Spring Is Here, Weather To Follow | | |
We hope you got outside during the record-setting 75-degree Tuesday last week. After a long, dreary winter, these spring teaser days are so appreciated. And the cherry blossoms at the University of Washington got a lot of attention as they were in full bloom, with people out and enjoying them.
Ironically, the windy rain on Thursday and Friday blew most of the blossoms off, so it was short-lived. And so is spring weather, as we've fallen back into rainy conditions. This is typical spring, and we will see variable weather with nice days and rain throughout the next couple of months. This does make spring challenging, but we fight through it as we have to. But it is our pleasure to have worked long and hard all winter to prepare your landscapes to be enjoyed as they pop into life over the next few weeks.
| | Lawns are starting to grow, but as usual, mowing is challenging due to the soft, saturated soil. We're currently mowing as needed, depending on conditions. We try to avoid mowing on or right after rainy days to prevent damage from rutting. March is always a tricky month for mowing, so schedules will vary based on the weather. Regular weekly mowing is expected to begin sometime in April. | REJUVENATION PRUNING CONTINUES | | |
As we have been discussing all winter, there are likely some shrubs in your landscape that naturally grow larger than the space they’ve been planted in allows. In keeping them pruned to the appropriate height, many shrubs eventually get out of hand and become too big. To correct this, we recommend rejuvenation pruning to bring them back into size. Sometimes this can be done with thinning cuts, but other times they need to be cut all the way down to the ground and allowed to regrow at a shorter, more natural height.
The problem is, when we make that cutback, it often looks like we’ve killed the plants. However, they almost always grow back and look much better by the end of the season.
| | IRRIGATION SYSTEM ACTIVATION SERVICE | | |
As wet as it is outside right now, irrigation season is only a month or two away. We’ve been busy over the past month and will continue through April to get our systems serviced and ready to go. While we’ve occasionally started irrigating as early as April 1, the season typically kicks off sometime in May.
If you happen to see the sprinklers running in the next few weeks, it’s likely because our staff is on site tuning up your system for the season.
| | Throughout the winter, we spend a lot of time cleaning up and removing leaves and other organic debris from the shrub beds. Unfortunately, some trees, including most oaks still haven’t dropped all of their leaves, so this work continues into early spring. While part of this effort is to keep sites looking cosmetically clean, it also prepares the shrub beds for pre-emergent weed control applications and re-barkdusting. | | SEASONAL COLOR MAINTENANCE | | Most pansy plantings are doing quite well. Some of the credit of this is due to the mostly mild weather this winter, but our ongoing winter maintenance program helps ensure regardless of whether that your pansies are healthy through the winter and into the spring. Pansies are starting to grow again, and the bloom will be spectacular over the next 2 months before it is time to change out to summer flowers. | | We highly recommend re-barkdusting sites every other year. Barkdust decomposes over time, and it’s a great agent for moisture control and weed suppression. It also makes your project look dramatically better when maintained on an every-other-year basis. However, its appearance fades with time, as do its water-saving and weed-control properties. | | We promote, and upon approval perform, moss control during the winter on most lawns we maintain. Moss is very aggressive due to our dark, wet winters. Our recommended program is treating lawns in the winter, which we are just wrapping up, followed by treatment again in the early spring, which will begin in April. | | SOON YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ENJOY SPRING IN YOUR BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE | | Winter has been busy, and spring will be even busier. We're excited for the weather to improve, the plants to come back to life, and for all the work we’ve done over the past winter to shine through in beautiful landscapes this spring and summer. We look forward to all our efforts helping you enjoy and appreciate your great landscape. | | | | |
