Entry bubble Landscaping with Native Species

By: Joanne | April 08, 2008 | Category: Fun

The weather is finally starting to warm up and I was so happy to spend most of my weekend outside digging in the yard and garden. I’m preparing to plant, buying seeds and considering landscape improvements I can make to our property.

When I walk into the garden center I’m always thrilled by so many beautiful plants and I want them all! Experience is teaching me though, that this isn’t always the best strategy. These days I’m trying to put more thought into what to plant and my focus now is on native species. By taking care of the lawn and garden properly, I can save money, time, and help the environment. I don’t know about you, but those are all things I’d like to do.

Native plants are the plants that occur naturally in your region. Since native species are already well suited to live in your region, you’ve already won the first battle – it wants to live in your yard and shouldn’t require a lot of attention to keep alive. Also, native species, especially those with berries, fruits and flowers will encourage the butterflies and birds to visit. butterfly on a coneflower

It takes a little research to find the plants and wildflowers suited to your area, and your state Natural Resources Department can help you identify plants native to your region.

Whatever you do, be careful not to buy an invasive species for your yard. We’ve got a lot of multiflora rose growing on our property. We didn’t put it there, but I don’t know how we’re going to get rid of it all. …maybe I need one of those landscaping flamethrowers?

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Entry bubble Arbor Day is Coming Up – What Will You Plant?

By: Joanne | February 26, 2008 | Category: General

Joanne and her children pose with their 8 foot snowman

It’s hard to think about planting trees when you’re building an 8 foot snowman, but did you know that Arbor Day is just around the corner? What a perfect way for me to continue to pine (ha-ha, I didn’t even mean to do that) away for spring.

National Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, but many states observe Arbor Day on different dates according to their best tree-planting times. In most states, Arbor Day is in March or April, but if you live in Alabama, it’s this week, so get digging!

Why bother? Take some responsibility for your carbon footprint! Trees gladly consume carbon dioxide and provide us with lovely oxygen. Did you know that trees can reduce your home heating and cooling costs? True! I spend almost nothing to cool my home in the summer and that wouldn’t be the case without the ancient maple trees surrounding my house. Let’s not overlook that attractive landscaping increases the appeal of your home, and trees are beautiful all year around and come in all shapes and sizes. What better place is there for a backyard picnic than under a shady tree? If you don’t have your own property to plant on, you can volunteer to improve public land. There are opportunities all across the country.

You know that I plant my Christmas tree each year, but we try to do more than that. My husband usually gets a tree for Father’s Day, and each year we plant a few trees to landscape our property or we put a few in our little orchard. Can you ever have too many varieties of apples? I don’t know the answer to that yet, but I hope one day I will…

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Entry bubble Treecycle – Recycle Your Christmas Tree

By: Joanne | December 25, 2007 | Category: General

It’s Christmas day and while you’re admiring your Christmas tree with its pretty lights and ornaments, I want you to take a moment image of a pine forest to consider fire safety and what you’re going to do with this tree when Christmas is over. Think before you pitch that tree! Do you want it to be just another big, bulky thing taking up space in the landfill, or do you want it to move on to a higher purpose? Go forth and treecycle, or use your Christmas tree to GreenScape your yard.

If you’ve got a cut tree, you’ve got options. Trees are biodegradable and recyclable, and there are many options for recycling and re-using trees. Your local waste authority probably has a Christmas tree recycling program. In many areas, Christmas trees are picked up, mulched, and then free mulch is offered back to the community. This kind of seasonal program keeps holiday trees out of the landfills and helps municipalities save money by reducing disposal fees. Tree collection is usually offered early in January, so if you don’t know about your community’s Christmas tree recycling program, it’s not too late to find out.

Besides mulching, you can burn a tree in your fireplace or wood stove, chop it up and add it to your compost pile, use it as wildlife habitat and even use the needles to make a nice potpourri. The University of Wisconsin Extension Service has an article with lots of ideas for reusing your Christmas tree.

We always buy a live tree (roots and all), so disposal’s not an issue at my house. It’s really pretty easy to care for a live Christmas tree. Before the ground freezes in the winter, my husband prepares a hole for our Christmas tree and then we plant it in the yard the week after Christmas. I never thought a tree would live if you planted it in the winter, but since they’re dormant when they’re dug up and dormant when they’re planted they seem perfectly happy when they wake up in the spring. If you’ve got somewhere to plant a tree and a strong back, I highly recommend a live tree – just be sure to buy a variety that will thrive where you live.

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