The 4 Second Landscape
By Shirley Cole

Most of us who live in houses along a street own a 4 second landscape. Some of us only have a 3 second landscape. There are homes that only have a 1 second or even a zero landscape. Think about it. As we glide down a residential street on our way home or to work, there are certain homes that we take the time to enjoy and view their lovely landscapes. We pass these houses in approximately 4 seconds. We do not have time to take in the small details, or the busy items. We enjoy a balance of plants to the house, pleasing textures, and exciting color that relates to the house. Examples: Pink crepe myrtles with a backdrop of a pale rose colored bricked home, or dramatic white annuals against a formal grey and white home with dark green boxwoods.

A 4 second landscape must quickly send its message of color, drama, architecture and mood. It needs simplicity, a clear definition and neatness. Color or drama at the front door is very important. Mood is largely set by the trees or lack there of. If the yard is devoid of foliage trees, the mood is light and bright in the cool season, and warm to hot in the summer. Sun perennials and shrubs can always be planted to enhance the landscape. If shade reigns, the mood of a shady yard will provide coolness for the home and foliage in the hot Georgia summer. The trees will shed leaves in the fall to admit light and the sun’s warmth on a home in the cold months of the year. However, the leaves and debris that a tree sheds during the year is a maintenance chore that must be done to maintain a clean landscape. Limbs must be pruned up to provide a high canopy. Too much shade will reduce or destroy all hopes of flower color. Large, overgrown shrubbery will obscure a home completely. The home becomes a 1 second, or a zero landscape if it goes unnoticed.

The successful 4 second landscape might have a large planting of Daylilies on a bank with Juniper interspersed to keep it looking attractive during winter. Daffodils in the early spring are the only plants allowed to enter the landscape before the Daylilies bloom. Plants that give us their incredible color, but only for a little while look best when they are boosted with a reliable year round green. Juniper is a good example, which carries on after the blooms fold and their foliage browns. One could also hold that excitement by adding an Autumn Fern, always reliable and it will last the year in your bed. I would like to give you four major plants for this bed: Daylilies, Autumn Fern, Tet a Tete Daffodils, and a low Juniper (Procumbens or Parsonii). You may want to add a few two man boulders to the hill and it will have a real personality. (A two man boulder takes two men to lift and place it). You now have a 4 second landscape.

A 3 second landscape is one that the eye will see, but it is too busy to be enjoyed by the eye, or too bland. The 2 second landscape is largely ignored and sometimes is not observed at all. It simply does not attract the eye.

We are lucky to live in a climate that will tolerate year round color. A 4 second landscape has a tough time looking flower pretty all the time. We must choose our plants and colors carefully to present them in our landscape. That is why we use annuals in color beds to boost our color presentations. Annuals have a short life and must be changed out every six months.

Nature is a constant happening. Next month I will talk about fall color and why you must plant foxgloves at that time.