Blind Corners...Do Your Neighbors a Favor

 

I have pruned and/or removed many shrubs and trees near a customer's driveway in order to enable a better view while leaving home and entering a roadway.

As I drive around Forest Acres and other areas, particularly neighborhoods, I often encounter intersections where I have no safe view of the roadway, particularly potential cross-traffic. Putting the front of one's vehicle out into an intersection to gain a better view is not safe. I am certain this is not unique to our area.

I also encounter this on tight back roads and curves where the plant life and foliage is over-grown...it's troubling.

A blind corner or intersection is exactly that...blind - unsafe and dangerous. Now, we are no longer dealing with simply leaving a driveway we are familiar with, but navigating another roadway or intersection at much higher speeds.

Not potentially as dangerous as the near-hidden Stop Sign in the photo, but any obscured intersection or roadway is dangerous.

Please take the time to assess whether your property, its shrubs or trees, may be causing such a hindrance.

This is not simply about your neighbors, but fellow drivers and pedestrians as well.

At a minimum, go out and trim or hack those plants back.

Or, contact me and I will see what is necessary to permanently resolve the problem or make it more manageable over time.

And, if you have shrubs and trees hiding that beautiful home you paid a small fortune for, I'll help you with that.

Doug Ingbretsen

Back40 Landscape Restoration and Maintenance

803-553-5757

Merry Mailboxes

These are wonderful mailbox covers.

This is the one I chose.

There are a variety of themes for most any holiday or season, and beyond. If you have a typical metal mailbox, these are easy to install and the artwork is amazing.

I had an old cloth type mailbox cover before, which I loved, but it became difficult to keep clean and faded over time. I removed the old cover as best I could and exposed enough metal for the new one to be installed as it is secured magnetically.

The depth of color is fantastic and I believe they are made of vinyl, which should be easy to clean, when needed.

There may be other providers of these, but I purchased mine from Briarwood Lane.

Please consider whether you have a standard or oversized mailbox...the varying dimensions are provided.

Spruce Weed and Grass Killer

 

Firstly, I am not rewarded for mentioning/promoting any product...perhaps one day.

Over the last few months, I have been testing a few herbicides on my property as well as my customers.

Regardless of the legal claims against Roundup and its use of glyphosate, I never found it effective.

Perhaps it is effective on a larger scale with aerial agricultural applications. Which may have led to the legal claims of harm to health.

Again, I never found it effective when attempting to kill/mitigate weeds or what I simply classify as unwanted growth.

However, on the recommendation of a customer, I have found Spruce very effective at killing/disrupting the foliage of most any weed and young plant.

The manufacturer touts it killing the roots and I don't know if it does such. The average user would not know so and I have a way of testing such, but I don't know if I will take the time to test this.

Nonetheless, visually, it seems to be the most effective weed killer I have ever used.

Of course, depending on the environ and the plant bed, its presentation or posture on your property...even if you kill unwanted growth, you may still need/want to remove by hand.

Spruce claims to be non-toxic to pets and humans.

Spruce is the best solution I have found.

 

Fall - The Time to Prune, Plant and Plan...Re-orchestrate

Well, it is Fall in the Midlands. Not that all the growing and blooming has ceased. 

But, many of our plants and  landscapes have experienced much growth - for some, out-of-hand growth over the growing season.

You had (or perhaps, had not) spent much of the summer keeping up with or maintaining your property, beautifully.

Nonetheless, fall and winter are a wonderful time to prune, plant and plan for next year. Why wait?

Plants and their intentions, their DNA, their hormones, love some additional care and attention from their proprietors.

Pruning: Proper pruning this time of year helps your plants prepare for next year, and done well, provides them the future direction of growth which best suits their position and place on your property.

Planting: So many of your favorite plants and those you have in mind for next year will benefit from being placed where you wish, right now, in the warm earth, rather than sitting in a pot in a nursery. Place them where you wish now and enjoy with less effort next season.

Plan: Walk your property and discover what plants and plant beds, trees and shrubs need addressing in regard to their spread, growth and health.

Re-orchestrate: It's your property - determine what you want and where, and blend the components of your landscape - the plants, the collective beds, the specimen plants and trees.

Next season, next year, next spring, will be more enjoyable.

Other Considerations

• Prune and/or remove (overgrowth, intruding and encroaching branches, vines, etc.).
• Clean out weeds (remove).
• Pressure-wash man-made surfaces - drive and walkways, decks, retaining walls, siding, foundations, etc.
• Re-establish plant bed borders.
• Re-stain/seal decks.
• Simply do some outdoor housekeeping for football season, family and friend visits and the approaching holidays.

Need assistance? Give us a call at 803-553-5757, go to back40.us or use the Contact Us feature above.

Just call me, Doug.

Off-Season Lawn Edging

So, what do I mean by off-season?

Well, this could be the non-growing time of the year whereas your turf grass leaves (blades) are not growing vertically or are dormant.

Or, it could be your state-of-mind as you see no reason for lawn maintenance except for keeping it clear of debris - leaves, pine straw, branches, etc.

For most of the off-season, you will notice very little to no vertical growth. Most of the warm season turf grasses which we have here in the midlands put out stolons (runners). These lateral above-ground root stems seek out the warm earth during the off-season and unless impeded by some barrier, will find their way beyond what you define as your lawn and into your plant beds or other areas.

Even with some bed borders, these stolons will still find a way under, through or over, depending on the type and depth.

The spread of the stolons varies and some are more noticeable such as centipede reaching quite far to take root over a barren piece of earth.

Unattended, any of the grasses can take root in your plant beds and require more work to remove. Successfully edging (cutting through a stolon) doesn't mean you solved the problem. It will grow and root again, and repeat.

But, if you or your lawn service routinely check these borders and edge regularly, or as needed, you will have cleaner beds and a better-looking lawn.

In the photo you will notice the right border is concrete and although the grass has no chance of re-rooting and continuing, it is quite unsightly.

The remaining edge of the lawn has what I call a natural border, as the lawn meets the bed with no man-made or other type of barrier. I believe these are very attractive when maintained, but are more susceptible to grass creep.

So, walk around your property and make note of where your lawn abuts whatever - a plant bed, a walkway, a ground level patio.

With some attention to detail, the delineation of your landscape's components will make all stand out and complement one another.

From Ominous to Oasis

Oasis - After

Caveat: Many of the photos displayed will not be appreciated without viewing the "before" images.

This area of interest here had so much potential; however, it had not been maintained or perhaps, haphazardly maintained, for many, many years. 

The beauty, or the centerpiece rather, is this massive Japanese Maple with three codominant stems, each which also branch off at least once again at the lower portions of the tree...she is gorgeous.

Oasis - After

The other plants of interest are the understory Camellias and Sasanquas.

The other addition or detractor (more in a moment) is a mature Crepe Myrtle that somehow made its way into the scheme of things.

Oasis - After

If you view the before photos you will realize it is difficult to distinguish one plant from another. In fact, a fair portion of the foliage you see is not that of the plants I mentioned. It is the foliage of wisteria, Virginia creeper and smilax. I was well protected from the sun as I worked until I removed much of this unwanted growth which constituted much of the crown of both the Japanese Maple and Crepe Myrtle.

Oasis - After

The crepe Myrtle was an issue as it was encroaching the crown of the Japanese Maple and it had been murdered (arbitrarily cut back) at two different heights, but fortunately, only once. Most every cut was not a sound pruning cut as was with most other cuts with all plants, so I had to repair many cuts.

The concern was whether to remove the Crepe Myrtle or prune it for future growth away from the Japanese Maple. She is attractive from most angles, particularly from the street, so I chose to keep her.

Ominous - Before

Otherwise, there was a lot of hand-and-knee work, hand pruning - high and low and getting inside of plants.

Also, I raised the canopies of the Japanese Maple and Crepe Myrtle, while lowering the crowns of the Camellias and Sasanquas.

It's fantastic see light shining through majestic trees, which also means the air flow they so badly need.

I told the customer, on the right day, she should grab a chair, her favorite beverage and enjoy reading a good book in the midst of this oasis.

Most of this project was performed in the middle of summer, but fall is a wonderful time to address such projects and many other issues.

 

Ominous - Before

Ominous - Before

We All Are Marshall...We Persevere

It has been more than a decade since I watched the movie, We Are Marshall. 

I watched it a few weeks ago and once since, as it is a wonderful story regarding the tragedy and recovery of a community struck by death and adversity, and much more.

If you have never seen the movie or read the book, do yourself a favor and do so.

You will be left with a sense of who we all are, never left alone.

For the most part, it is all the emotions and motions of life, encapsulated. 

________________________________________

We establish relationships

We create families

We build communities

We strive

We compete

We cheer

We love

We falter...we fail

We recover

We forgive

We thrive

We hunger

We love

We accomplish...we cheer

We grieve

We survive

We enjoy

We All Are Marshall

Together, We All Persevere