Tall Landscaping Plants: Find Your Design

There are a lot of factors to consider when pulling together a landscape design. Typically, two elements get most of the attention – the location of each of the plants, and the color that they will bring to the space. By blending greenery with more colorful items, and spacing them out nicely, you can create a beautiful landscape that will be a point of pride on your Jackson, WY property for years to come. 

But the focus on location and color leaves out one important variable – height. Sometimes, you’ll want taller plants to give your design some dimension, or to cover up something less sightly in the background. Whatever the case, this article is going to point you toward some tall landscaping plants that you might want to consider for your next project. 

If you would like help with the landscape design process, or anything else related to making your property look its best, reach out to TLC right away. We would love to serve you!

Arborvitae – A Vertical Classic

When the need for vertical dimension is presented in a landscaping project, arborvitae is often one of the first plants that come to mind. Even if you don’t know what these are called, you have certainly seen them before. Not only are arborvitae used to give a landscape a vertical element, but they are also great for privacy and can be planted close together to create a kind of living fence. 

The benefits of choosing this plant are many, including a height that can easily exceed 10 feet and the minimal maintenance that is required. If there is a downside, it could be that some people don’t love the look of these plants, as they are relatively plain. With that said, they do an excellent job of creating a green background in front of which you could use some more interesting, colorful options. 

Add Color with Hollyhock

When you want your tall plants to also bring some bright colors to the space, hollyhock is an option worth considering. Various shades are available, including brilliant whites and bright pinks, so you should have little trouble picking out a variety that suits your design intentions. And, along with the colorful flowers, there is plenty of green included in these plants, which can stand more than five feet tall. 

Hydrangeas Are a Popular Pick

While you might not get quite the vertical coverage with a hydrangea as with either of our first two options, you can’t deny the beauty of this popular garden flower. The appeal here is obvious as soon as the flowers bloom – those blooms are huge and have a distinctive round shape. It’s important to note that you’ll want to use panicle hydrangeas specifically to get significant height in our Jackson, WY climate. Other varieties of hydrangea will still look beautiful in this area, but they won’t achieve the height that you may be hoping to reach in this application at 3-4ft.

As with many other plants, plenty of flower colors are available when you plant hydrangeas. These do have the potential to get quite large in your garden, so keeping up with maintenance to shape them into the space you have available will be important. 

Consider Tall Grasses

There are plenty of different tall grass types that you might want to use to pull the eyes up away from the ground in your garden space. Grasses are great because they require very little maintenance throughout the year and can be used as a transitional element to blend one garden space into the next. 

While there are many possibilities for a grass to use in this role, pampas grass is a common selection. The big selling point with pampas grass is the white flowers that will adorn the top of the grass for much of the growing season. So, you won’t only be adding a tall green element to the landscape, but another flowering component, as well. 

Two Other Appealing Options

Interested in still more tall options for your landscaping needs? Delphinium and sambucus, also known as larkspur and elderberry, are two picks that are nicely suited to the growing conditions found in this part of the world. 

With delphinium, you’ll get a plant that can reach six feet and beyond after it has become established. Vividly blue flowers will be displayed prominently when the plant blooms, although other colors such as red and yellow are available. If you opt for sambucus, you’ll find that you can get as much as nine feet of height, beautiful foliage in shades from dark purple to lime green, and fruit that can be used in various recipes. If like us you’re in the Jackson, WY area, these give the look of Japanese Maples which you cannot grow here, so are a great alternative.

You probably won’t want all of your landscaping plants to fall into the “tall category” – in fact, you might only want a couple on the whole property. But it’s good to understand what your options are when you do want to add some height to the design, so we hope the ideas above get you pointed in the right direction. And, of course, don’t hesitate to call TLC at any point if you’d like some help. Thanks for visiting!