Natural Shading of a house in Summertime

What is the difference between an evergreen and a deciduous tree?

This is a very easy question that is very easily confused by many people.  I get to talking with them and say that the maple tree is deciduous and they ask what that means.  It is very important to know what you are getting and where you are putting it to maximize your energy usage in the house.

Deciduous means that the plant will loose it’s leaves in the wintertime.  Sorry Florida, you don’t have too many of these.  Evergreen means that it is green forever (or until it dies, then it goes brown!).  When a tree or plant looses its leaves, it means that the sap is leaving the tree and it is going into its dormant stage.  In other words, it is hibernating.  This is the time that growers can dig them out of the fields and sell them to people for transplant purposes.  Do not transplant deciduous trees in the summertime, they probably will die if you do.

Evergreen means what it says, the plant is always green.  The plant does goes dormant in the cold winter, but it does not drop its needles.  An evergreen plant will rejuvenate itself in mid spring by dropping some of its leaves or needles and putting off new growth.  That is normal and has to happen for the plant to grow.

Why is it important to know which tree to plant where around your house?  Well, if you want to help cool your house in the summer and help warm it in the winter by using the sun, than you want to plant a deciduous tree on the west side of your house.  Why is that? You ask…the answer is easy.  In the summer when the sun is really hot, the tree will have leaves on it and block the sun from hitting your house directly, keeping it cooler.  In the winter when you are wanting the sun to hit your house to warm it up, the leaves are gone and the sun can penetrate through the empty branches with no leaves.  Evergreens make great privacy screens.  If you have an item or a neighbor that you want to make go away visually, then you can plant an evergreen hedge.  Evergreen bushes are important in a landscape design, because you don’t want all sticks in front of your house all winter.

Making your home more energy efficient by using plants is very easy to do and well worth the effort.

Happy Trees