Entrances should be welcoming

Give some thought this winter to sprucing up driveway and sidewalk entrances. It is a subtle way of saying welcome to your home.

Locate entrance plantings where the driveway meets the street or where the front sidewalk connects with the driveway or public walk. They may occur on both sides of the walk or drive, or only one side.

Your design should reflect the same style or flavor of landscaping used elsewhere on the property. When possible, use some of the same plants at the entrance that were used near the house to give unity to the design.

Select plants in scale with the area. For example, if there is limited space near the front walk, use restraint when choosing the size and number of plants. Use entrance plantings as an accent. Too many plants or large plants will overwhelm the area.

When the entrance is spacious and open, such as where a driveway ties into the street, make sure that the size of your plantings are in proportion to the area.

Consider existing conditions when selecting plants. Is the site in full sun, full shade or partial shade? Is there good drainage or is it constantly damp?

Correctly spacing the plants when they are installed helps keep maintenance at a minimum. Planting too close to the pavement will mean constant pruning in the future in order to keep the branches off the sidewalk or driveway.

When space permits, you can use a small tree in your entrance design. Smaller trees such as crape myrtle, hollies or Japanese maple will usually be more in scale with the small entrance plantings than larger shade trees.

You can incorporate other design elements into entrance plantings, such as lamp posts, fences, mailboxes, and walls. Just don't get carried away with these extras, or the design will look cluttered.

The shape of the planted area deserves some forethought. The design of the bed can be straight or curved lines. Curved lines usually look the best, and when using them, the lines should be bold. Avoid week, erratic curved bed lines. Always have them join the walk or driveway.

YELLOW LEAVES ON AZALEAS: Every year in fall and early winter, leaves on azaleas turn yellow.

As the plant runs out of nitrogen, it pulls it from the older leaves to the newer leaves, thus you see the interior leaves turning yellow while the outer and top leaves stay green.

Perhaps they were not fertilized in the summer, or were unable to keep up the fertilizing because of a poorly functioning root system.

Don't worry about these plants. They should bloom normally in the spring. Don't fertilize them now, as it will not help. Wait until next spring.

I always remember what a commercial azalea grower told me several years ago about the yellowing and dropping of leaves: "It's just mother nature's way of getting rid of some of the foliage so that the blooms will show up better in the spring."

Makes sense to me.

SID MULLIS IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA EXTENSION SERVICE OFFICE FOR RICHMOND COUNTY. CALL HIM AT (706) 821-2349, OR SEND E-MAIL TO SMULLIS@UGA.EDU.