Our pool landscape, now at 11 years old, needed some tuning. We’ve maintained it continuously, but the two Hinoki Cypress right up front (circled in the original landscape photo below) – died together. This particular area of our backyard, under the heaviest of rains, would sometimes pond a bit. And the last 2 years, we […]
Landscaping
Tree Planting 101
2021 Update… Spring is upon us in New Jersey, the ‘Garden state,’ and signs of life are exploding outside. I’ve done quite a lot of tree planting over the years, and while everyone has their own techniques, I find there are a few basic rules & principles that always seem to apply. Best Season for […]
Creating a Natural Stone Landscape Border
This flagstone landscape border is a one-day project that’s simple in concept, but really added a lot of character to an Arborvitae line in the front of my house and also set us up to add softer flower bed plantings as well. What I love about landscaping projects is that they’re hard work, they’re outside […]
My Battle with Surface Water Runoff
2020 Update – Originally Published March, 2016 Surface water runoff from rain, downspouts, roofs and gutters can make your life miserable if your landscape grading hasn’t been properly designed. The equation isn’t terribly complicated: water needs to flow away from things it can damage. But this can sometimes be overlooked or frankly creep up on […]
Belgian Block and Pavers – Dressing Up an Asphalt Driveway
2020 Update — Originally Published August 2011 My asphalt driveway was assaulted. I was hoping for the best, but we had construction trucks in and out several times during a pretty significant renovation project, and at some point the asphalt started to crack a bit on some edge areas — and then just continued to crumble. […]
Summer Lawn Fungus Disease
2020 Update — Originally Published August 2014 This has been driving me crazy for a few years now, as I’ve really been trying to cultivate the most beautiful lawn possible. You can call it pride, or maybe you’ll want to say it’s a “guy thing,” but when I come home from work at the end of […]
Designing and Building Your Perfect Deck
2020 Update — Originally Published January, 2012 My backyard deck is simple, but beautiful. And though it may seem deceiving, a HUGE amount of design consideration went into it. But how can I call it perfect, though? Well, as I see it, if you start out with some extremely careful thinking and develop a crisp/clear end-vision […]
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