Question
How far should plants be planted away from a house?

We have some pine trees that are brown on one side and someone said they are burned from the heat of the house.

We are looking at digging a new perimiter rock garden and want to know how wide to make it so the plants can be planted far enough away from the house without getting burned.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

Answer
David,

This is a good question that most homeowners should ask.  Many times plants are placed according to the size the plant when purchased when actually should be spaced according to their mature sizes.  

Plants should be planted at a distance from a house according to their mature diameter.  So if a shrub has a mature diameter of say 3 feet, it should be  planted approximetely 2 feet away.  In other words about 2/3 the plants mature diameter.  If a tree has a 20 foot mature diameter then it should be planted about 14 feet away.  

You do not want to have plants going right up against the structure of your home and planting at 2/3 the mature diameter will achieve this.  Your pine trees that are brown on one side is not from the heat of your house unless it has recently been set on fire.  The problem is based on light. Confers are notorious for loosing branhes in low light situations against structures.

Why does this happen?  Planting trees based on mature sizes when the plant is small is not appealing visually, there is too much space.  So plants get crowded together as this looks better.  But as the plants grow they crowd eachother and before you know it the homeowner has a mess.  

Good luck in the garden.

Gary