Ask the Landscaping Expert

July 2012 Article

Low voltage garden lighting is an inexpensive way to add beauty and safety to landscapes and walkways. There are styles available to match almost any decor theme, from traditional to modern, with finishes that include brass, copper, brushed aluminum, and chrome.

When installing garden lighting, you want to illuminate accent plants and particular shapes, without over lighting the area.

Good walkway lighting casts the light down towards the path, without the glare of the lights reaching the eyes. When planning your garden lighting system, try to avoid installing too many lights down the walkways, which will create a run-way effect and overwhelm the garden scheme.

Make sure the lights are at least ten feet apart to avoid excessive brightness. Also, always consider the other sources of lighting in the yard which can include porch lights, street lights, etc.

When using higher output lights to illuminate larger trees and structures, be sure the lights are directed in such a way that they won’t bother the neighbours.

Low voltage lighting systems are safe and economical. You can choose to put lights on a timer that will turn on and off according to your specifications, or put them on a light sensor that will turn the lights on at dusk and off at dawn. By adding some well placed garden lighting, you can create a yard that is as useable and enjoyable at night as it is during the day.

 

May 2012 Article

Low voltage garden lighting is an inexpensive way to add beauty and safety to landscapes and walkways.  There are styles available to match almost any decor theme, from traditional to modern, with finishes that include brass, copper, brushed aluminum, and chrome.

When installing garden lighting, you want to illuminate accent plants and particular shapes, without over lighting the area.

Good walkway lighting casts the light down towards the path, without the glare of the lights reaching the eyes.  When planning your garden lighting system, try to avoid installing too many lights down the walkways, which will create a run-way effect and overwhelm the garden scheme.

Make sure the lights are at least ten feet apart to avoid excessive brightness.  Also, always consider the other sources of lighting in the yard which can include porch lights, street lights, ect.

When using higher output lights to illuminate larger trees and structures, be sure the lights are directed in such a way that they won’t bother the neighbours.

Low voltage lighting systems are safe and economical.  You can choose to put lights on a timer that will turn on and off according to your specifications, or put them on a light sensor that will turn the lights on at dusk and off at dawn.  By adding some well placed garden lighting, you can create a yard that is as useable and enjoyable at night as it is during the day.

 

 

April 2012 Articles

A well built waterfall is a thing of beauty, and the sound and presence it can bring to a landscape is incredible.  Many home garden waterfalls however, don’t end up having the desired effect for a variety of reasons; incorrect stones being used in the construction of the falls and around the pool leaving it looking unnatural; the waterfall is out of scale with the pool it flows into, and the amount of water flowing over it, either too much or too little.

The size of the fall needs to be in scale with the pool and the volume of water in scale with the falls. Usually you want water to flow from a fall into a pool with both audio and visual effects. This means there will be rocks both above and below the water source, and water will flow over rocks, falling into a pool, or from rock to rock and then into a pool.  As water passes over rocks it clings to their surfaces, and some runs back under the underside of the rocks.  To allow for some water running back under the rocks, the entire ground area around the waterfall should slope towards the pool, and be covered in liner.  Similarly, if the rocks rocks that the water is flowing over slope very slightly towards the pool, that slight angle will help ensure that water stays in the fall until it ends up in the pool, instead of draining away unseen behind the falls.  A common mistake however is to slope the stones too much, which will make the falls to appear to be tipping forward.

In natural streams there are always stones to the sides of the waterfall that are not in the water, but are an integral part of the stream by helping to direct the flow of water.

Be sure to to include these larger stones in the waterfall creation as they add balance and help support the horizontal stones.

If too much water volume is flowing over a small fall it looks unnatural.  A small stream can come from a larger waterfall and look natural, but remember that the water is continuously recirculating, and in order for the water to be cleaned and aerated properly, the full volume of the pond must cycle through at least once every two hours.  It is better to install an adjustable flow pump that is a little too large, and then play with the flow volumes until the desired flow is achieved.

Possibly, the most enjoyable waterfall is the multitiered, with water falling from stone to stone and then into a pool.  This water feature can be employed in intimate settings, but the principles of scale must be followed for the waterfall creation to look natural and blend in with your landcape.

 

 

March 2012 Article

Calgary and area has a weather system that can fluctuate dramatically throughout the different months.  We can’t control the rain, but having an automatic sprinkler system installed with a rain sensor, is the best step to a healthy lawn and garden.  A sprinkler system is the most popular method of irrigating residential landscapes.  It delivers water through underground pipes to individual heads, and uses your house water pressure to release it with enough force to produce a spray.

Many different spray heads and nozzles ar available to meet most water needs in different zones of the landscape.  Drip and micro-irrigation systems deliver smaller amounts of water more frequently to the root zone.

These microsprayer and drip systems use much less water and are ideal for smaller garden areas and potted plants.  Hydrozoning is a term we use when clustering plants with similar water needs in a zone so each plant is watered to its’ requirements.  An example of high water use areas are lawns, blooming annuals, and vegetables.  Moderate use plants need help when first getting started, but then only a little extra water until a prolonged dry spell.  Low water use areas such as most ground covers don’t require very much additonal water, if any.  By factoring in elements such as sun exposure, soil type, and slope you can create an almost perfect system.

An automatic sprinkler system with multiple run times and start times in a yard that is divided into as many zones as possible, will ensure each area gets the right amount of water with minimal waste.  Hand watering can’t approach the precision and water conservation of a carefully planned system.

 

Convenience is also a compelling reason for installing an irrigation system.  It will run while you are asleep or at work, and while you are gone on summer holidays.  A well planned watering system will definitely increase the health and attractiveness of your landscape, with very little effort on your part!

 

 

January 2012 Article

Retaining walls can transform a slope into a series of terraces for lawns, planting beds, or patio areas.  On flat sites, low retaining walls can create raised planting beds and borders, adding visual depth to a landscape.  There are many types of materials that can be used to build a wall, but no matter what the material chosen it needs to be built to be strong enough to hold the weight of the material against it, without buckling or pushing out.  Water will make the soil much heavier and create a lot of force behind the wall, so provisions must be made for proper drainage.  Weeping tile and washed rock is the most common way of moving the water away from the wall foundations, and alleviating the pressure from behind the wall.  Wood walls are typically built using treated wood or cedar.  Cedar is best used for raised garden plots as it has a natural resistance to rot, but doesn’t have the chemicals in it that treated wood has.  Wood is the cheapest and probably most user friendly type of wall to build for the average home owner.  Natural stone walls are very nice when finished, but are more costly to build, and require more expertise to be done properly.  Interlocking brick is widely used for landscaping purposes because it is cheaper than natural stone, but provides more color and decorative options than wood.  Types of interlocking bricks that are commonly used are, Allan Block, Cornerstone, Pisa 2, and Stackstone, and they come in a variety of tones and colors.  Rather than build one large wall, it is often more prudent to build a series of smaller walls so that the pressure behind any one wall is minimized.  This creates a vibrancy to the yard that one large wall might fail to do.  Retaining walls made properly will last for years and add beauty to your yard, as well as provide more useable space to enjoy.

 

 

October 2011 Article

Pruning trees and shrubs in Calgary is an important part of the landscaping program.  Lots of trees are planted in yards that are too small for them at mature size, so pruning small trees to keep a nice upright form, and to be structurally sound can prevent maintenance problems in coming years.  It is never too soon to prune.  Start pruning early in the life of a tree to develop a strong framework of branches.  It is also important to remove dead, dying and diseased branches to allow the tree to put all its energy into the healthy branches.  Dead and diseased branches can be removed any time, but live branches are best removed in the dormant season.  Most fruit trees and elms are best left until the winter to prune after the leaves have dropped, due to the possibility of disease transfer.  Dutch Elm disease is a concern in Alberta.  It is sometimes possible to prevent some disease in trees by thinning the canopies, thus allowing more air flow and light to penetrate the inner branches.  A good preventative pruning program is a good idea to establish, and your trees will thank you for it by being healthy and strong years later.

 

 

September 2011 Article

Steps in a landscape are a very important feature, whether they’re allowing easier access to a slope in the yard, or leading into the front door.  Sometimes you want the steps to blend in with the landscape and other times you want the steps to stand out.  Large boulder steps are often used for pathways that aren’t being used all the time, but steps are required to blend in with the surroundings.  Boulder steps are very informal, and lend themselves well to plantings along the edges and in the crevices.  When installing boulder steps the trick is to find fairly flat rocks, with the face or front of the rocks being as uniform as possible to reduce tripping hazards.  Bricks are often used to build steps in more high traffic areas, and the variety of brick types and colors make them ideal to fit into almost any landscape.  In Calgary we’ve had many people ask us to take out their front concrete steps and install brick steps, using cornerstone, pisa 2, or allan blocks.  The beauty of brick is also complimented by the functionality of being able to be curved or installed in any design required.  Usually our outdoor stairs are built with a 12” tread width which is a comfortable step, but still gives room to have a planter sit on the step corner.  If there is an area of the garden that we want people to stop and enjoy, we’ll build some landings into the stairs that will subconsciously slow the walking and allow people to enjoy their surroundings.  Steps should compliment the house and nearby walkways, but beauty doesn’t have to take a back seat to functionality with the variety of materials and colors we have to choose from.

 

August 2011 Article

Pavingstone bricks can provide a nice walking or patio surface that will last for many years, if they are installed properly. Each brick is sealed so they have a high resistance to abrasion and moisture penetration. There are many different styles and colors of bricks available, which allows a patio or walkway to be incorporated into almost any landscape design. Some people are looking for the “wow” factor, with the pavingstone and design standing out and being the focus of attention. Other people are looking to integrate the walkway and patio into an existing landscape, and have it look like it’s been there for years. Either option is possible because of the wide selection of pavingstone products to choose from.

The last few years, the most desired patio design has been the circle’s, and variations of the circular pattern. Cobblestone and Euro pavingstones, and stones with more rounded edges are used for this purpose to allow for more spacing to make the curved designs. A fine sand is swept into the spaces after all the cuts have been made, and a tamper is used to make the final patio solid and useful. Because a circle patio needs to start from the center and fan out, and there are many bricks that require cutting, this type of patio is best done by a qualified professional.