Category: Information
Improve Ambiance, Comfort & Safety with Simple Landscape Lighting
August 24, 2016One of the often forgotten and generally underused secrets of a beautiful landscape is landscape lighting. Used properly, landscape lighting brings out a property’s beauty in a way that’s much different from the way in which natural lighting highlights that same beauty.
Because landscape lighting doesn’t reveal everything, your eye goes just to the parts of your landscape that you and your lighting expert choose to highlight. With 50 years of experience in beautifying landscapes, the team at Hively qualifies as experts, and our landscape design team has perfected the use of landscape lighting to bring out the beauty of your property after the sun goes down.
Ensure Landscape Success with Simple Soil Testing
August 24, 2016Summer is in full swing, and our recent travels around York, PA have revealed that this summer’s heat and lack of rain has taken a toll on local lawns and landscapes.
Many landscape owners believe that the problem is simply the inevitable result of this year’s extreme heat and irregular rain, but something else may be having an effect, and even with ideal temperatures and rainfall, that factor can prevent lawns and landscapes from being fully healthy and looking great.
Fortunately for these home and business owners, the team at Hively Landscapes has the ability to transform their lawns and landscapes from an eyesore into the lush green lawns and beautiful gardens you thought were only possible in commercials.
Natural Pest Control
June 21, 2016
In celebration of Shark Week 2016 kicking off this Sunday (June 26), we wanted to draw attention to a real danger to humans here in Pennsylvania… mosquitoes! You may be surprised to learn that the deadliest animal in the world is also one of the smallest in size. Here in Pennsylvania, we most associate mosquitoes with the West Nile Virus, and in other parts of the world they also carry malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, encephalitis, and the much talked about, Zika virus. Mosquitoes are hard to escape as they are found in every region of the world except for Antarctica, and in Alaska they’re so big and plentiful that they’re the unofficial state bird.
3 Options for Proactive Landscape Maintenance
May 24, 2016If you’re familiar with our blog you’ve likely read our previous article on the benefits of proactive lawn care maintenance. From maximizing your flowers and growth to early identification and treatment of problems, residents and businesses alike have found that by selecting a proactive landscape maintenance plan with Hively Landscapes they’re maximizing their landscape investment, while avoiding costly replacements, removals, and other landscape troubles.
We offer three forms of proactive maintenance, and have outlined each below.
Patio Paver versus A Stamped Concrete Patio – Which is Better For Me?
February 12, 2016Potential and current customers frequently ask us if they should choose patio pavers or a stamped concrete patio. There’s no simple answer because every homeowner has different desires and expectations, so we begin to help them choose by explaining the significant differences between these two materials. Let’s clarify that “pavers” is a generic term for interlocking concrete pavers. Patio pavers are manmade from high-strength concrete and come in an almost infinite variety of shapes, thicknesses, textures and colors. We use pavers frequently, and we also construct many hardscapes from natural stone materials, using similar installation techniques.
Costs
Let’s get right to it; many people assume that a stamped concrete patio will be less expensive than a paver patio. In some cases, they will be right but since no two design/installations are the same, it’s not really possible to make this judgment without some research. It’s also not really an apples-to-apples comparison, as we will explain.
Construction
The most important part of any patio installation, regardless of material type, is the base. This is the foundation of the final surface and as the saying goes, what you see is “only as strong as its foundation”.
5 Winter Lawn Care Tips for Your Landscape
December 23, 2015
If you believe that the care of your landscape simply stops once the weather gets cold, you are making a mistake that we see all too often and a mistake that leads to costly damage to your plants. Even if this winter turns out to be mild overall, it’s still winter, and the stress of weather that changes from cold to warm to cold can damage your trees and shrubs if they aren’t properly prepared. So, you can help your plants flourish once the spring arrives by following these simple winter lawn care tips:
Holiday Planter Ideas
November 30, 2015With the Christmas season quickly approaching, we thought it would be appropriate to share some holiday planter ideas that you can use to decorate your business or home. You can easily make those entryways more festive and welcoming to your guests or customers with some great looking custom holiday decorations.
If you’re looking for ideas for creating a great holiday container, follow these helpful tips:
- Start with a variety of greenery. Boxwood, cedar, pine, cypress, and fir trimmings all make for great additions to your planters or window boxes. You can also mix in a living element with dwarf varieties of evergreens.
- For a mix of colors and texture, you’ll want to mix in some branches, pinecones, or fruit. Some favorite examples include yellow or red twig dogwood branches, winterberry branches, corkscrew willow branches, bittersweet, Osage oranges*, pomegranates, and sweetgum pods.
- Add some decorative lights. If you have something already planted, wrap it in Christmas lights or even add a bow, and then decorate the base with a skirt of evergreen boughs.
*Osage oranges really aren’t oranges. They’re those green fruits that look like brains, and they also go by the names of hedge apple or monkey ball.
To help you develop your own beautiful planters, we’ve put together a sampling of containers that will give you some inspiration and ideas.
The Secrets to Building a Great Fire Pit
October 29, 2015With the fall ushering in cooler weather, many people are looking for ways to enjoy the outdoors as long as they possibly can. A fire pit is a solution to this problem, but you’ll want to make sure you aren’t setting yourself up for a headache later due to poor planning or installation mistakes.
Our experience has taught us several secrets to fire pit building that most people overlook. We wanted to share these secrets with you if you are considering adding a fire pit to your backyard living space.
- You’ll need to determine what regulations local municipalities have enacted in regards to fire pits in your area. You don’t want to go through the trouble of building a fire pit only to be forced to remove it later.
Prepare Your Landscape for Fall with These 5 Tips
September 21, 2015Alexander Graham Bell said it best when he declared “before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” If you want to enjoy a vibrant garden year-round, now is the perfect time to begin preparation for the potentially unforgiving fall and winter months. A fall maintenance checklist is critical to success and will help you hit the ground running in the spring when you begin to dig out from the winter lull.
At Hively Landscapes we would like to help you get your landscape ready, and have compiled a list of some of our favorite fall landscaping tips to share with you. These are just some tips to help you achieve the successful landscape you will enjoy for years to come.
Take Care of Your Lawn – One of the best things you can do for your lawn is aeration. Aerating pulls thousands of small cores out of the ground. This allows both oxygen and water to reach the root system of your turf. This encourages a deeper and stronger root system that better resists the hot dry summer months in our area. Aeration is best done by a professional with the proper tools, though this equipment is available for rent at most tool rental stores. Give your grass a high-phosphorus fall fertilizer mix to encourage root growth, and be sure to keep after any leaves that drop as these can cause dead spots and prevent fertilizers from reaching the ground. **BONUS** Add the collected leaves to a compost pile and then mix up the pile every week or so to aerate. You can then use this leaf compost in the spring to nourish your trees, shrubs, and even your lawn!
The Proper Way to Water
August 31, 2015
Maintaining your garden can be a chore if you are ill-equipped to handle the job. We’re not just talking about bringing your gloves and pruners, but even more importantly the knowledge of how to properly care for the landscape you and your landscape designer have created.
One of the most common issues with a plant’s ability to survive is the way they are being watered. While it may seem simple enough, you’d be surprised how often a lack of water or an excess of water leads to a plant’s demise. You want to keep your plants all looking great year-round while also avoiding the costly expense of replacing them for something as preventable as drying out or being flooded.
The secret to great watering is to ensure that the root zone gets a sufficient amount of water. This seems simple, right? The problem begins when all the other variables in watering come into play. Some variables that will affect the way you water include: