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Adding Color with Annuals and Perennials

September 30, 2026October 28, 2020 by The Parke Company

The summer of 2020 may be a bit less exciting than you had previously planned. For many of us, vacations have been postponed or cancelled, parties have been reduced to small gatherings, and daily interactions have dropped to a bare minimum.

At this point, we are all doing everything we can to socially distance from one another in an effort to keep the world’s vulnerable populations safe and eventually return to normal — or a “new” normal.

Many of us are looking for safe ways to stay busy and occupy ourselves. There may be no better way to do this than through a new landscaping project!

Not only can landscaping projects be completed outside, but they can also help to spark creativity and add some beauty to your surroundings.

If your property needs some sprucing during quarantine, check out landscaping services from The Parke Company. Start with today’s focus: adding color with annuals and perennials!

Types of Flowers to Add Color With

Annuals

Annuals get their name specifically from their function. Annuals are flowering plants that complete their full life cycle within a year. Typically, annuals are separated into summer annuals and winter annuals, depending on which type of plants you wish to grow.

Aside from their beautiful colors, annuals are desirable choices for landscaping because they can grow successfully almost anywhere. Whether it is in a hanging planter, a raised bed, or along the border of your property, annuals can be planted nearly anywhere.

Varieties of annuals can be found all over. Annuals come in any color imaginable; from pink petunias, to purple geraniums, to yellow zinnias, annuals can help you create any color scheme and spice up every part of your landscape.

Perennials

For property owners looking for plants with a bit more lifespan, perennials may be a better option. Much like annuals, perennials are named for the length of their life cycle; perennials, however, typically live for more than two years rather than just one.

Perennials are much sturdier than other flowering plants and can often be resistant to pests or deer who may show up on your property for an afternoon snack.

Some great examples of perennials are multi-functional lavender, bright and colorful daylilies, or big, bold, hydrangeas.

Some of the most common choices for landscape florals are perennials, which also means that some of your favorites are relatively low-maintenance and will last through the next season!

Hiring Landscaping Services

As much fun as a new landscaping project can be, it may just turn into another headache if you don’t go about it in the right way. Rather than gorgeous and colorful flower beds, you may be left with dirt piles and an expensive home improvement store bill.

Our landscaping experts have the experience and skills necessary to help you devise the best ways to shake up your landscape. Our technicians know just how to get you the biggest bang for your buck and add value to your home’s aesthetic.

From lawn mowing to tree removal, the landscaping professionals at The Parke Company have the experience and the skills to handle lawn problems and answer your landscaping services questions. Let us meet the unique needs of your property and bring your design dreams to life.

Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.

Cut-backs and Overwintering: Landscaping Year Round

September 30, 2026October 12, 2020 by The Parke Company

As fall settles in, many of us have begun putting away our lawnmowers and hanging up our gardening gloves. While the colder months are in full swing, your landscaping tasks are far from over.

To protect your landscape from the harsh winter months and to be ready for next spring, there are a few techniques you can employ to ensure that your plants flourish after the frost. If you’ve never heard of cut-backs and overwintering, these are the two secret techniques that could be the difference between a garden that withstands the winter and one that wilts.

The Best Ways to Landscape Year-Round

Cut-Backs

Cut-backs are one of the simplest and best things that you can do to ready your garden for the chillier months. Cutbacks are aptly named. It is the act of cutting back plants to remove dead or damaged portions before the next season. As fall comes around, many perennials are nearing the end of their season and will begin to show signs of damage or disease. Cutting these plants down to the stalk will help to preserve their roots and eliminate disease or fungus that could spread to other areas of your garden and cause significant damage.

Cutbacks can often seem tricky. While some perennials will quickly whither, making cutbacks an obvious choice, some plants may still be green when it comes time to cut them back. This is precisely when the skills of an experienced landscaping professional come in handy. Without the right expertise, you may run the risk of cutting back plants too quickly or too late, which can cause even more problems down the line and keep you from fully reaping the benefits of cutbacks in your garden.

Overwintering

Overwintering is the act of preparing and protecting your plants for winter. Just like you may store a sports car in a garage for winter to protect it from damage, some plants must come indoors in a garage or basement to “overwinter”.

The method you use to overwinter different plants will depend on the specific plant and its needs. While some plants can just be transplanted into a pot and treated as houseplants for the season, others may need their bulbs stored, or to be kept in a cool, dark place for a dormancy period.

When overwintering, it is important to cut back, dig up the plants bulb, and store them indoors away from heaters and vents that may dry them out.

Hiring Landscaping Services

Cutbacks and overwintering are fairly simple tasks, but they definitely aren’t easy. Properly preparing your garden for winter requires extensive knowledge on each of your plants and the specific ways in which they should be stored over the winter.

Cutbacks that are performed recklessly may result in a garden full of plant shreds, rather than strategically cut plants that will grow again next season. While many home and property owners love gardening, making the right choices for your zone and the season is a lot harder than solving some lawn problems.

It shouldn’t take an advanced degree to make your property beautiful– contact the experts!

Hiring the experienced professionals at The Parke Company for landscape services is the first step to ensuring you receive the kind of landscaping and lawn services necessary to preserve the assets on your property.

From lawn mowing to tree removal, the landscaping professionals at The Parke Company have the experience and the skills to meet the unique needs of your property and bring your design dreams to life.

For landscaping, Nashville, TN, trusts The Parke Company. Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.

Late Blooming Plants Perfect for Zone 7 Gardens

September 30, 2026October 12, 2020 by The Parke Company

Fll is in full swing and many of us have officially shelved our garden plans in hopes of starting again next spring. However, there are many “late blooming” plants available, which are a perfect choice for extending the life of your gardening dreams and allowing you to spend a bit more time in your garden before the frost fully covers it for the season.

In any case, understanding the climate is crucial for fully-informed gardening. What grows in Arizona certainly will not grow in Michigan. If you are a home or business owner in zone 7, there are some specific plants that may help you stretch your gardening seasons into the colder months. Here’s what you need to know.

How to Identify and Garden in a Zone 7 Garden

Where is Zone 7?

Regions in the country are divided into eleven different growing “zones” or “plant hardiness zones” by the US Department of Agriculture. Rather than divisions like the Midwest or East Coast, growing zones are determined by weather patterns. Because of these divisions, growing zones can help residents determine how to best care for their landscape.

Zone 7 is a longitudinal belt of cities in the southern half of the US stretching primarily from northwestern Texas around to northeastern Virginia. The majority of Tennessee is a zone 7 plant hardiness zone.

According to Gardening Knowhow, this is “an area with a moderately long growing season. The typical growing season generally lasts about eight months in zone 7 and the annual low temperature is about 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 C.). With the first frost around November 15 and the last one about April 15, planting a garden in zone 7 is a snap.”

Gardening in Zone 7

If you are growing plants in zone 7, most experts agree that you can start many types of seedlings indoors and transfer them into the ground later in late summer. You can do this with most vegetables: carrots, squash, and brussel sprouts, to name a few.

Many plants that thrive year round develop berries in the colder months of zone seven. While these plants are always growing, the new season brings a new life to the plants. Plants like viburnum, barberry, and holly all experience this phenomenon.

There are also a number of flowers and perennials that thrive later in the fall and add beauty to your landscape design. Brown-eyed Susans and Purple Flame Grass both thrive in the colder months and can add some color to your landscape in lieu of spring flowers.

Hiring Landscaping Services

While many home and property owners love gardening, making the right choices for your zone and the season is a lot harder than solving some lawn problems. It shouldn’t take an advanced degree to make your property beautiful– contact the experts!

From lawn mowing to tree removal, the landscaping professionals at The Parke Company have the experience and the skills to meet the unique needs of your property and bring your design dreams to life.

Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.

Winterizing your Irrigation System

September 30, 2026October 2, 2020 by The Parke Company

It seems like it was just yesterday that we were gearing up for summer and now we are well into September. No longer are we worried about lawn problems and lawn maintenance, we’ve shifted our focus to leaf collection and preparing for fall and winter.

Though there are many exciting features of the colder months, this season can wreak havoc on some of your landscape if not attended to properly. It is never too early to start preparing for the winter. Start with your sprinklers by winterizing your irrigation system with services from The Parke Company.

How to Winterize Your Irrigation System

Efficient Irrigation Systems

The key to a quality irrigation system is efficiency. Each system should find the perfect balance between sufficient hydration of the landscape and water conservation to benefit both the environment and your wallet.

When it comes to winterizing these systems, it is crucial to understand the changing needs of your landscape. As temperatures drop, chances are that your lawn and gardens will need less water, and your irrigation system should be adjusted to accommodate these evolving needs.

Protection Against the Elements

There are a few important steps when it comes to preparing your irrigation system for winter. Ultimately, your goal is to protect your pipes against the damage that can be caused by water freezing within them.

Insulation is key to prevent the cold temperatures of winter from affecting your pipes. This is typically accomplished through foam insulation, tape, and plastic around your shut-off valves. Any property owner who has made the mistake of forgetting to winterize their irrigation system can attest to the nightmare incurred when an important valve is frozen in place.

You will also need to thoroughly drain your pipes of any residual water. Water that is left behind in the winter can freeze and expand within your pipes, leading to blockages at best and burst pipes at worst. It is paramount that your landscaping service provider meticulously examines your irrigation system to ensure that all potential dangers are eliminated.Certainly, this is not a task you want to tackle on your own.

Hiring Landscaping Services

Our landscaping experts have the experience and skills necessary to help you devise the best ways to protect and beautify your landscape in winter and in every season. Our technicians know just how to get you the biggest bang for your buck and protect your investments in your home’s landscape.

From lawn mowing to tree removal to preparing any feature of your property for a change in weather, the landscaping professionals at The Parke Company have the experience and the skills to handle lawn problems and answer your landscaping services questions. Let us meet the unique needs of your property and bring your design dreams to life.

Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.

What Is Crown Thinning and How Can it Help My Trees?

September 30, 2026September 21, 2020 by The Parke Company

The Parke Company crown thinning trees in Nashville

If you have trees on your property, you probably know that they can be one of your best assets or your biggest nightmare. Lush, healthy trees are a perfect way to add shade to your home and improve curb appeal. At the same time, unhealthy trees can litter your yard with dead leaves and present a great risk if there is a chance that the tree may fall.

While you may know about tree trimming and leaf collection, one of the best methods for maintaining the health of your trees may be one you’ve never heard of. Crown thinning is the industry secret that may be the difference between sad, lifeless trees and trees that revitalized your landscape.

What is Crown Thinning

Just like most other plants, trees do need pruning to remove dead material and promote growth. Crown thinning is a specific method of pruning. Unlike tree topping that can end up killing a tree, crown thinning selects specific limbs and branches to treat.

According to the Arboricultural Association, crowning thinning is a method similar to crown lift or crown raising in which “the removal of a portion of smaller/tertiary branches, usually at the outer crown” is performed to, “produce a uniform density of foliage around an evenly spaced branch structure.”

Typically, this process does not drastically change the overall shape or size of the tree, but involves the systematic removal of material, not to exceed 30% of the tree overall.

How Can Crown Thinning Help My Trees

There are a number of different benefits of crown thinning. Many people may opt for crown thinning because it is a great way to allow more light to pass through your trees, increasing the amount of sun that reaches the surrounding area.

Crown thinning can also be beneficial for areas in which you desire less wind resistance and reduced weight on a particular tree. It should be noted, however, that crown thinning does not always reduce the leverage on a structure.

Hiring Landscaping Services

Obviously, crown thinning is more than just trimming a few branches and calling it a day.

Proper crown thinning requires tools and expertise you may not have at hand if you’re not already a landscaping professional. It also ensures only the appropriate parts of the tree are trimmed so that it lives a long and healthy life.

Crown thinning is a process that must be kept up over time and carefully tracked to reap its full benefits. Our landscaping experts have the experience and skills necessary to help you devise the best ways to protect and beautify your landscape. Our technicians know just how to get you the biggest bang for your buck and protect your investments in your home’s landscape.

Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.