by A Touch of Dutch Landscaping | Jun 24, 2020 | Fencing, Flowers, Gardening, Hardscaping, Lawn care, Maintenance, Ponds, Retaining Walls, Shrubs, Softscaping, Trees, Walkways, Water Features
Enhance the appearance and enjoyment of your home on any budget
First impressions are lasting impressions. And this is as true of your home’s appearance as it is your personal appearance. Little updates can go a long way. Of course, extensive updates can as well. Regardless of your budget, we’ve compiled some landscaping tips below that will help you put your home’s best foot forward.
Any Budget
Lawn Care
If your home has a grass-dominant greenspace in front, keeping your lawn neat and tidy is a no brainer for improving and maintaining curb appeal. Keep grass cut to a consistent length, but not too short as doing so can cause undue stress and increased exposure to weeds and pests. Edging your lawn along walkways, gardens, and your driveway provide a nice, polished appearance as well.
Garden Maintenance
Eliminate dead foliage as seasons change and cut back or split any overgrown perennials. Pull weeds and apply a thick layer of mulch, which will instantly give your flowerbeds a uniform appearance. Mulch has the added benefit of helping to maintain moisture and keep weed growth down.
Pruning & Trimming
It’s hard for people to get a first impression of your home if they can’t see it. If you have large trees, trim back dead limbs and those that block the view and/or sidewalks. Shrubs against your home and along walkways should be pruned and shaped. And be sure to train any wayward vines on a trellis, pergola, or fence.
Hardscape Repair
We can’t overlook your yard’s stairs, walkways and driveways. If your stone or concrete is in a state of disrepair, it can take away from your home’s otherwise neat appearance. Eliminate weeds popping up in cracks and repair or replace broken stones or pavers. Ensure all hard elements are level and secured in place to ensure the safety of your visitors.
Moderate Budget
With a moderate budget, you can add some architectural interest to your front yard and entrance that will make it look more inviting. Here are a few ways to add warmth to your home’s façade:
Softscaping
Fill in flat, exposed areas of your home’s exterior with shrubs, ornamental grasses, and small trees. This will add depth, balance, and visual interest to areas that were previously a blank canvas. Remember not to obstruct windows.
Window boxes
Adding boxes of annuals below windows allows you to add splashes of colour in the warmer months and perhaps some seasonal décor for the holidays. Ensure that box shape and size is balanced with window size and coordinated with the rest of your home’s exterior finishes.
Sitting area
Create or better define an area where you can sit and watch the world go by. A small stone patio or porch not only increases curb appeal but also creates additional outdoor lounging space. Be sure to add appropriately-sized greenery to add visual interest and a bit of privacy.
Small water feature
The appearance and sound of a bubbling rock or small fountain creates an attractive focal point for passersby and enhances your own enjoyment of a front patio or porch. Birds are also more likely to visit feeders when there is a nearby water source.
Upgraded concrete steps or walkway
Consider upgrading your standard concrete sidewalk and/or stairs with natural stone pavers. You can create a traditional or modern look to match the style of your home, and this upgrade can add significant visual impact to your front entrance.
Shade tree
While planting a tree won’t provide instant shade, over time a properly selected and placed tree will provide visual interest as it matures. Some varieties grow faster than others, so if you’re looking for quick results, consider a Birch, Ivory Silk Lilac, Crab Apple, or a smaller Maple variety like the Tartarian Maple.
Larger Budget
If you have a more significant budget for upgrading your front yard and entrance, here are some sure-fire ways to enhance curb appeal and enjoyment while adding value to your home.
Upgraded driveway
Consider replacing your asphalt driveway with a professionally-installed stamped concrete or natural paver driveway. This area of your front yard is highly visible from the street and sidewalk, so making it visually interesting not only adds curb appeal but also distinguishes your home from others in your neighbourhood.
Privacy or windscreen
Adding a row of small trees, shrubs, or natural grasses can add privacy, cut down on wind exposure, and better define your property. As an alternative, you might consider mixing well-placed fence panels with shrubbery for a balanced and visually-compelling appearance.
Pond or water feature
Many find the sights and sounds of a pond or waterfall both calming and visually appealing. Adding a water feature that is proportionate to the size of your house and yard increases the value and enjoyment of your home. Adding lighting allows you to enjoy your pond or waterfall even after the sun has gone down.
Multi-tiered gardens
If your house is tall and you’re your front yard is sloped, you might consider adding tiered flowerbeds defined and contained by natural stone retaining walls. For colour and interest throughout the year, fill your beds with a mix of shrubs, flowering trees, perennials, and annuals in a balanced mix of shapes and sizes.
Whether you’re getting your house ready to put on the market or just keeping up with the Jones down the street, there are big and small things you can do to improve your home’s appearance and value. Of course, if you’re not up to the task, we are here to help. Just contact us to get started.
by Laurie Knechtel | Apr 27, 2020 | Foliage, Gardening, Hardscaping, Maintenance, Shrubs, Trees
Episode 4 – Pruning
Pruning is something that many DIY gardeners do, but if you’re not careful, you could be negatively impacting the health and growth of your trees and shrubs. Johan Bossers discusses the variables that determine when and how to prune.
by A Touch of Dutch Landscaping | Mar 29, 2020 | Flowers, Gardening, Native Plants, Shrubs, Softscaping, Trees
Creating a healthy local ecosystem in our own backyards
There have been myriad reports over the past few months from backyard birders about the decrease in visitors to their feeders. If you’ve noticed this too, you’ll be pleased to know there are things we can each do to radically reverse the decline of small wildlife in our yards.
It’s all well and good to provide seed and suet for birds, but the solution to population decline requires us to look a little closer. Instead of thinking short-term, say season by season, let’s look at it from a yearly perspective, or even longer.
What we choose to plant directly affects the quantity and activity of small and large living organisms in our yards. If our only priority is a yard that looks pretty, we may be missing opportunities to positively impact the local ecosystem.
We should also consider biodiversity – choosing a variety of species that co-exist nicely. If we also opt for plants and trees that require minimal resources for survival, then we can move toward a landscape that not only looks good, but is low-maintenance and welcomes beneficial interdependent activity above and below ground.
Wildlife Ecologist Doug Tallamy, author of “Nature’s Best Hope: A new approach to conservation that starts in your yard” offers strong arguments and simple tips for being a backyard conservationist. Here are a handful of his suggestions:
- Reduce the amount of lawn in your yard to that which you require for walking and playing. Fill this area instead with more productive “host” plants.
- Over thousands of years, native fauna has developed defences and tolerances (and thus, preferences) for consuming native flora (plants with which it has co-evolved), so naturally if we replace these native food sources with non-native alternatives, local wildlife will either have to go elsewhere for food or perish.
- If not kept in check, unproductive, foreign cultivars can become invasive species, choking out native plant life beyond our back yards.
- We currently have 3 billion fewer birds than we did 50 years ago. Globalization and hybridization have replaced native garden options with more “exotic” options that might be fashionable, but don’t contribute to the local ecosystem.
- A great deal of the animals in any ecosystem don’t eat plants, but eat something that eats something that eats plants, so ensuring the right plants are available as a food source for caterpillars and insects is a very big deal to our entire ecosystem.
The good news is this isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. You don’t have to swap out all of the plant life in your garden and risk disrupting your current modern or tropical motif, for example. Plants that are native to Ontario come in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colours, so you’re sure to find a few cultivars that appeal to you.
And adding just a few native plants and trees will produce favourable results. Visit our June 2019 post on Choosing Native Ontario Plants for Your Garden or head over to our Native Ontario Plants Pinterest Board for some inspiration.
As always, if you need assistance choosing the right native plants and trees for your yard, or you just want to get started on a landscaping project, contact us.
by A Touch of Dutch Landscaping | Sep 28, 2019 | Flowers, Foliage, Gardening, Landscape Design, Shrubs, Trees
Most of us would be hard pressed to find a person who doesn’t love the colours of fall. Yes, winter will inevitably follow fall, and probably earlier than we’d like. But, in the meantime, we’ve still got warm daytime temperatures, cool evenings, and so much colour to enjoy.
While the trees, plants, and shrubs throughout Southwestern Ontario offer up a lot of colour, many homeowners want colour in their own yards, as well. There are some quick fixes for this – displaying pumpkins, potted mums, and faux leaves and floral décor, for example. However, adding perennial colour to your fall garden takes a bit more forethought.
When planning gardens, home gardeners generally work in chronological order, considering what’s going to bloom or otherwise be at its peak in spring and then what will be at its best in summer. For this reason, autumn may tend to take a backseat where plant selection is concerned. To prolong the enjoyment of your gardens though, you may want to make room for a few fall favourites in your yard.
Plant retailers and nurseries might be among your best resources for determining what’s at its colourful peak right now. They tend to sell what’s in season, when it’s in season. And the warm, sunny days, cool nights, and more regular precipitation of early fall can be the perfect time to plant, offering ideal conditions for new plants, trees, and shrubs to take root before the first frost.
A few selections that fare well in our region in the fall include:
- Burning Bush (Euonymus alatas) – normally green deciduous foliage turns vibrant red
- Wayfaring Tree (Vibunum Lantana)
- Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum) – foliage turns orange and red
- Mountain Ash (Sorbus) – foliage turns orange, red, and yellow
- Witch Hazel (Hamamelis) – foliage turns bright yellow
- Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) – flowers in fall, showing purple, blue, pink, and white
- Chrysanthemum (C. x morifolium) – fall flowers in yellow, orange, purple, red, burgundy, white, and bronze
- Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea) – large purple flowers and prominent seed heads
- Coralbells (Heuchera) – flowers throughout the season, leaves can show purple/bronze
- Rosemallow (Hibiscus Moscheutos) – large, saucer-like blooms are pink, blue, or purple
- Sedum Autumn Joy (Sedum spectabile) – flower clusters are generally pink or light purple
- Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) – bright yellow, flower clusters
Keep in mind though, that your plants and trees need a bit of TLC in order to get established before the first frost. Otherwise your investment of time and money may be for naught. If you’re not getting ample rainfall, you should water new plants thoroughly and consistently to help roots get established before the ground freezes. And ensure you get everything into the ground before the snow flies, as plants will have a much better chance of surviving the winter there than in the thin, plastic pots in which they’re generally sold.
Once plants are in the ground, most of the initial growth is going to take place below the soil, which is good. So, don’t be disappointed if you see much going on above ground. Your patience will be rewarded with healthy, showy plants next year. To help things along and protect vulnerable young root systems, add a thick layer (4 inches) of mulch around plants. Mulch will add much needed insulation to keep heat in and cold out.
Although fall is a great time for planting, there are some exceptions. Evergreens need more time to adjust and build up stores of moisture. If not, they may dry out over the winter when the ground is hard and water supply is cut off. Also, some plants and shrubs sustain a bit of damage throughout the winter. A newly planted specimen may not be sufficiently established to handle the first winter, and may not make it through.
And finally, if you’re wanting to press your luck by planting something that is not ideally suited to your hardiness zone (Southwestern Ontario ranges anywhere from Zone 5 to 7), it will have a much better chance of surviving our winters if planted in spring and given a full growing season to acclimate.
Although many homeowners will start putting their gardens to bed for the year, plants are still growing and thriving in the early to mid-fall conditions. Take advantage of this time to change up your gardens, adding splashes of fall colour not just for this year, but for years to come.
by A Touch of Dutch Landscaping | Jun 4, 2019 | Flowers, Landscape Design, Native Plants, Shrubs, Trees
Native plants are those that have thrived in their original region for centuries. Just like native animals, they have evolved over the years to adapt to changes in their environment.
In the last half of the twentieth century, the ever-burgeoning global marketplace opened people’s eyes to foreign and exotic varieties. Increasingly, hybrids of non-native species were created to adapt these plants to different climates.
However, in the last 15 – 20 years native species are making a comeback for several reasons.
It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition
Native varieties can generally be planted with non-native plants, assuming their sun, water, and soil requirements are similar. And the wide range of native species available means you can always find one or more that suits your gardens’ style, whether traditional, contemporary, or somewhere in between.
Enjoy your garden without having to tend to it all the time
Native plants tend are generally well adapted to their environment. So as long as you’re planting them in their preferred surroundings in terms of exposure to sun, precipitation, and soil type they should require little if any maintenance, especially once established.
Invite beneficial wildlife into your yard
One of the major reasons that native gardening is regaining popularity is its ability to attract pollinators like birds, bees, and butterflies. Native vegetation offers nutritionally-appropriate food as well as shelter to some of your region’s wildlife.
They don’t call them hardiness zones for nothing
Because your region’s original plants have evolved in your climate, they have developed certain immunities that make them more resilient in the face of pests and disease.
They’re just as beautiful and varied as their imported counterparts
While many perceive some native plants and wildflowers to be weedy and undesirable, there’s an extensive range of plants, trees, and bushes that have showy, colourful flowers and foliage, bright berries, and subtle fragrance.
If you’re interested in adding more native content to your garden, the following are some of the more popular native species, divided into five categories.
Trees
While our country is known for the maple leaf, there are actually more than 150 varieties of maple throughout the world and only a handful of them are indigenous to Canada. But we’ve got more than just maples trees in our backyard. The range of native coniferous and deciduous trees in our region is quite diverse, each with its own unique traits.
Among our native deciduous tree species are the Ironwood, Cottonwood, and Oak, while coniferous native trees include White Cedar, Red Pine, and both Black and White Spruce.
Shrubs
Our region offers some beautiful native shrubs that will add colour and texture to any landscape. Foliage ranges from bright green and smokey-blue, to purple and brilliant red, depending on the season. Many shrubs have a flower phase as well, temporarily enhancing its natural beauty and fragrance.
Varieties include the Honeysuckle Bush, whose flowers attract hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. The Serviceberry is a popular native choice, covered in small white flowers in the spring and changing to brilliantly-coloured foliage in the fall. Witch Hazel shows green foliage throughout the summer and, after leaves begin to drop in the fall, shows off unique, bright yellow flowers.
Perennials
Ontario’s hardy perennials are not only resilient but showy as well. Some are low-lying ground cover while others grow tall, which means it’s easy to create a stunning perennial garden consisting solely of native plants.
Choose from brightly coloured Echinacea and Black-Eyed Susan, or pretty purple-pink Border Phlox. The fragrant Bee Balm’s flowers attract pollinators in the summer while its seed heads are a food source for birds in the winter. The Blanket Flower (in the Aster family) has sunshiney red and yellow flower heads, and Columbine can add a modern look to your garden with its long-stemmed nodding flowers.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Ontario’s floral emblem, the Trillium. The beauty of this groundcover is in the simplicity of the flower. And contrary to popular belief, it is not illegal to pick a Trillium, but it’s not advisable as plants are easily damaged and difficult to successfully transplant.
Edible Fruit
There are so many options when it comes to choosing edible fruit-bearing plants and trees native to Ontario. Various hard fruit trees like apple and crabapple varieties thrive here because they’re native to the region. Elderberry and raspberry (black, flowering purple, wild red) bushes are also native to our region and yield delicious fruit than can be eaten out of hand or baked into a multitude of desserts. The fruit of the Sumac is interesting as the berries are used as a seasoning.
Ferns & Grasses
Suffice it to say that if you’re looking for native ferns and/or grasses in our region, your options are wide open. The Ostrich Fern is one of the most popular native ferns but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg. Regardless of which fern you choose, just ensure it’s planted in part to full shade with consistently moist soil. If you prefer grasses, there are myriad native varieties, both long and short. Many flower in the late summer/early fall and provide great visual interest in the winter as well.
Gardening with native plants is not difficult. Not only are the plants, shrubs and trees easy to find at nurseries throughout the region, they’re even easier to incorporate into any landscape. If you’re interested in achieving a more beautiful native garden that attracts pollinators but you don’t want to do it yourself, contact A Touch of Dutch Landscaping & Garden Services.
by A Touch of Dutch Landscaping | Dec 5, 2018 | Foliage, Hardscaping, Native Plants, Shrubs, Trees
Most of us here in Southwestern Ontario prefer the warmer months. But when the snow falls it’s nice to still be able to enjoy your outdoor landscape, even from indoors. Visual interest in winter doesn’t have to come just from urns, wreaths, and garland that gets taken down shortly after Christmas. Hardscaping and plants provide cold-weather beauty that lasts the all season long. Below, we explore various landscaping options whose function and good looks extend well past our patio-dwelling days.
EVERGREENS
Conifers are typically top of mind when a landscaper wants to add year-round life to a garden because most keep their foliage throughout the cold months. They come in a wide range of sizes, shapes and shades of green that will compliment any home’s exterior. Some of the more popular conifers in our region are from the pine, spruce, and fir groups. And while they come from a different conifer family, cedars, cypress, and junipers, with their splayed branches, aromatic wood, and interesting bark, are also very popular.
But there’s more to evergreens than just needles and cones. Other conifer families are broad-leafed and/or fruit-bearing. These shrubs tend to have an appearance that more closely resembles a deciduous plant, but they don’t shed their leaves. Beautiful examples of broadleaf evergreens that thrive in the hardiness zones of Southwestern Ontario are Euonymous, Boxwood, and the festive favourite, Holly.
Beyond conifers, there are many trees and plants that brown or lose their leaves every year that can add structure and interest to the outdoors.
Ornamental grasses are a great example of plants that turn brow but maintain their structure through the winter and make a lovely, wispy addition to a winter landscape.
Purple Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Hydrangea, and Autumn Joy Sedum shed their foliage but maintain flower stalks and/or seed heads that look beautiful under a blanket of snow.
Mountain Ash, Canadian Serviceberry, and Winterberry (a popular Holly variety) are great choices for adding pops of colour to your winter landscape. Tip: Holly berries will only form if male and female plants are established together, so be sure to purchase one of each to avoid disappointment.
Many trees offer visual interest with noteworthy texture or colour. Birch trees have a white, papery bark whose beauty is revealed after it sheds its canopy of leaves in the fall.
Stems and twigs can provide bursts of colour ranging from bright green to orange and red. In our region Dogwoods are a common shrub that add vivid colour against the white snow. And a funny-looking tree with a funnier name – Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick – adds twisty, highly textural support for freshly fallen snow.
HARDSCAPING
Don’t discount stone structures and fixed furniture as difference makers where visual interest is concerned. These hardscaping elements can add colour and texture to otherwise flat terrain.
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
Besides enhancing the beauty of your outdoor space, landscaping and hardscaping can also play more functional roles.
Attracting birds
Trees and shrubs bearing berries or situated close to suet and seed will provide nourishment for birds including Juncos, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Finches, Woodpeckers, Doves, and Sparrows. Dense, mature evergreens can also offer ideal shelter.
Privacy and windbreak
A properly situated row of evergreens ensures year-round privacy and can also act as a windbreak and natural snow fence, sheltering your yard from cold winds and drifting snow.
Beautiful, day and night
Outdoor lights aren’t just for the holidays. White mini lights can define the shape of a small tree or shrub. Consider lighting natural and hard elements with floodlights or projection lamps for a different but equally beautiful aesthetic at night.
Adding visual interest to outdoor spaces increases the appeal, value, and enjoyment of your home. As long as you’re selecting plants and varieties that are appropriate for your hardiness zone, your landscaping can help beautify your home not just in the warmer months, but throughout the year.
