Caring For Your New Landscape

The first year for a new planting is the most critical for proper establishment of plant material. Occasional care of your trees and shrubs has long-term effects on their health and success.  Supplying water to developing root systems is the single most important thing you can do for new plants.  Natural rainfall alone will probably not give your new plants adequate water at the right time.  New plants require frequent watering to promote root growth.  It is very important to water before you notice wilting foliage.  New plants require watering at least two times during the first week if rainfall is lacking.  From then on, your plants will need to be watered once every 7 to 10 days throughout the growing season.  Water in the morning if possible.  Avoid wetting the foliage if watering late in the day.  Plants need time to dry off before nightfall to avoid disease.  Almost all plant deaths are the result of improper watering.  It is important to thoroughly soak the root ball when watering; then it should have a chance to slightly dry out before being watered again.

Watering Instructions

• Shallow rooted plants such as Azaleas, Rhododendrons and Yews should be watered every one or two days for three to five minutes each.
• Deep rooted plants such as shade trees, evergreens and conifers should be watered every four to five days for ten to fifteen minutes each.
• To water deep rooted plants, place a hose at the base of the plants and allow the water to flow at a trickle, avoiding run-off when possible.
• Ground cover plants such as Periwinkle, English Ivy, Pachysandra and flowers such as annuals or perennials should be watered every two days with a sprinkler for thirty minutes each time.
• Sod should be watered daily for a minimum of one hour with a sprinkler. Lift the corner of the sod up to make sure the water has completely soaked through the root zone.
• Hydro-seeding or broadcast seeding should be watered every one or two days, depending on weather conditions, with a fine sprinkler to moisten the seed. Avoiding run-off of seed should be a concern.
• Watering should be performed in the early to mid-morning hours.
• Mulch is very important to plant root survival. In summer it helps retain water and in winter it serves to protect from freezing.
• Any broken or dead branches should be removed from plants. Any severe pruning should be performed only by Outdoor Spaces, LLC during the warranty period.
• Tree stakes should be removed after one year.
• Please notify Outdoor Spaces, LLC before fertilizing any plants during the guarantee period.

Post by: admin, Date: 03.09.2011

Labels: looked up one

The ABC’s Of Outdoor Lighting

Compliments of Outdoor Lighting Perspective:

Have you ever noticed that changing to a different type of light bulb can totally change the effect of the room? Have you ever added a different cover to an existing light to find that it really changes the lighting effect? Have you ever wondered what the HGTV lighting experts would say if they looked at the fixtures and bulbs we’re using inside our home? With all lighting, there is very much a science and an art to the lighting. The science comes into play with bulb selection. The factors in bulb selection include the desired effect, the quality of the color and energy consumption among other factors. The art of outdoor lighting comes into play with achieving the desired effect with the outdoor lighting.

  Professional outdoor lighting photo

When lighting an outdoor structure, whether it be a home or a commercial building or even a barn, the first thing you want to accomplish with your lighting is to light the structure from the far left side to the far right side. This serves both aesthetic and security objectives. Aesthetically, it would be foolish to light a beautiful home or building and only to illuminate parts or a small part of it. You want to illuminate the full width of the home. But, this one is equally if not more important from a security perspective. It’s a known fact that intruders will target darker homes. So, by having outdoor lighting, you’re already thwarting attacks from intruders. But, if a home has “dark spots” or areas that are not illuminated, the intruders may identify those areas to peek in windows or otherwise stake out your home. So, brightening the corners will also make the sides of your house areas that are not easy to lurk in.

 Height

  House uplighting picture – Outdoor Lighting Perspectives

 Depth/Texture

 This last one is usually the one that separates the men from the boys in terms of professional outdoor lighting designers. It’s easy to shine a spotlight on something and light it up. It’s very easy to “over-light” a structure thus “blowing it out” and creating spots on the surface of the structure that look completely white. We call these hot spots. Good lighting design is soft. It’s soothing. It gives a sense of warmth. Using the correct lighting, you will be able to achieve depth and texture meaning you will be able to see subtle things such as protruding bricks in brickwork, interesting architectural elements in the woodwork, and interesting ornamentals that otherwise might only be noticeable by day. If you study the photo above, you’ll notice so many small details in the architectural facade of this home because the outdoor lighting is done right.

 As I said at the beginning, the home we’re featuring in this story is huge. But we light every home from small homes in historic villages to vacation homes to small and large community homes. We light farm homes and basically everything in between.

Post by: admin, Date: 03.08.2011

Labels: Latin words, Sydney College in Virginia, The more obscure

How To Prevent Snow & Ice Damage To Shrubs

When you see one of your shrubs covered with snow and ice, it’s tempting to walk up to it and give the branches a good shake, right? But you should resist the temptation, according to Brett Lemcke, Landscape Industry Certified Manager of R.M. Landscape, Inc., in Hilton, New York.

“Don’t shake branches covered with snow and ice,” advises Lemcke. “It is best to gently brush off snow. Shaking limbs may break them. Wait for ice and frozen snow to melt naturally.”

In the unfortunate event that your shrub suffers a broken limb, Lemcke says that it should be removed as soon as possible, adding that early removal will help it “heal better in the spring.”

Post by: admin, Date: 01.08.2010

Labels: Latin words, looked up one, Sydney College in Virginia, The more obscure