Did you clean and oil your garden tools before you put them away for the winter?
…There is still time to give your tools a thorough cleaning before spring. Here’s a simple method recommended by lazy gardeners everywhere:
Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with sand…
Just a few of the landscape designs created by Plantscapes.
Isn’t it time to start planning your new look for 2010?
Give Kathie a call to get started (206) 623-7100
Master Mechanic Victor Villafeurte and Landscape Division Manager John Higgen review the troops as Plantscapes prepares for spring.
You may not have this many lawn mowers to care for, but take a tip from our mechanical genius Victor, and get your lawn care equipment ready now.
Clean, oil, and sharpen your mower’s blades. If you have a gas mower, give the motor a tune up – change the oil and replace the spark plug.
Then take out your hand tools and polish them up as well. Sharpen the blade on your shovels and spades. Oil your pruners and sharpen or replace the cutting blades.
You might be surprised at how much easier it is to care for your landscape if your care for your tools first.
It is Moss Month at Plantscapes – and that means it is Moss Month for you, too, if you have an Interior Plant Maintenance account.
Doesn’t that sound intriguing? Do you want to know more?
Interior plants, just like the flowers and shrubs in landscaped flower beds, thrive and grow better with a top dressing on the soil surface.
At Plantscapes, we use Spanish moss for that top dressing.
Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is very different than either peat moss or the moss and lichen you’ll find growing on trees and stones here in the Northwest. In fact, Spanish moss isn’t a real moss at all. It is a type of bromeliad (or air plant).
You’ve probably seen pictures of Spanish moss hanging from tree limbs in the Florida Everglades or in Louisiana bayous. It grows throughout much of the South. The moss Plantscapes uses has been carefully harvested and sterilized. All of our Spanish moss is warranted to be insect and disease free.
Every January, we celebrate Moss Month by replacing and revitalizing the moss at all of our interior accounts – at no additional cost to you, naturally. This program is just part of Plantscapes commitment to keeping your plants looking as good as they did on the day they were first installed.
What’s so great about Spanish moss?
Plantscapes always “stages” our large containers with Spanish moss. However, after a year, egven the most artistic staging can look somewhat beaten down. Top watering can form little canyons in the moss. People often touch or pat it – “just to see” – and that can flatten or compact the moss. Over time, since Spanish moss is alive, parts of the moss will die off, leaving bare patches.
So with every new year, our technicians evaluate every container at every account. Sometimes we’ll just add a little new moss. Sometimes we’ll pull out the old moss and completely replace it with all new moss. And while we are doing that, we’ll also be inspecting the soil levels in your containers and topping them off when needed, evaluating root growth and root pruning as needed, and checking for signs of insects.
Your business is the reason we are in business. So we will make sure that your interiorscape, no matter how large or small, looks as new as the new decade.
Photo by faul Released under Creative Commons License
The Northwest Flower and Garden Show is the first eagerly anticipated sign of spring for Seattle gardeners.
This year, the show begins on Feb. 3 and runs through Feb. 7 at the Seattle Convention Center.
In among the 6 acres of gardens and 350 exhibits, you’ll find Plantscapes’ own Kathie Madsen at the WALP (Washington Association of Landscape Professionals) booth. Kathie is serving as Treasurer for WALP this year, and will be on hand to answer all your questions – so please stop by and say hello!