Appleton Landscaping Project: Unusual Trees, New Landscaping Create Sanctuary

Mary and Tom of Appleton accomplished a lot but saved plenty to do when they brought in Lowney’s Landscaping and Lowney’s Tree Service to replace their trees and update their landscaping.

Mary is glad they did as much as they did – replacing 20 dying trees and upgrading the plants and trees in front of the house – but she’s also glad they stopped when they did to take a breather before starting the back.

“I don’t think there’s many people that can do a yard liked ours all at once,” Mary said. “I’m glad we did as much as we did in one plan, but we still have plenty to do, and there’s plenty of time to finish the rest. I think you would want to be careful about how much to try all at once. We knew the front side of the house needed to be done. The back side, we can wait and see.”

Her favorite parts of the landscaping? Her picea glauca pendula, commonly called a weeping white spruce. There’s one near the back deck, and there’s one in the front yard, and they’re unique and interesting (see the photo gallery). “I have picea glauca pendula memorized,” Mary said with a grin.

Replacing Ash Trees & Evergreens

Mary and Tom lost their 11 evergreens to a fungus and their nine ash trees to Emerald Ash Borer so they have a mixture of trees now, including maples (mostly silver) and flowering crabs. All 400 of the ash trees in their northern Appleton neighborhood are dying so the couple knew it was their turn soon, and that time has come.

They also replaced some of their evergreens with Black Hills spruce, which don’t get the particular fungus that impacted those evergreens.

The loss of the ash trees is sad for everybody but especially so for Mary, because they planted those ash trees 35 years ago when they bought their double lot. “We wanted a woods on this side of the house but now we lost it again, but in a couple years our trees will be back,” she said.

Tom built the gazebo himself from a kit. There are junipers on both corners of the lot. Landscaping consultant Mike Schumacher and the Lowney’s designers planned the plants and trees to get different colors at each time of the year, Mary said.

Let the Experts Do the Planning

Mary said she is glad she let Lowney’s design the entire plan first, and then she and Tom edited that. “We made a few changes, not many, and we added a few trees,” she said. “But we really let Mike and that team have full reign and they did a great job. And the crew was wonderful.”

What is her favorite part of the plan? “It still goes back to that tree,” Mary said with a laugh, again pronouncing “picea glauca pendula.” “I’ve got another out front that I call Sasquatch. The crew said ‘You have some of the most unusual trees in your yard.’ And I said ‘I like unusual trees.’”

The area alongside the backyard deck is her favorite spot to be. “I just love that area,” he said. “That was all blocked off with trees and now it’s not anymore with all the bushes and the flowering things that are going in there. I just think it’s a real sanctuary.”