Northeast Landscaping

The states of the Northeast region include Delaware, Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois, Maine, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Vermont, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The Northeast rangers from temperature zones 2 to 7 on the USDA Hardiness Zone map. That means there is quite a bit of variance between in plants that will prosper from zone to zone. What unifies these states into a region is that they all undergo mild to hard winters. Kentucky's winters are rather gentle, while Ohio and Michigan receive blizzards and New England gets nor'easters.

Take care to select trees and shrubs that embody evergreen qualities and retain a decorative quality even throughout the winter when they have sloughed off their leaves. Conifers and evergreens are general staples in northeast landscaping. You might also add ornamental shrubs to your landscape to add color -- the taller the better, as short shrubs get lost in the snow. Shrubs with colorful berries are great for attracting remaining birds. Winterberry holly is a deciduous shrub. Make sure you plant male and female winterberry holly shrubs in groups so that they will spawn beautiful crimson berries. Another great choice for the Northeast landscaper is the Japanese Barberry which has yellow blossoms in spring and red berries in autumn.