arlington_ma_side_x_side.gif

Landscape Articles

How and Why to Minimize Your Lawn in Massachusetts

A short, neatly-edged expanse of sprawling green grass is the ultimate idea of the American lawn. Unfortunately, the “perfect” lawn is more reminiscent of a chemically-treated golf course than a healthy yard that supports the environment around it.


Without large amounts of watering, pesticide and herbicide use, and constant application of fertilizer, those pristine green lawns are impossible to maintain. These lawns are not environmentally-friendly, nor are they a healthy place for children or dogs to play on. Follow the advice below to create an organic lawn that is both safe for your family and good to the natural world.

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.

 

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:

First 5 Steps to Create an Organic Landscape

Organic landscaping may sound overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be — all you need is a good plan and the ability to stick to it. Once you’ve decided to start an organic landscaping project, these are the first five steps that you’ll want to take:

Your Lawn Deserves the Best: 5 Great Reasons to Use Organic Fertilizer

Are you looking for the best possible fertilizer for your lawn and unsure what to pick? Wondering if investing in organic fertilizers are even worth it? Organic supplements and fertilizers are not only better for the environment, they create long-lasting, healthy, and vibrant lawns. Check out these five reasons why organic fertilizers are the right choice for your yard:

Clever Ways to Use Stone in Your Landscape Project

Stones are a beautiful addition to any garden — they evoke a feeling of permanence and strength. By uniquely arranging rocks and boulders in your landscaping, you can enjoy not only the aesthetic benefits but also the healing, grounding nature of rock’s mountain-like properties.

Here are some interesting ways to incorporate stone hardscapes into your property:

Most Popular Meditation Garden Backyard Layouts and Designs

The way you design and plan your meditation garden is a matter of individual preference. There are many factors that may go into deciding how to create your own space to relax and unwind. Here are some features that have both proven to be both popular and effective in creating a tranquil meditation space in your backyard:

Landscape Water Features: Which is Best for Your Backyard?

Fountains, birdbaths, and ponds add a soothing and relaxing element to your landscaping — but they can be expensive and difficult to engineer. This short guide will give you an introduction to picking out the perfect water feature for your yard.

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:

Do More Than Just Garden: 5 Tips for Creating a Relaxing & Remedial Landscape

Is your garden just a garden, or is it providing you with a place to escape and find rejuvenation? With some careful thought, you can create a beautiful place where you’ll find rest from a busy world. These five tips will help you landscape in a way that is relaxing and remedial.   

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:

3 Rules for an Effortless and Stress-free Landscape Project

After a busy day of work, you want to come home to a beautiful landscaped yard — without worrying about hours of weeding, pruning, fertilizing, and watering. How can you design a stress-free garden? These three rules can help guide you through creating and maintaining a yard with minimal effort.

5 Fun and Creative Ways to Increase Your Home’s Curb Appeal

The front of your house is the first thing that people see. What does yours say about you? Creating a warm entryway makes your house feel welcoming and gives a great first impression.

A home with great curb appeal isn’t just for guests or neighbors to enjoy. When you return to your house after a long day at work, a well thought out and intentionally designed entry will make you glad to be home. Here are five ways you can create a beautiful front yard.

5 Super Easy Ways to Create Privacy in Your Backyard

Entering your yard should feel like coming home to your own little sanctuary from the world. How can you do this naturally? A fence may seem like an easy solution, but there are other ways to give your backyard some seclusion that will be efficient and better looking than iron or wooden planks.

Fences can feel cold and impersonal. In crowded, suburban and urban areas, sound and light is still carried over them. They’ll also interrupt the expansive, picturesque views that you want to enjoy.

Instead of a fence, here are five simple and natural ways to help you create privacy, diminish light and sound pollution, and give your yard a warm and welcoming feel:

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:

Questions To Ask A Professional Landscape Designer

Are you looking for a new landscape design this season? All landscape design jobs- backyard designs, garden design plans, and front yard landscape designs, require a consultation with a professional landscape designer as the first step.

What Are the Best Plants for Shade Gardens?

Are You Growing Plants in the Shade?

3 Shade Garden Design Ideas to Customize Your Landscape

Because there are so many factors to consider, it is best to leave shade garden designs to the professionals. To get you started, here are 3 ideas to get you thinking about the endless possibilities there are for growing plants in the shade.

A Great Massachusetts Resource- MassRealty

Everyone knows how important curb appeal is for selling and maintaining value to a home. We as landscape designers always encourage homeowners to think about increasing property value and their curb appeal through proper landscape design and installation. Aside from proper landscape design, there are many other aspects to homeownership that will help maintain and increase value. A great resource for understanding all the aspects of owning and selling a home in Massachusetts is MassRealty.

Why Native Plants are Important to Use

Throughout the past few years it has become a very popular trend for designers to create a native plant garden design, and for good reason.  The benefits of using native plants in your home garden are extensive and long lasting.

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.

 

Benefits of Hiring a Professional Landscape Designer

One of the many benefits of hiring a professional landscape designer is that you do not have to worry about plants growing too closely together (see above photo). When you hire a professional landscape designer they work hard to properly measure and plan out the space in your garden bed. If plants are planted too closely together they may not root properly and therefore not bloom or grow to their full potential. Many times plants can be moved by digging out the roots and transplanting them, but you risk harming the plant if it is not done correctly. Save yourself the time and aggravation of transplanting and hire a professional to help you.

The importance of a soil test in Massachusetts

WHAT IS A SOIL TEST?

Search

  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Recent Posts

10 Common Gardening Mistakes that Hurt the Environment
8 Essential Elements of a Spectacular Outdoor Living Space

Popular Posts