Landscaping Tips: How Pruning Can Improve Security and Visibility

Are you tired of seeing intruders in your parking lot? Do you want to get rid of everything that’s interfering with the pedestrian and is putting vehicle safety at risk? Are you looking to remove those overgrown shrub and tree branches that do not just block your views but also increase the likelihood of accidents in on your property? Here are some landscaping tips you need to know.

You need to include rejuvenation pruning into your landscaping routine. By getting rid of dying, damaged, and diseased limbs, you boost the conditions of the plants and trees, while increasing the room for new and healthy growth once spring comes. Rejuvenation pruning helps in right sizing overgrown plants and those that are crowding the landscape beds and perhaps spilling into your walkways and parking spaces.

Compared to light pruning which happens during the growing season in order to shape the shrubs and trees, rejuvenation pruning means you have to trim the branches. You need to get rid of the oldest branches except for the stub close to the ground. You can also cut back young stems and branches, but it’ll depend on the scenario.

Why does your landscape need rejuvenation pruning?

It’s not uncommon to see properties with mature landscaping that’s no longer safe and visually appealing. Overcrowded landscaping look unkempt and messy, and the encroaching branches can easily trip up guests. With rejuvenation pruning, you will improve your landscape’s safety and visibility. Landscaping experts say it helps create a more attractive and secure environment. It also increases the plants’ longevity by boosting their help, which helps you preserve your landscape investment.

When is the best time for rejuvenation pruning?

Dormant rejuvenation pruning must take place before the branches show growing buds. Dormant pruning is recommended during the winter season and before you start seeing warmer weather along with plant growth during the early spring.

What can you expect to see after rejuvenation pruning?

Apart from ensuring visibility and enhancing safety for drivers and pedestrians, rejuvenation pruning is a crucial aspect of a comprehensive landscape maintenance. The advantages include

• Increased light exposure and air flow, which reduces the risks of diseases such as leaf spot and improves plant health
• Damage and wounds are prevented by getting rid of crossed branches
• Pruning promotes health and new growth
• Increases fruit and flower production, boosting the overall appearance of the shrub and tree

A landscaping Charleston professional can evaluate the shrubs and trees on your residential property and find out which ones present a safety risk. These plants will then be their top priority once the rejuvenation pruning process starts.

 

Rejuvenation pruning offers a lot of benefits to your landscape. Call Porter Hayes Landscaping if you need the help of an expert in installing and maintaining your landscape.

 

Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC
Charleston, SC 29419
(843) 532-3270
http://www.porterhayeslandscaping.com/

Tips for Patio Hardscaping

Outdoors are ideal for any sort of activity. Don’t leave your outdoors looking dull, bring them to life by following these tips from some of the best patio and landscape designers!

Try to use different materials to define different zones. Distinguish areas by using various hardscape materials. For example; try using concrete around your fire pit, pavers closest to the house, and gravel in between. This can give your outdoors a mood of serenity and joy.

Match the style of your home. Most landscape designers prefer choosing hardscaping materials that go along with the exterior of their Charleston homes. This can prevent hardscaped areas from looking strange, and gives the feeling of a cozy cottage.

Combine exotic outdoor plants with unusual textures. Remember not to use too many textures because that will overwhelm your space. Certain types of plants will look stunning with different textures and patterns, you can use your imagination on that one.

Don’t shield your patio Charleston from the air. That can be very useful on cold winter nights, but it can also deprive you of those beautiful summer breezes.

Your privacy is very important, don’t forget that. You will definitely need to protect your privacy from your neighbors or any passerby. There are many beautiful ways to do so, try using tall trees along with decorative fencing for both privacy and shade.

Don’t forget about lighting. You can easily trip and fall in the outdoors, and that can be more dangerous than falling indoors. It’s not just about safety, along with the obvious uses of light; it also adds a nice atmosphere to your outdoors.

Integrate your patio with the landscape seamlessly. A patio that abruptly ends can look very bizarre and out of place. You should use materials that can ease the transition gradually.

Use some fragrant vines on tall trellises. Good fragrances will always make your home feel better for you and your visitors. You can also press the trellis’s slats together for a denser, more defined border. Remember to use vines that suit your area’s light and weather.

Use your home’s architecture. You can put patios in a way that perfectly fits the curves and walls of your house. You can also choose materials for your patio that fits how the house itself looks.

Make the hardscape useful, not just a décor. For example, you can gently transition a stone floor to a stone wall that surrounds your patio. It will look nice, but what does it do other than looking beautiful? You may consider raising it enough for seating. This can be very useful in gatherings and when you have family and friends over when there are not enough seats for everyone. By raising it, you can also integrate a fireplace along with many other things.

Accent artwork can definitely make your patio perfect. Complement your patio with sculptures and centerpieces.

Make your patio useful. Add a bar, a small dining spot, and rearrange your patio so that it will be as useful as it can but using as small space as possible. Large patios are usually not good-looking.

The perfect complement to any green space is a water feature. Add small fountains for peaceful scenery, or birdbaths to draw in birds and butterflies to your patio, this will give you a sense of nature like no other.

Porter Hayes Landscaping has the experience to design and install a patio area that will make your Charleston home the talk of the neighborhood. It is not too early to start planning your patio addition.

Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC
Charleston, SC 29419
(843) 532-3270
http://www.porterhayeslandscaping.com/

Tips For Adding A Patio

A patio serves as an anchor to an outdoor landscape and it offers a level and solid surface for eating, gathering, enjoying, and relaxing in your outdoor space. The perfect patio for you will mix your landscape’s style to your home’s design. It will also have its very own appeal that you, your family, as well as your guests will love.

If you are adding a patio Charleston to your yard, there are a few things you need to know including the ideal size and location, who to hire, what materials to use, and how long the project will take to complete.

Hire a Landscaping Expert

For many homeowners, especially if the patio is huge, the project is a complex and it needs a lot of time to prepare for. You need to hire an experienced landscaping expert. In case you would like to have something that’s elaborate, you should consider consulting with a landscape designer or architect. You need a professional to set up the water and gas lines, as well as the wiring for all electrical features.

A landscaping Charleston expert can take care of the groundwork that is involved in obtaining all the needed permits, prepping the site and inspecting for any utility lines, as well as doing the actual set up. Before you select an expert for your patio project, make sure to check if the potential professional has previous experience with the kind of patio that you want to have. Just like any other project, you should check the reviews and if possible ask for references as well as samples of their past works.

Design Considerations For Your Patio Project

You need to know where you want to place your patio. It can be between your home and your backyard. It most cases, this spot is off the kitchen, which will make it the perfect outdoor entertainment area. A patio that is close to the family or living room, or paired with huge doors between the spaces, is perfect for creating a simple transition between outdoor and indoor living areas. You can also add a patio in your front yard so you can have a spot where you can entertain your friends and interact with your neighbors.

You should also have an idea how you want to use your patio so you can determine who big you want it to be. If you would to use the space for entertaining or dining, make sure that it is huge enough so that it won’t be hard to get around the table or to pull out the chairs. You should also determine if you want to add an outdoor kitchen, a water feature, or perhaps a spa. Just remember that these additional features need more time to prepare for.

The shape is also important. A rectangular or square patio can be used for serve several purposes from an entertainment area to a quiet place where you can relax. If you want to add more flair, you can choose a circular shape. You should also determine your preferred style by knowing what material you want to use. You can choose from different materials such as tile, stone, and brick.

Call now and let our landscaping experts build the perfect patio for your home.

Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC
Charleston, SC 29419
(843) 532-3270
http://www.porterhayeslandscaping.com/

Irrigation Methods For Your Landscaping Project

A properly watered yard is a healthy yard. Nevertheless, there are several ways to water a yard that conserves more than your time, effort– it saves more water. Below is a list of various irrigation techniques, ranked in order of effectiveness and a brief introduction to each type.

Irrigation Methods According to Landscaping Professionals

There are three major irrigation Charleston methods which are: hand watering, deep soak method and sprinkle.

Hand Watering

Hand watering provides different advantages such as it permits you to water straight at the lower part of your plants as opposed to wastefully watering where you do not need to. Typically, this inefficient method simply motivates weeds to grow. Nonetheless, hand watering demands labor and time as you water.

• Water Wand

It is a tube attachment prolonging as a solid pipeline a couple of feet from the tube with a breaker, which is a sieve-style nozzle, at its end. They give a soft, rain-like stream of water which is extra mild on the soil. Furthermore, its stretched neck permits you to water straight at the base of plants without flexing over.

• Watering Can

The can have several of the exact same advantages as the wand because it permits direct-point watering and a rain-like stream of water. Nonetheless, a complete watering can be bulky to lug and difficult to water to the base of plants.

Deep Soak Techniques

Deep soak method uses only 50 percent water with the same efficiency as a few other watering methods. They help maintain moisture down the roots and stay clear of damp vegetation.

• Trickle Tape/Drip Line

Drip lines take time to set up and cost a little more for equipment, once they are outlined they are one of the most reliable when it comes to water usage and time spent in landscaping maintenance. They normally just have to be switched on one or two times a week at least an hour or two at once and can also be set up with a timer. They could likewise be hidden underground if aesthetic appeals are a problem.

• Soaker Hose

These are permeable hose pipelines. They are different from drip lines because while a drip line has uniformly spaced sprinkling factors, a soaker pipe is entirely permeable to ensure that water sweats out of all of it along the size of the hose pipe. Like with a drip line, the slow-soaking avoids evaporation as well as overflow. A soaker tube is easier to remove compared to a drip line. Generally, this is a really effective technique of watering.

Lawn sprinklers

Lawn sprinklers are practical for relaying water over a large location, like a yard. Yet they are the least reliable technique in the yard.

The portable lawn sprinkler is the least effective of all the formerly discussed sprinkling approaches. Water is spread to locations that do not require it, in addition to the added water distributed via evaporation. Because they relay water on plant leaves, they likewise have the tendency to promote plant health on some vegetables.

 

When it comes to effective landscaping techniques and irrigation method, you can count on Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC to provide quality landscaping and hardscaping service.

 

Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC
Charleston, SC 29419
(843) 532-3270
http://www.porterhayeslandscaping.com/

Understanding Eco-Friendly Landscaping And Why It’s Good

There are different practices when it comes to landscaping and lawn care. Most of the time, the materials and processes used for these kinds of an undertaking aren’t all good for the environment. Although landscaping is mainly aimed at increasing the beauty of the surrounding areas of the house, getting to the endpoint doesn’t always necessarily involve eco-friendly measures. However, there are ways on how you could achieve perfect landscaping without resorting to non-environment-friendly ways. Here are some reasons why you should consider eco-friendly landscaping and how to it:

Green landscaping is always better than conventional methods

Eco-friendly landscaping is generally a method of landscaping that focuses on sustainability. The beauty of this method is conserving as much energy and resources as possible but still end up with great results. The problem with traditional landscaping is the use of chemicals and other resources that could have been limited or substituted with other means that are less wasteful and more helpful to the environment. Do note that lawn care does not always have to involve harmful chemicals. That’s one goal of being eco-friendly.

What are the benefits of eco-friendly landscaping?

As you may have already known, there are benefits to going down the eco-friendly route. Here are some of the benefits of environment-friendly landscaping Charleston:

• Eco-friendly landscaping boosts water and energy efficiency
• The use of harmful chemicals is limited or removed entirely
• Green gardening bring balance to the ecosystem
• Plants thrive without the use of inorganic fertilizers
• Eco-friendly landscaping makes use of recycled materials

Tips for eco-friendly landscaping

1. Use water responsibly – as much as possible, harvest rainwater for watering plants in your landscape. This may not be ideal for most but it is a must for those who are looking to cut water and energy costs.

1. Make your garden functional – treat your garden as a valuable resource where you could grow plants that vegetables instead of ornamental shrubs and plants.

1. Use native plants – as much as possible, use plants native to the area. Don’t incorporate plants that are not commonly found in your surroundings.

1. Avoid the use of harsh chemicals – you may use chemicals but it’s better to limit the usage. Also, only use chemicals that are organically sourced. On the other hand, whenever possible, don’t use chemicals at all and go for the 100% organic substitutes.

1. Go solar – the use of solar energy has greatly increased over the years. When you want to put up lights on your lawn, go for the solar-powered options. These will help cut the costs of energy bills and you could have indefinite lighting for your lawn. Upfront costs may be a little higher but you will save money on reduced energy costs in the long run.

It’s also much better if you hire professional landscaping experts to give your lawn the attention it needs without the risk of messing things up. Hiring landscaping experts is not that expensive when you come to think of all the labor that goes into the process.

Create the perfect landscape design with the help of Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC, for a complete range of landscaping services.

Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC
Charleston, SC 29419
(843) 532-3270
http://www.porterhayeslandscaping.com/

Landscaping Tips To Keep A Good Looking Lawn During Winter

Winter is a tough season for homeowners and property managers. The grime, salt, snow, and ice can make it hard to keep your lawn looking great even for the most patient and diligent property owner out there. But that’s no reason to give up. With some simple landscaping tips, you can keep your lawn looking great even during winter.

Winter Landscaping Tips

1. Identify Your Zone

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides a climate map to help people select the appropriate plants for winter landscaping based on their zones. You can also use this map to determine which plans will struggle to survive in your location.

1. Don’t Forget To Water

Never forget to water shrubs and grass. If the temperature drops, homeowners tend to stop their landscaping Charleston routines because it’s the cold weather. If you don’t water your lawn, fruit trees, and hedges during winter, it will lead to different problems such as higher risks to disease. When the temperature drops below 40 degrees, you can skip watering for a day or two.

1. Keep Raking Your Lawn

Homeowners rake in the fall. But you need to continue doing this during winter. Plant debris will continue to accumulate and when it blends with snow, you’ll create an environment that is perfect for fungus and mold growth, especially where leaves have piled up.

1. Protect Think Barked Trees

If you have younger trees that have thin bark placed in sunny areas, wrap it with a light colored covering. It will help prevent sun scalding and control frost.

1. Fertilize your Lawn

Landscaping experts said you need a potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus rich fertilizer. Apply it on the ground before the first freeze comes. This way, your lawn will grow green and rich during spring, which will help maximize the curb appeal.

1. Protect Your Lawn From Road Salt

Cover small trees and evergreen shrubs that are located in high traffic areas. Don’t apply too much road salt close to the tree roots unless you have to.

1. Mulch Tree Beds and Garden

If you’re looking for the best insulation and protector against root frost, you should consider mulching, according to landscaping professionals such as Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC. If you have enough storage space, the leaves that you were able to rake up during the fall season can be used for winter mulching. They’re free and organic, too.

1. Keep Lawn Grass Short

Cut your lawn grass short as winter draws near. It should be 2 inches shorter than its usual cut to help reduce snow mold and frostbite risk. This could also prevent pests from building nests in the grass as temperature starts to drop.

1. Winterize Your Sprinkler System

Don’t forget to winterize your sprinkler system. If you don’t’ you’ll end up with bursting pipes. You must winterize your sprinkler systems by pushing out all the water inside the system by forcing compress air through it. If you have not done this yet, make sure to do this the following day once the temperatures are above freezing point.

Call Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC now and let us help you take care of your lawn during this winter season.

Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC
Charleston, SC 29419
(843) 532-3270
http://www.porterhayeslandscaping.com/

Finding The Right Landscaping Contractor

It can be easy to choose any landscaping contractor but picking out the right one takes much more work that you know. Whether you need a professional landscaper to care for your yard or help you design a vacant lot, you have to find one who is experienced, knowledgeable, and creative. Provided below are some tips that you can use to help you locate the best possible landscaping contractor for your business or home.

Ask For Recommendations

One of the best persons to ask for recommendations when it comes finding a landscaper is your architect. You have worked with this person to design your home and most likely, this expert also has a good idea as to what can be done for your home’s exterior. Apart from that, architects know a lot of people including some great local landscaping contractors. He or she can recommend the best professional who can help you with your landscaping Charleston needs.

Know Why You’re Landscaping Your Property

You should also consider your reason for landscaping your property. Are you doing this to increase your property’s value? Do you wish to express your personality? Do you want to improve the aesthetics of your home? Just like all the other businesses out there, landscapers also have their own specialties. By understanding fully well why you are doing this and what you wish to achieve will help you find the landscaping contractor whose area of expertise aligns with your preferences. For instance, if you wish to have a Japanese themed landscape, you need to choose a landscaping company that specializes in Japanese gardens. If you want a landscape that can tolerate the extreme heat of the sun, you should pick a landscaping contractor who knows a lot about water conservation and native plants and not one who concentrates on designing tropical landscapes.

Check Your Neighborhood

You should also drive around your neighborhood and check out the landscaping of those living near you. Don’t forget to be critical and determine what you want or do not want with the property that you are currently looking at. Once you come across a beautifully landscaped home, don’t hesitate to ask your neighbor about it. He or she might be able to provide you with a referral. Don’t forget to ask about the contractor’s creativity, reliability, and their personal experience working with the contractor.

Hire A Licensed Contractor

Landscaping contractors are required to have a license before they can do this kind of work. By hiring a licensed landscaper, you will have peace of mind knowing that you are working with someone who knows what he or she is doing.

Obtain Competitive Bids

Once you have made a list of qualified and licensed landscapers who seem to be a good fit for your desired project, the next thing you need to do is get competitive bids. Be sure that your prospect landscapers such as Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC will give this to you in writing. Although each contractor that you talk to will have his or her own idea about how to design your landscape, be sure that each of their bids includes all material costs and proposed works. They should bid on the same materials for easier comparisons.

Call Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC for any of your landscaping concerns.

Porter Hayes Landscaping LLC
Charleston, SC 29419
(843) 532-3270
http://www.porterhayeslandscaping.com/