Landscape Spotlight: Roundabouts

 

Roundabouts are on the rise – sometimes I like to count how many roundabouts I have to go through to get where I’m going: four of them is not uncommon these days! Some of them are large and some are small, but they all have some plants in the middle and I’m always interested to see what was chosen for that spot. Since I live adjacent to the city of Milton, theirs get a lot of my attention and they have mostly chosen a good selection of native plants for them.

Roundabout with hawthorn and Yaupon holly

A triple row of Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria)

Hawthorn (Crataegus viridis)

These are photos from two of their recent installations. The first one I’m showing is a smaller version of another one that features the same plants and which has done well. The center has hawthorns (most likely Crataegus viridis ‘Winter King’) which has gorgeous white spring flowers and abundant red fruits in the fall. These are handsome trees with a very pleasing shape. Around the trees is a solid ring of evergreen native shrubs that have been used for years: Ilex vomitoria ‘Nana’ (or similar dwarf). Once I got up close, I could see that the shrubs were in 3 concentric rings.

Blooming Viburnum with Fothergilla behind

Viburnum obovatum dwarf cultivar

The second roundabout is new and was completed last year; it features a mix of native and non-native plants. The center has 3 large trees that have not yet leafed out but hopefully they are native oaks. What caught my attention was an outer half-ring of a dwarf native viburnum: Viburnum obovatum ‘Mrs Schiller’s Delight’ (or other dwarf cultivar, there are several). Behind that is a half-ring of a native Fothergilla. The rest of the circle appeared to be non-native hydrangea and perhaps a dwarf gardenia. Native grasses – perhaps little bluestem and muhly – were also part of the design.

Most of these roundabouts are cared for (weeds removed, dead plants swapped out) and generally they are attractive accents to the landscape. I’m glad to see native plants be part of their selections and hopefully they catch the attention of folks looking for landscape ideas.

This is a post in an occasional series on good designed uses for native plants. You can find my previous posts in this series using this search criteria.