Summer officially begins tomorrow, but our season is already in full swing. Here's what we've got going on!
Maintenance
As with any other season, our maintenance crews have been hard at work keeping your lawns and gardens in peak condition. For the summer season, our focus turns to maintain plant material through pruning and deadheading.
First Rounds of Pruning
We've been pruning trees, shrubs, and hedges since early May. This includes plants such as boxwoods, hollies, and hornbeams, as well as azaleas and barberries. Our maintenance crews use a combination of hand pruning and shearing, which can vary depending on the plant material and client preference. When a plant is hand pruned, the crew uses their hand pruners, hand shears, and pole clips to individually remove dead, overgrown, or leggy branches, stems, and foliage. This is done to maintain the integrity of the plant so that it may continue to grow healthfully and encourage blooms. This process is more time-consuming because it generally pays
greater attention to detail. Clients who appreciate a natural look in their garden might request that their plants be hand-pruned. Those with a sharper, more modern vision may prefer pruning to be done with shears. This allows for less control over what gets removed and stays, but the result is a cleaner, more uniform aesthetic.
Fine Gardening
Pruning goes beyond just the more traditional shrubs, as there is a necessity for proper pruning in fine gardening as well. This generally includes perennial flowering shrubs such as rose bushes and hydrangeas, but it also includes the more traditional perennials such as salvia, nepeta, and daylilies, as well as climbing vines like ivy, wisteria, and climbing hydrangeas. This is the exact time of year to cut back dead blooms from the spring so that even more buds may blossom in the summer. In fact, we are exactly two weeks away from the 4th of July, which means it's the perfect time to deadhead if you want your blooms back by the holiday!
Summer Flowers
Summer flower installations also began in early May. This season has been particularly fun for us as plant material has finally been attainable after a couple of years of what seemed like a flower drought. That, in combination with our brand new greenhouse, awarded us the opportunity to order our tropicals early without fear of them freezing. As a result, our flowers and seasonal decor team were able to design containers that we couldn't be more proud of. Everyone's gardens have never looked better, and we so appreciate all of the feedback we've gotten letting us know!
With summer vacations beginning soon, this is an excellent time to note that our crews offer container maintenance to keep your summer annuals fresh and blooming throughout the season. Whether you are going out of town and need your containers cared for while you're gone or you want regular ongoing maintenance, we can discuss options for container care.