Rockford Home Show at ISC 2011
Crimson Valley Landscaping and Estate Deck & Fence will be attending a few home shows this year. Our first show is coming up this weekend. Be sure to find a time to stop by and visit us. We will have a great display of our work and will be offering special spring promotions for those attending the show. Get inspiration for this year’s landscape projects and discuss your ideas with a professional consultant.
Rockford Home Show at ISC: February 18, 19 and 20th, 2011
The Original Rockford Home Show at the Indoor Sports Center/ Expo
8800 E. Riverside Boulevard – Rockford, IL
Crimson Valley Landscaping will be at Booth #538 and Estate Deck & Fence will be at Booth #726
Visit us over the weekend anytime from:
4pm to 8pm on Friday, February 18th, 2011
10am to 6pm on Saturday, February 19th, 2011
and 11am to 5pm on Sunday, February 20th, 2011
We look forward to seeing you there!
Plants with Great Winter Interest
Winter is a beautiful time of year. We have lost the lush green lawns and the bright leaves have fallen but there can still be beauty in the texture, structure and color of our gardens. Check out some of the plants that provide great winter interest. Evaluate your landscape this winter and start planning your spring outdoor projects. You will definitely want to make sure to include some of these plants in your landscape design.
Outdoor Lighting
Make your home stand out from the rest of the neighborhood; landscape lighting is a valuable asset increasing safety and security while extending your outdoor living space into the evening hours. More and more families are spending time outdoors to relax, eat dinner, entertain, play games and more. With fall weather here, what better way to continue spending your time in the great outdoors than with a functional landscape lighting design.
Visit our website for more information on the types of lighting fixtures there are available. Outdoor lighting will add beauty to the façade of your home, illuminating your landscape, increasing security and safety and extending your outdoor living space for entertaining or relaxation into the evening hours.
Investing in Landscaping
Get the best return on your landscape investment! Your investment can be well over a 100% return if you plan properly. It is important that the construction and installation of your landscape project be professional with quality products. The landscape design and features displayed in your landscape will determine how well your investment is valued. A landscape consultant will help you evaluate the expectations and help prioritize the areas of your landscape.
Composting
image courtesy of squawkfox.com
Home composting is a great way to recycle kitchen and garden waste. Compost (also referred to as humus) is the dark, earthy, soil-like material resulting from the natural decomposition of organic matter. It is nutrient rich and great for conditioning the soil for houseplants, container gardens and the landscape, not to mention a fantastic substitute for commercial fertilizers. Composting at home is not only a rewarding landscape asset it is vital to reducing the large amount of waste sent to the dump. Did you know? According to the EPA, kitchen and garden waste makes up about 26% of the total U.S. municipal garbage sent off to the landfills and nearly 1/3 is compostable materials. Unfortunately, the waste does not break down nearly as well as it would in a home compost system. In order to decompose, the correct amount of air circulation, moisture and the proper ratio of “green” vs. “brown” materials are necessary for success. View a more detailed list of compostable materials below and read on to learn more about how and what to compost.
Outdoor Entertaining Tips & Ideas
landscape project by Crimson Valley
Summer is great for outdoor get-togethers and barbeques. This is the perfect opportunity to show off your landscape. Throwing a party doesn’t have to be expensive; whether it’s enjoying the outdoors with cheese and wine, a barbeque or a potluck. Set the scene with cut flower arrangements from your garden and great lighting; provide guests with plenty of seating, cool drinks and an opportunity to get out of the hot sun. Plan your party, prepare yourself in advance and do take the offer to help when your first few guests arrive. Remember, this low-key event is for you to enjoy as well.
Plant a Cut Flower Garden
image courtesy of joenesgarden.com
Cut flower gardens; also referred to as cutting gardens are planting beds grown primarily for harvesting foliage, flowers and seed heads to make beautiful bouquets and flower arrangements to bring a piece of the outdoor landscape to the indoors. Select a nice location alongside a garage or at the back of your property. If there isn’t a space available to designate specifically for cut flowers, plant a variety of cut flowers throughout your vegetable garden or landscape. You will continuously cut the flowers and foliage to make bouquets, which makes a veggie garden a great space to incorporate your cutting garden. Some herbs with colorful foliage are very aromatic and make beautiful additions to garden bouquets.
Summer Lawn Care
With warm weather on the rise, it is extremely important to keep newly installed lawns watered thoroughly. Pay attention to rainfall and compensate for the lack of water by running your irrigation system or hand watering your lawn. Newly planted and established lawns need at least 1” of water a week. Keep track of weekly rainfall with a rain gauge and apply the necessary amounts. If you do not have a rain gauge, just placing a small empty tuna can in your yard is a great way to judge the amount of water your lawn is getting. This will help make sure that your lawn is receiving all the water it needs to establish and flourish.
Meet Christine
meet Christine Chaney
Crimson Valley is thrilled to have a new aspiring photographer joining us to capture our landscape projects on film. We would love the opportunity to see our clients’ landscapes grow and flourish over the years and through the changing seasons.
Christine Chaney is a college student with a passion for photography and graphic design. As a child, she would take her mom’s camera to shoot nature and their family pet. The outdoors has always been an inspiration for her and she looks forward to expanding her experience and love for nature by photographing the landscapes of Crimson Valley clients.
Find us on Facebook… Post your landscape pictures, we would love to see them! …and we might just send Christine out to take some photos of your home and landscaping!
Rain Gardens
Cutting the curb allows more runoff from the street to soak into the rain garden. photo courtesy of thecoves.ca
A rain garden is a depression in the landscape planted with native plantings that allows rainwater to runoff of impervious surfaces such as roofs, driveways, walkways, parking lots and even compacted lawns and gives it an opportunity to soak into the ground rather than into the stormwater systems.
Do areas of your landscape collect water? With spring season rainfall, you may notice the low spots in your landscape where water flows naturally. Turn those undesirable low spaces into functional and beautiful rain gardens. Rain gardens are a great way to beautify an unsightly area and reduce the amount of stormwater runoff. Designed with native plants, these gardens break up soil, filter water from impervious surfaces, and replenish our depleting ground water supply. If a low spot does not occur naturally, create one and place in between areas where run off occurs; eliminating much of the water in its path from reaching the storm water collection systems.
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