned-away the entire back side of this hedge because it faces the forest, and out of view. The thinner depth simplied future shearing and allows placing a ladder in back. Planting new arborvitae to fill gaps will be easier with more room. The inside is now 99% clean of flammable deadwood. The extra space also makes irrigation changes easier.

 

 

At a glance, all this soft foliage may look comfortable and inviting, but the excess growth is causing several difficulties. The foliage of the hedge in the background is declining from lack of light. The vines started growing into the wall tiles, block light light to windows and was almost bending conduit to the lights.

 

 

Same area after some moderate trimming. Wisteria is high maintenance, but few plants provide this kind of overhead cover on a large trellis or arbor.

 

 

These large Manzanita are close to the pool area where the natural area meets the landscaping. This is before pruning when their structures were still loaded with plenty of deadwood.

 

 

Some extra more recent photos.

 

 

Behind this fountain is another unusual rocky water feature with an underground sitting room that has a window into the water.

 

 

Night time at the pool side of the house.

 

 

Behind the statue is a serving bar, extra restrooms and an indoor theater.

 

 

This amphitheater can probably seat up to 300 people and maybe 500 with chairs added. There's plenty of land down below for parking where visitors can park and use a shuttle to get up to the main house.