Claire Hopple | The Parke Company

Keep Your Yard Trim with Tree Maintenance

March 7, 2024June 13, 2017 by Claire Hopple

the-parke-company-pine-needles-tree-maintenance

When it comes to making your lawn look nice, there are a lot of things you can do, and only a little time to do it. Trees tend to be forgotten about because the leafy giants are pretty self-sufficient, but a little trimming is one of the most important things you can do as far as maintenance goes. You never know when the branch closest to your home is going to snap, so by giving your trees a trim you will not only make everything look nice and tidy, but safer too.

How to Go About Tree Maintenance

Trim Up the Trees

When it comes to removing tree branches, the first thing you need to do is a little research into why you’re doing it in the first place. You can’t just start hacking away – that will lead to patchy areas and could possibly cause irreparable damage to the tree’s long term health. Unlike most plants, where if you remove a stalk or engage in some pruning it will grow back, trees do not regrow lost limbs. Instead, the giants of the plant world close off the wound by forming a callus, sealing it off. Cut the branch off at the wrong angle or go to deep, however, and the wound will not properly heal, leaving it open to rot and develop other diseases that could kill the tree from the inside. Additionally, younger trees will develop two main trunks, which, if left untreated, can lead to a split down the tree’s core. We at the Parke company are skilled at doing these kinds of delicate operations, so unless you’re sure you know what you’re doing, it is probably a good idea to let us handle any branches you might need removed.

Weight-Loss Program

Removing branches because of their effect on the tree’s health is not the only reason people trim trees. We at the Parke Company offer several other services that focus on sprucing up the visual aesthetic. By removing some of the lower, heavier branches from the tree, it alleviates the weight of the tree, meaning you do not have to worry about it swaying or cracking under its own weight later in life. Additionally, having less branches lower in the tree will allow more sunlight to penetrate the canopy, improving the life of any plants beneath, which opens up a lot of landscaping options. Trimming some of the lower branches also helps to create a more uniform look, especially if you have a small grove.

We cannot stress enough how dangerous it can be to work with trees, even something as simple as removing a small branch. It’s just something that’s better left to the professionals, which is why if you have branches that need to be removed, or even if you have questions, you should give us at the Parke Company a call today.

Curb Appeal: How a Nice Lawn Can Help

May 29, 2024June 1, 2017 by Claire Hopple

Real estate in Nashville is getting to be pretty ridiculous, especially if you are trying to buy a home. On the other hand, if the hustle and bustle of New Nashville is getting to be too much, then now is the perfect time to sell, because you will probably make a lot of money and sell pretty quickly. Of course, a lot of work goes into selling a home, the least of which is getting things ready and making little improvements to up the value, including what is known in the industry as “curb appeal.” As anyone who has ever spent time watching home improvement shows can tell you, curb appeal refers to the impact that a nicely manicured lawn, like the kind of landscaping work we at the Parke Company provide, can have on a home’s sale.

How to Make Your Lawn Look Best

Curb your enthusiasm

The initial response is probably going to be wanting to overdo things. If you have a lot of stuff going on in your front lawn, it might have the opposite effect, which is why you want to go subtle. For example, instead of looking for a lot of plants and bushes to plant in your front yard, a better idea might be to plant something small, like a couple of black-eyed Susans in a small window planter. It’s just something little that will go a long way to giving potential buyers an idea of what flowers in the lawn look like without going overboard with it.

If you are going to add flowers to the actual lawn itself, make sure it’s not overpowering, but also not too small. A good rule of thumb is to make sure the garden bed is about half of the width of your home. If you want to go larger, that’s fine, but in that case adding bushes or highlighting trees is a nice way to create a sense of scale.

Maintain what you already have

After that, the best thing you can do is to make sure the things that are already in place look nice. If you can control the watering of your lawn, make sure that it’s as green as you can get it. If the cost of that endeavour is something that worries you, you might want to look into irrigation. It’s a service that we at the Parke Company are happy to provide, and it might be just the thing to take your home into the next tier of value. Other things you can do include fixing any old or leaky gutters, giving the trim on your home a new coat of paint, and raking the lawn.

Selling a home is a tricky prospect, something fraught with uncertainty and unknown quantities. Making sure your lawn is something that a lot of people are going to want to own goes a long way to help in that effort. If you think that your lawn needs a lot of work, give us at the Parke Company a call and we will help you get where you need to go.

Animal Attraction

March 7, 2024May 26, 2017 by Claire Hopple

Having a robust and visually attractive garden is a great way to make your lawn the center of attention. But there are some things you can do to make your place even more attractive, and more helpful for the environment as well: by adding flowers and other items that attract animals. Bees in particular are an essential part of the world’s ecosystem, but unfortunately they aren’t doing so well right now, so adding plants that the little buzzing workhorses flock to is a nice way of saying thank you, and it might help attract other, more traditionally wanted animal guests. We at the Parke Company are committed to making the world a better place, which is why we have compiled a list of items you can add to your landscape to make it more friendly to animals.

How to Attract Birds to Your Lawn

Making a plan

Like most landscaping plans, the first thing you want to do is figure out just what kind of animals you want to attract. As mentioned above, bees are always a great addition, considering how important to the world pollinating plants and crops is, but it is understandable if you are concerned about the danger they might present, especially if you have small children. That being said, bees are attracted to some traditional summer plants that also add a dash of color to your garden, like sunflowers and black-eyed Susans, which we at the Parke Company are happy to plant for you.

For a more friendly species of insect that adds its own brand of color, you might look at planting flowers that are especially attractive to butterflies, like coneflowers or lavender, which also add a sweet smell to the air.

Bird is the word

Of course, the animal kingdom is a lot larger than just insects. There are some things you can do to attract birds, but the planning for them depends on where you want the focus to be. A lot of families who have a front porch will hang bird feeders from them, allowing the family to see the birds chirping and eating as they casually sit and relax. If your garden is in the backyard, a nice bird bath might be better suited, but make sure you remember to change the water regularly, or it will get stale and possibly scummy. Birds are also attracted to bushes, so if you haven’t added any to your landscape, you might want to think about adding elderberry or buttonbush.

If you’re feeling like the whole yard needs a more animal-friendly makeover, then what about trees? Oak trees in particular make wonderful homes for a variety of species, including birds, bats, and squirrels.

We are all in this together. Helping the animals by providing them with a place to sleep and something to eat is a noble goal, one that we at the Parke Company are happy to help with, and if it happens that we make your yard look amazing in the process, then that is kind of the best of both worlds, right?

Irrigation, Not Really an Irritation

March 7, 2024May 21, 2017 by Claire Hopple

Water. It is one of the most precious resources available to us, despite being one of the more plentiful. Of course, the vast majority of it is not really usable for most of the things we would like, including watering our plants. In an area like Nashville and the rest of the Mid-Tennessee region, water can be scarce or cost a lot more to use, thanks to the heat. It is the No. 1 reason you need to have an irrigation system setup at your home or office building. We at the Parke Company are firm believers in the concept, which is why it’s one of the services we pride ourselves on.

Irrigation: What it is Really About

As a practice, irrigation has been around for nearly 5,000 years. It’s basically been a part of farming techniques since we as a species have been farming, if that gives you any indicator as to its importance. In fact, it is estimated that about 70 percent of all the freshwater used in the world goes towards irrigation. There are several different types of irrigation systems you can have installed, but they all revolve around the same basic principle: making sure each individual plant on a given plot is receiving the same amount of water. It’s a great way to conserve water, since you don’t need to water a large area of vegetation with a large amount of water just to make sure every plant gets what it needs to survive.

Unfortunately, while most water we use is returned to the soil and then back into the underground water system, water used in irrigation is different. Only about half of the water is reusable, as the rest is lost through things like evaporation and leaky pipes.

What We Offer

At the Parke Company, we aren’t going to just install the irrigation system and send you on your merry way. No, in addition to installation, we also offer a variety of services related to irrigation, which includes additions and repairs, and we’ll make sure your system is going to work after the long winter. Making sure your system isn’t backed up and is ready to go for the spring growing season is one of the most important things you can do after you have an irrigation system installed, since no one wants to get all of their things in order to plant, only to find out their watering system isn’t up to snuff. Being proactive in these matters could save you a lot of money and time, so there’s no reason not to at least investigate it.

If you have thought you are spending too much money on water, then you really need to send us an email about setting up a consultation. Irrigating will save you money, and more importantly, it will save water, which is good for the environment. Contact us today and let’s start making your wallet bigger and the world a better place.

Landscaping on a Budget: Ways to Save Money

March 7, 2024May 11, 2017 by Claire Hopple

Giving tips about ways to improve your yard can be difficult sometimes because of the nature of landscaping. Everyone’s lawn is different, with the very physical nature of the beast making it so that nothing is going to be universal, with very few exceptions. While we at the Parke Company are here to offer our support and years of wisdom to the cause, there are some general things you can do to make things a little nicer, visually speaking. Since we live in an era where most things that can be done in the home can also be done at a decreased cost, all of these tips will also be very cost effective, incorporating things you probably already have in your home or nearby.

How to Save Money on Landscaping

Getting a New Purpose

One of the easiest things you can do is to re-purpose things you already have on hand. Have some plants that are falling over? Don’t go out and spend all your money on fancy metal spirals when the application of bread ties and a fence work just as fine. Got a grassy area that would be better served as a flower bed? Throw some newspapers down and just wait – let the old news do the job. Shredded newspapers and cardboard also make for a solid mulching agent in a pinch, although the kind we offer at the Parke Company serves that problem just a bit better. The truth is that there are hundreds of things like this that you can do to make your life a little easier. You just need to look around at what you have, and with a little lateral thinking, most of your old junk can become new landscaping budget savers.

It doesn’t have to be little odds and ends, either. Throw a fresh coat of paint on an old bucket and drill a couple of holes in the bottom and you have a new planter. Another great idea is to set up a compost pile, which will eventually turn your old food and lawn scraps into a free source of fertilizer.

Efficiency

One of the best ways to save money on your landscape project is by taking a little time to see all of the places you can become more efficient. I’m not just talking about working smarter instead of harder, although there is some of that involved. The amount of money you spend on watering your yard can be a huge chunk of your budget, considering the amount needed to water a large area everyday. One way to save money is by watering the plants in the morning, because more of the water will be absorbed by the plant’s root. This is especially true in an area like Nashville, where the summer days can be absolute scorchers, leading to much of the water evaporating before the plant gets it all. If that’s not going to work with your schedule, you might want to look into an irrigation system, like the services we at the Parke Company provide to many residents and businesses.

We know how easy it can be to see your budget skyrocket when it comes to landscaping, which is why it can be necessary to save every penny anywhere you can. Hopefully by repurposing old household items and being more efficient with your water usage, you can do just that.