Johanna Rodgers STOP SENDING SPAM COMMENTS
Everyone enjoys relaxing outdoors on a nice summer day. However, if your backyard needs some work, you may not be enjoying it to the fullest. You may be overwhelmed by the size of the landscaping project, especially is you try to do it all in one growing season. The solution? Sectional landscaping.
If you determine sections for your backyard and remodel only one section each year, you will be able to revamp your whole yard in a few years without breaking your back or spending a fortune. Sectional landscaping is particularly useful if you care on a budget. It will be easier to absorb $1,000 every year for 3 or 4 years than trying to spend $4,000-5,000 in one season.
The most important element of landscaping in section is the overall plan. Without one, you backyard will look like a patchwork of landscaping styles. Begin by sketching the existing permanent structures such as house, shed, deck, pool and trees. Now is a good time to take inventory of the existing plants and shrubs and decide which ones will not be part of the new landscape plan.
Play around with ideas. Make copies of your sketch and experiment with various options. Look for ideas in magazine or visit neighboring gardens. At this stage, the only limit is your imagination. If you have frequent backyard parties or family barbecues, keeping the layout of the yard open will work best. However, if you have a lot of space or don’t use the backyard much, incorporating an island bed, pond or walkways will create nice drama. Consider your lifestyle and the way you normally use your backyard and plan accordingly.
Here are some landscaping ideas to get you started.
Use plants as screens
This is particularly useful if your backyard is not fenced in. You may want to consider lining the edge of the yard with hawthorn, juniper, cedar, etc to create privacy but also to provide a beautiful backdrop for your future flower beds. A screen of evergreen will also protect your yard from drifting snow and heavy winds.
Creating a border flower bed
The biggest challenge when creating a border flower bed is choosing perennials that will complement each other in both color and height. With so many plants to choose from, you can really let your imagination run wild. However, consider planting an uneven number of the same plant for more visual appeal. Leave some space between the various perennials you choose for more impact. Do not overcrowd the plants and they need air and light to grow. Now would be a good time to pick up a gardening book listings various perennials to help you make your selection. You can also visit your local nursery and speak to the staff. They will be happy to help you.
Island Bed
To create an instant focal point in any backyard, an island bed is a great idea. It can planted in the middle of the yard or off to one side and is surrounded by a sea of grass. An island bed has the most impact in a large yard. The bed itself can vary in shape and side. Use your imagination! Just remember to scale the plants and place the tallest in the center and decrease the height as you make your way towards the edges.
Water Feature
What could be more relaxing than the still waters of a beautiful pond or the gentle splashing of a waterfall? Building a pond is easier than you may think. There are a number of preformed liners available on the market. Alternatively, if you want a pond with a specific shape, you can dig and build it yourself. Look online or at the bookstore for how to guides.
Before you go out and and buy hundreds of dollars worth of plants, you should visit a garden center for some advice on soil preparation and drainage. Bring a copy of your landscaping plan with you and maybe a sample of your soil. You may also wish to bring extra cash in case you get carried away!
About the Author:
Stefan Hyross writes on topics that include real estate Collingwood and surrounding areas. For more information about the Collingwood area, related real estate articles or to search for Collingwood cottages, please feel free to visit this website. http://www.propertiescollingwood.com
Keyword tags: backyard ideas, landscaping ideas , real estate collingwood, collingwood cottages
Today a powerful spiritual hunger is arising as many seek comfort, support and meaning in a world that has spun out of control. There are endless paths to take, yet most have little knowledge of the ways in which Jewish and Zen practice can provide guidance, joy, strength, balance, and how they can heal your life. As we look deeper we discover what these practices actually are and how they enhance, enrich and illuminate one another.
In a sense, Judaism and Zen represent two opposite ends of a continuum: Zen is based upon radical freedom, individuality, being in the present and non-attachment. Judaism comes rooted in the family relationships, love, prayer to a Higher power, and the injunction to hold on and remember. A Jewish heart is warm, giving, human, devoted to family and friends, and filled with longing for the well being of all. A Zen eye is fresh, direct, spontaneous, planted in the present moment. It is unencumbered by ideas, beliefs, tradition, hopes or expectations. These practices are like two wings of a bird: both are needed if we are to be able to fly.
It is too easy to lose sight of the true purpose of any practice. Even with the best intentions, blind obedience, obsession, and group pressure to conform can and do lead many astray. Anger, judgmentalness, and domination can easily replace the kindness, generosity, and wisdom that we all long for. The practice of both Zen and Judaism together, is a protection against this. It creates a balance, clears away the weeds and allows your life to bloom.
The practice of zazen (Zen meditation) creates an atmosphere of love, acceptance, respect, clarity, kindness. Zazen reaches right into the core of who you are and brings forth that which is healthy, sincere, creative and heals loneliness and separation.
As we sit in zazen, concentration grows, stray thoughts lessen, defensiveness dissolves, the heart opens. In Jewish practice, prayer is central. We turn many times a day to the Source, offer blessings, ask for guidance and give thanks and praise. Zen not only illuminates Jewish prayer and teachings, but provides a deeper experience of them. It focuses the mind and heart, allows you to gather your scattered energy and be in touch with your essential self.
In many ways Zen meditation, or zazen, seems to be the opposite of Jewish prayer. During zazen you do not pray for help at all. You sit, back straight, legs crossed, eyes down, facing the wall. You do not speak, reach out, touch, or listen to the troubles of others. Certainly, you do not offer consolation or turn to others for support. In fact, what you thought of as support is taken away. If someone is having trouble on the cushion, experiencing sorrow or pain, you do not interfere. Their experience is precious and they are now being given the opportunity to face it fully. The support you offer is silent and profound, just sitting strongly besides them, facing your own experience, and not moving.
Ultimately, you cannot taste the real fruits of a practice until and unless you take some of it on and apply it in your life. Everyone should carefully observe what way his heart draws him to and then choose this way with all his strength. If you fall into guilt, pressure or condemnation of yourself or anyone else, you have lost the purpose of both practices, which is to bless, awaken and heal the entire world. As you practice daily, your life becomes rooted and filled with insight and joy.
About the Author:
Find out how Zen and Jewish practice can heal your life in award winning book, Jewish Dharma (A Guide to the Practice of Judaism and Zen), http://www.jewishdharma.com. Written by top psychologist and speaker. Contact:topspeaker@yahoo.com, 212-288-0028
Keyword tags: Zen, Judaism, meditation, spirituality, stress reduction, healing, love, peace of mind, self help,
I am taking the opportunity of Blogger.com Tenth birthday. Google has offered bloggers the chance to share their experiences. So this post is about the continued lack of response to my repeated requests to regain access to my original Blogspot.com BLOG.
It was removed by blogger for spammy content (mea culpa). But gogle still allows it to run and it indexes quite highly for several search terms , including my username.
SO google either allow me to regain access so I can remove all the old,spammy and stale content OR remove it from the active list.
Losing your job is one of the most stressful events that can happen in your lifetime. It can wreak havoc with your finances, your relationships, and your self-esteem. With little control over much of the situation, it’s easy to feel helpless and hopeless, but in reality your perception of your circumstances can make a huge difference.
Losing a job may change many aspects of your life, but it can also be an opportunity for growth. Like most life challenges, how you react to this situation will determine whether you ultimately wind up better or worse for the experience.
Grief
Dealing with job loss is similar to dealing with the death of a loved one. It’s natural to have feelings of shock, sadness and mourning. Some people think they should keep a stiff upper lip, but suppressing emotions can lead to depression. It’s important to allow your feelings to flow and not try to stop them.
Feel whatever you feel, but don’t jump to negative conclusions about what losing your job means. Take each day as it comes, feel into the nature of the changes you’re facing and be willing to discover the next step that makes sense to you, rather than jumping to the conclusion that all is lost. It’s also helpful to reach out for support from others.
Regret
Is it your fault you lost your job? Was there something you could have done to prevent it? It’s natural to ask these questions but you can’t turn back the clock.
Instead of banging yourself over the head with recrimination, forgive yourself and focus on what’s possible rather than dwelling on the past.
It’s also helpful in tough economic times to realize many jobs are lost to downsizing, so don’t blame yourself for external circumstances you can’t control.
You will work again; so in the meantime, think about where you’d like to go and what you’d like to do. Considering future possibilities can help you decide not only what you want to accomplish, but how you’d like to be in the world.
You Are Not Your Job
If you define yourself solely in terms of your outward accomplishments, you can become very disoriented when you lose your job. Some people jump to negative conclusions: I’m not a good breadwinner or parent; so there’s no use for me anymore.
Losing your job is just that: losing your job. But you’re much more than your job. As important as it might have been to you, your job was not the sum total of who you are.
You have many other qualities and skills in your life besides the work you do. Now is the perfect time to take a look at areas of your life you may have neglected: relationships, community involvement, creative expression, even something as simple as cooking or gardening. By engaging in other interests, you may find comfort and a sense of accomplishment that you never expected.
Nothing is Permanent
A healthy way to live in good times as well as challenging ones is in the moment. Everything is impermanent; nothing remains the same. Although this basic truth can feel somewhat daunting, it can also be very liberating: when you recognize and acknowledge that everything is constantly changing you can stop wishing for what was and pay attention to what is and what could be.
It’s not uncommon for people who have lost a job to later say it opened up other possibilities they might never have explored, otherwise. It woke them up and made them focus on how they really wanted to spend their life.
You Will Be All Right
You’ll have ups and downs throughout your unemployment and at times you may feel like you’re on an emotional roller coaster. You may be in for a rough ride, but with the right attitude, you will get through the experience and arrive in a better place. You may look back on this time as a road you needed to travel to get where you needed to go.
It’s not only how we deal with external circumstances that enhances our well-being in the world, but the realization that no matter what happens to us, we are fundamentally all right. And we can trust in our own responsiveness to deal effectively with whatever challenges life brings our way.
About the Author:
For some documented keys to a happier life go to http://www.your-pathway-to-happiness.com and get your free report “14 Proven Ways to Raise Your Set-Point of Happiness.” Rik Isensee, LCSW, is a licensed psychotherapist, coach and author of Shift Your Mood: Unleash Your Life! Your Pathway to Inner Happiness
Keyword tags: Rik Isensee, losing your job, career advice, unemployment, laid-off, self help, psychology, job loss
Today a powerful spiritual hunger is arising as many seek comfort, support and meaning in a world that has spun out of control. There are endless paths to take, yet most have little knowledge of the ways in which Jewish and Zen practice can provide guidance, joy, strength, balance, and how they can heal your life. As we look deeper we discover what these practices actually are and how they enhance, enrich and illuminate one another.
In a sense, Judaism and Zen represent two opposite ends of a continuum: Zen is based upon radical freedom, individuality, being in the present and non-attachment. Judaism comes rooted in the family relationships, love, prayer to a Higher power, and the injunction to hold on and remember. A Jewish heart is warm, giving, human, devoted to family and friends, and filled with longing for the well being of all. A Zen eye is fresh, direct, spontaneous, planted in the present moment. It is unencumbered by ideas, beliefs, tradition, hopes or expectations. These practices are like two wings of a bird: both are needed if we are to be able to fly.
It is too easy to lose sight of the true purpose of any practice. Even with the best intentions, blind obedience, obsession, and group pressure to conform can and do lead many astray. Anger, judgmentalness, and domination can easily replace the kindness, generosity, and wisdom that we all long for. The practice of both Zen and Judaism together, is a protection against this. It creates a balance, clears away the weeds and allows your life to bloom.
The practice of zazen (Zen meditation) creates an atmosphere of love, acceptance, respect, clarity, kindness. Zazen reaches right into the core of who you are and brings forth that which is healthy, sincere, creative and heals loneliness and separation.
As we sit in zazen, concentration grows, stray thoughts lessen, defensiveness dissolves, the heart opens. In Jewish practice, prayer is central. We turn many times a day to the Source, offer blessings, ask for guidance and give thanks and praise. Zen not only illuminates Jewish prayer and teachings, but provides a deeper experience of them. It focuses the mind and heart, allows you to gather your scattered energy and be in touch with your essential self.
In many ways Zen meditation, or zazen, seems to be the opposite of Jewish prayer. During zazen you do not pray for help at all. You sit, back straight, legs crossed, eyes down, facing the wall. You do not speak, reach out, touch, or listen to the troubles of others. Certainly, you do not offer consolation or turn to others for support. In fact, what you thought of as support is taken away. If someone is having trouble on the cushion, experiencing sorrow or pain, you do not interfere. Their experience is precious and they are now being given the opportunity to face it fully. The support you offer is silent and profound, just sitting strongly besides them, facing your own experience, and not moving.
Ultimately, you cannot taste the real fruits of a practice until and unless you take some of it on and apply it in your life. Everyone should carefully observe what way his heart draws him to and then choose this way with all his strength. If you fall into guilt, pressure or condemnation of yourself or anyone else, you have lost the purpose of both practices, which is to bless, awaken and heal the entire world. As you practice daily, your life becomes rooted and filled with insight and joy.
About the Author:
Find out how Zen and Jewish practice can heal your life in award winning book, Jewish Dharma (A Guide to the Practice of Judaism and Zen), http://www.jewishdharma.com. Written by top psychologist and speaker. Contact:topspeaker@yahoo.com, 212-288-0028
Keyword tags: Zen, Judaism, meditation, spirituality, stress reduction, healing, love, peace of mind, self help,
Stone is a naturally durable substance that you can use to decorate virtually any landscape. It can work as a supportive element of a garden or ornamental feature, or it can work as a primary element to a special style or earthwork. It also provides an incredible building material that can not only weather the elements better than synthetic materials, but also blends architecture more effectively with Nature. Stone occurs side-by-side with vegetation in the natural world, and as such will look like an appropriate compliment to almost any garden or landscaping motif you choose to add to your property.
Think all sizes of stone when you think about using it to landscape your property. Gravel is perhaps one of the most inexpensive and versatile materials in which you can invest. For example, many different types of gardens use gravel beds to provide both aesthetic compliment and natural drainage for water. In French parterre gardens, gravel pathways provide transit areas and decorative patterns that cut through the vegetation, forming intricate designs in the process. Areas around statuary, birdbaths, and certain types of fountains can also be greatly magnified with a gravel foundation. One popular design strategy is to use stones that contrast the color of the figure being highlighted. If a statue or structure is made from white marble or similarly colored materials, surrounding it with black or gray gravel creates a sense of separation which draws attention to the form.
Similar accenting can be achieved around natural pools and disappearing fountains by using alternating colors of stones to create either a blend of light and dark elements or a checkerboard design. Natural swimming pools can be constructed using stone landscaping elements instead of concrete. Stone coping can be made to imitate rocks around a waterfall, and larger, flat rocks can replace diving boards. Even the steps leading down to the pool can be made from rock instead of metal.
In other stone landscaping designs, such as the Zen garden, sand and larger stones constitute the majority of the design. Sand is spread over the ground to represent the energetic constitution of the universe. Larger stones of contrasting colors are then arranged in patterns to represent the material forms that arise out of patterns of energy. This simple juxtaposition of large and small elements, dark and light colors, allows the Zen gardener to work with an infinite number of combinations that represent states of mind, frames of reference, and representations of both real and imagined structures.
An equally important role that stone plays in landscaping is as a building material for outdoor structures. Patios that are constructed out stone look more natural and inviting than concrete. They seem to somehow blend with grasses, flowers, and other indigenous plant species as if they are part of the garden itself. Flagstone walkways that meander through gardens certainly look better than a series of concrete slabs. Other structures such as outdoor rooms and outdoor fireplaces can also be built of stone instead of brick. This makes them appear to be rise up out of the landscape as if formed by the earth itself.
As a substance that literally forms the bedrock of forests, grasslands, and ecosystems, stone can be used to build columns and walls that create a sense of unity between human engineering and the forms and forces of the Natural world. The limits to what you can do with stone are defined only by your own imagination, the size of your property, and the architecture of your home.
About the Author:
Jeff Halper is passionate for Landscape and wants to share information about that passion. http://www.exteriorworlds.com
Keyword tags: stone landscaping, patio design, hardscaping, landscape design
When working on your patio, it is quite easy to accidentally buy too much furniture or the wrong size table if you just rush out and start buying outdoor wicker patio furniture. Taking the time to plan out your patio is the best way to getting the most from it.
What you plan to do on the patio will affect just the kind of furniture and amount you need. If you plan on grilling on the patio and eating outside, then you will need a larger table than if you just plan to sit outside and read a book every now and then. Someone that plans to entertain people should definitely invest in extra furniture. It can be embarrassing if you need to bring something from inside out because you ran out of resin outdoor patio furniture.
Other than for people with small patios, you probably want a minimum of a table for 6-8 people and a couple of extra chairs. That is a good start for resin patio furniture, and can be enough for the needs of many. People with large families or that entertain large groups will obviously need something larger than that, but always be sure to have room for 2-4 more people than you ever expect to have over. Too much room is much better than too little.
People expecting groups in excess of twelve people should consider getting multiple tables. Once you have a table for twelve, it gets difficult for people to converse across it. Generally, these tables will look better if they are the same size, but some patios will benefit more from a large and a small table instead.
If you plan on grilling, you also will probably want an extra table nearby the grill solely to give you a place to put things on while cooking. You may want to spend the extra money for a metal table in this case (especially if you can find one that matches the rest of your furniture). Resin wicker patio furniture is quite durable, but if it accidentally gets slammed into a hot grill, it may end up warping a bit. Better safe than sorry.
You will want to space the rest of your outdoor wicker patio furniture away from the grill. This isn’t so much for that slight damage hazard, it just gets uncomfortable sitting next to a hot grill. It also really isn’t safe near a grill, since you don’t want any tripping hazards. It is just a little extra consideration for comfort and safety to keep in mind when laying out a patio design.
If you plan on spending a lot of time sitting outdoors, particularly reading or just enjoying the fresh air, you may want to get a couple of sun chairs with small side tables for a drink. If you do get these, be sure to get at least two, as long as you have room. Also get a side table for each one, rather than sharing one table between two. It just saves the hassle of accidentally knocking over the other person’s drink, and it isn’t that big of an extra expense.
Taking that little bit of extra time to plan your patio can make the process of buying outdoor wicker patio furniture that much easier. It also helps to make sure you get the patio you always wanted. Be sure to go to our website for more information on patios and outdoor furniture. With a little research, all you need to do is call your furniture supplier and tell them exactly what you want.
About the Author:
Taking a little time to plan out your patio will save a lot of hassle and effort when you go to get your furniture. You will find plenty more information on patios and outdoor wicker patio furniture on our website http://www.patiolandonline.com, so head over there and check it out for yourself.
Keyword tags: resin patio furniture, outdoor wicker patio furniture, resin outdoor patio furniture
Maybe you’ve been collecting residential landscape designs for a while. Perhaps you saw a Japanese garden design at a friend’s house that captured your imagination. Or maybe it was a Mediterranean garden design with sweet herbs right off the vine, relaxed spaces for entertainment, and lush, practical vegetation. Possibly your space is limited and you’re looking for small garden design ideas that will have a big impact.
If you’re making plans to change your residential landscape design, a good place to start is with landscape designers or landscape architects. These competent landscape professionals take you through the entire design development process, which includes consultation and program development, analysis of your property, conceptual landscaping design, construction documentation and permitting. And then on towards turning the vision in your mind into a concrete reality.
Ideas for Residential Landscape Design
Landscape lighting. From a practical urban landscaping standpoint, the right landscape lighting provides security and safe access. It allows you to showcase beautiful trees and garden elements, while simultaneously letting you control what you don’t want people to see by leaving some things dark. It is often a relatively inexpensive way to boost your property value.
Outdoor water fountains. Outdoor water fountains make a graceful statement about a home by creating a pleasing and welcoming focal point. They are especially beneficial as camouflage for all the white noise we live with, such as traffic, air-conditioning units and lawn mowers.
Pool design. Various geometrics, materials and plantings can be used to create the style that suits youa water work of art, a cocktail pool, an Olympic-sized pool or a water-park for children are just a few examples. Pools are usually designed by an architect who manages the construction and oversees all the details.
A “green” green garden. That is, a garden that is ecologically smart, prudent and sustainable. “With a design for a green garden, the goals are basically the same as for any other landscape project with a special focus on reducing the main concerns of ongoing landscape maintenance: watering, trimming, weeding and mulching,” says Jeff Halper with Exterior Worlds.
Residential Landscape Design: The Unsung Heroes
A well-thought-out drainage system and irrigation system have a big impact of the health of your yardand on your enjoyment of it. Drainage systems are an important part of any Houston residential landscape design and include catch basins, channel drains and French drains. Drainage systems impact your residential landscape maintenance by preventing standing water that can cause mosquito breeding grounds, slippery surfaces, and washed-out landscaping. A proper landscape drainage system is essential for the care of your lawn as it removes water from your property in a timely manner, thus encouraging healthy plants and allowing your maintenance crew to perform their regular lawn service duties.
Irrigation systems help you deliver the correct amount of water to the appropriate plant material. They allow your landscape to be separated by zones into lawn, bed and color areas that require different watering conditions due to varying plant materials and sunlight conditions. They do this by utilizing controller box technologies, such as timers, time delays and rain sensors, that let you set a regular schedule for your landscape watering needs while, at the same time, allowing you to switch to manual for unexpected events.
It is best when drainage systems and irrigation systems work in concert with each other. Irrigation and drainage contractors can develop a whole-system approach so that the nuts and bolts of both systems are hidden as much as possible. If that method can’t be done, custom decorative drain gates can be used to reduce the negative visual impact. The overall goal is for the design and location of the two systems to be in harmony with the design of the rest of the landscape.
About the Author:
Jeff Halper is passionate for Landscape and wants to share information about that passion. http://www.exteriorworlds.com
Keyword tags: Residential landscape designs, home landscape desing
Professional landscape maintenance is the systematic growth management of the organic synergy of your property. All vegetation ultimately works together to both the foundation for and keynote elements of every traditional-style landscape. What you pay good money to install continues to develop after the landscape designer leaves, and it needs professional landscaping maintenance to grow in a healthy and aesthetically pleasing direction. If maintained professionally, vegetation on all levels will literally evolve the landscape before your very eyes. If shortcuts are taken with DIY maintenance attempts, or if vegetation care is turned over to amateurs, the landscape will lose its value.
Understanding what professional landscape maintenance truly entails will help you better make an informed decision about what to invest in, and in whom to invest your money.
Gardens
Expensive gardens require professional landscape maintenance that will ensure their continued vitality and intended aesthetic function. All share a common need for the basics of plant maintenance that include the essentials of trimming, fertilizer, and water. While these may appear at face value to be very simple tasks, they can become very complicated in direct proportion to the style of the garden and the type of plants that are growing in it.
This is due to the fact that specialty gardens may feature unusual plant species that cannot be maintained with generic methods. One species may benefit from a certain cultivation or fertilization technique, while a species growing right next to it can wither and die from the very same treatment. Investing in a professional landscaping maintenance agreement that retains the original landscaper as the “gardener on call,” so to speak, ensures that your investment in that special French garden, Italian landscape, or Renaissance-style knot garden will continue to beautify your yard beyond the first few seasons of its planting.
Parterre gardens,
Parterre gardens rely on shrubbery for border and basic form. This shrubbery has to be trimmed from the perspective of the big picture of the garden and not just the individual plant. Additionally, the gravel foundation of parterre gardens functions as a drainage system for the plant life it surrounds. This gravel has to be turned over periodically to prevent standing water from forming that can damage the plant life in the garden. Professional landscaping maintenance agreements help ensure that both the aesthetic and functional elements of the parterre garden remain true to form and viable in expression throughout the year.
Knot Gardens
Knot gardens go hand in hand with a passion for flowers and a love for herbs. The first knot gardens, in fact, were fragrant herb gardens carefully planted to mimic Elizabethan embroidery designs and pre-Roman Celtic symbols. As such, this type of garden has always relied on a blend of very diverse plant material arranged to encourage the intention of intertwining different species into a new synthesis of organic expression. Maintaining such a blend of vegetation without knowledge of each interdependent species is virtually impossible from the perspective of generic yard services. Professional landscaping maintenance is an absolute must for preserving the vitality and ensuring the continued growth of a classic knot garden or any of its many modern derivatives.
Trees
Turning amateurs lose on your trees is the equivalent of evolving your landscape in reverse. A big tree looks virtually indestructible when you stand underneath it. It is easy to assume that pruning the tree, landscaping around it, and lighting it is a simple task that anyone with a ladder, a pair of gloves, and a few basic tools can do.
This is a great way to kill a tree by cutting off too many limbs or severing a vital root. Damage to bark, as insignificant as it may seem, leaves the tree vulnerable to parasites and bacteria that can kill it with infestation and disease. Never trust people who mow lawns to sculpt the pillars of your landscape. Such people may assist in tree removal after a hurricane blows one down, but asking them to maintain the vitality of a tree often takes the tree down before the hurricane has a chance to arrive.
Instead, hire a professional landscaper for any and all tree maintenance, including installation of any garden or flower bed around the base and root system of the trunk. Never try to install tree lights yourself or let a freelance “tree lighting contractor” around your favorite oak. Let a professional landscaping maintenance contractor find you an outdoor lighting design company who will safely light the tree without damaging it.
Shrubbery
Maintaining shrubbery involves more than trimming the top of shrubs. Many shrubs are sculpted to resemble other forms and need an artistic touch beyond simple pruning. As resilient as the shrubbery itself may be to amateur attempts at maintaining it, its form and function as a design element can be significantly damaged to the point it no longer works with the landscape. Professional landscapers should always be brought in to handle any trimming that needs to be performed to maintain the appearance of garden or perimeter shrubbery. They should also be called anytime there is an anticipated hard freeze during the winter or a particularly violent windstorm brewing on the horizon. Professionals can cover your bushes and shrubs to protect them from severe elements and give them a better chance at surviving harsh weather in a form that continues to work with your landscape.
Written Agreements
Professional maintenance can be obtained from a reputable, established landscaping company anytime you recognize a need for it. However, pay as you go services can quickly add up to considerable costs if you think only of short term investment and immediate gain. Exterior Worlds is always willing to work with any client to establish a written landscaping maintenance agreement that allows the homeowner to invest in ongoing services at a reasonable price with expected intervals of service and consistently satisfactory outcomes.
About the Author:
Jeff Halper is passionate for Landscape and wants to share information about that passion. http://www.exteriorworlds.com
Keyword tags: Professional landscape maintenance, Professional landscape design, Professional landscape services
If you’re thinking about some new ideas for your landscape garden design, Exterior Worlds has plenty of good ones to get you started. Just dive in and start planning.
Landscape Garden Design: Gathering Places & Focal Points
Your landscape will be more interesting and enjoyable if you consider:
Outdoor kitchens. These structures create a focal point for your yard and, similar to the kitchen inside the home, become a natural gathering place. It is imperative that you have a good layout so that all your appliances fit and are convenient for use. Landscape designers and landscape architects will help you during the planning phase to check your deed restrictions concerning rules regulating such items as size, lot coverage percentages, height, and color materials.
Patio design. A patio creates a transition space between the house and the yard. Depending on your preference, your patio design can run the gamut from an elegant open-air greenhouse to an outdoor living room. Patios affect the emotional and physical space of the interior by changing the view out the window.
Landscape lighting. Expertise is essential in landscape lighting design, planning and installation. “About 50 percent of the technical work has to do with placement of the light fixtures,” explains Jeff Halper, landscape garden design specialist with Exterior Worlds. “You really don’t want to see the nuts and bolts of the system. You only want to see the beautiful effect created by the lights.”
Other hardscapes. You have many choices with hardscapes, the non-plant material of your yard. They include pool decking, entry walks and pathways, gates, decks and arbors, retaining walls, driveways and motor courts.
Landscape Garden Design: Themes
Many homeowners like to choose a theme for their landscape architecture. One popular choice is classical landscape design, which is a type of formal landscape design that uses linear, clean lines to develop an orderly look. These “lines” can be drawn with rows of trees and well-trimmed hedges or perhaps a seat wall made of perfectly arranged terra cotta tiles. Greenery can soften any harshness.
Another idea is an English garden design, which is noted for its informal approach to gardening and is hugely popular in the United States. Houston’s semi-tropical climate is well suited for vine-covered arbors, riotous rose gardens, dazzling azaleas and beds of seasonal colorall plant materials that fit well within the English garden’s impression of abundance.
If your home’s architecture is a good match, think about a modern landscape design. In this style, boundaries between areas of color, textures and shapes are undefinedor conversely, sharply defined. Color and composition create the emotional response. Combining freshness and flair, these designs use dramatic geometric shapes to convey a point of view that is elegant and natural. Water and light are often used, as in beautifully-lit outdoor water fountains, to enhance the sensual loveliness and liveliness.
Don’t forget a “green” green garden. That is, one that is ecologically helpful, practical and sustainable. “With a design for a green garden, the goals are similar to any other landscape project. However, we do put a special focus on reducing the Big Four of ongoing landscape maintenance: watering, trimming, weeding and mulching,” says Halper.
About the Author:
Jeff Halper is passionate for Landscape and wants to share information about that passion. http://www.exteriorworlds.com
Keyword tags: landscape garden design