Blog
Topiary: Formal to Fantastic Landscape Art
Adding a topiary to a landscape is like hanging a painting on a wall—it draws the eye and provides interest to its surroundings. Homeowners can create their own topiaries. It starts with selecting healthy shrubs with strong central trunks and a dense growth habit.
Manage Your Florida Spring Bugs
Springtime in Florida is a season of vibrant colors and new greenery, but it also brings with it a host of seasonal bugs. Learn to manage these insects to remember the season for its warmth and energy, not its pests.
Shade Landscaping for Your Florida Home
Got shade? There are plenty of great plants that thrive in areas receiving little or no sunlight. Remember that light conditions change over the hours and by season, though. Observe how light shifts during the day and the year and install plants accordingly.
Rain Gardens: Natural Processors of Runoff Pollution
Rain gardens provide a solution to the problem of runoff-transported pollutants in streams and ponds. Native plants that grow in rain gardens put down deep roots that act as filters, removing 90% of the chemicals carried by runoff from roofs, driveways, and lawns.
Clean Up Your Landscape for Spring
March 20 is the first day of spring. Is your landscaping ready? Important outdoor spring-preparation tasks include purchasing a pre-emergent herbicide treatment for your lawn, selectively pruning, cleaning out planting beds, checking irrigation system components, and servicing lawn care equipment.
Bamboo: Peaceful Accent and Privacy Screen
Bamboo makes a beautiful hedge or landscape accent with its tall, graceful growth habit. Plant a variety that clumps and is not invasive. Several cold-tolerant species grow safely in North Florida. Being primarily a tropical plant, bamboo thrives in lower Central and South Florida.
Create an Oriental Garden–Part 2
Oriental gardens contain specific features that give them their unique look and feel. These include ponds, water fountains, bridges, stones, paths, lanterns, and teahouses. Laid out in a flowing, organic design, these features combine to create a tranquil, cohesive, rejuvenating space.
Create an Oriental Garden–Part 1
Oriental gardens usually incorporate symbolism and are characterized by simplicity and careful design. Pond gardens, dry gardens, tea gardens and strolling gardens are all types of Oriental gardens. They can be large or small, which makes them idea for urban and suburban properties.
Water-wise Landscaping in the Sunshine State
Floridians who practice water-wise landscaping will need less irrigation during the low-rain months of the year. Water-wise landscaping involves installing plants that thrive in natural conditions, reducing the need for watering and for fertilizer and pesticides that can pollute nearby ponds and lakes.
Six Tips for Removing Fallen Leaves
Across Florida, leaf-falling season is well underway. Property owners now face the job of rounding up carpets of dead leaves and getting rid of them. Here are six tips for leaf removal, including mulching, vacuuming, raking, and hiring someone else to do the job.