GREETINGS FROM MONARCH LANDSCAPE COMPANY!

Adam Chesney

We’re experiencing one of the coolest Julys in recent history! Along with above-average rainfall, it’s nice to enjoy green grass this time of year. Even with the mild conditions we’ve been experiencing, the most frequent question I receive this time of year is regarding how and when to water.

Watering is best done early in the morning or at dusk. Irrigation systems won’t sufficiently water new trees and shrubs until they’re established. We recommend checking the moisture level of the soil by digging down 5" to 7" with a shovel, around the drip line of a new tree or shrub. If the soil is dry at that depth, more water is needed. New trees and shrubs can be watered every day in extreme heat (over 95 degrees), or three to five times a week when temperatures are in the upper 80s and lower 90s. It’s best to water slowly, allowing the water to penetrate the soil instead of running off.

Can you believe that autumn is just around the corner? It’s time to start thinking about pansies, bulb plantings and overseeding fescue lawns. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions regarding your yard. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful summer!

Sincerely,

Adam Chesney
Owner & Founder

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GET MORE FRESH AIR THIS SUMMER

ESCAPE TO AN OUTDOOR ROOM!

Fire pits make nighttime get-togethers much more enjoyable.

One of the biggest trends in landscaping is expanding the home’s indoor living space with an outdoor room, and there are lots of ways to do this. With a little planning and creativity, your backyard can be the perfect outdoor living room for your family. Whether you prefer casual cookouts or garden teas, family fun or a private retreat, any space can be transformed.

First Things First - Privacy

To ensure that your outdoor room offers ample privacy, you’ll want to incorporate a screen around the perimeter. Combining a variety of trees, shrubs and perennials is an effective way to do this and will generally be more pleasing to the eye than traditional fencing materials. However, keep in mind that it may take several years for your screen to grow in fully depending on the plant species you choose.

Next, Add the Improvements

Depending on your needs and desires, there are all kinds of additions you can make to your outdoor room. Among the more popular:

• Decks and patios – You’ll need plenty of room for deck chairs, and maybe even built-in benches for additional seating. Consider where your grill and any container plantings will be situated too. Brick, stone or interlocking pavers are good materials to use for patios, and synthetic decks are becoming increasingly popular due to their ease of maintenance.
• Spas or hot tubs – These make any outdoor room enticing and come in various sizes depending on how many people you need to accommodate. Remember that regular maintenance will be necessary.
• Awnings or arbors for shade – Awnings can be fixed or retractable and will provide solid shade along with a convenient escape from any summer showers that may pop up. If you’d rather go with partial shade, a vine-covered arbor and trellis structure can filter the sun without blocking it out completely.
• Water features – From simple birdbaths and small ponds to gurgling fountains and cascading waterfalls, every outdoor room can benefit from the sights and sounds of a water feature.
• Fire pits or chimineas – These are perfect for nighttime entertaining, and can help to extend the use of your outdoor room into the colder months.
• Lighting – Low-voltage lighting fixtures are a must if you want to use your outdoor room at night. They can increase visibility while enhancing the room’s nighttime visual appeal.

With a carefully designed and constructed outdoor room, you’ll be making the most of your living space while increasing the overall value of your property. Give Monarch Landscape Company a call today to get started planning yours.

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THIS PATH WAS MADE FOR WALKIN’

Even the most beautifully landscaped property is lacking without well-conceived walkways and paths. Properly designed and constructed, these landscape staples will help to direct traffic while encouraging visitors to explore different parts of your property.

What's the Difference?

Walkways are wider and more formal than paths.

Walkways are wider and more formal than paths. They’re commonly used to get from the driveway to the house or from the house to the garage. They should be wide enough to accommodate two people walking side by side, and it never hurts to incorporate a few curves for added visual appeal. Available construction materials vary widely, including poured concrete, pavers, gravel, slate and even tiles.

Paths, on the other hand, get less use than walkways and don’t need to be quite as wide. They’re often used to direct visitors to a special destination in the landscape, such as a corner gazebo or fountain. Since they’re not used as much, construction materials can be less durable. Gravel, wood chips and coarse-packed sand all work very well.

Used in combination, walkways and paths are bound to make your landscape more “visitor-friendly.” Plus, they’ll help to ensure that you, your family and your friends get much more enjoyment out of your property! Give Monarch Landscape Company a call today to learn more.

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2009 PERENNIAL PLANT OF THE YEAR

Soften up your landscape with this graceful ornamental grass.

A graceful, flowing form and radiant, golden foliage make Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ a great choice for the Perennial Plant Association’s 2009 Perennial Plant of the Year. This cool-season grass does best when planted in partial to full shade, and it grows up to 2' in height. The foliage turns reddish-pink in the fall.

Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ does an excellent job when you need to soften the edge of a path. Or, consider planting it where it can cascade over a wall. Either way, this beautiful perennial is sure to make a lovely addition to any landscape.

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ATTENTION: PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE GRUBS!

THEY'LL DESTROY YOUR LAWN IF NOTHING IS DONE TO STOP THEM

More than six grubs per square foot can spell trouble.

Grubs are beetle larvae that love to feed on turf roots. The beetles lay their eggs in lawns in early summer. Very soon afterwards, the eggs hatch into hungry grubs that spend the rest of the growing season eating roots. Since they exist underground, grubs able to go undetected as they weaken your lawn’s root system.

In many cases, homeowners don’t know that grubs are present until symptoms start appearing. When it comes to this point, steps need to be taken to repair the damaged areas, and the lawn must be treated with an insecticide to control the grubs.

So How Can You Tell if Grubs Are a Problem?

The most common signs of a grub infestation are irregular brown patches throughout the turf, and grass that feels spongy when you walk across it. If you notice animals such as skunks, raccoons and birds digging through your turf, they may be looking for grubs to eat. In severe infestations, sod can be rolled up easily (like a loose carpet) due to root destruction.

The best way to tell if grubs are a problem is to perform an actual grub check. You can do this by pulling up a small section of sod. If you find more than six grubs per square foot, treatment is recommended to protect your turf from major damage.

How Are Lawns Treated?

Insecticides made especially for grub control are very effective, and they won’t harm the grass, other plants or you. They should be applied as soon as possible for the best results. At the very least, they need to be applied before extensive damage shows up in your turf.

By taking action against grubs now, you can save yourself some major headaches later! Give Monarch Landscape Company a call today for more information.

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IS IT TIME TO GO AUTOMATIC?

Automatic systems conserve water while keeping your property well-irrigated.

Watering your lawn and landscape plantings can be a tedious process, especially when you have to lug tangled hoses and sprinklers around your property. If you’d like to spend less time worrying about watering, an automatic irrigation system may be the perfect solution.

The Busy Homeowner's Best Friend

If you’re like most homeowners, you don’t always have the time to ensure that your lawn and landscape plantings are getting the right amounts of water at the right times of day. That’s where an automatic irrigation system can help. The beauty of an automatic irrigation system lies in its consistency. With features such as timers, watering can always be limited to the cooler parts of the day when less water will be lost due to evaporation or wind drift.

With independent station programming, automatic systems can also be set up to provide certain portions of your landscape with more or less water than others, depending on the specific irrigation needs of the plants in those areas. In addition, rain shut-off devices can prevent unnecessary watering when it’s raining. Soil moisture sensors can even measure the amount of water present in the soil, overriding irrigation when soil moisture levels are adequate for your plants’ needs.

A Sound Investment

An automatic irrigation system is probably less costly than you might imagine, and the beautiful, more healthy lawn and landscape it can help to produce will justify the money you spend having it installed and maintained. Depending on the size and irrigation requirements of your property, automatic systems can be custom-designed to match your budget and needs.

To learn more about automatic irrigation systems, or if you’re interested in having us install one on your property, give us a call today. We’ll be happy to help you decide on the most appropriate options for your situation.

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LIGHTEN UP!

Every property can benefit from landscape lighting.

Even the most beautifully landscaped property is incomplete without the right lighting installed. Low-voltage landscape lighting increases nighttime security while extending the enjoyment of your property into the evening hours. Plus, you can use lighting fixtures to accent certain areas of your landscape or enhance your outdoor space with interesting patterns and contrasts.

Used in strategic spots, the right lighting fixtures can make your nighttime landscape come alive. When choosing a lighting plan, you may want to consider some of the following:

Uplighting – a fixture illuminates an object from below.

Downlighting – a fixture mounted in a tree or high on a house shines down through the tree or on an object to accentuate its features.

Path Lighting – special fixtures mounted on short stakes shine light downward to illuminate a walkway or planting bed.

Backlighting – a background area is flooded with light so that objects in front of it appear as silhouettes.

Shadowing – a light fixture placed in front of an object illuminates it and casts its shadow on the background surface.

Monarch Landscape Company will be happy to help you create the perfect landscape lighting plan for your property. Give us a call today to learn more.