Deer damage to trees, shrubs and other valuables in the landscape can literally show up over night. While you are snug in your bed with visions of that last fabulous meal you had dined on, the deer are making such of your garden. Your Taxus (yew) becomes a Deer Salad, your Azalea and Rhododendron is slated for toothpicks or the likes of a pincushions and the Arborvitae? The deer like to try their skills at the art of Topiary – Some are better than others.
What could you possibly do now, besides pouring through all of those lovely gardening books and magazines?
We know if you haven’t already you are getting ready to pull that live Christmas tree down & get the house cleaned up from all of the holiday festivities?
Did you know that you can trim the branches off of your Christmas tree and use them to insulate your perennial heather?
Welcome to Week One of 52 Weeks of Lawn & Garden Maintenance. We invite you to follow us each week through 2013 as we guide you and help you to understand timing in maintenance as well as what – how – and why you should be doing it. We will post a blog each week describing the most important practices you should accomplish that week. We will take you step by step through the year so you may confidently maintain a successfully thriving lawn and garden. If you should have a question we have not discussed – write in and we will answer your question in the blog.
Who are we?
I would have never dreamt in a million years I would find myself deciding if the “make” and “model” of a shovel mattered.
A shovel is a shovel is a shovel.
Unless it has been ergonomically designed, attaches to the family pet and allows him or her to fly through the depths on the sidewalks with the greatest of ease, clearing the way for the mailman and all other holiday splendor, O.K. Back to reality!
Crystal: Hi Michelle!
I’ve just read some great things about Sansevieria plants (Mother-in-law’s tongue). Apparently they are great air purifiers, even removing formaldehyde from the air!
My question is twofold: 1) Do you know if I can buy these in a nursery in the Akron area and 2) How do I care for them once I get one home? The inside of my house is blocked from a lot of light, so I am hoping you’ll tell me they do well with little sun.
Thanks for your help!
Michelle: Hello Crystal!
This is the perfect time of year for this question – I am so glad you asked!
As we prepare for the coming holidays, eagerly watching the weather channel to see if snow will be in the forecast, many of us spend much more time indoors. Not realizing, as most of us do not open windows during the day to circulate fresh air through the home, and many toxins can build up within a “closed” home from carpeting, paint, furniture, wood finishes, cleaners, etc.
Most plants, indoors and out, breath in emissions with their leaves and stems and breath oxygen with their root system. A plant becomes the perfect organic filter. Though, some plants are much better at this than others, as they inhale such toxins as formaldehyde and exhale clean breathable oxygen. A terrarium is one of the best examples of a small completely organic self-contained unit, breathing in, exhaling out and filtering. The rainforests are the worlds largest oxygen filter, as more than 85% of the worlds oxygen comes form the plankton in the ocean, we all depend on the rainforest to keep our air well filtered.
Sansevieria is a wonderful plant with very cool markings and growth. When I was a child we had these growing throughout our home and my mother called them “snake plants”. At the time I did not realize the second nature of these plantings but grew to understand and admire their tenacious spirits.
In Akron, Ohio the best place to look for these plants would be at a nursery that carries indoor plants, as this plant is considered an arid tropical and not hardy enough to withstand our winters outdoors. Funny enough, sometimes you can spot a small specimen at the open corridors at the entry of grocery stores, maybe they know of its purifying powers.
They love full sun and part shade so most residence, be it a house, condo or apartment will have a cozy place for the Sansevieria to call home. This is also the perfect plant for the busy lifestyle as it is more like a succulent and needs very little watering, i.e. the office cubicle.
Sansevieria has many followers with much good energy to say about the plant – Noting its filtration ability many opt to use it in the children’s playroom or nursery. Those using the energies of feng shui enjoy the Sansevieria for its upward growth. In Korea the Sansevieria is commonly given as a gift during the opening of a new business or other auspicious events. I worked with the Akron Federal Building a few years back, placing these plants throughout the lobby as contracted through the previous landscape company I was a designer at, I am sure they are still there.
If you are looking for a companion plant for your other indoor plants the Sansevieria is a good choice. If you are a flop with indoor plants and would like to try again this plant is the best choice for you.
Once you have one – you will love it –
Q. What is a Grassbelt or Grasswrap?
A. The Grassbelt (GB) & Grasswrap (GW) are NEW never seen before products that have just recently been brought to market. These products were designed for use with gardeners and landscapers alike to help assist in managing unmanageable grasses.
Q. Why and where are the GB & GW made?
A. Both products are inventions of necessity and both the GB & GW have provisional patents pending. The GB & GW are PROUDLY MADE in the U.S.A. using materials gathered from local sources, in so doing – we and our customers support America and our local communities! See below for a plethora of uses.
Can you smell fall in the air?
Of course the visual hues dazzle. One cannot help but to exclaim some sort of wonderment when driving down the road and an exceptional sunset maple in all of the deep oranges and reds peers at you through the golden hues of the pin oaks and locust trees. The streets lined with these trees seem to glow in the mornings and evenings as the sun peaks through the leaves casting a warm pink hue upon the travelers below. Oh, and a divine burning bush, bursting forth scarlet red from the usually overlooked side foundation. I must admit there is a certain emotion that comes over you in the fall, is it childhood nostalgia? Is it a sigh of relief that we have once again made it to the fourth quarter? Is it because we finally take a moment to look around ourselves and see life changing before our very eyes? So quickly, so suddenly and it is here just as many things in our lives just somehow happen. In these moments we can savor the sweet fragrance of life in all of its glory.
TO ORDER YOUR OWN GRASSBELT or GRASSWRAP
CALL: 234 678 8266 or EMAIL: Michelle@neohiogarden.com
All About You Signature Landscape Design Inc. in conjunction with www.NEOhiogarden.com Launches two new products The GrassbeltTM & The GrasswrapTM
Driving South on State Route 21 this week I noticed all of the fall color. Amazing hues of reds, oranges and yellows, the taste of fall in the air, wait a minute, isn’t this a bit early to see the fall colors? The Akron Beacon Journal had many notices about fall color venues debuting their guided tours early for fear that the regular schedule would leave many eager visitors wanting. So we all have conceded that fall seems a little early this year, this bums some while others are gathering their second wind to send 2012 out with a bang. Anticipating fall festivals, bon-fires, hayrides, pumpkin patches and of course harvesting apples.
Now we get to the good stuff – I was with a friend the other day discussing fall and all of its wonderment He told me that fall reminds him of being a kid and finding a worm in his apple. It was silly how we ooood and aaahhhd over the grossness of it. We laughed and made faces and just recalled the shear joy of being a kid and the reaction of finding a worm in your apple. He went on to explain as he grew up he was taught to check the skin of the apple for worm holes, therefore relieving him of any further worm hysteria. So I tried to break it to him gently.
In today’s day and age our senses are constantly being bombarded with stimulation – whether it is the incessant beeping of the next Face book update on your cell phone, the bright banner racing across your computer screen indicating a new e-mail awaits you at your in – box, the soft vibration of the new voicemail pleading for your attention or the smell of the meatloaf burning in the oven because you have been so distracted by the above – which all leaves a bad taste in your mouth. So while we become so aggravated with the information our senses are relating back to us at synapse speed throughout our busy workdays, why do we not take the moment to smell the proverbial rose? Or better yet – spend that moment in a sensory garden, where you can once again appreciate the delicate nature of our five natural senses.
