City & Estate Gardener

adding a lot of color

Sara and Dawn at the Landscaping Field Trip in Dayton Ohio. They spent a jam packed day last week going behind the scenes of seeing how they operate and optimize each area of their business.

Summertime

Summertime in the city

Tulips are coming in hot!

East side activity.

New trimmer line on the blower

And we are off and running. We added a new 30” battery operated mower. North Country Organic fertilizer is in. Wilmer takes down a Paulownia in a fence line

Start the Season Fresh With Spring Cleanups
Some people really enjoy the winter, and more power to them, but for a lot of us, the dark days of winter are, well...pretty dark. In the depths of winter, it's always a relief to look ahead to warmer, brighter days in spring and summer, and making plans for your landscape is one of the best ways to knock out the winter blues. Spring will thankfully be here before we know it, which makes now the perfect time to schedule a seasonal cleanup to clear away whatever mess the winter has left around your property.

Out With the Old – In With the New!
Now is a good time to clear out any stalks and remnants of annuals and perennials that were still in the landscape late last fall. At the same time, clearing out landscaping beds of fallen branches and remnant leaves from last year is the first step in prepping beds for this year's plantings. Some planting beds will likely need new, clean edges prior to receiving a fresh coat of mulch this spring.

Shaping Up With Winter Pruning
Winter pruning is an important part of any good landscape maintenance program, and it’s a great way to keep trees and shrubs “in bounds” while helping them maintain a pleasant shape. It’s much easier to see where pruning needs to be done during the winter (because leaves have already fallen). In addition, plants are less active during the winter months, with less fluid moving through the branches. This means that the wounds created from pruning will “bleed” less and heal more quickly.

Trees and shrubs should be pruned in the winter to remove branches that overlap and rub against each other, to remove any dead wood, and to keep stray branches from blocking driveways, walkways and windows. This will lead to healthier, better-looking trees and shrubs and a more functional, aesthetically pleasing landscape. The only landscape plants that won’t benefit from winter pruning are your spring-flowering shrubs. By winter, their buds will have been set for blooming, and pruning them would eliminate flowering next spring.

The seasonal end to most landscape chores is in sight.

Tidy Up Before Winter It’s amazing how much the timing of fall weather dictates the status of your property going into the winter. We've all had years when a sunny November day allows for a thorough leaf raking and final mowing – a great way to put your property to bed for the year. Or it would have been, if the foll...

Off to storage.

Sara, Dalvi, Haraldo, and Jordan are beginning garden clean ups and bulb planting

Irrigation Closing Schedule -

Irrigation Closing Schedule

We started using Boxwood Restore and Protect and Boxwood Turbo Grow mid season and we are seeing good results. Nice dark green foliage and improved vigor.

Gave a quick hand during a recent visit to Reading, Pa. Excellent pretzels and some fine horticulture at the store.

Great Plants and Staff

Tropical action in Middletown

😍😍😍

The batter charger zone and what the mower deck looks after mowing wet grass

Annual pop on Arlington.

Power foursome at the golf tournament this week. I was also the grand prize raffle winner of a week at a Florida resort compliments of

Top of Sessions St sidewalk strip is electric!

Blooms on Butler and a low maintenance container combo in compact and vigorous supplied by

Tropical on Manning st

All the rain has been pushing the summer growth.

George st summer color.

He’s got the look….love the dark colors.

Vigorous start to kick in.

Double Begonia from looking sharp

She’s got the look….