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
Tag Archives: Landscape Annapolis
Ciminellis Takes Over Meadowfarms, Remake Nursery as ‘Eco-Oasis’
If you have not been to the Meadows Farms Nursery on Central Avenue in Prince George’s County in a while, you’re in for a surprise. The nursery, located just a few miles west of the Patuxent River Bridge, is now home to Ecoasis Garden Center, a venture of Matt and Donna Ciminelli, owners of Ciminellis Landscape Services.
Meadows Farms Nursery on Central Avenue is now home to Ciminellis Ecoasis Garden Center.
The Lothian couple purchased the nursery in October of last year. After months of renovations, the garden center officially opened in March.
The Ciminellis’ have big plans for Ecoasis which they said is a “traditional garden center that offers eco-friendly alternatives and resources for the home gardener.”
To start, Matt and Donna are re-stocking the inventory with trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials. The Ciminellis’ source most of their plants from local growers such as Homestead Growers, TSB Enterprises and Hall Growers.
The couple is working to obtain a permit for a Farmer’s Market where local farmers can sell their fruits and vegetables.
In addition, Donna said the couple is planting a vegetable garden on the property and will sell the produce along with fresh-cut flowers.
Matt, who is an Anne Arundel County Beekeeper, plans to sell local honey. In fact, the beehive is due to arrive any day.
The nursery is stocked with earth-friendly products, rain barrels, composters, eco-mats, bio-logs and much more.
Matt said the garden center offers flower and vegetable plants in eco-friendly containers and encourages customers to drop off the plastic trays and pots at his garden center for recycling.
Ecoasis has a variety of locally-sourced annuals, perennials and vegetable plants.
“Just drop them off at the front gate and we will re-use them,” said Matt.
Matt is very active in the local environmental scene. He works with local riverkeepers and Master Gardeners and is a currently a candidate in the Watershed Stewards Academy class of 2012.
The couple plans to host educational seminars with conservation and environmental experts as well as hold family-friendly events such as S’mores nights.
Ciminellis Ecoasis Garden Center is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The nursery is located at 18301 Central Avenue.
What are Ecoscaping Services
Matt Ciminelli, President and owner of Ciminelli’s Landscape Services, Inc. is one of an inaugural group of professionals to achieve the Green Roof Professional Accreditation developed by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a not for profit organization of the Green Roof experts. Their mission is to increase the awareness of the economic, social and environmental benefits of green roofs and green walls and other forms of architecture.
The GRP designation demonstrates that Matt has attained the level of interdisciplinary knowledge of the best practices associated with the successful design, installation and maintenance of green roof and green wall systems.
What are Green Roofs and Green Walls and why build them?
Green roofs and green walls are substantially covered with living plants. They offer significant long-term economical and environmental advantages.
How do Rain Gardens improve water quality?
Rain gardens allow rain to slowly penetrate the soil as opposed to quickly running off into storm drains, carrying pollutants and particles into our creeks, rivers and Bay. They are designed to use an existing low spot in the landscape.
How can we use Pervious Surfaces?
Pervious surfaces are used to reduce water runoff to improve and regenerate groundwater supplies and reduce pollutants in the waterways.
Tips for April Planting
Spring is here and I’m sure you have been out in your yard surveying and planning for a beautiful season. The trees and bulbs are blooming…and the weed seeds are sprouting. Now is the best time to control weeds in your planting beds. All perennial and annual weeds should be removed – we recommend only mechanical removal – not the use of harsh weed killing herbicides. Most annual weeds are easily removed at this time of year before they have had a chance to develop strong root systems and most critically – create THOUSANDS of seeds. Perennial (returns every year), weeds need their entire root system to be removed or they will come back. Clean and rake your beds and then apply at least a two to three inch layer of mulch – preferably shredded hardwood, cedar or pine. These mulches stay in place and shade the ground to prevent weed seeds from sprouting.
Lawn weeds are a little tougher to control naturally, but there is a product called WOW made from corn gluten that is a natural pre-emergent weed control product for lawns. It will also stop any lawn seed from sprouting, so it should only be used if your lawn is established.
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.