AboutMarc Chapelle, ASLA Expertise As a licensed Landscape Architect, I can answer general questions about style and design, ideas and suggestions for site amenities, larger site-planning issues, or recreation and park design.
IF YOU JUST WANT A PLANT SUGGESTION GO HERE: http://www.growit.com/PlantInfo/LandScape.htm
I prefer you ask somebody else why your petunias are not as perky as they should be...I'd LOVE to tell you how can use those petunias to increase your home's value!
Experience Member, American Society of Landscape Architects (ALSA.org); Past clients have been mostly contractors, developers and local civil engineering/architecture firms, plus the occasional homeowner. Currently, I design recreational facilities for the National Park Service (DOI).
I am located in the dry Great Basin area (Greater Nevada/Utah), so the use of landscape materials OTHER than plants is emphasized. As a licensed Landscape Architect on the East and West Coasts, I have been in practice over 20 years.
Organizations ASLA (ASLA.org)
Education/Credentials BSLA in Landscape Architecture, 1989
Many additional seminars, educational venues, and classes (both taught & attended)
Awards and Honors Best Multifamily project, 1993
Best Model Home Landscaping, 1993
I live in central Minnesota. I can really use your help. Can you give me some suggestions of plants that would grow well in my area that is considered thick deciduous plants and trees? I would like to use these plants as noise buffer on a 30 foot berm in my backyard that backs up to a heavily used county road. I am also considering putting up a solid 6 ft. wall of fence on the top of the berm to help with the noise and dust, and to add privacy. How can I maximize my outcome to achieve my goal?
Answer You are correct, in that a berm & wall are your BEST bet on lowering sound. The wall should be concrete, but a thick wooden wall will work too. The best method for sound attenuation is getting the “sound deflector” as close as possible to the point of origin.
Consult your local building officials, as some communities require a permit to construct a wall or plant bushes, sometimes as low as 18-inches tall, at or near a roadway. They want to make sure you don’t block the traffic's ability to see obstacles, like kids in a cross-walk, etc, and that you actually are building it on YOUR side of the right-of-way.
This excellent website, created by the University of Minnesota Agriculture Extension, discusses basic and advanced landscape design principles. I could suggest a number of plants, but I think do a little of searching for yourself. The website has a basic plant-search engine that may help you in your endevors:
Plant type: "Evergreen tree" or "Evergreen shrub"
Use: "Screen" or "Screen Plant" for your tree search (but not the shrub search, as no shrubs will come up)
Hardiness Zone: 3 **
**Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota is a 4a, International Falls, Minnesota is a 3a. Check your zone here, by zip code: http://www.arborday.org/treeinfo/zonelookup.cfm
I put in a "3" for your zone (not knowing exactly where you live in Minnesota), and came up with several prospective plants:
Norway Spruce, Scotch Pine & Canadian Hemlock - all good, thick screening trees. In the evergreen shrub department, there are a number of Juniper and dwarf Fir that may work, plus Mugo Pine & Arborvitae.
I know you asked for "thick" deciduous or semi-deciduous plants, but a search though this nifty site only turned up 8 possible prosepects. There are not as many deciduous as evergreen plants to choose from. I think it looks nice to mix decidous & evergreen together, in my opinion.
Check with your local nursery for availability in your area, too. Plants like Barberry (hardy to zone 4) are readily available, but rare native plants can be a challenge to find.
