It's that time again!

In autumn, the practices of aeration, overseeding, dethatching and topdressing are important to cultivating a lush, healthy, green lawn.

Aeration & Overseeding-  aggressive aeration with state of the art equipment, top rated hybrid fescue blend.

Dethatching- to remove excessive thatch to help control brown patch and improve seed to soil contact.

Topdressing- organic matter spread out over your lawn prior to aeration. This effort will improve poor soils and encourage a deep root system.

We also provide these services

·         Lawn Care Program

·         Tree & Shrub Program

·         Weed Control for shrub beds and natural areas

·         Brown Patch Control

·         Proper pruning for trees and shrubs

·         Growth regulator for lawns and shrubs

·         And more. . . just ask!

We take lawn care to the next level. You don’t have

to settle for a “cookie cutter” program!

Over 25 years in the business.

Mention this ad for 5% off dethatching and topdressing this fall!

Put some color into your landscape!

We have been nurturing these lovely crape myrtles for 5 years in 25 gallon buckets. They are now ready to be a part of your landscape! They are a semi-dwarf variety. Orchid (10), watermelon (9) and pink (1) in color. They are between 7' and 4' tall.  Reserve yours now for planting this fall! Call Steve for pricing and availability.

Japanese beetles have completed their life cycle for this year. Left behind are all of their ornery young'uns in the form of turfgrass root eating grubs. These little ruffians have an impressive appetite, not just now but in the spring as well. They will feed on turfgrass roots until they pupate into adults, the dreaded Japanese beetle in June. In our quest to grow the deepest lawn roots possible, these foes are not on our team. I submit to you how valuable a deeply rooted fescue plant is to our lawns. Especially now when the stress of summer heat and lack of rain are already working against us, as if to team up with the grubs. We can't stop the heat and we can irrigate to help our lawns. But we can kill a whole generation of turfgrass destroying grubs in one application. They won't be back until this time next year when adult beetles happen by to deposit their offspring in your yard again. Their life cycle makes them a more satisfying and simple pest to control. I have chosen a newer insecticide to battle this pest this year. Not any more toxic than others, this product will persist in the soil longer giving maximum efficiency. Also, the "water in" time is more flexible, however I recommend watering it in as soon as you can.Be an expert on grubs, go to http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/insects/white_grubs.aspx to find out more.

      You can call me to request this valuable and important service however I would like for you to e-mail me so I can record your address. I would like to be able to notify you by e-mail with reminders and landscape related advice such as this. Most of my customers are receiving my advice via e-mail and the response has been good. Everyone is enjoying hearing from me with commentary pertinent to their landscape, won't you please join them. Please be assured that your e-mail address is safe with me.

      Mulch has always been a big part of our annual landscape activities. Necessary for controlling weeds, cooling the soil, retaining moisture and just plain looking good, mulch plays an important aspect of all manicured landscapes. Some of them can cause problems, too. The purpose of this note is to bring the ups and downs about mulches, from my perspective, to a thought process. I don't intend to sway your love away from your favorite look, since looks are everything when putting this touch to your landscape.

Let's start with the mulch of choice for many: shredded hardwood. When this stuff burst upon the scene some twenty years ago, it was the answer to everyone's mulch woes. It wasn't bark and it wasn't pine straw, it was different. And it looks great. And it was cheap. Aside from being different and looking good, not much has changed with this product except the cost. Wholesale prices have quadrupled since the first time I bought a truckload. That is an economical problem, not a cultural problem. The cultural problem with shredded hardwood will turn into an economical problem through plant failure. Even though shredded hardwood gives all the benefits that a mulch should give, it has its problems…not related so much with the product its self. Many times when I am asked to give an estimate to re-mulch beds, I find a mulch layer that is adequate for the reasons we mulch. Commonly, in these landscapes certain shrubs are weak an un-impressive because the mulch layer is so thick and piled over the crown of the shrubs. Most times, I can tell how many times a landscape has had a mulch refreshing by looking at a profile of the mulch layer.

    Another problem with shredded hardwood is that the most desirable stuff is nice and red. The problem is not with the color…even I think it looks great. The problem is that the product is still green meaning that it is going to go through an aging process in your shrub beds robbing the soil of nitrogen. That's not good! When mulching, it's no time to "go green". If you must use shredded hardwood, your plants are better off with aged material. Goodbye red mulch, unless you buy the dyed stuff. You will notice that this will be the only mention of dyed mulch, (sigh).

     Shredded hardwood does compost down nicely after about three to five years, and that is a good thing. A good thing with sometimes bad circumstances. Shredded hardwood compost is especially attractive to earthworms and other mole food. Sometimes a good thing can be a bad thing and a mole problem in your shrub beds because of an abundance of composted shredded hardwood mulch is a perfect example of that.

     Pine bark mulches are great, unless your mulch areas are on a steep slope because they have a tendency to float. Larger piece bark is better than mini-nuggets in that respect. Large bark doesn't have the manicure appearance that many other mulches do, but it lasts the longest between mulch refreshings. Mini-nuggets are great for flower beds because it's easy to get a crisp, manicured look with the smaller particle material. Both, large and small , pine bark mulches meet my approval for the reasons we mulch, good looks and the best benefit is its longevity in the landscape as a mulch. Like shredded hardwood, pine bark has seen increases in cost, just not as dramatic.

    Pine straw, my favorite, is as near a perfect mulch as you will find. It doesn't have the draw-backs that other mulches have. It creates a great weed control and moisture barrier. It's nearly impossible to use too much. It stays in place on slopes after it has settled. It is also cost effective to use. There are grades of pine straw that are better than others. The pine straw found at the big box stores it of the poorest grade in my opinion. I won't use it. It appears to be cheaper by the bale, but the bales are smaller and lighter that locally harvested and fresher products. Pine straw and bark allow more oxygen exchange from the soil to the atmosphere, a necessary element for healthy landscape plantings.