Most residential and commercial landscapes feature some combination of two very different plants: large growing, long lived woody perennials and low growing, long lived grasses. People enjoy spending time outdoors when they have both cool shade above and a soft carpet below, but trees and turfgrass are competing for the things they need to survive: light, water, and nitrogen. This presentation will provide landscape strategies to designed to give them both what they need.
Executive Summary:
Learn to manage a landscape that supports both trees and turf.
Take Away
• How to grow grass in the shade
• Turf alternatives in shady situations
• Appropriate fertilization for trees and turf
• Delivering water to two different kinds of root systems
Laura M. Miller is the Texas A&M AgriLife Commercial Horticulture Extension Agent for Tarrant County. Through the application of science-based knowledge, she provides continuing education and problem-solving services to anyone who is trying to make some money in horticulture from green industry professionals to fruit, vegetable, and ornamental plant growers. Prior to taking on her present position in March 2008, she was a University of Florida/IFAS Commercial Horticulture Extension Agent for seven years.
A sixth generation Texan, she is a graduate of Eagle Pass High School who earned a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and a Master of Education in Agricultural Education from Texas A&M University in College Station. She is an ISA Certified Arborist, Texas Certified Nursery Professional and serves on the boards of Region V of the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association, the Cross Timbers Urban Forestry Council, and the International Plant Propagators’ Society-Southern Region of North America as a delegate to the International Board.