Quick tip: Butterfly Garden

​I believe landscapes should be functional and visually attractive. Attracting butterflies, bees, and other pollinators is always a primary goal when designing a new space. Check out this video for my thought process on how incorporate a butterfly garden into your landscape.

Four steps to a butterfly garden:
🌻 Choose the right plants
🌎 Keep it natural
🏕 Create some shelter
🌊 Give them a little water

Quick tip: What is ice melt?

Putting down a coat of ice-melt before potential snow storm will buy you some time, and make it easier to shovel your walks and driveway later.
​
Choosing an ice melt?
🐕 Urea - super pet safe, but also expensive
🤤 Calcium Chloride - awesome cold tolerance to -25°
❄️ CMA - safest for concrete, often blended with others
❄️ Rock Salt - cheap, effective, but corrosive

Quick tip: Best rose for the yard?

​Ever since their debut 18 years ago, Knock Out Roses have been the plant of choice in many landscapes due to their ease of maintenance.

💦 Extremely drought resistant
🚫 No need to deadhead 
💩 Fertilizer helps, but isn’t a requirement
🙅‍♂️ Only prune if they get too big

Quick tip: Which drainage pipe?

Corrugated vs PVC pipe for drainage systems.

Cost, flexibility, and ease of use make corrugated pipe a solid choice. However, the strength and smooth insides of PVC make it a better long-term solution.

Quick tip: Can I plant in the winter?

​It’s okay to plant shrubs and trees during the winter as long as the ground isn’t frozen.

💦 Keep watering and avoid using fertilizers with lots of nitrogen.

Quick tip: Annuals vs Perennials

Don’t pick just one. Use both annuals and perennials in your landscape. 

🌸 Annuals for display and show. 
🌻 Perennials for reoccurring color and foliage.

Quick tip: How to water new plants

Set up a schedule for watering your new plants. Heavy watering for the first two weeks, followed with lighter, but consistent watering for four more weeks. 

Observe and adjust the schedule after six weeks, especially during the warmer months.

Quick tip: Repel mosquitoes with landscape plants

Certain types of plants can actually be used to repel mosquitoes. Placing these throughout the landscape can be decorative and functional.

Herbs garden:
Rosemary, garlic, rosemary, peppermint, basil

Keep in pots:
Citronella, cemongrass 

Random:
Catmint, beebalm, barigold

​Quick tip: How to water in new seed

​After aeration and seeding this fall, make sure to provide your lawn with short, frequent waterings to establish the new seed. 

Somewhere between the 14 and 21 day mark, drop down to a longer once-daily watering. This will allow the water to absorb deeper into the soil. 

After about six weeks, your lawn should be established enough to return to a normal watering schedule.

Quick tip: Aerate for a healthy lawn.

​Aeration breaks up compact soil, helps with run-off, and stops minor surface puddling. 

Opening up the soil also allows nutrients, oxygen, and moisture to better access to the lawn’s root zone.

Quick tip: How to plant for pollinators

​Use indigenous plants in your landscape to attract and support local pollinators and wildlife. 

Oak trees support around 500 different species of caterpillar, as opposed to the Japanese ginkgo tree which only supports five.

Quick tip: What is a rain garden?

​Rains gardens filter run-off and keep pollutants from reaching our waterways. Also, use indigenous plants to attract native wildlife.

Quick tip: When should hydrangeas be watered?

​Oftentimes, hydrangeas look thirsty at the end of a hot day. Don’t break out the hose just yet! Wait for the morning. If they are still wilted in the A.M., it’s definitely time to water.

Quick tip: How to get rainwater below grade

What is a dry well? How to test your soil, figure out if this is your drainage solution.

​Quick tip: Use groundcovers in the landscape

​Use groundcovers to fill in flower beds, control erosion, or just add some interest.

​Quick tip: Where to start with native landscapes

​Sustainable landscaping starts with choosing the right plants. Water requirements and future size are the most important factors. Native planting is important, but is thrown out if not done correctly. Reading the labels and studying the plants goes a long way!

Quick tip: How to fix condensation lines

​Stop the muddy mess and create a dry well for your HVAC condensation line.

Make sure to create a secondary way for the moisture to escape. We add a ‘t’ in line with the PVC pipe. If the dry well backs up, the water will flow out at the ‘t’ instead of in the house.

​Quick tip: Landscape fabric doesn't work.

​Skip the weed fabric for your mulch beds, and grab a pre-emergent instead.

​Quick tip: What height should I set my mower?

​Cutting fescue lawns high keeps ground temps lower and moisture from evaporating.

Quick tip: How to eliminate moles!

​Moles! Steel traps consistently perform well when you’re working to eliminate the vermin.