Got Limbs?

Cold weather has arrived. The leaves have fallen. And frost has clung unmercifully to the branches and trees. So now what? What’s the next step in maintaining a healthy tree and a beautiful yard that sits below it? There are so many different and efficient ways to reuse the fallen limbs right here in Nashville. We’ve got several ideas that can satisfy both your creativity and the urge to “go green.”

Crafts – The ideas are endless! Gather fallen limbs and use them for family craft time. Consider making picture frames, Christmas ornaments, flower vases or children’s toys. This is a great way to bring the outdoors inside when the weather is just too cold.

Pick-up – Nashville -Davidson County will collect all your brush and leaves. Look for when your zone is due for a pickup and plan accordingly. From brush to leaves to grass clippings, Public Works will pick it up. Please note that as of 2011, yard waste is banned from your solid waste collection and it cannot be put in with your household trash.

Drop-off – If the pick up dates don’t work for you, Nashville has recycling providers where you can drop off all the fallen limps. Both Bordeux Mulch Facility and Alternative Energy, LLC provide drop off services and accepts materials such as limbs, brush, leaves, non-commercial grass clippings and untreated wood. You can contact Bordeu Mulch Facility at (615) 862-8640. You may also contact Alternative Energy, LLC at (615) 255-8287.

Other ideas – You can always use fallen limbs and other materials for composting and mulching purposes. Use fallen limbs as
firewood or take it a step further and host a bonfire!

All these are great ways are sure-fire way to reuse all those fallen limbs and other materials in your yard. But before you risk injury to yourself, be sure a professional help is not needed. The Parke Company will assist you in discarding any limbs that may be too heavy or big. For any questions or assistance in moving all your brush, please visit www.treeserviceofnashville.com.

Identifying Trees for Landscaping — Tennessee State Parks and The Parke Company

As venture into the last leg of summer, activities flourish and the heat of summer continues to sizzle. If you find yourself looking for things do outdoors, consider spending it out on the trails of some of Middle Tennessee’s beautiful state parks. Not only is Tennessee’s wildlife the most prosperous during this time of year, but it’s a great opportunity to get the entire family together and spend some time outdoors.

One of the great things about the state of Tennessee is the ample state parks and hiking trails available to its citizens. With most trails, a collection of information and history of the grounds is available to visitors upon request. And as one might assume, at the Parke Company, we like learning about species, history and life of the trees within the trails. Here are a few state parks that dedicate trails exclusively for tree species:

Edwin Warner State Park (Nashville, Tennessee) — The highly-rated park has their tree specimen trail right along the “Old Roadway” in Edwin Warner and is labeled for hikers to read as they walk. For a map of the park, click here.

Percy Warner State Park (Nashville, Tennessee) — This tree specimen trail is nestled through a one-way vehicular road and a mossy ridge trail, that is both easy and moderately challenging, so you can decide on the level of adventure. For a map of the park, click here.

Long Hunter State Park (Hermitage, Tennessee) — The Couchville Lake Arboretum is right on the state park’s property and they have a self-guided tour!  With over 40 identified species, this hiking trail is great for a day out with the family. For the self-guided trail, click here.

Other state parks in Middle Tennessee include (but not limited to):

  • Radnor Lake in Nashville, TN
  • Long Hunter in Hermitage, TN
  • Cumberland Mtn. in Crossville, TN
  • Cedars of Lebanon in Lebanon, TN
  • Harpeth River in Kingston Springs, TN

If you have a tree that you’re unsure of the species, take a photo of the tree you want identified and give the Parke Company a call. They will be happy to assist you in identifying the tree and how to properly care for it. For more information, please call (615) 405-6548.

Landscaping Design Services: Enhance Your Property Value

Flower and a sprinkler knob.

Home prices are trending upward in Nashville, TN and most other regions in the U.S. That said, if you’re planning on selling your home, you’re not guaranteed to get the price you’re looking for without putting in some effort. Your home must be in pristine condition inside and out to boost your bargaining power. And a potential buyer’s first impression of your home can make all the difference. Indeed, curb appeal is king – and beyond cleaning your home’s exterior and updating its siding, you’ll want to make sure its green spaces are in order. An alluring landscape says a lot about you as a seller and shows off your property in its best possible light. With that in mind, here are some landscaping design services to invest in to increase your real estate asking price.

Landscape Installations

Most homeowners would prefer to install new landscape features that they can enjoy for themselves over the next several years or decades. However, investing in ornamental plantings, specimen trees, new pathways, retaining walls, window boxes, and other installments can give your curb appeal a relatively quick and highly effective boost when it’s time to sell. It’s wise to develop a larger landscape design plan before going forward with a new installation. This way, you won’t wastet time or money on features that don’t improve your property’s appearance. The designs with the broadest appeal are balanced, properly scaled, cohesive, and simple.

Tree Maintenance and Removal

Trees make up a significant portion of virtually any landscape, providing shade, history, and seasonal beauty. Without proper maintenance, however, trees can become liabilities rather than assets. Overgrown trees aren’t just eyesores – they may also threaten your home if they’re stationed too close (especially if they’re older and/or diseased). Cutting down trees is sometimes necessary as a last resort, but it’s better to prevent your trees from becoming serious threats in the first place. This is done via pruning, trimming, crown thinning, deadwood removal, and other maintenance means. In addition to ensuring the long-term health of your trees, taking care of them in these ways also maximizes their appearance to make your entire property more attractive. The same can be said for smaller trees and shrubs. The best landscape designers are equipped to shape your shrubs and trees to perfection while keeping them in good health year-round.

Irrigation Services

Irrigation might not seem too intertwined with landscape design, but consider how quickly grass and ground cover can wither, brown, and perish without a regular supply of water. Lawns of all sizes can be tricky to take care of, especially in a hot, sunny region like Nashville, TN. Landscape experts will implement modern irrigation methods to keep your lawn and gardens hydrated no matter how hot or dry it gets outside. In doing so, you can show off a lush, healthy, vibrant lawn to potential buyers before they even enter your home.

General Landscape Maintenance

Watering is just one of many aspects of proper landscape maintenance. If you want to land the highest bidder for your home, you must also consider bed maintenance, weeding, fertilization, beautification, enhancement, pruning, mulching, and more. Every landscape is unique, which is why your designers must offer a variety of landscaping services and solutions, such as fertilizer/mulch alternatives. Different maintenance and preparation solutions are necessary at different times of the year, too, even in an area like Nashville, TN, where winters are relatively mild. The more equipped your landscape provider is to care for your green spaces throughout the year, the better they’ll be able to optimize its appearance.

Emergency Storm Services

Nashville is no stranger to extreme weather. In the past couple of years alone, this area has had to face devastating tornadoes, floods, and more. A single severe weather event can damage or demolish even the most beautiful and well-kept landscape (not to mention homes and buildings themselves) and therefore diminish your property’s market value. As such, it’s imperative to work with a landscaping company that offers emergency landscaping and repair services. These services include damage assessments, debris clean-up, irrigation system repair, re-installations of softscapes, hardscapes, decor, and more. The sooner you can pick up the pieces after a major storm, the better your odds of landing a solid asking price for your home.

Finding the Right Landscape Designer in Your Area

When selling your home, getting the biggest bang for your buck is only possible with proper landscape design and maintenance. A quick online search for “landscape designers near me” will reveal countless options in Nashville, TN – save yourself some time by sticking with The Parke Company. We provide comprehensive, caring landscaping services, and we are passionate about cultivating a beautiful landscape for your home, office, or municipal property.

Call us today at 615-350-6033 or contact us online!

Top 3 Benefits of Irrigation Repair Services

Irrigation sprinkler

Even the most novice of gardeners knows that every plant needs two basic things: sunlight and water. And while you may not have absolute control over how much sunlight your lawn and garden receive, with the right irrigation system, you can ensure that your plants are given the precise amount of water that they need to meet their unique needs and truly thrive.

While it may be tempting to let nature take its course and leave watering your lawn up to the rain, a laissez-faire approach to caring for your landscape is a surefire recipe for a brown lawn and dead plants. Even in an area with heavy rainfall, an irrigation system will help ensure that you don’t have a waterlogged yard when the rain comes.

Irrigation systems are a great way to keep your lawn lush and verdant with very little work. And while irrigation systems do significantly reduce the amount of effort that you will need to put in to maintain your lawn, it is important to hire irrigation repair services from time to time.

Making sure that your irrigation system is regularly serviced is the key to keeping a healthy landscape. There are so many benefits to irrigation repair services: here are the top three.

Top Three Benefits of Irrigation Repair Services

Regular Repairs

It is possible for any technology to get damaged or function less efficiently over, and the same is certainly true for irrigation systems.

While irrigation systems are a “hands-free” method of lawn care, lawn irrigation systems can suffer damage due to inclement weather or from accidents like getting hit by the occasional lawn mower.

It is critical to enlist irrigation repair services because a damaged irrigation system could lead to a lawn that is underwatered or watered too much, leaving puddles in your lawn.

Backflow Testing

Backflow testing is another important method of irrigation system maintenance that many property owners forget about.

Backflow testing is a maintenance method that inspects irrigation systems to determine whether the water’s flow has reversed course and entered clean water lines.

Backflow is incredibly dangerous because contaminated water could be reentering clean water lines and contaminating the drinking water in your home. Backflow testing and prevention are essential to protecting yourself against disease or illness that can be caused by contaminated water.

Winterizing

Irrigation systems are not impervious to changes in the weather, so it is important to have your system serviced to adjust to the new seasons.

Winterizing your irrigation system is the best way to prevent water lines from freezing over the winter and causing irreparable damage to your lawn irrigation system.

Lawn Irrigation Services Near Me

Lawn irrigation is a great way to keep your landscape beautiful all year long, but it takes a professional to maintain and repair an irrigation system and ensure a full life cycle of the system.

The experienced professionals at The Park Company are experts in landscaping equipment and irrigation systems, as well as water resources and conservation, to ensure that your landscaping services are as good for the environment as they are for your property’s curb appeal.

Let The Parke Company be your choice for all of your lawn irrigation needs.

Landscaping services from a landscaping maintenance company like The Parke Company can help you protect and beautify your property without the hassle of tackling projects on your own or the damage of an inexperienced professional. For residential or commercial landscape services, give us a call at 615-350-6033 or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you!

Tree Cutting Service: How Tree Topping Kills Your Tree

Trees

Trees on your property can be great for a number of different reasons. They can provide vital shade during the hot and sunny seasons, they are crucial players in the environment, and they add an air of stately sophistication to any landscape.

Even if you love your trees, they may need maintenance from time to time. It may seem like tree trimming and maintenance is fairly self-explanatory, but proper care for your trees may be a lot more complicated than you had imagined.

Tree care is much more precise than just cutting off long branches or shaping a tree to your liking– mistakes like these may even cost you the health of your tree. Here is what you need to know.

What to Know About Tree Topping

What Is Tree Topping?

The process known as tree topping is an attempt to shorten a tree, but through methods that will ultimately result in irreversible damage.

When a tree is topped, the central stem– or leader, as it is also known– is removed, as well as the other upper main branches.

Ultimately, tree topping will result in thin, upright branches near the top, known as water sprouts.

Why Topping Trees Is Bad

Tree topping is a bad landscaping practice for a number of reasons. First and foremost, a tree that has been topped is very unsightly, with water sprouts growing in ways that do not appear natural or uniform to the rest of the tree.

When the tree is cut near the top branches, it is now vulnerable to disease and decay. Additionally, water sprouts are very delicate and have shallow anchors in the rest of the tree, which can easily break off in a storm.

Tree topping is bad for your trees because the trimming leaves wounds in the tree that leave it susceptible to disease or pests. Tree topping is also bad because it removes the leaf surface area, which is vital for a tree’s photosynthesis and nutrient production. Without this leaf coverage, central parts of the tree are also exposed to the harsh sun, which can significantly damage the trunk and bark.

Tree Cutting Services Near Me

It is sometimes necessary to reduce the height of a tree so that it does not interfere with a house or powerlines. While this kind of trimming may be necessary, it will inevitably result in a damaged and unsightly tree.

If your trees need trimming, don’t let power companies with little landscaping knowledge hack away at your trees and cause irreversible damage. Experienced professionals from a landscaping and tree cutting company can use methods like drop crocheting to cut down branches to a lower branch that can solve height-related issues without permanently damaging your trees.

Let The Parke Company be your choice for all of your tree cutting needs.

Landscaping services from a landscaping maintenance company like The Parke Company can help you protect and beautify your property without the hassle of tackling projects on your own or the damage of an inexperienced professional. For residential or commercial landscape services, give us a call at 615-350-6033 or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you!