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Understanding Sun Levels and the Seasonality of Shadows

The key to getting a lush and beautiful lawn or garden relies heavily on sun levels and how every plant has different needs. Some plants do wonderfully in bright and full sun while others burn, and some plants need shade and cooler areas to thrive. How the sun changes throughout the day and during the season also factors in, and we’re going to give you a quick breakdown of the most important points below.

Understanding Sun Levels

When you purchase plants or even pick out grass seed, it’ll have a preferred sun level listed on the package. You want to get as close to this sun level as possible when you plant them to ensure they get enough but not too much light and heat. The most basic sun levels include:

• Full Sun – Six hours at a minimum of direct sun every day
• Part Sun – Three to six hours of direct sun every day
• Part Shade – Three to six hours of sun every day, but they’ll need protection during the middle of the day from the most intense sun
• Full Shade – Less than three hours of direct sunlight a day

Unless the plant is full or partial sun, you want to put them in an area where shadows shield them from the direct mid-day sun. This is too hot for them to be in the direct light, and it’s very easy for them to burn or wilt. Once they do, it’s difficult to get them back to full health unless you immediately take steps to fix how much light they get and at what time of day they get it. Also, water in the early morning or evening hours to avoid magnifying the light and burning your plant’s leaves.

What is the Seasonality of Shadows?

When you think of the seasons, shadows come into play. Spring and summer are the seasons where the days get longer, and there are fewer shadows. Once fall and winter hit, you’ll get less direct sunlight and much longer shadows. So, an area that was perfect for your part sun plant may now be too shaded for them to continue to grow well. If this is the case, you may find yourself moving your plants to continue giving them the correct light amount.

The season with the shortest shadows starts during the Spring Equinox in March, and it goes until the end of August in the Midwest climates. Then, the days slowly start getting shorter and the shadows longer. This will change, depending on your location. However, almost every part of the United States will notice shorter days in the fall and winter months over the spring and summer months. You want to plan accordingly, especially if you have plants out all year-round.

Doing things like planting things in containers where you can easily move them from space to space or putting up temporary shade structures in the warmer months that you can take down in the cooler months can help your plants thrive.

Contact Evergreen Landscaping

Are you not sure which plants will work best with your sun levels? Maybe you have questions on how to optimize your garden or landscape level, so they all get the correct amount of light. Whatever the reason, you can contact us at Evergreen Landscaping. Our staff will answer your questions and help you find the perfect balance of sun and shade for your plants.

What is Hydroseeding?

When you perform seeding applications, you want a method that is going to cover a lot of areas while giving you full and even results. This is where hydroseeding comes in. If you’ve never heard of it, this quick overview will fill you in on everything you need to know.

How Hydroseeding Started

Maurice Mandell of the Connecticut Highway Department gets credit for starting hydroseeding or hydro mulching in the 1940s. His concept involved mixing water and seed before spraying it on areas around the highways and roads in Connecticut to sow grass to prevent erosion and encourage grass growth after construction. Hydroseeding is a very technical process that involves some specialized equipment, and it’s good for any size project but small. In 1953, Charles Finn of Finn Corporation invented the world’s first hydroseeder. They’re currently the biggest hydroseeder manufacturer in the world.

Defining Hydroseeding

Hydroseeding involves spraying a water-based slurry of mulch, seeds, soil additives, and fertilizer to plant seeds. This is one of the most efficient methods of planting for virtually every application but very small areas. The key to the higher efficiency rate of this process is that you combine all of the essential materials for healthy, quick seed germination in a single application. You’ll need:

• Fertilizer
• Great seed to soil contact
• Seed protection
• Moisture retention

The first thing you have to do determine which additives you need to add to condition your soil for the highest rate of growth and germination for your seeds. You have to get the soil ready for planting by loosening up any highly compacted soil to let the plant roots break in and grow deep. When you get your soil test results back, you can pick out the correct seed blend to create the grass or plants you want to grow.

You’ll usually plant grass during hydroseeding, but it’s typically a mix of plants and grass in the seeds. Pick out the correct fertilizer and additives. These additives could include aluminum sulfate, elemental sulfur, nitrogen, iron sulfate, or lime. If you’re hydroseeding on a hill or slope, add tackifiers. Finally, you should add mulch to give your seeds the best opportunity to have a healthy and quick start with even and sustained growth.

When is the Best Time to Hydroseed?

Your climate will be the biggest factor that impacts when it’s the best time to hydroseed. Ideally, the temperature will fall in the cool but not cold range, and you should have a reasonable amount of rainfall in the forecast. Rain will help offset your watering costs. Generally speaking, fall is the best time to hydroseed because the seeds can establish themselves before going dormant.

Hydroseeding in the early spring months is also acceptable. The cooler temperature and rainy spring weather can create excellent growing conditions. However, if the spring gets directly followed by a hot summer, you’ll spend more watering for the first year to keep the grass alive and growing. Don’t plant it in the summer unless you have a cheap and abundant water source and a lot of time to tend to it.

Evergreen Landscaping Can Help with Hydroseeding

If you’re interested in learning more about hydroseeding or if you want to use it to help create a lush lawn, contact us. Our staff is ready to help in any way they can.

Themed Garden Designs

Does your garden have a theme? Maybe you’ve never tried to create a theme with your garden, and you have no idea where to start. At the core, a themed garden design is landscaping based on a specific idea or concept. There are several more well-known garden themes out there, including:

• Butterfly gardens
• Chinese gardens
• Desert gardens
• Japanese gardens
• Wildlife gardens
• Zen gardens

Arguably one of the hardest parts of this process is coming up with the central design idea. Once you pick out an idea that you like, everything else should gradually fall into place. The easiest way to go about this is to think of what you enjoy and let the concept grow from this thought process.

Your garden theme design can vary widely, and you’re spoiled for choice. The only limits to your theme are your imagination. However, this can also be overwhelming, so we’ll give you several theme ideas with examples of flowers you can incorporate into your own yard below.

Wildflower Themed Garden

If you love how wildflowers look, you can easily design a wildflower-friendly garden that you’ll fill with native plants. Depending on your location, bluebells, penstemon, lupine, and coneflower are all excellent picks. Maybe you love wildflowers, but you’re more of a night person. If this is the case, the moonflower, Casa Blanca lily, Queen of the Night, and Gardenia Augusta are all solid choices that bloom during the evening hours.

Color Themed Garden

Do you have a favorite color or colors? You could go for a cool green garden that showcases pops of vibrant yellow or orange blooms, or maybe you want a blue garden. Marigolds, yellow roses, sunflowers, lilies, tulips, and some daisies come in shades of yellow and orange. For a blue garden, try hydrangeas, larkspur, sage, bellflowers, or morning glories. Whatever colors you choose, you can incorporate them into your plant pots or borders too.

Elizabethan Themed Garden

Perhaps you’re someone who is into a more classic design with a calming look and feel. If so, you could incorporate carefully placed benches with deep green hedges framing the garden. Other nice classic touches are water features like fountains, statues, or even a low rock wall.

Consider Your Climate and Home Style

In the early stages of developing your garden theme, consider your local climate because this impacts what will and won’t thrive in your garden. For example, it would be challenging to have a desert garden in Florida, or you would have a challenging time creating a tropical-themed garden in the American Southwest.

Your home’s style will also impact which garden theme you choose. If you live in an older, stately home, incorporating a formal Victorian garden is a great fit. But, having a rock garden with this type of home could look out of place and impact your overall aesthetic.

Contact Evergreen Landscaping

Would you like help bringing your garden theme to life? Maybe you’re not sure which plants will do best in your local climate. Either way, our staff is here to help. You can reach out and get in touch with us to start the design process and get tips and advice.

How to Winterize Your Garden in the Colder Months

Your work as a gardener is never done, and this is especially true in the fall months heading into winter. You’ve spent a lot of time, blood, sweat, and tears on your garden to make it what it is, and winterizing is one way to protect your investment. We’ll outline several easy tips you can use to winterize your garden below.

Tip One – Clear Out Weeds and Debris

This isn’t a fun job, but you want to take time and pull the weeds from around your plants. Clean out any dead or drying debris at the same time. These dead and dying debris or weeds are breeding grounds for pests that can survive through the winter and wreak havoc on your plants in the spring. It also gives a place for bacteria and fungi to grow. You can pull the roots out whole because they’re mature, and this reduces the strain on your body as well as your frustration levels.

Tip Two – Plant Any Bulbs

Fall is the time to plant your bulbs so they have the entire winter to rest and get ready to bloom in the spring. You’ll have to dig several inches down into the soil to plant your bulbs, so the winter cold doesn’t kill or injure them. But, it’s well worth it in the spring when you get a strong crop of vegetables or pretty flowers.

Tip Three – Put a Covering on Your Shrubs, Rosebushes, and Trees

If you’re trying to establish new shrubs, rosebushes, or trees, you’ll want to wrap them in a jacket for the winter months to help shield them from the cold and snow. If you don’t want to buy a jacket, you can easily make on out of burlap or landscape fabric that protects the plant’s bark and the delicate branch systems.

Tip Four – Add a Layer of Mulch

Mulch is a great way to retain water and soil moisture during the summer, and it looks nice. However, it also works well in the winter months to help retain a little more heat and lock the cold out. It will deter weed growth in the spring, and it’ll slowly start to break down and add organic matter to the soil to feed your plants when they enter the active growing season again. The mulch should go right up to the plants to protect the roots and stems because these are the most vulnerable parts of the plant.

Tip Five – Dig up Vulnerable Plants

Anyone who grows more tender plants like Elephant Ears, Dahlias, Cannas, or who has more sensitive bulbs should dig them up in the fall. When the warmer weather starts to come back around, you can replant them and enjoy them for another year. If you have Begonias or other annuals, you can move them indoors. Leaving these sensitive plants outside during the colder months is one good way to ensure that you’ll lose them, and it’s almost impossible to bring your plants back from frost damage.

Contact Evergreen Landscaping Today

If you’re not sure how to get your yard or garden ready for the winter, contact us. Our dedicated team is ready and willing to answer any questions you have, address your concerns, or schedule an appointment to come help you winterize your space.