Tag Archives: Home and Garden

Landscaping

Several Selections For Los Angeles Landscape Design Schemes

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Landscape design varies from region to region, but Los Angeles landscape design is unique in that it is a desert that people treat as an oasis.

The desert is a dry, hot climate. Los Angeles is in a desert. But because it is sunny and mild every day, people insist on year long green grass lawns and will go to any lengths to get just that. That is because every day seems like a warm, sunny day. And they want to treat it that way. Palm trees were brought over, or the seeds were blown over, from Hawaii. But the desert was never meant to grow coconuts.

In other areas relatively near to Los Angeles, such as Las Vegas, or Phoenix, the designs that are chosen for landscapes are more conducive to the areas. There are mostly desert scapes with boulders and colorful gravel areas, and they use flagstone for paving and stepping stones. There is little greenery, and that which is chosen usually needs an irrigation system to water it and keep it alive despite the scorching sun.

Since it does not rain too much in California, either, except during a freak wetter season, irrigation systems are very much needed to maintain the lush plants that have been chose to show off the front yards. They will need to be on a timer, as well, as the watering of these plants can be a tedious and monotonous job.

A combination of desert scaping, along with tropical plants makes for an unusual combination, yet it works. Somehow it looks right, and people thrive to achieve these lush yards on their property.

Homeowners will go to extremes, like adding fertilizer that keeps their grass green throughout the seasons, they will blow old leaves away instead of letting them follow their natural course to become mulch. And they will sculpt shrubbery to depict different objects and characters, regardless of how it may hurt the plant.

Bold gates of wrought iron are often part of an entryway into the grand gardens in L. A., and pathways of pea gravel or colored gravel lead the way also. And trellises decorate the yards with climbing roses and other vines. Such is the trend of Los Angeles landscape design.

Find important details on the easy ways you can raise the value of your property and home when you include a dynamic landscape design in your planning. Contacting Los Angeles Landscape Design today will be the first step in achieving your goals for a stunning garden!

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Gardening

Check Out What White Clover Can Do For Your Lawn

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What if I told you there were two things you could do that might eliminate forever the need to feed your yard? Would that get your attention? Good. So why don I share how easy it is to set your grass up so you can avoid hauling out the fertilizer spreader again.

Fact is you can get away with that if you have white clover covering as little as five percent of your lawn. That’s because just scattered patches of clover can produce as much as two pounds of nitrogen per 1000 square feet of lawn. Which might provide half of the nitrogen your yard needs each year. And you can almost have a self sustaining lawn if you’ll but mulch the clippings and leave them to break down in your lawn too.

So it’s almost shame on you for viewing clover as just another weed. Besides it wasn’t always that way. Actually it wasn’t until late into the 20th century that lawn enthusiasts started to regard clover as a less than desirable.

Just so you know clover is a member of the legume family. It is capable of capturing nitrogen from the air and storing it in its roots. That nitrogen is then released into the soil. Pretty much sounds like a natural fertilizer factory, don’t you think?

But don’t think that’s all cover can do for you.

Clover is attractive to beneficial bees and parasitic wasps.

During dry spells it can add a splash of green to your otherwise parched lawn.

The nitrogen produced by clover will not change the PH of soil like the chemically based fertilizers might. Not to mention that clover just smells better than a bag of fertilizer.

A lawn having a mix of grass and clover is also less susceptible to weeds as clover can help keep pesky weeds at bay by shading them out.

Then too clover is somewhat drought resistant. As such it can cut your lawn watering bills. It also tolerates mowing well and requires less of that compared to your cool grass varieties. So you might say it is basically a low maintenance grass alternative ideal for the lazy yardman.

One more plus? It readily adapts to low fertility soils and is somewhat shade tolerant. Okay that was two. Both of which suggest it’s a pleasantly flexible plant.

Now the one disadvantage is a previously mentioned advantage. Clover attract bees. But if the clover is mowed often enough it won’t flower eliminating any concern you may have about being barefoot in the back yard and getting stung.

Another drawback is the fact it doesn’t stand up well to heavy foot traffic. But when nestled in among blades of grass that does you’ve got a reasonable compromise going.

Now if this brief overview has changed how you look at clover you can get bulk seed locally at most garden centers. Likely for less than $7 a pound – with a pound covering about 4000 square feet in some cases. When planted in the spring, which is best, it should germinate in a week or so.

Why not take this info then and allow some white clover to gain a foot hold? Seems like a good decision given you might end up watering less, using less bagged fertilizer plus mowing less too. What do you think?

Dewey J Capasso is a freelance writer who has covered used riding lawn mowers, explored how to control moles plus looked into the benefits of Toro zero turn mowers. If you need help with crabgrass, picking one of the hot new grass strains or eliminating pesky pests the site for you is MowerMania.com.

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