Is Your Landscaper a Plant Person?
When hiring a landscaper, most homeowners assume that every installer knows the ins and outs of their plant palette. In the industry however, there are plenty of contractors who don’t keep up with the ever-shifting nursery business. It’s a challenging scene to navigate but having a deep-rooted interest in your tools of the trade yields […]
Timing is Key with Landscape Maintenance
*Also featured on missourilife.com If you have thousands of dollars invested into your outdoor living space, it’s important to have a maintenance plan in mind. The life expectancy of a landscape changes drastically based on how it is maintained. With poor maintenance, the life expectancy is less than 5 years; if well taken care of, […]
Dry Creek Beds–A Decorative Way to Combat Erosion
One of the biggest issues some homeowners can face is erosion of their lawn or landscape. Over time, water flowing from uphill sources such as irrigation, rain water, or neighbor’s drain pipes can start to wear away the soil in its path. This eroding of these areas can start to cause maintenance issues, safety hazards, […]
5 Underappreciated and Overlooked Plants
When it comes time to think about which plants you are going to use for your upcoming landscape project, you may be surprised at how many options are out there. Most homeowners are familiar with many of the classic plantings such as roses, hydrangeas, maples, etc., but there are a lot of lesser known trees […]
Seasons of Interest in the Landscape
There is a belief in the landscape industry that you can tell what time of year a house was landscaped based on the plant selection. Often times, contractors get in the habit of choosing a plant palette based on what is blooming at the time of install rather than planning for four full seasons of […]
Types of Roses: What is the Difference?
Knockout and Drift Shrub roses are wonderful options for landscape designs, but what about all the others. We just received a plant shipment with lots of beautiful roses on it ranging from grandifloras, to climbing, to floribundas, to hybrid teas. So what can you expect from each of these? Keep reading to get some quick […]
Important Considerations When Selecting Plants
As you start to plan out your new landscape project, selecting plants can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time. There are so many plants to choose from. As you walk down the rows of plants at a garden center, it can be tough to know what plants will or will not work in […]
Advantages of Columnar Plants
When designing a landscape planting plan, I first think about the sizes and shapes of plants I want to use before picking which specific plant goes where. One of the options I often consider is the use of columnar plants. A columnar plant is characterized by its upright shape–they will be taller than they are […]