One way to get Spring going is to bring flowering trees and shrubs in. Sound like a strange project? It is very easy! Cuttings from spring blooming trees and shrubs can be brought in and “forced”. Plants like forsythia, cherries, witchhazel, magnolias, dogwoods, and quince are great for bringing in. The flowers have been set and are just waiting for warm weather. By cutting thin branches, bringing them in the house, and putting them in a vase they will bloom indoors. Even red maples have a wonderful little red bud that pops open for some cheery color!
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Pruning and Maple Syrup
Even though the calendar says spring, we are still a ways off from leafy trees and flowering shrubs. You may not be thinking landscaping, but March is a great time to prune trees and shrubs. Damage from the windy, snowy winter often creates broken or damaged tree limbs. Before the trees leaf out you can easily see the structure of the plant. Pruning off dead or damaged branches prevent the opportunity for diseases to occur once the rainy cold spring comes or the hot humid summer weather.
But late March is not the best time to prune sugar maples for the same reason it is the best time for maple sugaring. On a warm day when you prune a maple the wound from the cut drips. In the landscape world we call it “bleeding”, in the maple syrup world we call it “sap”.
Other trees that bleed during warm spring days are birches, elms, honeylocust and other kinds of maples including Japanese maples. But, if you are pruning and not collecting the sap it can make a mess on the tree and be very unsightly.
So enjoy the maple syrup season and plan on pruning your maples when the day time temperatures remain below freezing.
New Website Launched
Just in time for spring and the 2014 landscape season we are thrilled to launch our new website! We have added many photos and made it easier to navigate through our services. We have added new pages like “Going Green” and this blog that we hope will inspire and educate you. “Our Philosophy” page is dedicated to our commitment to customer service where we ask for your feedback. So check it out, send in your blog topics, and follow us on Facebook through another fabulous growing season.
How To Work With A Landscape Pro
If you’re ready to get serious about your landscape, it’s important to do it right.
Lush lawns and gardens don’t create themselves. Here’s how to work with a landscaping professional for a smooth process and pleasing results.
Determine which type of landscape pro suits your needs. Before you get started, you’ll need to determine the skill set that best matches the scope of work you have in mind.
Landscape architects, who typically hold advanced degrees in their field, are trained to develop comprehensive structural plans that include plants, hardscaping, water use, drainage and more.
Landscape designers, by contrast, specialize in the aesthetic and horticultural, rather than structural, side of yard and garden planning. They may or may not have advanced training.
Landscape contractors implement the plans laid out by a landscape architect or designer. In some cases, a landscape contractor also provides design services. Depending on your vision for your yard, you may want to use any or all of these types of professionals.
Set a budget. Just as with interior design and remodeling projects, have a firm idea of what you want to spend before you contact a pro. Not only will this give the landscaper a starting point and a helpful set of parameters, it will save both of you frustration down the road. You don’t want to fall in love with sketches of lavish flowers and stately trees, only to find out they’re beyond reach, and a pro doesn’t want to waste time drawing up detailed plans that will later have to be scratched.
Roseland Cottage – Historic New England
Does your landscaping truly complement your home?
Built in 1846 in the newly fashionable Gothic Revival style, Roseland Cottage depicts the summer life of Henry and Lucy Bowen and their young family. Prominently situated across from the town common, Roseland Cottage epitomizes Gothic Revival architecture, with its steep gables, decorative bargeboards, and ornamented chimney pots. The interior of Roseland Cottage is equally colorful, and features elaborate wall coverings, heavily patterned carpets, and stained glass, much of which survives unchanged from the Victorian era.
Henry Bowen was a Woodstock native who returned to his hometown after establishing a successful business in New York City. While Lucy Bowen enjoyed summers away from the city, her husband used Roseland Cottage as a place to entertain friends and political connections, including four United States presidents.
Roseland Cottage’s picturesque landscape includes original boxwood-edged parterre gardens planted in the 1850s. The estate includes an icehouse, aviary, carriage barn, and the nation’s oldest surviving indoor bowling alley. The entire complex of house, furnishings, outbuildings, and landscape reflects the principles of Andrew Jackson Downing, a leading nineteenth-century tastemaker.
Read about an owner who valued his landscape design as much as his home design.Click here .
http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/roseland-cottage/
Good Deeds | SeacoastOnline.com
Landscaping company donates services for Fabulous Find’s new home
BERWICK, Maine — Salmon Falls Nursery and Landscaping has donated its excavation services to The Fabulous Find thrift shop during the nonprofit’s recent expansion into a new Kittery location.
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