Author Archives: GCSDev

Preparations for a Beautiful Landscape and Successful Spring Planting

Emerging from the shadow of winter’s gloom, spring is the ideal time for taking stock of a home’s landscaping and flower beds. A homeowner or a professional landscaper should first walk around the garden and check for signs of winter damage, and decide what needs to be repaired, extended or created to neaten or improve the landscaping. It is also the time to plan for the planting of trees, shrubs and perennials.

Timely preparation and planning is vital for successful spring planting and a beautiful summer show. A reliable landscaping company can work with homeowners to provide advice, make suggestions and undertake the necessary work. Preparations might include:

– Soil Analysis: This will determine if soil amendments are needed to provide optimal growing conditions for perennials and annuals. Compost may need to be added to enrich the existing soil.

– Mulching: Early mulching conserves the moisture in the ground and suppresses weed growth. Depriving weed seeds of light inhibits their germination.

– Plant Division: Some plants may have reached a size that warrants division. This prevents overcrowding and opens up space for adding annual plants for summer-long color. Some plants may need to be removed altogether.

– Trimming Trees and Shrubs: Some trees and shrubs may need to be trimmed and to have dead wood removed. Providing structure to the garden, they should accentuate the flowers – not detract from them with untidy appearances.

– Landscaping Lights: A special tree or shrub could be up-lighted for a spectacular effect.

– Retaining Walls: Old walls might need replacing. Signs of soil erosion or water run-off could indicate the need for new retaining walls, some of which could be created to provide raised flower beds.

– Edgings: Flower beds are the canvasses upon which the garden will be painted with flowers, and edgings are the frames. undefined edgings will take away from the most-lovingly tended plants.

– Lawns: These should not be overlooked. Repairs and pest control should be undertaken before problems become worse.

For a beautiful landscape and successful gardening, a trusted landscaper is a gardener’s best friend.

 

https://www.ciminellislandscape.com/

Add a Pool Deck to a Backyard

Pool decks are unparalleled in their ability to wow guests when they come over for a visit. Homeowners with concrete sidewalks or patios around their pools should consider adding a deck to all or a portion of the area around the pool. The spring is a great time to add a deck to a pool area and have it ready for use when the weather begins to warm in a few weeks.

There are several reasons why to add a wood or composite deck around the pool. The primary one is the boost for the overall aesthetics of the pool area. A well constructed deck that is either stained or left the natural color of the wood is beautiful and will easily blend into a natural setting around the pool. Concrete patios or sidewalks around a pool can be very hot and appear uninviting if they are not shaded or landscaped properly. A few well placed trees, an umbrella, or a few pots of plants are all that is typically need to make a deck fit right in and be comfortable.

Traditionally decks have been constructed with redwood, treated pine, or cedar. These are still great alternatives and will provide years of low maintenance service. However, new composite materials have become the go to material on decks for a lot of contractors. Composite deck boards are made from cement and will last for decades with little to no maintenance required. The composite boards are a little more costly to install, but in the long run pay for themselves because they will not likely require replacing.

A deck is a great addition to a back yard. This is especially true for yards with a pool. The typical deck construction time for a professional crew is a week to 10 days. Home owners that act quickly can get a contractor scheduled in enough time to ensure they will be enjoying their new pool deck this summer.

Hardscaping Explained

Hardscaping is becoming increasingly popular because it is low maintenance and in times of water shortage, it does not require water at all. While most people use a combination of softscaping and hardscaping in their designs, it is not too uncommon, especially in desert areas, to see a landscape entirely made up of hardscaping elements.

A beautiful outdoor space can make all the difference in how a business or home is perceived. It is called curb appeal, and beautiful curb appeal usually means beautiful landscaping. What many people may not realize that landscaping is divided into two categories. Softscaping is all the living elements in the landscape, such as grass, trees, flowers, and other plants. Hardscaping is the other element of landscaping and includes everything that is not alive. Rock, pavers, waterfalls, driveways, walkways, and retaining walls are all hardscaping. Even wood, although it was once alive, is considered an element of hardscaping.

There are several benefits to hardscaping. One is that it is so low maintenance. It requires little time and effort on your part to keep it beautiful. It is not something you have to water every night, and on hot days when softscaping elements wilt, hardscaping features will not. Another benefit is that hardscaping, for the most part, is permanent.

When planning the layout of the area you will be landscaping, it may be easier to plan your hardscape features first, especially if there are things like large boulders or walls that are too big to move. Design your layout around features like these to compliment them. The next step would be planning where other hardscape elements will go, such as walls or pathways, so that you can arrange the softscape elements to compliment the layout.

Finding a balance between hardscaping and landscaping so that they work together and compliment each other is the key to having a beautiful landscape. For more information on hardscaping or if you are interested in an estimate, check out https://www.ciminellislandscape.com/services/hardscaping/.

Rain Gardens

Rain gardens do more than please the eye and delight the senses. They offer many environmental benefits for the sustainable gardener.

During a thunderstorm or even a gentle shower, rain falls from rooftops and gutters to paved surfaces, where it collects pollutants before running off into storm sewers and drains. The drains empty into our waterways, concentrating toxins in the water.

An ideal and easy way to filter those pollutants is to create a rain garden. A porous mixture of loam and sand allows the water to drain well without flooding, straining out toxins, metals and other pollution. The water leaches slowly into the ground, where it eventually rejoins and replenishes the water table. What remains is absorbed into the roots, stems and leaves of the rain garden’s plants.

Plant diversity is another important benefit of rain gardens. A well-designed rain garden includes a very wet, pond-like center, surrounded by a wet-dry area, and bordered by a dry area. These three “micro-climates” lend themselves to greater plant diversity than if the garden contained a single type of soil.

An incredible variety of plants can thrive in a rain garden. For the wetter and shadier areas, lily-of-the-valley and many types of fern, milkweed, mallow, sedge and jack-in-the-pulpit will do well. Medium to sunny areas can be planted with aster, marsh marigold, phlox and even river birch. Dry-sunny borders can sustain anything from bee balm to black-eyed Susan, coneflower, poppies and more.

Aside from the beauty of a rain garden, it also attracts wildlife. Salamanders, frogs, toads and garden snakes will all find their way into its special environment. Important pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds collect and spread pollen with their bodies as they forage for food.

After a rain garden is planned and planted, it will need adequate water in hot, dry weather, mulching and weeding for the first year. If a good mix of perennials is used, it will need very little work after that. All in all, a rain garden is a beautiful way to garden sustainably and to help the water supply replenish and cleanse itself locally.

Ciminelli’s Green Roofs and Green Walls

A green wall or a green roof may have little to do with paint color but it has a lot to do with the aesthetics of your home. The green concept is derived from its integration of plants and living foliage into the design and structure of the wall and roof itself. In essence, nature becomes the wall and roof itself creating a living and growing part of your home.

Not only are they a beautiful living work of art, they provide tangible benefits to the home in which they thrive. The addition of natural greenery has a cooling effect on the area surrounding it because of the plants natural carbon dioxide exchange. This same exchange process also purifies the air inside of the home creating a safer and healthier place to breathe.

Green roofs and walls also provide a comprehensive benefit during the rainy fall and spring months by reducing water runoff. The living structure works to absorb the excess water around the home. The complex structure also serves as a highly efficient filtration system filtering out harmful pollutants.

Green roofs provide a unique variety of benefits to the home. Conventional roofs are traditionally the greatest source of heat loss due to inadequate insulation. A green roof is a natural insulator and can reduce the need for air conditioning by over 75% in some regions. For regions prone to fire, a green roof may provide the perfect solution due to its significantly lower burning heat load.

Choosing to integrate a green roof or green wall into your home can be a richly beneficial process especially when working with professionals who care about these benefits for homeowners. Matt Ciminelli of Ciminelli’s Landscape Services, Inc. specializes in green roofs and green walls for exactly this reason. One of the first professional groups to achieve the Green Roof Professional Accreditation, Matt utilizes his dedication to best practices, superior design, and quality installation to bring the best in green roofs and walls home to you. Contact Ciminelli’s Landscape to discover how green walls and a green roof can radically reshape the home you live in.

Landscape Lighting: Practical and Attractive Solutions

Landscape lighting makes a dramatic difference in the appearance of the lawn and garden, giving the home or business’ exterior space an inviting glow. Various lights placed strategically can make the outdoors magical or floodlight yard art or objects such as a patriotic flag. Then, the lighting is practical helping to provide the safety of light to lawns, walkways and other outdoor areas. Beautiful and practical, many home and business owners choose some type of lighting for their outdoor space.

Uses for Landscape Lighting

Here are some of the many uses for lights outdoors:

– To highlight a doorway

– To light a pathway

– To spotlight a fountain, flag or other object

– To outline the driveway

– To light up a garden

– To bring light to a gazebo

Enlightening Outdoor Entertaining

At home residences, people who like to entertain in the evenings often install lighting for their lawn, garden, patio or front porch. They want their guests to feel welcome even before they enter the home. Also, they do not want anyone to stumble around in the dark and hurt themselves. Lights help make the yard and driveway safe.

Then for warm nights, outdoors entertainment can be perfect. The evening can be spent on a patio, gazebo or walking about the garden. Cookouts and catered affairs, weddings and other celebrations are wonderful in a lighted yard and garden. The ideas for outdoor entertaining are endless.

Landscape Lighting Goes Green

Many lights for outdoors are energy efficient and environmentally friendly. LED lights use up to 90% less than electric lighting. Solar lights are powered by the sunshine, and battery lanterns use battery power to stay lit. These lighting solutions can be purchased inexpensively.

Enhancing the Landscape with Lighting

The outdoors environment is much more inviting when lit in the evenings, and the lights can be installed for safety and practical reasons. People enhance their landscape with creative lighting solutions that are reasonably priced and glowingly attractive.

Customer Testimonials

Thank you for beautiful transformation in our back yard. It’s gorgeous! Jose – you and your crew were very professional, courteous and innovative. The craftsmanship and detail you put into the stone work and grill were top notch! We look forward to many years of entertaining back there.

The Bergman’s

 

Just a short note to tell you how happy we are with our new front yard. Your crew were courteous and excellent workers. I was so impressed by their initiative. They all took pride in their work. Thank you so much!

Carol and Arnie

 

Thank you very much for all your help with the driveway project. It came out great and we are very pleased with it!

Brian and Sue

Get Ready– Winter is Coming

Bulbs Out, Bulbs In – Winterize A Flower Garden
Remove flowering bulb plants like gladiola and cannas from flower beds before the first frost. Store them indoors in brown paper bags in a moderately warm spot. Plant flowering bulb plants like tulips, belles of the snow, hyacinth and daffodils in autumn.

Pruning Trees And Shrubs With Care
Prune rose bushes and other shrubs with overgrowth before a first frost. Remove all dead limbs and branches from trees and flowering trees in autumn. This is a safety feature during wind storms and heavy snows and also encourages new growth when spring arrives. If trees or shrubs need transplanting to another location, this is the best time of the year to do that. Be sure to ball the roots with native soil before replanting.

Moderate Maintenance Protects Plants And Trees
Mulching plants with a lower tolerance for sub-zero temperatures is the best way to protect them. Mulch can be purchased at most local garden shops. Dried autumn leaves are a natural mulch that nature provides as a covering for soil and plants. Pine needles also help to retain sufficient soil temperatures. Many gardeners find this an economical way to protect their flower gardens.

Winterize The Lawn
Part of the winterizing process should include the lawn. In late summer, make certain the lawn bed has been sufficiently cleared of matted grass. When the first signs of cooler temperatures arrive, it’s time to finish the season with a last layer of fertilizer. Fertilizing lawns in mid-autumn allows the soil to absorb nutrients until the first frost when the lawn begins to lay dormant. This is also a good time to keep weeds in check with an end-of-season weed retardant.

Storing Garden Tools and Other Outdoor Maintenance
Before storing garden tools and watering hose make sure they have been wiped free of debris. Some tools may require a little oil at this time. Remove gasoline from lawn mowers and make sure the underside is free of dead grass and debris. Don’t forget to shut off the exterior water faucet to protect it from ice buildup.

Patios: Not Just for Summer

In mid-June through late August, it”s obvious why you love your patio. On hot summer days it offers a wonderful place for you to rest from your work or play, and on warm summer nights it is a wonderful place to socialize or just rest in the fresh air. However, many home owners don’t realize that they can also enjoy their patios in the fall.

Decorating

Fall is one of the most beautiful times of year. It is characterized by oranges, yellows and reds, and harvest, Halloween, and Thanksgiving decorations coupled with these colors make fall decorating some of the most aesthetically pleasing decorating you’ll do all year. With a patio, your fall decorating becomes even more exciting and enjoyable. You can turn your patio into a haunted house that neighborhood kids must pass through to get candy. Or for Thanksgiving, you can make the family feel welcome with a patio full of fall mums and a few chairs around an outdoor fire pit.

Socializing

Just because the weather is a little cooler doesn’t mean you can’t use your patio for socializing. In fact, a patio can be a great place to extend the Halloween or Thanksgiving gathering. With some ample seating and a few tables, you can get the party started and allow your guests a few last minute chances to enjoy the outdoors before the snows and frost come. Just add an outdoor fire pit and some hot cider to the mix, and your guests will be warm enough to enjoy even a nippy night.

Choosing a Fall-Friendly Patio

Adding a patio to your home increases your house’s value and allows you a space in which you can extend your home. However, before you put a patio on your home, you’ll need to take some time to decide which patio is right for you. Obviously, you’ll want to choose a design that is fall friendly — one that you feel you can use all year. Making that decision on your own can be quite daunting, especially when there are so many different kinds of patios and designs to choose from. That’s where professionals come in. Ciminelli’s Landscape Services offers patio consultation and construction that can help homeowners choose a patio and make other landscaping choices that will help them get the most out of their yards all year long.