Your Entire Property

  • Winter is a great time to take advantage of our Landscaping Design Services.  We offer several options, ranging from our free “Plant-A-Plan” service to professional design and installation.  We’ll help you decide which option is best for you, and we can start placing special orders so that you get exactly the plants you need for your dream landscape.

  • Plan a landscaping or gardening project on paper first.  Be sure you know the mature size of each plant and allow for growth and resist the urge to over plant.

  • Be especially careful when deciding on new trees or shrubs to plant around your home; remember to select varieties that will fit the location when they are at their mature height.  This will greatly reduce pruning and other maintenance in the future.

  • For easier lawn maintenance, eliminate the hard to mow spaces.  Eliminate acute angles in beds and borders.  Combine single trees or shrubs into a large planting connected with ground cover.  Put the bird bath in a flower bed or surround it with ground cover.

  • Put up bird and bat houses on your property to attract insect-eating friends and to add an additional layer of interest to your landscape.

  • Repair and paint window boxes and lawn furniture in preparation for outdoor gardening and recreational use.

  • Repair and sharpen tools.

Trees and Shrubs

  • Cut branches of forsythia, pussy willow, quince, spirea, and dogwood and bring them inside to force a bloom.  Make long, slanted cuts when collecting the branches and place the stems in a vase of water.  Branches can be heavy, so you might need a large vase with stones or marbles in the bottom.  Change the water every four days. Branches should bloom in about three weeks.

  • Late winter is the time to prune many deciduous trees.  Look over your plants now and remove dead, dying, or unsightly parts of the tree, sprouts growing at or near the base of the tree trunk, and crossed branches.

  • Fertilize fruit trees as soon as possible after the ground thaws but before blossoming.

Houseplants and Tropicals

  • Check all five growing factors if your house plants are not growing well.  Light, temperature, nutrients, moisture, and humidity must be favorable to provide good growth.

Vegetables and Fruits

  • Think Spring!  Plan your vegetable garden on a sheet of paper to utilize the space most efficiently.  Remember to rotate your vegetables to reduce insect and disease problems.  Think about timing for when to start seeds indoors, when and where you will buy transplants, and when you will direct sow seeds in the garden.

  • Prune fruit trees and grapes in late February or early March after the worst of the winter cold is passed but before spring growth begins.

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