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Landscape Articles

Getting Acquainted with Native Bees

“Save the bees” is a phrase that has been repeated endlessly over the last couple of decades. We know how important it is to support our pollinator population, and have learned many ways to care for bees as they do their incredibly important work.

Shade gardening design ideas that bring the WOW to your landscape

If you’re a homeowner who has been discouraged about gardening because your property is partially or even totally shaded, take heart. Gardening in shady areas is not only possible, it also can be very rewarding – if you understand the various ways shade’s disadvantages can be overcome.

Of course, shade gardening can be challenging. Growing plants successfully among aggressive tree roots and matching the right plants with variable light conditions can take a little more effort, but it will be well worth it. The rewards include creating unique plant settings and textures that constantly evolve with the changing light and bringing color and interest to a part of your property that otherwise would be dull and monotone. In fact, shady spots in your yard, such as under a tree or beside a building, can be every bit as beautiful as brighter areas of your landscape. The key is choosing plants that thrive in low-light conditions.

How to Pick the Best Foundation Plants for Great Curb Appeal

Nothing improves the beauty of a yard and the curb appeal of a home more than the right plantings. Color, texture, size, and shape combine to create a unique and attractive environment that adds value as well as beauty to your property. 

Unfortunately, many homes suffer from less-than-stellar plantings as the result of neglect, disinterest, and just plain old lack of imagination. You can spot some of these homes from a mile away by their plop-and-drop, contractor-special shrubs scattered around the house in cookie-cutter beds. But it doesn’t have to be this way. If your yard is suffering from poor plantings, this post will provide you with what you need to know to quickly upgrade your beds.

3 Rules for Beautiful Landscape Blooms All Year Long

While we may be firmly in summer’s grasp here in Massachusetts, as locals know, this weather won’t last forever. Although we are now seeing more extended runs of high temperature thanks to climate change, our area has traditionally had distinct cold and hot seasons.

But that doesn’t mean you only have to enjoy healthy blooms in your yard for a few months out of the year. Not much will grow in the bitter cold of the New England winter, but with some planning and careful selection of the right species, you can have a garden with color and blooms for nearly the entire year. 

Here are our three best tips to extend your yard’s bloom time:  

Common Pruning Mistakes & How to Fix Them

With the warmer weather of summer now here to stay in Massachusetts, homeowners will soon start seeing sprouts and seedlings from their early season plantings, if they haven’t already. As your yard grows, it’s important to maintain it properly so that plants can stay healthy and provide beautiful blooms for as long as possible.

Pruning, or trimming certain parts of a plant, can help make it last longer and increase its blooms. But we see some good-intentioned gardeners making pruning mistakes that can actually damage the health of the yard.

Here are some of the most common mistakes we see homeowners making when pruning their yards, and how to overcome them:

The Top 3 Summer Flowers to Beautify Your Landscape

After battling the forces of winter into the early part of May, it appears to finally be time for consistent warm weather here in Massachusetts! We’ve been dealing with the cold longer than normal this year, which can make it challenging to get your garden ready before the bloom season hits full swing.

Choosing Hardy Biennials for Your Yard in Massachusetts

As the name suggests, biennials are plants that take at least two years to go through their entire lifecycle. With multicolor bloom phases and interesting shapes, these plants make an ideal addition to any yard. Some of the best biennials in Massachusetts are hardy, growing best when they can set roots early in more mild fall or winter seasons.


Below are some of our favorite biennials suitable for the New England climate. Remember that some plants classified as biennials can last longer than two years.

Planting Grasses in the Fall for Year-Round Interest

One of our favorite things about landscape design is the amount of personal expression it allows. Most people associate landscape with flowers and shrubs, but there are many different styles of plants that can thrive in your garden, depending on your tastes.


People sometimes forget about ornamental grasses. They often don’t take as central of a role in your garden as flowers and vegetables, but these grasses can still add a nice touch to your yard. Grasses are also great because many of them bloom in colder weather, which can help your yard look attractive even in the offseason.


Here’s what you need to know about planting ornamental grasses in the fall.

Best Fall Colors in New England

Before the wind and early snow take away the rest of our fall foliage, make some time to appreciate the variety of color New England has this time of year. Plants that have phenomenal fall foliage colors are important to consider when designing landscapes. A few of our favorite fall beauties are: Diane Witch Hazel Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane', Little Henry Virginia Sweetspire Itea virginica 'Sprich' and Paperbark Maple Acer griseum.

Seasonal Planting for Year-Round Beauty and Environmental Support

Homeowners often place lots of emphasis on creating a garden with beautiful flowers and shrubs that bloom majestically in the spring season. Unfortunately, focusing on beauty for a single season can leave your yard lacking during the rest of the year.


With some careful planning and a bit of creativity, you can create a garden that will keep your yard in color and wonderful smells for all four seasons, even during the warm months. Use the pointers below to create a garden that will delight your senses all year.

Getting Ready for Spring- Tips for Your Garden and Yard

Spring Is On Its Way! 

Here are few suggestions for getting your garden and yard ready for the warm weather and green grass.

 

They're Not Just for Beauty: Tips for Coordinating Bloom Times in Your Garden

The timing of your garden is much more complex than simply thinking about planting, growing, and harvesting seasons. You must also think about the lifecycle of the plants in your yard. With a bit of planning and foresight, you can create spaces in your yard that are welcoming, relaxing, and colorful all year.

5 Excellent Plants for Your Natural Contemplative Garden

One of the best things about the outdoors is its ability to rejuvenate the human spirit. After a tough day at work or a difficult experience with a friend or family member, it’s nice to be able to get home to a tranquil yard to let nature sooth you.


If you’re building a space in your yard for this purpose, you need the right flowers, shrubs, and trees. Here are five of our favorites for a meditation garden in Massachusetts:

4 Tips to Prepare Your Yard for Warmer Weather (While It's Still Cold)

4 Tips to Prepare Your Garden for Warmer Weather


Think you can’t garden just because it’s cold outside? Think again! While you may not be able to put in the long, peaceful afternoons in the yard like you can in the summer, there are still plenty of things to be done to prepare yourself and your garden for the coming warmth.


Here are four steps to help you get ready for spring before it gets here:

Make Time to Stop and Smell the Flowers: 8 Plants and Shrubs with Relaxing Scents

Picking the right plants for your gardens not only makes your landscaping look beautiful, they can add pleasurable, relaxing scents. Choosing flower smells you enjoy is important because they can have a positive effect on your mood after a long, hectic day at the office.

Before you head to your local nursery or hire a landscaper, think about what scents you like. Some people like bright, sweet, and fruity smells, while others like more subdued, spicy, or herbal smells. From there, pick plants that have long bloom times and complement other flowers in your garden.

Here are eight popular types of flowering plants:

Top 4 Landscaping Tips for the Ever-Changing New England Climate

Creating vivacious landscape designs can be challenging, given New England’s intense four seasons. Massachusetts weather ranges from bitterly cold nights in the middle of winter to hot and humid summer days. This extreme variety of temperatures can put stress on plants. The four tips below will help you create a beautiful landscape in New England’s fickle climate.

Little Known Ways to Select Foundation Plantings You Will Love

Picking out the right permanent plants will give your landscapes great color throughout the year. They will complement your house and the flowers you chose for the rest of your garden. That’s why many considerations need to go into choosing the foundation plantings that work best for your yard. Here are some things to think about before you start planting:

Native Perennials for Eastern Massachusetts

Two of our favorite native perennials to plant in Eastern Massachusetts are Kim's Knee High and Bridal Veil False Spirea. The Echinacea purpurea 'Kim's Knee High' is a compact version of Purple Coneflower. It is covered in 3-inch rosy-pink flowers that have drooping petals. This Coneflower will begin blooming a week or two the other Echinacea's. It is the ideal addition to a small landscape design where birds and butterflies can access it. All Coneflowers have such good root systems that they are known as "clay busters", tough enough to handle difficult clay soils. They grow best in full sun and are known to attract birds and hummingbirds, while keeping away deer due to their rugged texture.

Low Maintenance Gardens for Eastern Massachusetts

In Eastern MA, there are many different types of gardens that will grow and thrive, even in the finicky coastal MA weather. A few garden types you might want to consider planting are:

Perennials to Plant in Eastern Massachusetts

Many gardeners choose perennials to plant in their yards to add color and create a low maintenance garden space. Perennials are great because they have color that pops in the spring, summer, or fall, then die back for the winter and repeat the next season.

What Are the Best Plants for Shade Gardens?

Are You Growing Plants in the Shade?

Companion Planting with New England Native Plants

One of the best ways to create an ecological garden is by planting more native plants. Planting native plants enhances and supports your local ecosystem which has more benefits than we can imagine. When selecting plants think about companion planting. Many native plants have evolved along side each other and grow more naturally together. The following are two great examples of companion planting:

Privacy Landscape Design in Jamaica Plain, MA

Clients in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts presented us with a very challenging situation in their back/ side yard.

Colorful Garden Landscape Designs

The colorful garden combination above is from a front yard garden design in Arlington, Massachusetts. The homeowner wanted colorful blooms combined with various textures and flower shapes and sizes. The pink shrub is an Anthony Waterer Spirea which blooms throughout the summer and even attracts butterflies. The blue shrub placed slightly behind the Anthony Waterer Spirea is an Endless Summer Hydrangea. This specific hydrangea needs to be planted in well-identified soil because the bloom color changes with elements found in the soil. The Endless Summer Hydrangea has a blue bloom in more acidic soil and a pink bloom in alkaline soil. The perennial in the front is a Hillside Black Beauty with dark purple, almost black leaves and creamy white flowers in early fall. The three plants next to each other makes this yard noticeable to anyone passing by as the colors compliment each other while allowing for each plant to stand out in a unique way.

 

Is a shade garden design best for you?

When deciding on a new garden landscape, there are many types of garden designs to choose from. Depending on your needs and existing conditions, gardens can be made for privacy, relaxation, entertainment, play space, etc. The garden pictured below is a mature shade garden designed and installed in Lexington Massachusetts by the Moodscapes team a couple years ago. 

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