Category: winter

5 Winter Landscaping Tips

Posted on by Giovine
Winter Landscaping Tips

If you own a garden in a snowy region, you probably have a plethora of reasons to get cold feet about the winter. For example, while your plants are at rest, their bright colors dissipate and leave a palette of white and gray. So, with nothing to plant, most might think that there are very few landscaping tips for this season. However, by focusing on a few areas during the winter, you can keep a beautiful landscape that shines even through the restful season. So, here are five winter landscaping tips to help your yard.

Focus On Bark

Most transient trees lose their leaves in the wintertime which leaves their branches and trunks in focus. However, that can actually be a good thing. According to Barbara Pierson who is a nursery manager at White Flower Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut, “if you have any interesting ornamental trees that have really visually distinctive bark, they will end up adding winter interest.” A majority of those trees and shrubs are smaller, so they are easier to find spots for in the winter landscape. 

Include Berries

There are many trees and shrubs that have berries and hold onto them during the fall and winter seasons. This can provide food for any birds who are spending the winter in your area. Pierson mentions that crabapples, specifically hold onto their little fruit which makes them a great addition to the winter landscape.

Remember Evergreens

There are many reasons as to why evergreens are great for a winter landscape. First is their color. Evergreens do not just come in green; they are available in yellow, blue, and all colors in between. They also make good design sense and not only are they important for the winter landscape but they are good focal points for all year-round. Barabara Pierson says if you are planting a new bed, you will want to have at least one evergreen.

Enhance Your Summertime Containers

Hanging baskets, window boxes and winter-hardy containers are all indispensable for winter landscaping. A few options that are perfect for the winter include miniature dwarf Alberta spruce and broadleaf evergreens like Japanese Andromeda, holly and rhododendron. The only caveat is that they need to be watered during the dry periods. According to Pierson, “fill your containers with evergreen boughs of different textures and colors and interesting twigs, anything with color in it.”  

Stick With Four-Season Perennials

Certain perennials have evergreen foliage such as ornamental grasses, hellebores, and even dianthus with its low-creeping foliage which makes them great for winter landscaping. Be sure to read the plant label to ensure that the plant has foliage in the winter so that you can see it all year-round.

Conclusion

By implementing some of these simple tips, you will be able to add texture, color, and beauty to your yard even during the winter months. These tips can also keep your yard in tip-top shape throughout the year, helping you stay ahead of the curve. And as always, for any landscaping needs, especially during the winter, be sure to give Giovine Landscaping a call at (973) 325-1758.

Keep Your Grass Healthy This Winter: 4 Simple Ways To Winterize Your Lawn

Posted on by Giovine

Like all things, the season of winter has some pros and cons. For example, we’ll be able to build snowmen and have snowball fights, but we’ll also have to shovel our doorsteps and sidewalks. For our lawns, we’ll inevitably miss some green grass and sun and, instead, see browner, sparser lawns. But what you do now still contributes to the health and beauty of your lawn in the spring. For this reason, it is extremely important to protect and maintain your lawn even in the winter. Thankfully, the steps to winterize your lawn are pretty simple.

Spread Fertilizer and Cool-Weather Grass Seed

The first and most important step to winterizing your lawn is to apply ample fertilizer. We suggest using a spreader, as it will allow you to spread the fertilizer as evenly as possible. Use only the recommended amount as too much fertilizer can burn your grass. Then, scatter cool-weather or cool-season grass seed on your lawn, preferably with the same spreader you used for the fertilizer.

Aerate Your Lawn

The next step is to aerate your lawn. This comes with many benefits, such as improved air circulation between the soil and atmosphere, greater fertilizer uptake, and reduced soil compaction. You can use a spike aerator, which uses spikes to poke holes into the ground. The other option is a plug aerator, which removes small plugs of soil from your lawn. If you have a large lawn, consider contacting a professional contractor, like Giovine Landscaping, to quickly and effectively help you with this.

Clean It Up

Before severe snow hits, be sure to clean up your lawn. Leaving things like leaves, debris, or toys on the lawn make it susceptible to disease and could smother the grass. Poor conditions like these invite pests like insects and mice.

Cut Your Grass A Little Shorter

Grass that is excessively long can smother itself and cause disease. It can be particularly troublesome if you experience a late freeze or an uncharacteristic thaw. These weather conditions can cause a freeze-thaw cycle, which exposes your lawn and plants to damage. When there is an isolated rise or drop in the temperatures that is followed by regular temperatures, your garden will experience a freeze, followed by a thaw, as explained by the United States Golf Association. The thaw falsely signals to plants that temperatures are warming and spring is near. If plants do begin to bud and bloom, they will become exposed to damage from the cold. Although we certainly cannot control the weather, trimming our grass a little shorter for the winter is a good idea. However, be sure to avoid cutting it too short, which will expose the crown to extreme weather.

Winterize Your Lawn: It’s Worth It

It may sound a bit troublesome to winterize your lawn, but we are sure that you’ll be grateful for having fully prepared your grass to brace the cold weather. We encourage you to take a weekend to prepare your lawn or reach out to a local company to help you take care of it. Then simply sit back and spend the rest of your winter without worrying about your lawn.