Posts Tagged ‘landscape’

Good Planning, The Key To Good Gardening

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010


Once you’ve set your mind on gardening, you should decide on the type of garden before anything else. Doing a bit of research on the matter you’ll be astonished by the diversity of style and the multiplicity of uses that can define a garden.So make sure you have a clear picture of how you want your garden to be. Flower, vegetable, herb or formal gardens are but a few of the most common types.

Some of the mentioned above are best for particular climates and locations, so in order, to make a good choice there are a few things about the space that it’s going in and the weather conditions that’ll make or break the garden’s growth.

The climate specific to your area is one factor you need to consider when selecting the plants you want to grow. Therefore, if you live in a place like Canada, where you have more days of cold weather, you can forget all about growing tropical plants. So you want to make sure that you achieve the most pleasing results if you ensure to grow plants that are native to the area in which you live.

Another factor that you should consider is the time you can afford to tend to your garden. For instance, annuals have to be replanted every year, which allows you to create a new one every year. The downside to having this type of plants, however, is that they require a lot of careful maintenance, resulting in more time spent in the garden.

Seeing if your soil is fit for planting should be amongst your priorities. If you want to keep pests and diseases away, and thus have strong plants, you need to have a healthy soil. Soil testing can be easily achieved. For example, vegetables grow best in crumbly soil.

Next you should determine the space you can allot to a garden, and consequently, what plant goes where. In addition, to that think about the logistics. You might want to consider the location of the flower-beds in relation to your water sources, or if there are any areas in your garden bound to receive no sunlight at all, or, on the contrary, which spots will enjoy sunlight all through the day. It wouldn’t be a bad idea if you made a drawing of how it all should look. If you want excellent results, you can obtain them; but not without meticulous planning and preparation.

An appealing look is a must, where gardens are concerned. Everything in your garden, from plants to other sorts of ornaments, should be arranged in a harmonious manner, so that the general picture is one of loveliness. It would be a good idea if you tried different viewpoints to get a clear image of how it will look in the end.

6. Color: there are many ways to pick colors for your garden. Knowing beforehand what color scheme you are going to use will give you a good perspective on the appearance of your future garden. However, you really can’t go wrong with any colors you should choose. The most simple color schemes are from either cool or warm tones, while some choose a single color for a monochromatic effect.

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Lawn Fertilizing Done Right

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010


Maintaining a lawn can be a time-consuming and backbreaking process. Some homeowners choose to do all lawn maintenance themselves, while others rely on a professional landscaper. There is something to be said for the services of hiring a professional for aeration and lawn fertilizing. The homeowner can then spend time relaxing with the family or going on a nice summer vacation.

Aerating and fertilizing a lawn are necessary processes that are not extremely complicated but can result in problems if not done correctly. Both involve the use of equipment and fertilizing adds the issue of purchasing the right type of product. If done incorrectly, aerating will prove ineffective and fertilizing can actually kill the lawn.

Aerating can be done effortlessly by a lawn service because these companies have the necessary equipment on hand. Aerating involves removing plugs of soil from the lawn, which permits water to reach the root zone of the grass. It also promotes the flow of oxygen and fertilizer to the roots. This causes the roots to grow and strengthen and it provides them with room to spread out.

Thatch removal is also a benefit of lawn aeration, by opening the ground up to nutrients from the sun and allowing water to reach otherwise blocked root access. Thatch is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a lawn. It can hide harmful bugs and slowly choke the life from the heartiest of lawns.

Fertilizing is the only way to properly feed the lawn rather than hoping that what nature provides is going to be enough. By using a lawn care service that actually tests the soil first, they can determine what it is missing. Once this has been decided, they can then add the proper amount of whatever is missing to aid in growing the perfect lawn.

A professional lawn service should be consulted at least once even if it is just to determine what is needed for proper lawn maintenance and add it in. The aeration really should be done by them rather than the homeowner attempting without proper training or equipment. Lawn fertilizing can be accomplished by the homeowner, but the professional service can ensure with frequent testing that the lawn gets what it needs over the course of time.

If you want to get your lawn fertilizing done right, you should really look at Nations Harvest. They provide fertilizing services in Denver, CO and surrounding areas.

Make Your Home A Happy Landscaped Home

Saturday, March 20th, 2010


If the door is close to the corner of the house, there may not be room for both a corner group and a door planting. In that case the thing to do is to arrange the corner group so that it will also form half of the entrance planting. The half on the other side of the door would be very low as determined by line drawn to edge of the house.

Low Foundation

Whenever the exposed foundation is 3 feet or less in height, it is desirable to use plants only at the above-mentioned areas. It makes the house look larger and more dignified to have the lawn extend right up to the foundation walls.

But if the foundation is more than 3 feet high, we readjust our thinking and break the rule of not having a solid planting around the house. We maintain the general outline of the mass plantings at the corners and next to the entrance, but add a planting that connects them. In effect, this lifts the straight linerepresented .by the lawn in the case of a house with no foundation or a very low one – up to the point where the foundation ends and the house covering begins.

Directing Attention

The reason for having lower plants beside the door than at the corners is simple enough. If we want to pour a liquid into the top of a bottle or other small opening, we usually use a funnel to help do it. Psychologically the same effect results when we look at a house with high corner plantings and low entrance plantings; our attention is more or less funneled from the high points to the low ones close to the door. This is exactly what we want, namely, the attention of the observer to be directed to and centered on the entrance.

Various Architectural Styles

Although it may not be obvious in all instances, you can usually see in these different architectural styles the same guiding principle behind all of the foundation planting arrangements.

On a house with tall pillars in front, it is not advisable to put a single plant at the base of each pillar in order to break the vertical line. This would make it appear as though the pillar was suspended in mid air. There is little danger of monotony even if everyone who owns a house with tall pillars were to handle it in the same general manner; homes of that type are few and far between, so one will rarely see two that are planted exactly alike.

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Key Factors In Deciduous Or Evergreen Foundation Plants

Monday, March 15th, 2010


The landscaper must decide whether deciduous plants (those that drop their leaves) or evergreens should be used in the foundation planting. Your taste and your climate will be the key factors. But remember that a mixture of the two is rarely, if ever, desirable – although an evergreen ground cover can well be used with whichever type of plant you decide on. Indeed, such a ground cover might be even more useful and effective around deciduous material than around evergreens. It will keep the planting from looking sparse and bare after the shrubs go dormant and drop their leaves.

Seasonal Changes

Deciduous plants grow much faster and larger than most evergreens so you need to know more about plant habits generally to use them properly. As to which type offers the greater interest throughout the year, it may surprise you to learn that the deciduous plants lead. In many parts of the country such plants go through four seasonal phases in each of which they take on different characteristics.

As an example, imagine a high-bush blueberry growing near a window from which you can see its branches. In the spring it is decked with attractive creamy-white lily-of-the-valley-like flowers, a beautiful sight to behold. By mid-summer it has picked up its full foliage and also a crop of cool-looking blueberries which attract birds and add life to the garden. In the fall, few plants can surpass the brilliant foliage coloration of this species. And, finally, in the winter, the zig-zag growth of its bare twigs is attractive, especially when sheathed in ice during a sleet storm.

Evergreen Phases

Most evergreens, on the other hand, have but two phases which are not too strikingly different. In the late spring and early summer the new bright green growth contrasts pleasantly with the dark green older growth. After a few months the two blend into one more or less uniform greenand that is the extent of the seasonal change.

Of course, they present a beautiful picture when covered with snow, but if the snow is heavy it may split off branches or bend them over and permanently spoil their looks. Give that aspect of the situation some consideration in your planning if you live in a region subject to ice or snowstorms. Look around and see how evergreens on properties in your locality have fared.

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Creating Landscape Contrast – Caladiums and Trigridia

Thursday, May 7th, 2009


For those of you who prefer gardens that thrive on neglect” or do not have time for intensive gardening, try summer bulbs. May is the time to plant these. The results one achieves from planting these are marvelous. The common garden canna is truly a hardy member of this group. The dormant rhizomes are usually available in nearly every garden store. Look for vigorous varieties and fast growers. Clusters of bright red flowers are produced in quantity. Do not forget a good pink while or small-flowered oranges with bronze foliage. The foliage is as valuable as the flowers, in fact with many gardeners it is more valuable. In our area the rhizomes should be dug and stored for the winter.

A favorite summer bulb for many gardeners is the gladiolus. These old favorites have come a long way and with the new varieties that will grow to six feet… perhaps more than staking will be necessary.

To me one of the most gorgeous of summer bulbs is trigridia, sometimes called Mexican shell flower. Plant these bulbs about four inches deep during May in rich soil and full sun.

Even though they normally last only one day they are so unusual and dramatic that a few will cause excited sensation in any garden. Because they have very little foliage and are rather erect-growing, plant them among other plants for bright spots of color. By combining them with caladiums, especially white caladium, beautiful contrasts will be effected. The bulbs will not survive the winter in our section.

Best results are obtained with caladiums by pre-sprouting in trays of wet moss with the growing point pointing down in the moss. Many commercial growers now have these available as seasonal plant material and they can be purchased like other bedding plants. There are many varieties of the fancy leaf variety but the white is proving to be most popular. It is very effective in mass plantings among green ground cover or as facing down” plants in front of broadleaf evergreens or even in combination with ground cover grasses. They are especially effective in planter boxes or raised beds in partial shade. The plants tend to grow better if root bound and respond readily to feeding of liquid food.

Two other flowering bulbs of importance are the dahlia and tuberose. The dahlia will produce untold numbers of blooms with very little attention and will be in production until killing frost occurs. Tuberoses supply a source of very fragrant white blossoms during August. Some people object to the heavy perfume of these flowers but in the cool evening of the garden the perfume is delightful!

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The Secrets Of Growing Scillas and Crocuse

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009


March is a month of great contrasts in the North. It may start in a mild, spring-like manner; it may be blustery. One week it’s fair: another it’s wintery. There may be green grass, there may be snow fields; you never can be sure of the weather or the appearance of the landscape. In the far North winter continues to reign, but in the southern part there are many signs of spring. The robins have arrived and the crocuses are sprouting. The Siberian scillas are waving their tiny, blue and white flowers and the strange blooms of the skunk cabbage can be seen by those who know where to look for them in marshy places.

Scillas and crocuses should be grown near the house, along-side a walk where they can be seen close at hand. They are too small and delicate to be viewed from afar. Nor should they be planted in lawns as is often recommended. They do not add beauty to a lawn, nor does a lawn contribute to their loveliness.

Actually they seem lost in a lawn and certainly they will be when the lawn mower cuts off their green tops after the flowers are gone. These plants must vegetate and manufacture food to be stored in the bulb which is used in producing next year’s flowers and foliage. The vegetating period lasts much longer than the 1 flowering period, consequently the l plants are subjected to a much reduced growth period when the mower must be used on the lawn.

Crocuses and scillas and the other very early flowering bulbs, snowflakes and snowdrops, are better grown along the edges of shrubbery beds and foundation plantings near the pathway lights. Just like what path lighting can do for your garden, here they brighten the bare ground while the woody plants still are dormant. Here they can complete their growth cycle without being in the way or distracting your brick garden paths.

Later on they leave the ground bare again and when the shrubs are in bloom there is no competition for attention. A fringe of color along the edge of foundation plantings is very acceptable as long as it lasts no longer than the blooms of crocus, scillas, etc. In the same manner, a planting of daffodils, hardy narcissus or Dutch hyacinths would not be gilding the lily’ if planted at the base of a tree because the life of these flowers is short and they disappear from sight when the tree comes to life.

I can see real beauty and desirability in a planting of this sort under a birch clump or maple. But I would not consider it good landscape art to plant petunias or geraniums or other plants that are showy for a long period at the foot of a tree. Both the tree and the plants suffer by each other’s association. Perhaps these are thoughts that should have been expressed in fall when bulbs are planted. However. I believe that they are appropriate now, too.

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