Archive for synthetic lawn – Page 2

Hardscape Design Transforms A Gardeners Landscape

Hardscapes Support Lake Oswego Garden Landscaping

Hardscape stone patio with synthetic lawn supports landscaping.

Delightful patio replaces stodgy deck – notice the beautiful synthetic lawn.

Garden Consultation – Margaret hired me as a garden coach.  We worked together for several years. Her property in Lake Oswego has typical problems; clay soil, greedy tree roots, soggy lawn with moss and drainage problems.  But in my mind, the biggest problem was a deck that had been built by the previous owners.  The shape was boxy and didn’t fit Margaret’s colorful NW natural garden.

For 6 years our garden coaching focused on her garden plantings.  My client is hands on and did her own maintenance for her large property.  In fact, one time, the contractor was late and we just couldn’t wait for him….and I might add we were a lot younger…..so Margaret and I decided to plant these 5′ tall Arborvitae up on the hill ourselves.  Things were going well until one rolled down the hill and took me out like a bowling pin.

Blake before deck close up 2

The old deck had to go!

At last she was ready to have the garden of her dreams. How delightful it would be to play with her plants instead of mowing.  She was tired of fighting with fir tree roots, shade and clay.  Her lawn was never dry until August, when it was  then parched and it never looked good. She wanted to spend her time gardening, not doing basic maintenance. There is nothing worse than spending your time cleaning up a landscape that you don’t like the looks of.  She didn’t want that deck any more.  She wanted a NW natural design that would include two sitting areas (one a new patio off the house to replace the deck, a flagstone patio in the woods) and synthetic lawn for her and her dogs.  We also re-worked her garden paths so they would be easier to clean up and look  so attractive they would integrate the landscape.

Garden path with stone stairs are great supporting hardscapes.

The new stairs are complemented by easy care synthetic lawn.

The new design also met the horticultural needs of the fir trees since synthetic lawn doesn’t need summer water and our native fir trees are healthier without summer watering.

Now Margaret can blow or even use a dry vac on her lawn to remove fir needles.  It looks good all the time and the dogs are very happy and clean.  It is also a lot easier to clean up dog poop!

Before stone steps

Old garden path was hard to navigate and had no drama.

We worked together to create the design.  Because of the scope of the job Margaret choose to hire a professional,  Autumn Leaf Landscaping.

It is an amazing transformation.  Margaret’s plants and garden look fabulous because the supporting structures are well shaped and attractive.

For more information on how hardscapes can support your garden landscaping, make an appointment.

Protecting plants from winter cold starts in summer

One More Reason to not over water this August.   It will help keep your plants alive this winter.

Plants that don’t get the message to slow down in late summer and fall, don’t go dormant in time for winter cold. Your plant needs dormancy to survive. Start now to protect them before old man winter arrives.

Iron gate design with snow

1. Do you over water in August? This is a biggie for a plant tombstone. Overwatering in summer and fall can cause plants to ignore the signals, such as shortened days that tell them to slow down. Try to learn how to water properly.

TIP: A garden coach session could solve this problem for you!

2. Fertilizing plants that don’t need it causes lush growth and can interfere with dormancy.  80% of your plants don’t need any commercial fertilizer at all. The best practice is to place an inch or two of mulch (or compost) around your plants in spring and in early winter …. prior to Thanksgiving is a good time these days with our early freezing temps in the recent past.

3. Severe pruning late in the summer or fall can signal plants to push growth. Signs of tender, new growth in fall or early winter is not a good thing. There are exceptions to this rule of course, nature isn’t fair and makes learning which plants are fine with “whacking” and which are not, takes time, concentration or a good teacher.

4. Plants that are considered drought tolerant are especially sensitive to over watering, fertilizing and severe pruning.  Italian Cypress, Crape Myrtle and rosemary are good examples of plants that can be cold hardy here with knowledge based care.

5. Placement of Zone 7 and 8 plants into areas where the winter east wind will reach them is risky. Plant these evergreens such as large leaf hebes and New Zealand flax plants where the house or other plants will shield them. (Tiny leafed hebes are a better choice anyway). If you are in our East county and can’t shield plants from the winter wind from the Columbia Gorge, consider a different plant palette, plants that do well in Boise (zone 5) come to mind. Small leafed evergreens like dwarf conifers are a great choice. Plants that are deciduous (leaves fall off in winter) are completely dormant and therefore safe from the cold East wind.

True Low Maintenance Landscape Uses Synthetic Lawn

Save Time and Money by Installing Synthetic Lawn

Low maintenance landscape design in St. Johns Portland

AFTER: Low maintenance can also be lush. The plants have filled in nicely 2 years after installation.

The synthetic lawn and Landscape Design in a Day was a retirement gift Bob and Norma gave to themselves.  They were so sure about synthetic lawn they had already purchased it.

From the first phone call, I knew how many square feet of synthetic lawn we would use and where it would go.   They were looking forward to a lawn that would stay green no matter what their boxer dog did.   Mowing, fertilizing and watering would no longer be part of their new retirement lifestyle.

 

Before mid-century modern landscape makeover, St. Johns Portland, Oregon

BEFORE: Landscape Design in a Day, the synthetic lawn and all the homeowner’s hard DIY work

Plant Color and Diversity a Must
Norma especially enjoyed plants with a lot of color.  The front landscape plantings needed to have year round color, and have interesting texture.  She was interested in a very clean mid-century modern hardscape but wanted the plantings to add a softening effect.

The backyard could be completely devoted to summer color as few windows faced the back.

Norma’s New Plant Palette Includes:

Norma used the popular design website Houzz to send me pictures of her style. This saved time and worked very well for us to zero in on the kinds of plants she loved.

Synthetic Lawn Installed in St Johns Portland Oregon front yard

AFTER: Photo taken just two months after the Landscape Design in a Day was completed

Colorful foilage lasts for months, flowers in summer.

Weigela ‘My Monet’ displays colorful foliage that lasts for months. Bell-shaped pink pearl colored flowers appear in late spring / early summer and attract beneficials to your garden.

True Grit
Bob and Norma intend to stay in this home for many years.  I recommended they invest in my “true grit” soil prep process.  It creates an environment for healthy plants, the plants need less water, and often grow bigger than in typically amended clay soil.  It is a lot of work! We joked about whether Bob would still like me (since he was the one doing the heavy work) after he was done.  The results are very exciting and satisfying for me – let alone my clients!

Our Clients Say it Best
Norma commented, “Thank you for all your help. Bob has been digging and digging and hauling 19 yards of crushed rock, compost and dirt.  I have a feeling we saved a ton of money.  It was worth doing it ourselves!”

She continued saying: “We are pleased with how our new landscape turned out. In fact, people are stopping in the street and taking pictures and giving us the thumbs up. Thanks again for everything.”  – Bob and Norma, Vancouver, WA

Does Your Garden Need a Facelift?
Email or phone Carol today to schedule an appointment: 503.223.2426

 

 

Synthetic lawn and your dog-a heavenly match?

Synthetic Lawn Can Be The Best Landscaping For Your Dog

Garden Designer Carol Lindsay of Landscape Design in a Day talks about her experience with synthetic lawn for clients with small yards and dogs.

I am excited about synthetic lawn. I can’t believe I am saying this, after all I was born in Eugene, Oregon – home to our nation’s environmental movement. I love to use natives and also interesting low water ornamental plants and yet I have found some problems where the solution calls for an attractive synthetic lawn. Studied solutions to problems are rarely black and white.

An English Mastiff can be hard on your landscaping more than other dogs.

This is not Chance but illustrates nicely the problem of too much dog and not enough grass. http://www.sodahead.com/

Chance, a huge mastiff, weighs in at about 150 lbs. He drinks gallons of water a day and well……..what goes in must at some point come out.
The owner of Chance is a “plants galore” sort of gardener. The small lawn she had was already burned beyond hope by the gallons of pee. Staying with conventional grass was not an option. We looked into setting up synthetic lawn with a layer of charcoal underneath it and irrigation heads that could be run twice a day if desired. This will wash the urine down into the charcoal layer and help with or eliminate odor completely. There was some odor so it didn’t work completely for her but she was down to less than 400 sq feet of grass when I last saw her garden. That’s not enough land for that much dog.

Can a synthetic lawn look real?  Mary, my client in NE Portland says…”The natural setting for this lawn, a lovely landscape of surrounding plantings inspired by my garden designer/coach, consistently fools most everyone who sees it into thinking that my husband spends hours on lawn care.”  Mary and Henry have beautiful trees, and a lush colorful garden but too much shade for grass and 2 dogs, a busy black lab, Milo and a Jack Russell terrier, Eddie. The lawn kept dying back due to lack of sufficient light and some romping and tromping from the dogs.

Synthetic lawn plus tough plants can be the perfect solution for a house with dogs.

The mud came in to the house on the dogs. This was not happy. We had 4 choices:  cut down her beautiful big patio shade tree,  86 the lawn and make the whole back yard a patio, use cedar chips instead of lawn or install a synthetic lawn. It took about 2 years and watching the lawn continue to go south for the decision to be made. Now my client loves her synthetic lawn so much that recently she hosted another client of mine who was considering it. Mary emailed me to say….”Hi Carol,  Susan and Peanut stopped by last night.  Milo was not the perfect host but it worked out fine.  Susan enjoyed the ‘turf’ tour and I’m glad she got to see it in a dog environment.  An occasional sweep, blower or even a shop vac keeps the lawn looking great.  And for dog owners….clean-up is easy and quick and I’ve never had an odor problem.  The only negative thing I can say was the initial outlay is steep.”  Yup, synthetic lawn is costly until you add up what it takes to baby a lawn in the shade and that it doesn’t even work. Mary and her husband have an easy, low maintenance situation that fits the entire family, 2 legged and 4 legged.

I am a designer who likes to use native plants, no chemicals and I was born in Eugene, Oregon, home of environmentalism. Using anything plastic (and petroleum product based)  offends me but babying a lawn uses a lot of chemicals, and takes a ton of water…………and removing trees to get more sunlight just to grow a water thirsty lawn isn’t high on my values list either! There are some interesting eco turfs that I am studying that claim to be shade tolerant. You can read about them by going to this link. Contact me to learn how synthetic lawn can help with your landscaping for your dogs.