attract wildlife
10 Ways to Bring Color to Your Fall Landscaping
September 8, 2020BEAUTIFUL FALL LANDSCAPING FOR THE BRANDYWINE VALLEY AND THE TRISTATE AREA
Our Northeast corridor location of the Brandywine Valley area offers beautiful scenery year round. At DiSabatino Landscaping, we feel that the most amazing time for viewing the brilliant foliage colors our area has to offer is in the autumn months.
Many experienced landscapers throughout our area have helped to make fall months come alive by expertly placing color-pleasing plantings to enhance properties. Planting trees that bring vivid reds, yellow and orange hues to landscaping is a great place to start beautifying your fall landscape.
If you want to take your fall landscaping to the next level. Consider adding some of the following plants that add color with their foliage and flowers that hold up to the cooler temperatures heading our way.
10 Ways to Bring Color to Your Fall Landscaping:
1) Chrysanthemums are a very popular fall flower that comes in a rainbow of colors and are perennials if planted well before the ground freezes to allow their root system to establish.
2) Pansy and viola add ground level color to your landscaping. They are annuals that can handle a couple of light frostings and have been known to reseed for early spring flowerings.
3) Helenium comes in deep fall colors of orange, red and yellow. These ‘cornflower’ look-alikes bloom late summer to fall. They attract butterflies and add height to your flower beds.
4) Coral Bells or heuchera is a colorful perennial that comes it a variety of shades from lime green to dark red and tolerates brisk fall weather.
5) American Beautyberry has a lot to offer spring, summer and fall. It attracts pollinators with its showy pink flowers in the warmer months and offers cluster of glossy purple berries that will attract wildlife to your garden.
6) Burning Bush, known for its fiery red color in the fall months, makes for an excellent border shrub. The plant gets tiny flowers in the early summer that turn to berries for wildlife. They are easy to care for which makes them an excellent low maintenance choice.
7) Crape Myrtle is a showy late summer flowering tree or shrub that fades in lovely muted colors in the fall. They crave full sun and require moderate watering.
8) Holly evergreen shrubs offer glossy vibrant foliage year round, but they come alive in the fall with their abundant offering of red berries that feed wildlife throughout the winter months. They are very drought tolerant and grow well in full sun or partial shade.
9) Fire Power Nandina is an evergreen shrub that keeps its leafy foliage year round. This shrub turns a fiery red in the fall and offers a colorful backdrop to any landscaping. Easy to grow in full sun or full shade, which makes it great choice for any location.
10) Snapdragons add a vertical interest, come in a large range of colors and bloom in a fall landscape up to the first hard freeze.
Finally, with an abundance of local farms, many landscapers take their fall landscaping efforts to the next level by adding fall crops, such as pumpkins, gourds, hay bales and dried corn to ornament their yards.
DiSabatino Landscapers have the expertise to help you create landscaping for your home that adds beauty to your home year round. Get in touch if you need help!
If you are considering creating a fall landscape in your yard, talk with one of our landscaped design specialist at DiSabatino Landscaping. We can quickly and expertly install fall plantings that will enhance your life for years to come.
SOME RELATED ARTICLES:
BRIGHTEN YOUR LANDSCAPE WITH WINTER INTEREST PLANTS
TOP 10 LANDSCAPING TRENDS FOR 2020
PREPARING YOUR PATIO FOR WINTER
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DiSabatino Landscaping is Delaware’s #1 Hardscape and Landscape Specialist. Give us a call today! 302-764-0408
Brighten Your Landscape with Winter Interest Plants
January 23, 2020Winter landscapes tend to be drab and dreary in the northeast this time of year without winter interest plants. With Christmas lights packed away, lawns and deciduous trees dormant, a brown deadness seems to dominate the landscape. This can cause an obvious effect on mood.
There is no reason to fall prey to this deadness in your landscaping plans. Many horticulturists plant winter interest plants to add flare and brighten their landscapes during the winter months. Not only does this brighten one’s mood, it offers food sources for local wildlife, which in turn adds color and movement to the landscape.
SHRUBS WITH WINTER INTEREST
Your yard can come alive with the sound of chirping, warbling and singing birds happily consuming a yard full of strategically planted winter-persistent berries. For some inspiration, check out this article by the National Wildlife Federation on ‘WINTER BERRIES FOR BIRDS’.
A variety of bright-berried shrubs and perennials with textured foliage that are at their peak in winter will add color and texture to any winter landscape. Brightly colored stems, fragrant blooms and enticing fruits bring a wealth of interest to winter borders.
Evergreen shrubs and trees add a pleasing backdrop to colorful winter plantings, such as winterberry or deciduous holly that boasts bright red berries that sparkle and draws the eye.
Pyracantha angustifolia or Firethorn often used as a hedge, on a wall or trellis adorns your landscape with orange-red berries and greenish-brown leaves.
The colorful glow of Cornus sanguinea, or red twig dogwood stems backlit by a low winter sun is a beauty to behold. Evergreen ferns also add color and texture during the winter months. The Athyrium species, better known as the Japanese painted fern, is an excellent choice for any winter display.
Edgeworthia, aka paperbrush, offers fragrant flower buds of yellow and white clusters from December to April, silhouetted by decorative bark, as it drops its leaves mid-December. Witch Hazel blooms with yellow to red flowers sporting threadlike petals that curl up at night and open during the day to emit a lovely fragrance. These blooms last from late fall to early spring.
Winter Daphne is a variegated leaved evergreen shrub that has sweet fragrant white or pinkish star-shaped blooms in late winter to early spring. The Winter Flowering Cherry or Prunus Subhirtella Autumnalis Rosea is an excellent choice for creating a colorful winter hedge or stand-alone tree. Its star shaped, semi-double blooms in pale pink last from autumn to early spring.
While these are just a few really good choices to brighten your winter landscape, getting a professional landscaper’s opinion as to what type of winter interest plant is suitable for your particular needs is advisable. Every plant has its own particular needs and flourishes best in certain locations and soil conditions. An experienced landscaper can help guide you to get more bang for your landscaping investment.
Contact DiSabatino Landscaping if you would like to consult with one of our specialists.
The Best Summer Blooming Shrubs
July 9, 2019Blooming Shrubs This Summer
Looking for the best shrubs for your garden this summer? Check out these great summer shrubs to add some life to your garden!
Low Maintenance
There are many types of shrubs out there that produce flowers or attract birds and butterflies to your yard, but some of them are so high maintenance that many people tend to avoid them. Shrubs are the least of most summer concerns because it’s one more thing to look after and remember to take care of.
These shrubs are low maintenance and still attractive to the eye and birds and butterflies:
- Bluebeard Shrub
- Butterfly Bush
- Carolina Allspice
- Hydrangeas
- Oleander
- Potentilla
- Rock Rose
- Rose of Sharon
- Shrub Rose
- Smoke Bush
- Spirea
- Summersweet
These shrubs all have a low-maintenance care regimen for their summer blooming, creating an easy, yet beautiful, addition to your landscaping for the summer months. Visitors and passersby can enjoy the beautiful colors of these amazing shrubs and you can be happy with the lack of effort it takes to have them.
Size
Some shrubs are larger than others and can take more room from your yard. While they are beautiful, they can take away from other plants and flowers you may want to keep. It’s important to know what size a plant or shrub will be before you decide to add it to your garden.
These plants will grow to be no more than 3 feet max and will still look amazing in your garden:
- “Becky” Shasta Daisy
- Black-eyed Susan
- Blue Mist Shrubs
- Coreopsis
- Daylilies
- Late-blooming Astilbes
- “May Night” Garden Sage
- Pinks
- Sedums
- St. John’s Wart
- Yarrows
With no more than 3 feet of growth, these plants and shrubs could be your choice. Or perhaps you’d like something slightly larger, but nothing to take over your garden. Try these, as they grow no more than 6 feet:
- Bee Balms
- “Bonica” Rose
- Foxgloves
- “Knockout” Rose
- “Martha’s Vineyard” Rose
- Michaelmas Daisies
- Oriental Lilies
- Purple Coneflower
- Russian Sage
- Summer Phloxes
If you are still seeking to go larger, these plants and shrubs can get up to a maximum of 10 feet:
- Butterfly Bushes
- Hollyhocks
- Hydrangeas
- Rose of Sharons
There are so many others out there that could provide the color and style your garden seeks. Be sure you know what you want before you purchase.
Conclusion
If you don’t know what will fit your garden best, do some research. Find plants and shrubs that grow to just the right size and have just the right colors. Most places for research will even tell you if, and what kind of, birds or butterflies are attracted to each plant. This could provide some extra color and fun to your garden.
DiSabatino Landscaping is Delaware’s #1 Hardscape and Landscape Specialist. We can help advise you what is best way to maintain your landscaping! Give us a call today! 302-764-0408
Check Out Our 17 Landscape Trends for 2019
January 22, 2019With every year there comes change, improvement and trends to access. At DiSabatino Landscaping we are always looking to learn new things and explore our creativity in order to deliver the best landscaping product or service to our clientele.
With that in mind, we’ve come up with a list of landscaping and outdoor living trends to look out for and consider this year.
17 Landscape Trends for 2019:
1) Younger customers: As I get older, everyone else starts to look younger. Over my many years in the landscaping business, I have notice that we are getting a large amount of millennials contacting us for major landscaping and hardscaping projects.
2) Integrating technology: Landscaping companies are utilizing all sorts of technology to the benefit of their clientele. Whether it is the use of a drafting program during the design and build stage, retractable awnings or solar powered lighting; expect increased integration of technology.
3) Battery-powered equipment: Cordless-electric outdoor power equipment has gained more power and dependability to the point that is becoming a formidable competitor of gas-powered equipment. Keep in mind when purchasing several pieces of battery operated lawn tools that it might make sense to stick with the same brand so you can use the same battery for several different pieces of equipment.
4) Low-maintenance landscapes: People are working longer hours and looking for ways to cut back on home and outdoor maintenance. Low-maintenance plantings, cutting back on the amount of grass you must mow and installing automatic irrigation systems are just a few of the low-maintenance landscaping strategies you can take to lessen your workload.
5) Pollinator gardens: Many gardeners are stepping up to the plate to protect our native bee species whose population has greatly declined due to pesticides, habitat loss or other ecological changes. Create pollinator gardens with the best bee plants and nesting habitats according to the particular native species you are trying to help.
6) Asymmetrical design: Abstract landscaping or asymmetrical design is key to creating landscaping results that are pleasing, artistic and free form. This gives a more natural and relaxed impression that is less dependent on the shape of your garden and more concentrated on creating unity through the use of a variety of elements such as rocks, plant and décor.
7) Secluded spaces: Secluded Garden Spots or garden rooms are a great way to build an outdoor sanctuary to escape the everyday stress of life. A quiet place to sit and ponder or read can be soothing and reinvigorating.
8) Creating a “staycation” spot: More and more families are creating an outdoor oasis in their backyard where they can enjoy each other’s company, nature and extend the square footage of their home. Creating outdoor kitchens, dining areas, recreation or living areas is a great way to have a place to staycation every weekend!
9) Making backyard structures focal points: The ambience of sharing a nice bottle of wine while relaxing outside with a roaring fire is one of the best ways to wind up a long day. Creating an outdoor space to focus on you is going to be one big trend going forward.
10) Making a notable first impression: The entrance to your home is the first and often the most lasting impression friends and family will get when visiting. Many homeowners are investing in landscaping combined with hardscaping to make that impression a good one.
11) Including unexpected elements in your arrangements: Get creative! A café table set next to a lily pond, a lighted stone bridge leading to a welcoming sitting area, a tall urn fountain – these unexpected features will wow visitors and sooth the soul.
12) Including food in landscapes of all sizes: When planning your landscaping, include plants that provide food, cover and water for wildlife. This will ensure a lively and thriving garden while providing much-needed habitat restoration.
13) Giving back with gardens: The ‘Giving Garden’ is trending as a way to give back to the community. Many organizations are encouraging the giving garden as a way to foster sustainable community values while making an immediate impact on food security.
14) Investing in furniture that lasts: Outdoor furniture is subject to many abusive natural elements, such as the sun’s rays, high winds, pelting rains and sleet. Many homeowners are looking for more durable and sustainable features in outdoor furniture, such as concrete, stainless steel, synthetic wicker or teak furniture, which is a dense, close-grained hardwood with a natural oil content that makes if resistant to the elements.
15) Pergolas: A pergola can provide protection from direct sunlight, yet allow air to circulate freely. This makes them a welcome respite from the harsh rays of the afternoon sun. Making a pergola the perfect feature of an outdoor living space.
16) Pink hues Pink promises to be the most popular hue in landscaping this year. Picture a lovely English garden on a sunny spring day. Expect to see a lot of pink hued knockout roses, delphinium, carnations, dogwoods, hydrangea, foxglove and petunias.
17) Metals: Metal landscape edging, corrugated metal sculptures or tall privacy screens are finding a niche in the landscapes of today. Metal is durable and weathers well, why hasn’t this become a ‘thing’ much sooner?
DiSabatino Landscaping is Delaware’s #1 Hardscape and Landscape Specialist. We can help build a outdoor fireplace or fire pit to keep you warm over the winter months ahead. Give us a call today! 302-764-0408
How to Create a Sustainable Garden that Helps Wildlife
June 26, 2018
Creating a sustainable garden that helps promote a balance of native plants is not only beneficial for wildlife, it makes for less need for harmful chemicals and more enjoyment of the outdoors.
Gardening is a rewarding experience as it connects one to nature and helps one’s mental health and physical health. Connecting with the outside world is a great way to wake up an individual’s senses. What if we go further and create a garden that not only looks and smells good, but also helps local wildlife?
The benefit of attracting wildlife to your garden is that it will make the garden feel alive and help to keep it beautiful. A careful selection of plants, well-planned layout and creation of wildlife habitat will create a natural balance between inhabitants and visitors to your garden.
One of the main benefits of creating a wildlife garden is natural pest control. Once a balance between the creatures living in a garden is accomplished, none of them can prevail and cause damage to garden plants. Birds and ladybugs will reduce aphids and other plant sucking populations. Frogs and hedgehogs control slugs. Meanwhile, bees and cross-pollinating insects are crucial for fruit and seed production.
FIND BEST NATIVE PLANTS TO SUPPORT WILDLIFE
One of the best ways to support wildlife is by using plant species native to your area. Native species will support a greater array of wildlife than if you plant that same area with non-native species. Keep in mind that wildlife needs these three basics – food, water and shelter.
With natural habitats disappearing at a rapid pace, we should no longer create gardens that appeal to us for their beauty. We need to fill those gardens with biodiversity, which helps support wildlife and sustainability.
From the simple acts of adding a bird bath to your garden to the more involved conversion of the local drainage ditch to a miniature cattail marsh, there are many ways you can play a role in wildlife conservation.
10 WAYS TO START BUILDING A GARDEN FOR WILDLIFE
One simple way to cater to local wildlife is to plant native oak trees, which support moths and butterflies populations. These in turn serve as food for birds. Native hedges and fruit trees provide both habitat and food for wildlife.
It is crucial to avoid using chemical products in your landscaping because of their toxicity to both humans and wildlife. In truth, chemicals cause more problems than they solve, as they drive away animal species that help control pests.
NATIVE PLANT FINDER
One reason that native plant preservation is crucial is that as developers destroy wildlife habitats, there is a chance that these plants could become extinct. If local gardeners do not grow certain native plants, they could disappear from the earth! There is great power in large numbers of people making small changes. Be part of the solution.
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