Blog
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Backyard Landscaping Ideas
A video tour of backyard landscaping ideas. A great opportunity to learn some backyard landscaping ideas and watch how quickly landscapes grow in.
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Simplify
Today I updated the website. I’ve gone to a basic theme after a beautiful multimedia theme with all kinds of color and stylistic tweaks. That website was something to behold. It took me days to put together. Why step backwards? Party, I think, because I’m getting older. As we age we seek to simplify. Not because…
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Thoughts on a Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial
Today I completed a survey about a Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial . As a landscape designer I want to share my thoughts to aid in discussion. I vision an outdoor memorial at a park in town that is not the sole purpose of the park. The memorial should be a place you visit when you…
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Should I Use Landscape Fabric
When I started my career I thought landscape fabric, or weed fabric, was a wonderful invention. The magic cloth ensures a weed free landscape for years. Or does it? Should I Use Landscape Fabric or Weed Fabric? Landscape Fabric is a nuisance that creates more work for you and an unhealthy landscape. What happens when mulch starts to break down? …
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Trumbull CT Landscape Designers – Trumbull CT Landscapers
This landscape is a welcoming entry to the pool scape . The plants provide interest in all seasons and low maintenance requirements. By mixing plants from the old landscape in the new we transition from old to new seamlessly. Trumbull CT Landscape Designers John Holden offers landscape design services in Trumbull CT, Newtown CT and Shelton CT. If…
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How NOT to Mulch a Tree
I drive through neighborhoods daily and see trees mulched improperly. People want to do the best for their trees and apply the “More is better” principal with disastrous results. Trees that have been over mulched dry out quicker in hot summer months and are prone to disease and attacks by rodents. Mulching a tree like a…
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Keep Dirt and Mulch Off Your Siding
A drip edge is a trench filled with gravel that prevents mud from splashing against your home. You install it where water drips off the roof. I also use a drip edge when the grade next to the house is the same level as the siding. Install the drip edge one foot from the siding when controlling a grade and…
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I Saved a Life Today
Today, while walking in Trumbull, CT I saved a Yoshino Cherry choking to death. As a horticulturist, I did what I’ve been trained to do. I took my knife, bent down and removed the obstruction. As the tree roots expand the twine cuts the flow of nutrients eventually choking the tree to death. This tree would have died a slow…
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April 16, 2014 Snowstorm in Newtown, CT
This morning I woke to an inch of sleet and snow on the ground. The thermometer read 27 degrees and the wind was whipping. Naturally, the first thing I did was grab my camera and run outside. Snow brings out the best in plants. It adds interest, creates contrast, and reminds every one of the…