The Getaway That is Always There for You

Our calendars are full: chauffeuring kids here and there, cooking, cleaning, commuting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, demanding bosses and of course, familial responsibilities. So why on earth add gardening to the mix?

No doubt about it, gardening is work. Yet for me, slipping on my gardening gloves releases rather than increases tension. Of course, if your neglected backyard looks like a wilderness—an overgrown field of never-ending weeds—the sight of it may not (yet!) inspire calm.

Imagination and planning can make your yard a garden: a place of harmony, beauty and inspiration. The best place to plan is the yard itself, preferably sitting on a bench. In garden furniture, benches are the most indispensable investment—begin with a sturdy, movable one in an adaptable style. In time you can invest in gardening tools and supplies, and a bench with storage built in might be a good choice.

Put your bench seat in the choicest spot—the right mix of warm and cool, sun and shade. Grab a pad and pencil, maybe a drink, and settle in. Notice what is in the yard now, and imagine what might be there—or might be gone—if you had your druthers. Note your needs, wants and must dos.

Common examples might be:

• Differentiating between an eating area, play area and ‘off by your lonesome to contemplate life’ or simply take a nap area
• Sections with year-round color (alternating bloom times)
• Areas that cannot be ignored, such as those weeds!

Now divide these areas into more manageable projects, for example:

Landscaping (Your needs)

1. Determine functional areas of your yard: e.g., playground, outdoor dining, sunning/relaxing, etc.
2. Create walkways to protect lawn and plantings, and to separate areas by use.
3. Define your design with crisp borders between paths, lawn and planting beds; refine it by balancing hard structures with softer plantings

Planting (Your wants)

1. For color, plant flowers appropriate to the season
2. Plant shrubs and perennials to provide landscape definition and texture during the off season
3. Use mulch on flower beds for weed suppression and weather protection; fertilize according to your plants, your soil and the season

Weeds and Grass (Your must dos)

1. Seek out and destroy those weeds!
2. Treat recurring weeds when they are small
3. Grass needs frequent fertilization

Do you have high traffic areas where grass routinely gets trampled on, even worn to bare dirt? Wood chips, gravel, brick, stone or concrete can spruce up these paths and give them durability. Walkways take time and effort to create, but once established, they reduce maintenance and can double as boundaries between functional or planting areas where other forms of borders are not practical.

You might be like a great many gardeners who prefer plastic or wood edging to distinguish between one area and another. By trimming lawn edges, I keep the lines between my lawn and beds clean naturally; I also push soil and mulch back into the beds. I prune overhanging bushes and shrubs and snip off (“dead-head”) flowers past their bloom to keep things tidy—that is, until the deer, rabbits and crows seek to undermine my efforts in their quest for food or just recreation.

Judicious planting can help mask some of these wildlife issues, while at the same time providing structure and color. A mix of low-lying ground cover plants help minimize weeds and cover those tattered edges. Then working from back to front, I plant bigger shrubs and perennials toward the rear to create a texture-rich backdrop. Between them and the border, I plant annuals, which I call one hit wonders. Here this year, gone the next to make room for another annual. I do this to fill in and provide color that varies throughout the year. You can start with a few appropriate to the current season, and then add more as you learn what blooms when. Your local nursery will know what zone works best in your area. And be mindful of how light hits different areas of your property, and what kind: shaded, filtered, or direct. You will notice that the more dense the planting, the fewer the weeds. For plants needing wider spacing, wood-chip or pine-straw mulch will keep weeds down.

Although it seems daunting, pulling weeds is less troublesome than maintaining a beautiful lawn. Weeds are not unlike rabbits – they multiply seemingly overnight. By keeping after grass, you can avoid it growing over three inches; fertilizing once a quarter will help suppress weeds. If being kind to Mother Earth is important to you, consider pulling them rather than using chemical weed killer. I realize there is a reason why many people use the quick fix. If you have a large plot of land, it is laborious. If you are tempted to use weed killers, research can inform you about the impact on the environment. A local gardening group may help you learn how to minimize them.

You might want to replace some of your lawn with a low-maintenance alternative. For an outdoor living space, could pavers or concrete be better for you than grass? Perhaps you need a play area for your children (sand?) or an exercise area for pets (gravel?). If you have trees or room to plant them, you can use mulch or ground cover around the base to reduce grass; fallen leaves from trees produce mulch themselves. You can widen paths, or extend them past obstacles. Or you can simply expand your borders. In time, you may want a shed for storage, a greenhouse for seed growing, even a cold frame for winter gardening. It is important to remember that a yard is an organic work in progress. Even when you’ve executed the perfect layout that gives you maximum function and pleasure, you’ll spot something that can be improved.

These nine important mini projects will take you a long way toward the tenth and most important job: Enjoying the fruits of your labors! With thoughtful planning, maintaining that beautiful backyard becomes less a chore but more of a therapeutic workout. When I need a getaway from the daily routine, I have my garden: a place to recreate without ever leaving home—a place to enjoy the pleasures of solitude and to share the beauties of nature (and of my own vision) with family and friends.

About Stan Horst

Stan Horst started out in life building cabinets and furniture, which gave him an eye for quality construction. These days you can find Stan enjoying himself entertaining folks from nearly every corner of the globe in his rental cabins in VA. He and his wife Deb, along with their two teenage kids and their dog live in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. When he’s not entertaining, Stan manages a website called Betterbenches.com, which serves as a source for people looking for quality benches and other wood furniture. He loves the outdoor life: his activities include camping, hiking and—naturally—spending time in his garden.

Pecan – The Iconic Tree of TX

By Maria Bargellini of Dallas Curb Appeal Inc.,

It’s Fall and it’s Pansy planting time. Pansies come in a large variety in sizes and color. You’re guaranteed to find one in a color and size that you’ll love. You can find them in ready mixed colors or you can create your own mixes. My favorite is the Delta Cool Water mix which is a combination of blue, purple, and white.

Viola Pansy

This is my favorite Pansy. Yes it has smaller flowers but it flowers profusely. It’s typically loaded with happy little flowers all season lone. Johnny Jump Up is a common viola with tiny yellow and purple flowers.

Colossus Pansy

You’ll love these huge 3-4″ flowers with brilliant colors in Yellow, White, Purple, Blue, Red, Orange assorted Blotch colors and more. They don’t flower as much but they are gorgeous flowers.

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Crown Pansy

These are mid sized, solid colored pansies with flowers that are about 1.5-2″ big and look great in mixed colors.

Majestic Pansy / Majestic Giant Pansy

These are mid to large sized pansies with dual colored petals or Blotches of color in the centers.

Dallas Curb Appeal Inc. owns and operates DFW Christmas Lights and The Outdoor Lighting expert.com

By Maria Bargellini of Dallas Curb Appeal

Question: When do we Prune our Oak Trees in Texas

Answer: Winter is best. Avoid any pruning from February 1 through June 15th.

The best time to prune your oaks, especially Live Oaks and Red Oaks, is in late winter when they are dormant of less susceptible to insect and other forms of attacks. According to Texas Forest Service, the riskiest time to trim Oaks is from February 1st-June 15th. Pruning at the appropriate times will help you avoid the chance of your trees contracting Oak Wilt disease, which will not only kill your tree but has the potential to spread to neighboring Oaks and slowly kill them as well. Dead branches and branches under 2 inches in diameter are OK to trimmed throughout the year as necessary.

Question: Why Prune? Do I have to prune every year?

Answer: Only when necessary, and no, you do not.

There are a lot of things that have to be done in your landscape that require a schedule. Trees pruning and tree care are specific to your type and the conditions of your tree. Flowering types are not to be trimmed at the same time as evergreens as you will undoubtedly cut off all of next seasons blooms. Trees should be trimmed only when they need to be. What does that mean? Glad you asked. The pruning of branches create wounds in the tree that take years to heal. The bigger the cut or wound the more attractive the tree will be to insects as they see it as a sign of distress. One of the main reason Feb 1-June 15th is ideal is that it is when our insects aren’t in full force, searching for stressed trees.

You should only prune:

• Dead branches
• Branches that are over pedestrians or vehicles
• Limbs that are rubbing against each other
• Branches growing in the wrong direction

Dead branches: There’s no way of telling when a dead branch will fall or who it will fall on. It’s safe to say that at some point it will fall and it’s best for you to control the when and where.

Vehicles and Pedestrians: These are branches that hang too low and need to be cleared for the public right of way. And yes even if the trees is on the parkway, and technically owned by the city you are responsible for the trees maintenance as well as grass. Check with your local ordinances but for the most part you should have at least 8′ clearance over sidewalks and 10-15 over any vehicle crossing, such as a driveway or the street. There have been many a delivery or furniture truck that has met with the limbs of offending trees. By the way–the truck always wins that battle.

Rubbing: Limbs or branches that rub together whether naturally or from wind, will create a wound on 1 or both of the branches. This wounds emits a scent that allow insects to locate and attack it. Some limbs will actually even grow into each other to form one ugly branch.

Wrong direction: Branches that will are heading toward your gutters, windows, other trees, etc are best cut when they are young, under 2 inches. Smaller wounds are much easier are the tree and it is inevitable that they will be needing to be cut later so don’t procrastinate. It’s much better and even cheaper to do it early.

Dallas Curb Appeal also owns and operates DFW Christmas Lights and The Outdoor Lighting Expert. For more information on this or any other topic please feel free to comment below or visit our other sites for holiday and lighting topics.

Shade Plants for Dallas: Oakleaf Hydrangea

By Maria Bargellini, of Dallas Curb Appeal

Believe it or not the Oakleaf Hydrangea is actually native to the United States, most Hydrangeas are native to china.

We here in Dallas use the Oakleaf hydrangea in our shady gardens to add interest to our gardens all year long. It’s gorgeous blooms add a dramatic yet fragile look to any landscape. It blooms best in bright shade, or when planted in gardens with north facing, morning sun. What’s bright shade you ask? Well there are varying types of shade; dry, moist, bright and deep or dark shade. Hydrangeas look their best in bright shade. That’s dappled or indirect sun. Afternoon sun will scorch this plant and eventually kill it.

When incorporating them into your Dallas landscape, make sure to plant them toward the back of your beds as they do tend to be tall, ranging from 4-8 feet. In addition, the weight of the large cone shaped followers will weigh woody stems down to give this shrub an arching shape, which will require some room, at least 4′, unless you like the look of the arching stems over your smaller plants in front of the Hydrangea.

Hydrangeas also have a higher water requirement unlike our native Texas plants. So if your thinking about adding this plant to your garden, make sure you are adding it to a bed with plants with like water requirements. Otherwise somethings gotta give. You will either over water your existing plants or underwater your Oakleaf Hydrangea. And just because they like extra water doesn’t mean you can drown them either. They do not like to have their feet sitting in water as you might find in moist or deep shade, where sprinkler water does not have as much an opportunity to dry out of flower beds. This water tends to collect at the base of plants and will rot out their roots. The term most commonly used here in Texas to describe this is “wet feet”. FYI Hollies and Azaleas also don’t like wet feet.

Although they are not evergreen, they do have some winter interest and are winter hardy here in Texas. When they do lose their leaves in the fall or winter they expose an interesting exfoliating bark much like our Crape Myrtles, where the outer layers appear to be peeling off of the stems. When the white blooms start to fade they will sometimes fade to a pink color. When cut, at any color, Hydrangeas make  for great follower displays for your home, whether they are freshly cut or dried out..

Dallas Curb Appeal also owns and operates DFW Christmas Lights and The Outdoor Lighting Expert.

Landscape Ideas: Growing Snow Peas

This post includes videos and information about growing and using snow peas. Please scroll below for recipes, nutritions facts, and other snow pea information. Enjoy and thanks for visiting.
Video by Growing your greens

How Peas Grow

By Cook with class

Buying and storing tips

Snow peas can be found in the produce section of most health food stores, specialty markets, and supermarkets. Look for brightly colored, crisp pods that have fresh-looking leaflets and small seeds. Use as soon as possible, or store in a plastic bag, refrigerated for up to three days.

Nutritional Highlights

Snow peas (frozen, uncooked), 1/2 cup
Calories: 55
Protein: 3.7g
Carbohydrate: 9.8g
Total Fat: 0.26g
Fiber: 3.38g
*Excellent source of: Vitamin C (12.9mg), and Vitamin A (523 IU)

*Foods that are an “excellent source” of a particular nutrient provide 20% or more of the Recommended Daily Value. Foods that are a “good source” of a particular nutrient provide between 10 and 20% of the Recommended Daily Value.

Helpful Links

• Snow pea recipes: Asian Beef with snow peas
• Varieties
• Buying and storing
• Availability
• Preparation tips
• Nutritional highlights
• Health benefits and concerns

Landscaping ideas Dallas–Hydrangeas

By Maria Bargellini, of Dallas Curb Appeal

If you’re in TX and have shade, chances are you know and love Hydrangeas. It’s a safe bet to say you also have tons of Hydrangea questions. Hopefully this article can help you out. If you have additional questions feel free to comment below and we’ll be sure to send you the answer.

Pruning– When do you prune them– why didn’t they flower?

There are 2 main categories of Hydrangeas when considering pruning.

• Those that bloom on current year’s growth–arborescens
• Those that bloom on old wood, more commonly know as last year’s growth–macrophylla

The arborescens Hydrangeas that bloom on new wood are typically the white hydrangeas like Annabelle and Paniculata Grandiflora (PG).  They put on new growth in the spring and then later in the summer the flower buds are actually produced right at the end of that new growth.  That’s why the Annabelle and PG are such prolific bloomers.  They set flower buds and almost immediately those buds produce big, beautiful, abundant flowers. So these types can be trimmed down once they lose their leaves. Annabelle and PG hydrangea and other hydrangeas that flower on new wood can be pruned during the late fall, winter or early spring.  Once they start growing in the spring do not do any pruning until after they bloom.

Macrophylla or Hydrangeas that bloom on “old wood”  include Nikko Blue, Endless Summer and many
other popular pinks and blues. OK so what all this means is that next season’s blooms will appear on the last years woody stems. They are all busy right now story food and preparing for next years big beautiful flowers. So if you prune them you will be cutting off any chance of blooms next spring. With the Blue and Pink Hydrangeas (macrophyllas) all kinds of things can go wrong with the flower buds.  Since the flower buds are produced in August and September they may have to make it through a harsh winter before they can bloom.  The flower buds can be damaged by extreme cold. Pruning?  You should prune macrophylla hydrangeas right after they bloom, before they have a chance to start making new flower buds.

One of the most popular new varieties on the market is “Endless Summer Hydrangea” and it is known to bloom more than once in a season.  It’s in the macrophylla family and sets flower buds on old wood, but it is also known to set more buds and produce flowers during the growing season.  It should still be treated as a hydrangea that blooms on old wood.

So if your hydrangea did not bloom then the flower buds might have gotten pruned off, or they may have been damaged over the winter–lucky for us, harsh winters are not common. Of course now that I opened my mouth we’ll have 12″ of snow. Hydrangeas like more water than most plants, they are quick to droop and let you know just how unhappy they are. In our HOT TX sun they do best in shade. North facing or morning filtered sun is best. We also suffer from low acidity in our soil and Hydrangeas have better color when acidified compost, or other food is added to the soil.

Dallas Curb Appeal also owns and operates DFW Christmas Lights and The Outdoor Lighting Expert.

Landscape ideas Dallas: Transplanting Tulips

How to Plant Hollyhocks

Landscape Ideas Dallas: Crepe Myrtles

By Maria Bargellini, President at Dallas Curb Appeal

Dallas Landscape Contractor

Nothing says summer in the south like the blooming of our Crape Myrtles. You can’t beat the colors or the bountiful blooms on these lovely tree forming shrubs. Being in the landscape industry I see a lot of instances where  people put the wrong tree in the wrong place. Sometimes it’s unintentional and sometimes it’s just careless. Crape myrtles come in a wide range of sizes and colors. There’s a perfect Crape Myrtle out there just waiting for you to take it home–Just make sure it’s the right tree for your landscape. Below are some information to help you figure out what variety is best for your landscape.

Shape: Did you know that Crape myrtles come in different shapes. Some are more upright while others can be broad or have a tighter v/vase-shape. Of course some are trimmed by well meaning but un-enlightened people and can appear to be fan shaped also. Look at your landscape and drive around town to see for yourself what these beautiful trees really look like when they are older. Then you’ll get a better idea of what type is best for you. Take pictures with you to the nursery so that they may better help you find the variety you want. With so many varieties they are not always available so call ahead.

Size: Most people don’t realize that the Crape Myrtles can come as small as 1 feet tall, like the Rosy Carpet –yup you heard me 1 foot tall. On the opposite side they can also be as tall as 30+ feet tall like Biloxi . One thing to consider is the meaning of Dwarf. Dwarf means that the plant is smaller than the original not that it’s 2 feet tall. 3 feet and under are referred to as minis or miniature varieties in this case.  Of course the happier this tree forming shrub is the closer it will be to it’s standard height. Height’s aren’t an exact science which is why you’re almost always given a range.

Colors: Do not pick a Crape Myrtle by color alone. We all love the red Dynamite but it can be over 20 feet tall. If you’re planting your tree yourself do yourself a favor and do your research, figure out which one you like, and call around for that specific Crape. Don’t let the lure of the nursery lead you astray. They all will look small and harmless at the nursery now but not so much later.

Pruning: Please people for the love of all things good in the world. Do not hack your Crapes. If you buy one that’s the wrong size you will be hacking at it for eternity. You only need to trim for the following reasons

• Vehicle or pedestrian right of way
• rubbing limbs
• seed heads
• Dead Branches
• and to open up the canopy

Do not let anyone tell you different. They do not ever have to be chopped off or beheaded unless of course you bought the wrong variety and in which case I would tear it out and get the right one instead of having ugly knuckled trees in your yard.

Enjoy the following links from Texas A&M–This is the best link ever if you need helping picking the right Crepe Myrtle for your Dallas Landscape. It’s an Aggie-Hort site that lists Crepe Myrtles by color, size, and by common name.

If you would like to have a landscape professional help you with your Crape Myrtle project please feel free to leave a comment or call Dallas Curb Appeal at 214-257-8155.