Chris Orser Landscaping, Inc.: June 2012

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Proper pruning and deadheading

Now is the time of the year to prune and deadhead all of your plants. Every week or so, remove faded flowers from perennials and some annuals. Not only will this make the garden look better with dead flowers removed, it also helps because many flowers will stop blooming if the plants set seeds. Some plants replace flowers with really attractive seed heads, but others scatter their seeds all over the garden, much like a dandelions do. You often wind up with dozens of baby flowers that you have to pull out to avoid ending up with a hundred daisies in one square foot of garden soil. Cutting off flowers before they form seeds prevents this maintenance headache. To deadhead, simply cut the dead flower off using scissors for lightweight stems or pruning shears for heavy and thick ones. Cut the stem below the flower at the first leaves or flower bud you come to.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Flowers

These flowers would add a great pop of color to your deck, pool area and patio. Call Chris Orser Landscaping at (215) 249-1236 today!

Inspiration for your own backyard

Take a look at these great ideas for your own backyard! Like what you see? Call (215) 249-1236 today!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Another hot day!

It is WAY too hot out to cut your lawn, prune your gardens, and manage your property! Who wants to spend their entire weekend doing that?!

Let the crew at Chris Orser Landscaping do it for you! We are a full service lawn care provider and cut over 200 lawns per week. As far as pruning goes, from overgrown jungles of vines and saplings, to delicate rose gardens, our experienced technicians will help tackle this essential garden chore. Keep cool, relax and call 215-249-1236 to get the job done!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

It's gonna be a hot one today!!

With temperatures reaching around 100 degrees, there's several things you can do to get your garden ready.

Keep Plants Mulched.

Replenish mulch in the heat. Adding mulch will help keep the soil and roots cool and conserve water, as well as prevent weeds.If you are using grass clippings as mulch, let the grass clippings dry before spreading them around your plant.

Water Deeply. Irrigate the soil deeply and infrequently rather than giving plants a light sprinkling each day. This requires about 1 inch of rain or sprinkler irrigation. Make sure your soil is draining properly. Poorly drained, soggy soil conditions combined with hot weather can wipe out a plant in a matter of days. But avoid watering the leaves of your plants; water the soil at the base of the plant. Water on the leaves can be heated by the sun and cause scorch or burn and fungal diseases thrive when the temperature is between 70 and 90 degrees. By watering the soil, you can protect your plants from this disease and damage. Also keep water from puddling at the stem for too long. If the stem of your plant stays in water too long, it can be susceptible to fungus or disease

Plant Vegetables.

There is still time to plant heat loving veggies such as southern pea, okra, sweet potato, amaranth, malabar spinach, and watermelon. Give them adequate water as the heat increases their water use.

Stop Pruning.

Spring blooming shrubs, vines and trees such as azalea, dogwood, redbud, spirea, forsythia, wisteria and some roses shouldn't be heavily pruned unless they are dormant. Excessive pruning will reduce next year's blooms.

Evaluate Plants.

Take a stroll through the landscape late in the day and take note of plants looking wilted or sunburned. They may be in too sunny a location or receiving too much late-day sun. Consider moving woody ornamentals and perennials such as azalea, hydrangea, ginger, and hosta in the fall.

Keep Yourself Safe.

Drink plenty of water while working in the garden and use sunscreen with at least an SPF 15. Avoid extended time out in the sun during the heat of the day.

Heat tolerant perennials:
Ornamental grasses, daylilies, coreopsis, coneflower, black-eyed Susan, junipers, spruces, pines, cacti and succulents.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Spotlight on: Hydrangeas

The Lace-cap hydrangea is one of the most widely recognized species of hydrangeas. They are called Lace-caps for their lacy horizontal blossoms and large globes of rich colored flowers. These flowers grow in moist, well-drained soil with sun or at least partial shade. The only shelter needed is from the drying winds. These flowers grow in clumps up to 6 ft in height.

These flowers can be maintained by cutting back to the first pair of buds beneath the old flower during the spring. They bloom during the fall and summer seasons and are frost tolerant.

The unique thing about hydrangeas are that you can control what color the flower will be based on the type of soil. To change the color of your hydrangeas, follow these directions.

To change to Pink

For the flowers to be pink the plant must not take up any aluminum from the soil. if the soil naturally contains aluminum, you must try to keep it away from the hydrangea's system. Here's a few tips and tricks:

Add dolomitic lime several times a year. This will help to raise the pH. Shoot for a pH of about 6.0 to 6.2. Since hydrangeas take up aluminum best at lower pH levels, raising the pH will help to keep the bluing effect of aluminum out of the hydrangea's system.
Use a fertilizer with high levels of phosphorus. Phosphorus helps to prevent aluminum from entering into the system of the hydrangea.
In areas that naturally produce blue hydrangeas (soils with aluminum), consider growing pink hydrangeas in large pots. If hydrangeas are grown in pots, it would be best to use soil-less mixtures, since these mixes would probably not have aluminum in them. In a pot, it will be much easier to control the requirements for growing pink hydrangeas.

To change to Blue

To obtain a blue hydrangea, aluminum must be present in the soil. To ensure that aluminum is present, aluminum sulfate may be added to the soil around the hydrangeas.

We recommend a solution of 1 Tbsp aluminum sulfate per gallon of water be applied to plants (which are at least 2-3 years old) throughout the growing season. Important: Water plants well in advance of application and put solution on cautiously, as too much can burn the roots.
Add organic matter to the soil such as coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable peels, grass clippings etc.
If the soil naturally contains aluminum and is acid (low pH) the color of the hydrangea will automatically tend toward shades of blue and/or purple.

Spotlight on: Wave Petunias

These flowers are a beautiful addition to any landscape. This plant is covered in blossoms which are available in a variety of colors. They can grow up to 4 ft in just a few weeks. These flowers thrive best in a sunny spot that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight and plenty of water. They grow well as ground covers, in beds, hanging baskets, or other containers

Spotlight on: Azaleas

Azaleas are a shrub with small glossy leaves and usually bloom in reds, pinks and whites. This plant grows between 1 to 3 feet in both height and width. It thrives best in partial sun and only watering when necessary. These azaleas can be used as small hedges and border shrubs.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Our project featured in Philadelphia Magazine!

We were honored when Philadelphia Magazine and the EP Henry Catalog wanted to feature one of our recently finished projects in their publications. We are also very proud of this project as well as every job we work on.