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Six Care Tips for your Newly Installed Landscaping Feature

Parke-company-nashville-landscaping-service-clearing-brush

Landscape installations are a surefire way to add visual interest to your property without completely overhauling the look of your home. 

Installations come in a variety of forms. They can be softscapes: adding trees, shrubs, flowers and other foliage to your landscape. You may also elect to install hardscapes: things like walkways, pavement, rocks and ponds. Or, perhaps  your new landscape installation could consist of decor like outdoor lighting, water features, or tree hangings.  

Whatever type of landscape installation you decide on, it’s important that these featured pieces stay as beautiful a year from now as they are when they’re first put in. 

Here are six care tips for your new landscaping feature. 

1. Lawn Maintenance

Aside from the obvious ones, there are plenty of reasons to keep your lawn maintained. Other than keeping a pristine lawn for aesthetic purposes, the health of your landscape can be compromised if you do not take good care of your grass. 

By choosing the appropriate mower height and keeping your lawn at the optimal level, you reduce your risk for weeds to grow in grass that is stressed or unhealthy.

Weeds left to their own devices can infiltrate your new landscaping feature over time. Your once beautiful walkway may now be overrun by weeds and other uninvited pests. 

Be sure to maintain your lawn to combat any plant life with malintent. 

2. Brush Clearing

Similar to maintaining a tidy lawn, it is also important to clear brush regularly. 

When dead leaves and foliage stay on the ground unattended, there is a significant risk of mildew and fungus growth. If you have a water feature nearby, moist environments can be severely compromised by the presence of these invaders. 

Piles of leaves and brush can be a convenient home for small rodents and pests. Naturally, these unwanted guests might also make a home in your new fountain or rock feature. Keeping brush and foliage maintained can help circumvent this risk and keep critters at bay. 

3. Check Irrigation 

Faulty irrigation systems can present a real problem for property owners. Not only can irrigation systems that dispense too much or too little water damage the plant life of your property, they can also cause significant structural damage to landscaping features. 

If your irrigation system isn’t working correctly, this can have an adverse effect on your water features, resulting in sky-high water bills. You may also find that your landscaping features suffer water damage from a leaky sprinkler system. 

Having your irrigation system evaluated by a professional could help you avoid unsightly damage. 

4. Tree Trimming 

Tree trimming on your property is a great way to ensure that your landscaping features shine. 

Ponds filled with dead leaves are unsightly, and it would be a tragedy for your beautiful outdoor lighting fixtures to meet their end at the hands of a fallen branch. 

Be sure to get your trees trimmed regularly to avoid damage. 

5. Energy Conservation

Conserving energy is a great decision for any reason, but it can also do a lot to maintain the health of your new landscaping feature. 

Particularly with features like lighting or fountains that are supported by electricity, conserving energy can help to ensure that your features don’t run themselves ragged and that all pieces and parts stay operational for as long as possible. 

6. Expert Advice

Ultimately, it’s hard to notice every flaw or red flag in a property where you spend every day. Hiring an extra set of eyes for your landscaping services could be just the ticket to ensure that no issue goes unnoticed and every problem is attended. 

The experienced arborists at The Parke Company are well-versed in what it takes to properly maintain landscaping features through high-quality landscaping services. From installation to repair, our experts are here to ensure that your property stays beautiful. 
Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.

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Landscaping and Gardening: Is Your Lawn Right for a Home Garden?

Plant

A beautiful garden can be one of the most notable and enjoyable features of your property. Aside from gardening being a fun and rewarding discipline, it can also add invaluable curb appeal to your home. But even if you feel ready to begin the process of starting a garden on your property, there are a few things you need to consider in order to save yourself from a frustrating (and pricey) failure. 

Here are some things you should consider to determine whether or not your lawn is right for a home garden.

Tree Placement 

If you haven’t conducted a tree inventory yet, you’ll want to do so before you think of putting in a garden. Conducting a survey like a tree inventory will give you an informed perspective on the status and location of other plant life on your property. 

In most cases, if you haven’t lived on your property for very long, chances are good that you didn’t plant your trees and that their level of health may be beyond your knowledge. If you have a large, sprawling property, it’s even possible that you don’t know about all the trees on your land. 

It is vital to have a keen awareness of all of the plant life that is already part of your landscape so that you know how that could interact with or interfere with a garden. 

In most cases, a tree or two won’t hinder the growth of a new garden, but it’s important to consider whether or not plants already on your property may attract pests that could harm a dainty crop like what is often planted in a home garden. 

Shade Coverage

In accordance with an awareness of trees on your property, be aware of the amount of shade they provide to certain areas of your landscape. If a set of trees offers too much shade in the area you wish to plant a garden, you may want to consider tree trimming or tree removal. Too much sun could blister vegetation that isn’t hardy, but too much shade could also stunt their growth. 

If there is a particular area you’ve dreamed of placing your garden, be sure that it isn’t overshadowed by other trees or structures. 

Drainage

As anyone with even the smallest amount of garden knowledge can tell you, watering plants is important. 

When you care for your lawn, you ensure to water it properly and to make sure that it doesn’t get flooded. The same is true for a home garden. Check with your landscape professional to see if the plants you’re seeking for your home garden require a similar level of water to that of your lawn. 

If you have an irrigation system that automatically waters your lawn, you could capitalize on this and use that same system to tend to a garden. However, if the lawn’s need for water and the garden’s need for water are not compatible, you will need to adjust accordingly. 

Garden Vision

Finally, it’s important to know what exactly you want in your garden. Growing a bed of flowers is drastically different from growing tomato plants or corn. There is a strong chance that a vegetable garden, especially one with a wide variety of produce, is going to require much more attention to detail than a lawn. In this case, you will want to seriously reconsider your irrigation options. It may not be practical to cluster together a number of different plants with vastly different needs. In this case, consider whether or not using planters or pots outdoors could help you achieve a similarly beautiful (or maybe even more beautiful!) look for your garden. 

Regardless of the route you take, it is vital that you speak with a professional to properly assess the unique needs of your property. Go to the knowledgeable arborists and landscape designers at The Parke Company to ensure that your property is in the best hands. 

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

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Can You Plan Landscaping to Avoid Tree Damage to Your Home?

Damaged House

Sprawling green lawns and trees that reach up toward the sky can be magnificent features of your home’s landscape design. However, with Nashville’s unpredictable weather, there is a chance you might experience a powerful storm from time to time. 

It’s important that your landscape design protects against major damage that can be done in the event that a tree falls during inclement weather. 

Here is what you need to know about protecting your house against tree damage through a carefully planned landscape. 

Strategic Planning

It goes without saying that where you plant your trees is important. If you have the option, never place trees so close to your home that a storm could send them through your house. 

In some situations, you may not have the capability of controlling where trees are planted. In this case, you would benefit tremendously from calling a certified professional to evaluate your trees. They will be particularly qualified to determine whether or not the locations of your trees are a potential issue.

Aside from location of trees, it is also important to consider what breed of tree is on your property. 

There are many types of trees like willows and sycamores that do not fare well in the wind. If you live in an area where high winds are an issue, avoid trees such as these in favor of a hardier breed like oaks or maples. 

Conduct a Tree Inventory

A tree inventory might not seem necessary on a private property, but it could mean the difference between a fallen tree on your house and a safe, healthy landscape. 

Tree inventories are careful evaluations of your landscape that pay close attention to the locations of your tree. Perhaps two trees have begun growing too close to one another and risk causing damage to your home if you don’t conduct proper tree trimming or tree removal.

Tree inventories are also a great way to check up on the health of your trees. Far too often, we don’t consider whether or not our trees are healthy until branches are decaying or fruit stops growing. 

At that point, it may be too late and you could be running a high risk of your house suffering damage in the event of an unexpected storm. 

By conducting a tree inventory, you can strategize about how to handle trees that may be sickly either through improving their health or hiring a certified arborist to remove them from your property. 

Care for Roots

What many people might not consider is that the roots can be the determining factor for whether a tree stays in the ground or not during a storm. While branches may be ripped off a tree singularly during a storm, the real damage occurs when trees are uprooted and strike a home. 

Be sure to plan your tree planting to ensure that your trees’ roots will have the proper room to grow and that root-health is a top priority of your landscape maintenance practices. 

Ultimately, trees are a massive feature of your home and they deserve massive care. This isn’t a job for guess work and mediocrity. The best way to keep your home and family safe is through contacting the experienced professionals at The Parke Company to see how they can care for your landscape’s specific needs. 
Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.

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5 Ways You Can Improve the Health and Life of Your Trees (Without Tree Removal)

Tree

A well-maintained tree (or a number of trees) is an integral feature of every great landscape design. Trees can create natural barriers on your property, provide shade, and tremendously benefit the overall aesthetics of your property.

For a number or reasons, proper tree care is a must. Not only are sickly trees unsightly, but they can also pose a genuine threat to the safety of your property.

In the worst-case scenario, an unhealthy tree could fall in a storm. A good way to prevent that would be to cut down a tree in poor health. An even savvier way to deal with this issue is to ensure that your trees never get to that level of unhealth.

To circumvent the costs of dying trees, here are five ways you can improve their health and life without removing them.

1. Plant Strategically

If you haven’t yet, the best time to conduct a tree inventory is now.

By conducting a tree inventory, not only will you have an assessment of the health of your existing trees and be more informed as to what steps need to be taken, you will also have a detailed report as to the location of your current trees.

Preventing issues with tree health starts with planting trees strategically. When you plant trees with intention, you can ensure that competing species are not planted too close to one another, that they won’t grow into power lines, and that their placement won’t conflict with anything else in your current landscape design.

2. Start with Great Soil

Vital to planting trees strategically is starting with great soil. Just like any plant, trees need quality soul to grow well.

There are a number of different factors that make soil quality important. Not only does soil serve as a reservoir for vital nutrients and water, but it also contains the microorganisms that encourage beneficial decomposition, acting as an anchor for plant roots.

Maintaining healthy trees (as well as planting new ones) begins with assessing for quality soil to ensure that your trees have a hospitable environment in which they can grow.

If you’re not comfortable testing the soil yourself, seek out a landscape maintenance professional to do the complex work for you. These professionals will evaluate the soil for qualities like texture, drainage, chemical properties, and more.   

3. Tree Trimming

As previously mentioned, trees are plants and, as such, require similar care.

Just as you would prune dead leaves from a basil plant, or cut back dead parts of a grape vine, it’s important to incorporate regular tree trimming into your tree care.

By trimming trees regularly, you can identify diseased branches and trim them before any more sickness spreads. You can also ensure that trees don’t get overgrown if they are near any other feature of your landscape that may compromise the tree’s health.

Tree trimming has a vast array of benefits from maintaining the health of trees and increasing sun exposure, to protecting against branch weakness and improving the life of fruits and flowers.

4. Pest Maintenance

The neighborhood squirrels and raccoons may be cute, but they might not be the best for maintaining the health of your trees. In some cases, an animal that choose to make a home in or near your trees could be what compromises the health and safety of the trees on your property.

Especially with young trees that are growing, and sickly trees you’re treating, a physical barrier or other repellant can keep pests from munching at your tree’s bark or building a home where they may not belong.

5. Ask the Experts

When it comes down to it, it isn’t enough to simply ensure that you maintain the health of your trees; it must be done well for them to flourish to their potential.

If you’re not confident that you can perform all of the necessary tasks to support the growth of your trees, you’ve got a few options: you could spend hours researching how to best serve the trees on your property, or you could call a certified arborist to do the tough work for you.

By trusting the landscape professionals at The Parke Company, you call rest easily knowing that your trees will be evaluated and cared for by experts who will tailor their work to the unique needs of your property.
Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you

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Comprehensive Guide to Winterizing Your Landscape Assets

Parke-company-nashville-winterization

Winterization is the process or processes required to prepare something for Winter. For a pool, this may mean drainage or covering. For a motorcycle, this may mean removing the gasoline and placing the battery on a drip charger. For people, this may mean procuring a few more sweaters and socks and purchasing firewood.

For your property, this may mean any number of things. Since each person’s property is different and unique, every landscape requires different processes to ensure effective and efficient winterization. Below are some of the more frequent winterization steps, though this list is certainly not extensive. For peace of mind and to guarantee that your property is ready for winter, reach out to the winterization professionals at The Parke Company to see how our landscaping services, irrigation services, and tree services can best support your land’s transition into the colder months.

Tree Winterization

When you think of winter, you think of the beautiful snow-blanketed landscape. When we think of winter, we think of snow blanketed dead tree limbs that are unable to carry the load and that break and fall on to your home. Sound bleak? It doesn’t have to be. One of the first steps to tree winterization is to check for dead or damaged limbs. Those that pose a threat to your home, vehicles, safety, or property should be removed before the snow or freezing rains fall. Additionally, to best prepare for winter storms, plants or brush that have built up on the trees and bushes around your home should also be removed. Overgrown plants should also be trimmed and pruned to mitigate unbearable loads during times of snow or freezing rain. The Parke Company has a variety of pruning and tree trimming services to choose from to ensure that your trees and bushes are to safe to take on the colder weather to come.

Lawn Winterization

Though they may spend much of the winter months buried beneath the snow, there are a few simple steps that should be taken to ensure that your lawns are ready for the cold weather. The first step is to cut your grass low to reduce weight and limit exposure to freezing temperatures. Long grasses will bend over under the snow and damage the growth beneath them. For the same reason, leaves and other litter should be raked and removed to prevent sunlight blockage, extra weight, and moisture retention. Once your lawn is ready, make sure that people, plants, and vehicles stay off it. One easy step is to set up flags or markers to outline your driveway and walkways. It seems silly to say, but stray shovel strokes or an improperly placed snowplow can cause extensive damage to your land. Finally, clear your lawn of unnecessary ornamentation that may also squash or damage your grass.

Of course, if you have an irrigation system, it is highly important that you properly drain and pressurize the system before the first frost. Cold weather and water-filled pipes don’t go together. Cracked or broken pipes and valves can be costly and time-consuming to repair. To ensure your irrigation system is properly winterized, consult our expert team. They have extensive knowledge in properly preparing systems of all shapes, sizes, and layouts.

Winter Plant and Shrub Coverings

Small and fragile plants and shrubs should be covered with burlap or something similar. This will prevent the build up of potentially damaging snow and freezing rain.

Winter Mulching and Fertilization

Your lawn, gardens, and trees receive very little nutrients during the winter months. Help them make it through these harsh days by applying fresh mulch and fertilizer before the freezing temperatures arrive. Mulch will help your soil retain temperature and moisture while fertilizer will give your plants a boost when the warmer weather arrives in spring.

Winter is Here, Snow is Falling, Now What?

Though proper winterization is paramount to a successful winter, there are many landscaping services that can be done during the winter months and a few that can only be done during winter. As the nights get colder and snow falls, there are several important things to consider.

First, do you have a snow clean-up plan? If not, take advantage of The Parke Company’s snow removal services to ensure your walkways and driveways are clean so that the winter weather doesn’t get in the way of you going about your life.

With or without snow, icy buildup on your exterior stairs and walkways can be very annoying or seriously dangerous. Unfortunately, many commercially available rock salts can have incredibly detrimental effects on your plants, gardens, and lawn. Make sure that you are utilizing safe salt options so that spring will find your property in good health and ready to take on the bountiful rains and sunshine.

Much of what needs to be done during the winter months you can do yourself. However, it is often safer and less time consuming to hire a professional. When it comes to ice and snow removal, it is important to know what you can safely do and when the project is over your head. If you are unsure, be safe and give us a call.

Is Winter Finally Over?

As the winter season ends and warmer weather rapidly approaches, there is a whole new list of things to do to get your landscapes ready for spring. Make sure you reach out to the professionals at The Parke Company to help you meet these seasonal changes head on to ensure that your property gets the fresh start it deserves.

Whatever Your Winterization Needs Are, Let The Parke Company Go to Work for You

Locally owned and operated, The Parke Company provides community-centered, high quality, and affordable tree and landscaping services to municipalities, businesses, and private residences in the greater Nashville area. We know Nashville. When it comes to winterization. We know the soil, water tables, and the specific winterization requirements for species endemic to Tennessee and for non-native plants and trees. We have experienced many Nashville winters ourselves and know how to best prepare for them. Even more, we know what to do when the unexpected happens and when the preparation is not enough. Our certified team of Nashville locals has a reputation for being clean, consistent, and professional and for being leaders in their industries. We at The Parke Company stand behind our work and pride ourselves on our ability to respond quickly, provide efficient and cost-effective services, and meet your needs every step of the way. Please feel free to give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.