A winter garden can provide food and shelter for birds and other wildlife in the cold months. A good-looking, inviting winter yard could include Cypress trees, Maiden Grass, and Boxwoods. All varieties offer a lovely shot of green or burgundy in the dreary winter months. Winterberry offers a vibrant red proving you can have a beautiful and colorful yard in winter too!
August Landscaping Tips
Amazing that a couple of drier weeks and your lawn, garden, and landscaped areas are sere. Water and weed your garden and lawn in August. Pull weeds immediately after a good, soaking rain. Did you notice the new weeds sprouting up the past week or so? Some varieties wait until August to return. There will be weeds after the rain.
Three Tips:
- Water thoroughly and deeply when you water.
- Water in the morning or early afternoon to allow the soil to warm up before evening.
- Improve the look and health of your garden by removing spent flowers and any dry, crinkly leaves from your perennials and annuals.
By removing spent flowers, the plants will not go into the seed-producing stage and may flower longer. Removing bad foliage can stop the spread of fungus and insects.
Spring-blooming perennials can be divided and transplanted this month and next. Keep fertilizing the annuals in your pots and hanging baskets. Frequent watering leaches the nutrients from the soil, so keep an eye out for insects or disease damage and control if necessary.
For a more formal, manicured look, summer-blooming shrubs can be given a light shearing after they finish flowering. Cut out dead, broken, and rubbing branches from your shrubs and small trees whenever you have your pruners out.
This is the month to improve your lawn. Never spray weed killer on a drought-stressed lawn. It only takes a couple dry weeks for your lawn to become stressed. It is best to kill weeds before they go to seed and become a problem for years to come. Later this month you can fertilize the lawn again and over-seed the thin spots. Do not fertilize a lawn that is drought-stressed or when temperatures exceed 90-degrees. Luckily, our mild summer temperatures make it ideal to fertilize this year. If you over-seed an area, make sure to consider the amount of sunlight, traffic, and salt the area will be exposed to. Choose the seed blend best suited to your conditions. Continue watering: grass needs 1″ of water every week. If the temperature stays warm keep your mower set at 3″ or higher.
Change the water in your bird bath regularly and keep it filled. Stagnant water may become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Remember mosquitoes, they could make a comeback after the recent rains. The best defense against flying insects on the deck and patio, is a strategically placed fan. For your ponds or water features, make sure they always have adequate water levels. They lose more moisture to evaporation and splashing than you might believe.
Enjoy the rest of the summer; spend some time enjoying your garden!
#AtoZChallenge – J is for Japanese Garden
A Japanese Garden is rare and exotic landscaping treasure.
According to Wikipedia, Japanese Gardens are traditional gardens that create miniature idealized landscapes, often in a highly abstract and stylized way. The gardens of the Emperors and nobles were designed for recreation and aesthetic pleasure, while the gardens of Buddhist temples were designed for contemplation and meditation.
Japanese garden styles include karesansui, Japanese rock gardens or zen gardens, which are meditation gardens where white sand replaces water; roji, simple, rustic gardens with teahouses where the Japanese tea ceremony is conducted; kaiyū-shiki-teien, promenade or stroll gardens, where the visitor follows a path around the garden to see carefully composed landscapes; and tsubo-niwa, small, courtyard gardens.
Japanese gardens were developed under the influences of the Chinese gardens, but gradually Japanese garden designers began to develop their own aesthetics, based on Japanese materials and Japanese culture. By the Edo period, the Japanese garden had its own distinct appearance. Since the end of the 19th century, Japanese gardens have also been adapted to Western settings.
#AtoZ Challenge – G is for Grasses
Grasses can be a beautiful additional to your landscape upgrade. Consider the following benefits of grasses:
- Require low maintenance. Once properly planted, grasses become a perennial addition to your landscape and require very little maintenance.
- Add privacy. Tall grasses in a clustered grouping can easily screen an unpleasant view.
- Provide texture to beds and borders. Ornamental grasses add lovely and distinctive boarders to your landscape. For example, fountaingrass offers soft, mounding features to vibrant blooming plants.
- Soften hardscaping. Grasses mellow the strong features of walls and pavings to make them look less cold and more inviting.
- Dress up decks and patios. Placing ornamental grasses in beautiful pots and vases is an easy way to add a vibrant zest to your patio or deck.
- Accent a garden. Ornamental grasses are a wonderful tool to make your garden a work of art.
- Create lovely edges. Grasses create flowing, natural borders to walks and pathways.
- Cover bare ground. If you have a piece of land that is difficult to use, plant grasses for a natural, covered look.
Contact Integrity Landscape for a free consultation about upgrading your home with lovely grasses and other improvements.
