This Winter Add Color to Your Tulsa Landscape Design

Landscapes can look a little bleak during winter. What can you do to add a little color to your landscape, even in the dreary days of winter? We have some tips to brighten your Tulsa landscape design. 

Add mulch to your garden. Mulching your flowerbed or garden during the winter can help add color to your landscape and help insulate plants for winter. Mulch also offers plants vital nutrients they will need in the spring. 

Plant what will flourish in a winter garden. Some plants and shrubs can survive pretty well in the chilly winter weather and even bloom during the winter months, adding significant color and interest to your garden. Camellias are blooming evergreen shrubs that grow to be about 6 to 8 feet tall with showy pink or white flowers. There are numerous varieties of camellias including super hardy ones like “Winter Joy” and “Snow Flurry” that do well in even really cold weather. Pansies are another plant that does well even in colder weather. These cute little annuals can remain stalwart with their bright and fragrant blooms through much of the fall and winter weather. 

Add color to your hardscapes. Although the plants in your landscape might not have much color, the hardscapes in your garden can shine through. Paint your fence or gate a bright color that complements your home and outdoor environment or paint your garage door or front door a bright, new color. You can also take the winter months to revamp some of your exterior structures by adding decorative hardware to your garage door or adding new fixtures to other areas of your home and landscape. 

Add light to your landscape. If you don’t already have lighting in your outdoor living space and garden, why not add lighting design this winter? Professional landscape lighting design can transform your outdoor environment and create warmth and interest all year long. Plus, you’ll be able to use your outdoor living space more with outdoor lighting. The Tulsa landscape lighting design specialists at Oklahoma Landscape can help create the best outdoor lighting for your pathway, deck, or pool area to match your home and outdoor décor. 

Create interesting focal points to your Tulsa landscape. Creating focal points in your garden or landscape will also add visual interest amid the dreary winter weather. Outdoor structures like gazebos, pergolas, arbors, etc. can provide interest while also being practical additions to your landscape. Building a fire pit or outdoor fireplace in your backyard will create a focal point while providing a place to relax and entertain friends, even in winter. Other additions to your garden could include statues, birdbaths, or even a decorative pond. 

The Tulsa landscape designers at Oklahoma Landscape can help you create the perfect winter wonderland for your landscape and home. We can design and build complete outdoor living spaces to match your lifestyle and complement the architecture of your home as well as take care of all your landscaping and lawn care needs.

Tulsa Landscaping - The Latest Design Rules to Follow

Before you set out to renovate your landscape, keep in mind these helpful landscaping guidelines to ensure your outdoor living space looks its best.

Landscaping Do’s 

First and foremost, do carefully create a landscape design plan before you begin, even if you won’t be able to finish every aspect of the design for quite a while. While you may not need to plan out every plant you’ll include, you do need to plan where hardscapes and various groups of plants and trees will go.

Do use plants that are native to your area, that grow well together naturally, and that match the architecture or style of your home and outdoor environment. Native plants will be more resistant to disease and often require less watering. Group plants with similar watering or sunlight requirements together to make maintenance easier. 

 

Do use interesting pavers or stone to add texture and color when building your walkway instead of just concrete. 

Do consider how your family will want to use your landscape in the years to come. Do you kids like to play ball in the yard? If your family has a dog, consider how your dog will interact or be affected by the various plants or landscape designs. 

Do consider and plan for how trees and plants will mature over time. Research how big trees, shrubs, and plants will grow when they are fully mature. Will they block out sunlight or be too close to your house when they are full-grown? 

Do plant to add variety and interest all year round. Plan out which trees and plants will bloom at different times during the year and plant these so that when one group stops flowering, you’ll still have color and interest in your landscape. When choosing flowering plants, pick mostly perennials instead of annuals so that you don’t have to buy them again next year. 

Do make it easy for guests to find your front door. Sometimes homeowners may want to make several paths or walkways through their yard, but make sure visitors can easily navigate and clearly see where they should go.

Do make sure to think about proportions in your landscape. You’ll want to keep all the landscape elements in proportion, not only with your home, but also with each other so that the elements don’t seem haphazardly placed. 

Landscaping Don’ts 

Don’t plant trees too close to your house, or plant shrubs or other plants too close to walkways. Research how large the tree or plant will grow when it’s mature so that it doesn’t overtake your home, interfere with the foundation, prevent you from easily passing by on your walkway, or make your home look smaller than it is.

Don’t forget about the maintenance required for each plant or shrub. Consider whether you will have time to regularly trim shrubs and trees. This is especially true with ivy growing on your house. Will you be able to keep the ivy pruned so that it doesn’t overtake your home?

Don’t try to plant too many varieties. While you need enough variety to create interest throughout the year, too many varieties of plants will take out the “design” look of your landscape and make it look disorganized. A simple landscape design with just a few varieties and even a main color theme can create a modern look and feel. 

Don’t get caught up in using a landscaping fad, especially for hardscapes. There may be bold new color or design trends in hardscape materials, but especially with these permanent features of your landscape, you’ll want to use materials that won’t soon become outdated. 

While you can use these few guidelines to create a great landscape design with interest and balance, having a landscape design professional help will take much of the stress and work out of the project.

The Tulsa landscape designers at Oklahoma Landscape can design the best plan for your landscape using these and many other landscape design techniques to create an engaging outdoor space. Let us help you build the perfect landscape and outdoor environment for your particular home and lifestyle.

How to Keep Rabbits And Deer From Getting Into Your Tulsa Garden

We may enjoy watching beautiful deer and rabbits in the wild, but they’re not always so pretty when seen eating the flowers and vegetables in our backyard. Are rabbits and deer constantly feasting on your garden? What can you do to keep these critters away?

One way to ward off rabbits and deer is to plant foliage that is uninviting to these animals. You may try planting some aromatic perennials that rabbits and deer don’t favor. Here are few: catnip plants, echinacea, chives, lavender, garlic, yarrow, peony, , and columbine or honeysuckle. Although humans often enjoy the smell of many of these perennials, wildlife like deer and rabbits can actually be repelled by the strong scent of these plants. You can plant these perennials around the border of your garden or property to help repel these animals.

Along with plants that have repelling smells to certain wildlife, many fragrant soaps can act as repellents. You can hang these bars of deodorant soap, preferably wet, on trees or plants around your landscape to repel pests.

Some gardeners also make natural deer and rabbit repellents combining ingredients like red pepper, hot sauce, garlic powder, eggs, etc. and making them into a mix that these animals do not like and applying it to various plants in the garden.

Along with deer and rabbit repellent plants, many gardeners also use deer or rabbit-resistant plants. These are trees, shrubs, and plants that animals do not like to eat so they don’t disturb your garden in the first place. Deer-resistant plants, trees, and shrubs include blue spruce, juniper, birch, boxwoods, iris, daffodil, lilac, barberry, and holly. Plants that are rabbit-resistant are a little harder to tell but some include daffodils, birch, hydrangea, elderberry, lilac, sedum, and yucca. Planting shrubs that have thorns, fuzzy leaves, or thistles is also a good deterrent.

 A good fence around your garden is must in terms of effective ways of keeping these animals out. To keep rabbits out, you’ll need to have a fine mesh fencing around the lower 2 feet. Fences will need to be around 8 feet high to keep out whitetail deer, or they can be slightly lower (around 6 feet) but be slanted. Solid wooden fences will of course be the best deterrent for deer so that they can’t see what’s on the other side.

Your much-loved dog or cat might also be one of the best deterrents for deer and rabbits.  Other tactics include scaring the animals away with radios, scarecrows, loud wind chimes, and motion-sensitive floodlights.

Talk with the Tulsa landscape design specialists at Oklahoma Landscape for more tips on how to protect your garden from deer, rabbits, and insects.

Ideas to Brighten Your Tulsa Landscape Design This Spring

Do you want to give your Tulsa landscape a little touch-up for spring? There are many easy ways to spruce up your Tulsa landscape design while adding valuable curb appeal.

A pathway of pavers.
 
Pavers are a great way to give your landscape added charm. Pavers come in a wide array of sizes, shapes, textures, colors, and materials, which makes them a favorite when it comes to Tulsa landscape design. Create an elegant walkway to invite guests to your home’s entrance or a patio in the backyard to entertain or even a distinctive driveway design.

Tulsa pavers are also great for landscaping because they can endure severe weather conditions much better than their asphalt or concrete counterparts. They are also much easier to replace than concrete if they do get damaged.

Add more color to your garden.
 
You can add a dash of color to your Tulsa landscape with an interesting mix of colorful annuals. Do you want to plant brighter hues closer to the home to direct attention there, or do you want to spread the color purposefully throughout your garden landscape? The choice is yours, so have fun with your living paintbrush. Container plants are also an easy and fun way to decorate your landscape and home.

Many are replacing much of their lawn with colorful native plants and ornamental grasses that require less water and maintenance while creating an interesting visual diversity in their yard.
Pruning any overgrown trees or shrubs can also be an easy way to give your landscape a more manicured look.

Renew the mulch.
 
A new layer of mulch added around trees and flowers bring a more polished look to the landscape and provide needed contrast.

Go for organic.

Planting a vegetable garden can give your landscape an added dimension while providing healthy food for your family. You could simply section off a spot for your garden or make a raised garden bed. Organic gardens offer not only great food, but also provide more color and interest for your landscape.

Build an outdoor environment.
 
If you really want to liven up your Tulsa landscape design, building an outdoor environment with an outdoor kitchen, fire pit, outdoor fireplace, pool, or simply just an outdoor living area will create an entirely new dimension for your landscape and home. Good planning and preparation is needed though to build a successful and efficient outdoor environment that your family can enjoy for years to come. The Tulsa landscape designers and architects at Oklahoma Landscape can help design and build the perfect outdoor environment for your home.

Sprucing up your landscape can be as simple or extensive as you want, but either route you take, there are plenty of ways to enliven your landscape and give it a fresh start for a new season.

Choosing Annuals for Your Tulsa Garden

Many Tulsa gardeners can’t wait until spring when they can get back in to their gardens. A colorful garden of annuals can enhance any landscape. What are annuals and how can you successfully use them to enhance your Tulsa home and landscape?

Annual plants are generally ones that complete their entire growing cycle in a single growing season. They grow from seeds, create foliage, blossom, and then grow seeds and die all in the same year. Perennials, however, bloom year after year, for at least two years, but they can have a fairly short blooming season. Some hardy annuals can act more like perennials and vice versa with perennials depending on the local climate.

Annuals offer a simple way to add interesting color combinations into your Tulsa garden. They are very versatile – they work great in containers, flowerbeds, window boxes, and are ideal for lining a sidewalk.  Because they have such vigorous growth, they provide an instant or close-to-instant way to have a vibrant flower garden. These lively plants provide a showy array and diversity of color, texture, and form.

“There are annuals that are tall, medium, short or climbing; ones that prefer either full sun or partial shade; and those with special virtues, such as delightful fragrance (stock, mignonette, nicotiana) or attractive foliage (caladium, coleus, dusty miller),” Gardener’s Supply Company noted.

How can you select the best annuals for your Tulsa garden?

Planning out the colors and varieties you want along with their environmental needs on paper first can help you have a more attractive and organized garden design. Annuals generally should be planted outside in the spring after any danger of frost has passed.

Annuals that are already in bloom can be purchased at a nursery or garden center in packs and then can be relocated into the outside garden. You can also buy annuals in seed packets and either grow them indoors in late winter or early spring or grow them directly in the garden soil outside, depending on the type of seed. Buying seed packets is less expensive and offers a wider variety of flowers than what you might otherwise find in nursery packs.

Make sure the soil is well-fertilized before planting or transplanting annuals into the garden. Check the nursery or packet instructions for correct spacing of flowers to ensure they don’t get overcrowded once they mature. For flowers from nursery packs, gently break up the compounded soil/roots so that the roots will be able to grow freely in the soil.

Annuals and perennial flowers can be combined to create a colorful and engaging garden for your Tulsa home. Call Oklahoma Landscape’s horticulture experts for more details on planting your spring garden.

Adding Charm and Functionality - Tulsa Retaining Walls

Is your landscape having some erosion problems? Or do you have an uneven spot on your Tulsa landscape that makes it more difficult to use or creates unsightly dirt piles? These landscaping issues can often be fixed with a retaining wall. There are many benefits to these hardscape structures. Adding a retaining wall to your Tulsa property not only can protect it, but also create a beautiful landscape design.

Retaining walls hold back soil that might otherwise erode or move downhill on a landscape. These structures act as barriers, preventing erosion or a landslide that would cause significant damage to your home. Thus, for a sloped area, retaining walls provide the vital support your landscape needs.
These hardscapes help to mimimize flooding by reducing the flow of runoff water from rushing through your landscape to your home, garden, or the connecting city street. An effectively-designed retaining wall will complement your drainage and irrigation system to divert rainwater to the right places.

Tulsa retaining walls add functional value to your property by creating level areas where previously there were hills or slopes that made the land difficult to use and maintain. By adding a retaining wall, these problematic areas become usable space, perfect for a garden or a complete outdoor environment with a patio, pool, outdoor kitchen, and more. Tulsa homeowners can thus utilize more of their property by implementing these hardscapes. These walls can be used to divide areas of the property, adding dimension to the landscape.

This added dimension to a landscape is part of another benefit retaining walls offer – that of creating a sophisticated, polished look for the landscape. Organization often gives objects a sophisticated look. Having an organized landscape can do the same. Retaining walls not only help to “organize” your landscape, dividing areas, even having different layers of walls with different purposes and keeping things in place, but they do all of this in style. Retaining walls add a decorative architecture to your landscape, creating a contrast between nature and hardscape.  When done effectively, they can add beauty and charm to your landscape. These hardscapes can coordinate with the architecture of your home and outdoor living space to provide character.

Retaining walls can be made using a variety of decorative materials, each with their own look and feel. This artful variety of hardscape materials and the skillful and purposeful building of these walls is what adds character to the landscape. These materials can include natural stones, interlocking blocks, concrete, wood, bricks, and cinder blocks. When they are textured and aged, retaining wall materials can have an alluring Old World feel. They can also be smooth and symmetrical to have a more urban look.

However, for retaining walls to be effective, they must be skillfully built. Otherwise, these hardscapes could succumb to the pressures of weather, time, and other natural elements.

Retaining walls are an important part of artful and practical Tulsa landscape design. These add definition and charm while creating functional space and vital stability to a landscape.

Tulsa Christmas Lighting Safety Tips

Many use Christmas lighting during the winter to light up the night and brighten the season. But while holiday lighting and decorations can create a beautiful winter scene for your Tulsa home or business, these lights can also create a fire hazard if not used properly.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) noted that between 2007-2011 holiday lighting and decorative lights with line voltage were involved in an average 150 home structure fires per year.
To protect your loved ones as well as your home or business, take these safety precautions from the National Safety Council and the NFPA when decorating your home or commercial property.

• Before you hang your lights, check for any broken or cracked sockets, loose bulb connections, and frayed or bare wires. Do not use lights with damaged parts.
• Lights should be unplugged before replacing bulbs and fuses.
• Use clips to hang lights instead of nails, tacks, or staples so that the wires are not damaged.
• Only use lighting that is tested by an independent testing and rating laboratory like the Underwriters Laboratories (UL Label).
• Use the correct type of holiday lighting for the environment – whether for indoor or outdoor use – following the manufacture’s guidelines.
• Connect a maximum of three stands of miniature light sets and 50 bulbs for screw-in bulbs. Be sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions for connecting LED strands.
• Do not overload extension cords.
• Do not close windows or doors on extension cords.
• Turn off all lights and decorations before going to bed or leaving your home or business.
• Holiday lighting is meant to be used temporarily, up to 90 days, so take down and properly store all lighting after the holidays.
• When hanging outdoor lighting, be sure your ladder is on level ground and never stand on the top three rungs of the ladder. When laying against a roof, the ladder should reach at least three feet above the edge of the roof. Use a wooden or fiberglass ladder.
• Avoid hanging lights near combustible materials and do not hang or cover lighting with combustible materials like cloth or paper.
• Check with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for recalled holiday lights sets that could pose a greater fire or shock hazard.
• Do not use electric lights on metal Christmas trees.

For more information on winter and holiday fire safety, visit the NFPA at www.nfpa.org. The twinkling lights of holiday decorations can brighten up your neighborhood or business, but keep in mind these safety tips to protect yourself this season.

Winter is the Best Time to Prune Many Trees in Tulsa

You may be thinking that there’s not a lot of landscaping to try to do for your Tulsa property in the winter, but actually this season is truly a great time for pruning several species of trees and shrubs.

Trees and shrubs that are pruned and well-maintained often produce more flowers and are typically healthier. Once the diseased, dead, or overgrown branches are removed, the tree can grow stronger and healthier and often is more resistant to disease and insects. Trees pruned in the winter will be able to grow quicker and more lush in the spring. Thus, practical pruning efforts really helps to promote the long-term strength and health of the tree.

Why is late winter a great time for pruning trees in Tulsa?

Many deciduous trees are dormant throughout the winter, which may reduce the damage done to the tree. This dormancy stops the trees from bleeding sticky sap when they are cut. These winter cuts won’t expose the dormant tree to as much chance of disease or insect damage because these are also dormant throughout the winter.

On a sensible note, with the leaves gone, you’ll be able to see the structure of the tree more. This could enable you to more clearly see where there are broken or dead branches that need to be removed.

When should you begin pruning trees and shrubs?

Late winter or once the coldest part of winter has passed is generally said to be the most effective time to prune most trees. There are some species, though, that should not be cropped during winter. Talk with the horticulturists at Oklahoma Landscape to find out specifically when your landscape’s trees should be pruned.

“A good rule to follow is to prune the latest blooming trees first and therefore the earliest blooming last,” North Carolina Cooperative Extension noted.

Prune trees on a dry, mild day to prevent the spread of disease by water. Branches rubbing together can cause wounds that increase the chances of disease and insect damage. Removing one of the rubbing or crossing branches to help the tree remain strong. Cut off dead, damaged, or diseased branches with sharp pruning tools. When there are diseased limbs, cut well below the diseased part of the branch.

Pruning trees and shrubs in Tulsa during the winter months not only helps them to look better but can do much to keep them healthy and prepared for spring.

Bring Color and Life to Your Tulsa Landscape This Winter With Dogwoods and Hollies

Have you wondered if there’s any way to liven up your Tulsa landscape design during winter? Actually, there are ways to bring color and life to your outdoor environment in Tulsa even when the weather is less than perfect.

Many plants have colorful and interesting bark and shapes that stand out amid the dreary winter weather. Dogwoods have yellow, red, and green stems that can bring a jolt of color to your landscape throughout the winter. Redosier and Yellow-twig Dogwood have a nice, showy bark that are good for Oklahoma landscapes.

Harry Lauder’s Walkingstick has unusual branches that make an interesting landscape piece for the winter. Other plants with interesting branches perfect for a snowy winterland include Euonymus and Japanese Kerria.

Shrubs that produce berries can add a lot color to the landscape during the winter while they also attract birds to watch from the comfort of your Tulsa home. Berry shrubs include a wide array of holly plants like American Holly, Blue Holly, and Yaupon Holly, as well as other shrubs like the red chokeberry with its vivid red fruit that stands out beautifully against the contrast of evergreens. Evergreen plants of course provide nice background foliage for winter.

Flowering plants that look great during the Oklahoma winters include Camellias that have white and pink blooms, as well as Forsythia, Witch Hazel, and Jasmine.

But if you want a quicker way to dress up your landscape this winter, planting miniature conifers in container gardens in different areas of your outdoor space as well as other potted plants like poinsettias can quickly spice up your landscape. Carefully-planned landscape lighting can also brighten up the winter months and creates an inviting atmosphere to guests.

Oklahoma Landscape’s horticulturists and Tulsa landscape designers can help you choose the best plants and shrubs to help brighten up your Tulsa landscape and keep it healthy all winter.

Tips for Planning your Organic Garden in Tulsa

Everybody’s going green and an organic garden in Tulsa is one way to include sustainable landscape design into your outdoor space.

As more Tulsa residents turn to eating organic foods, many have seen the benefits of starting their own organic food garden. According to the American Society of Landscape Architects, vegetable and fruit gardens had a 76.4 percent popularity ranking for outdoor design elements.

Not only is growing veggies healthier for your family, especially organic vegetables which are not grown using chemicals, but doing so can also save your family quite a bit at the grocery store. So where do you start with planning an organic garden? Below are a few tips to help jumpstart you on your path to organic gardening and healthy living.

Planning your garden – what you want in it and where – will be your first step. It’s good to put your ideas on paper so you can clearly see any problems that could come up.  Will you grow just vegetables or vegetables and herbs? Will you plant in containers or in the soil? The University of Maryland Extension recommends placing taller crops on the north and west sides of the garden so that they will not block the sunlight from shorter plants. They also encourage grouping plants by the season they grow in and how long they take to mature, and allow space between rows for watering and maintaining your garden.

In thinking about where to plant your garden, the University of Maryland noted, choose a level spot of ground that gets at least six hours of full sunlight a day with no trees, shrubs, or tall objects around. The root systems of nearby trees and shrubs can disrupt your vegetable garden. It’s also good to place your garden within a short distance of your water supply.

Preparing your soil is your next step to a ‘fruitful’ garden. Soil needs to have plenty of nutrients and oxygen to grow strong, healthy plants. You can determine the quality of your soil by getting it tested, either with a home testing kit or through your local agricultural extension office. To make sure your soil has enough nutrients, you’ll want to add compost, with different types of organic matter such as grass and leaf clippings (without herbicides) as well as manure, to the soil.

The next step is choosing your crops and planting.  Of course, it’s a good idea to choose veggies that you like and those that are expensive to buy in the store. Crops that are easier to grow such as tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and zucchini, greens, and pole beans will not only make gardening easier for you but also more enjoyable when you see the fruitage of your labors. Native plants and crops that will thrive and be more drought and disease resistant are also a good idea for a garden.

“If you’re buying seedlings, look for plants raised without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. A great place to look is at your local farmer’s market, which may also have native plants and varieties well suited to your area,” The Daily Green reported. “It’s better to buy stocky seedlings with few, if any blooms yet, and with roots that don’t look overcrowded.”

With smaller seeds, it may be slightly difficult to determine how far apart to space the seeds, and you may have to thin out seeds later. Your local garden store, agriculture extension, or the seed packet itself should have information about the correct spacing for a particular seed. In any case, whether using large, small seeds, or transplants, “pushing the envelope too far [with spacing] will cause a decline in yield and plant problems,” the University of Maryland noted.


Finally, watering and taking care of your organic garden are essential for great crops. It’s best to water crops in the morning to avoid disease problems and evaporation. In general, crops do well with one inch of water per week, although some crops may have different watering requirements based on such factors as type and growing stage. The local climate will also determine whether more water is needed. Watering at the base of plant is best to help the root system grow deeper. A drip irrigation system is a good way to deliver water to the base of the plant. Applying mulch to the garden will help keep out weeds while helping to conserve moisture in the soil.
Organic gardening is not only fun and a relaxing hobby, but can help your family to eat healthier while you get in touch with nature and ‘find yourself outside.’ Oklahoma Landscape can help you design the right organic garden for your landscape and your lifestyle.

Sources: Organic Gardening – How to Start an Organic Garden – The Daily Green
http://extension.umd.edu/growit/food-gardening-101

Tulsa Low Maintenance Landscape Design - Xeriscaping and Water Conservation

We all would love more time. While gardening can be therapeutic, taking care of your landscape can take up much of your time, energy, as well as money. That’s why many homeowners are opting for low maintenance landscape design in Tulsa. Low maintenance landscaping is just that; it requires less maintenance as well as requiring less water. But this doesn’t mean that these landscapes have to be filled with cacti or have a desert-like feel. No, these landscapes can be very colorful all year round.

One important aspect of creating a more low maintenance landscape is using plants that are native to your local region. These plants are naturally more resistant to diseases and insects in the area and can survive better in the local climate. Native and drought-tolerant plants are less prone to be overtaken by weeds and often require less water. All of this translates to less maintenance. And it just makes sense that if these plant species can survive in the wild on their own, they will take far less maintenance than exotic plants that are used to a totally different climate. Oklahoma Landscape’s horticulturists can help you find colorful and lively native plants that will perfectly complement your landscape and home.

Choosing drought-tolerant plants is part of a landscape design known as xeriscaping or dry gardens. This doesn’t mean that no water is used, but that water conservation techniques are employed in the landscape design to reduce the need for water while still creating a sustainable and beautiful landscape. As with low maintenance landscape design, xeriscaping involves not only choosing plants that will thrive in the local climate and are resistant to drought, but also planting and grouping them in ways that will require less maintenance.

Effective planning is vital for your Tulsa landscape to become a low maintenance garden or xeriscape. Grouping plants together that have similar watering and sunlight needs will make it easier to care for them. Noting the terrain of your landscape and the way rain drains can help you prevent erosion by using terraces and other landscape features to reduce soil loss. In shaded areas where grass is hard to grow, ground covers and flowers that thrive in shade can be used to replace turf. Grass on slopes can be replaced by low-maintenance ground cover to reduce difficult lawn mowing. Analyzing and planning areas with more traffic can help you decide whether to introduce a ground cover or even a hardscape like a walkway or patio that will greatly reduce maintenance by replacing turf. This does not mean replacing your entire lawn, but simply designing turf areas in a more thoughtful way to maximize their effectiveness by balancing practicality. For instance, large, open spaces may be more practical with turf, but narrower, shaded areas where grass doesn’t grow well may need more native plants, rocks, and shrubs.

Planning also involves ensuring your soil is well-nourished so as to reduce the need for water. Aerating the soil and using a good fertilizer or compost can help improve your soil, helping it to retain the water it needs for plants and grass to flourish. Using mulch around plants can help prevent weeds and erosion while also helping the soil retain its moisture.

Drip irrigation systems can be used to maximize the effectiveness of irrigating while conserving water. With this type of irrigation, water loss due to evaporation, surface runoff, and wind is virtually eliminated. A slow, steady application of water directly to the plant’s root system is the best way to ensure plant health and vitality. In general, drip irrigation applications use 30 to 70 percent less water than an overhead irrigation system, and plants grow to maturity about twice as fast.

A low maintenance landscape doesn’t have to dull, but can be vibrant, full of colorful plants and using a variety of themes and designs. These landscapes can reduce watering costs, time in maintaining, reduce pollution, and increase the value of your home with sustainable landscape design practices. Oklahoma Landscape can design the best low maintenance landscape for your home so that you’ll have more time to “find yourself outside.”

Tulsa Lawn Care Tips - How Much Do You Cut When Mowing?

Landscaping, lawn care, gardening...many Tulsa homeowners may enjoy these outdoor hobbies, but to others, one aspect of outdoor work has been merely a chore - mowing the lawn. It was a chore we maybe grew up doing that stole our Saturday afternoons. But to have a beautiful, green, lush lawn, we have to take care of it, and an important part of lawn care is mowing. And maybe, just maybe, many don't like mowing because they haven't seen the fruits of the labors, so to speak. They haven't seen the added benefits of properly mowing not just to cut the grass, but to help it thrive.

 

That's why although mowing your lawn can seem basic, questions often surface regarding this traditional lawn care practice.

 

At what height should you mow your lawn to help it stay green and beautiful? Actually, while different varieties of grass prefer different heights, it’s generally safe and better for the grass to cut only the top third when you mow. Why is this? Root systems grow deeper with taller grass because it allows for more shade, so the soil doesn’t dry out as fast, especially in the heat of summer. A healthier root system will help the grass to be stronger and more resistant to weeds and drought.

 

Grass that is cut at the right height actually can decrease weeds too by blocking out sunlight for weeds to grow.  Experts say that lawns should be mowed higher in the summer and slightly lower in the fall and toward winter when there is more rain.

 

Proper mowing helps grasses to thrive because it cuts off the damaged or oldest parts of the blade, encouraging grass to grow thicker, which, in turn, also helps to prevent weeds. Mowing your lawn at a taller height instead of scalping it will help it to stay green, lush, and healthy, ultimately making it easier to maintain, and giving you more free time on the weekend to enjoy your Tulsa home.

 

For lawn care and maintenance help, visit http://www.oklahomalandscape.com/index.php/lawnmaintenance/residential.

How to Hire the Right Tulsa Lawn Care Company

Hiring a professional Tulsa lawn care specialist or landscaper can seem like a daunting task, but asking just a few questions and doing a little research can help you get the perfect outdoor environment. A landscaper’s experience, proof of credentials, awards received, offering complete landscaping services, and having diversity in landscaping skills are all good indications that you have hired the right company.

When lawn care professionals have extensive experience, they can be flexible if any issues do arise. If unexpected dilemmas occur, maybe because of the topography of the landscape, weather, or a change in the project itself, the experienced landscaper can quickly adapt to these issues to save you time and money. With a proactive-approach, the lawn care specialists can possibly even foresee these issues and solve them before they happen. Larger projects, like outdoor environments, should especially be handled by a seasoned lawn care and landscaping professional. More than just basic mowing, these larger projects require a deeper skill set and good planning and foresight to effectively budget materials and time. Experience can be one of the best teachers, so hire a landscaping professional who has been “taught” the ropes of landscaping through a wide array of projects.

Choosing a professional lawn care expert or landscaper with diverse landscape design skills or one who offers a variety of landscaping services may be your best choice when hiring a landscaper. Hiring multiple contractors, one for your lawn care, another to build your outdoor fireplace, may prove to be quite a hassle. Having one landscaping company to handle all of your outdoor needs, from basic lawn mowing and maintenance to complex outdoor environment projects can lessen the confusion of workers on your property, making your home more secure. A landscaping company offering a variety of services also allows projects to run more smoothly with one team of professionals all on the same page with your project, thus saving you time and money.

Next, a seasoned landscaper should be able to give his client adequate proof of his credentials, even having their achievements showcased in local publications or having received awards. You can ask the landscaping company if they have a licensed Landscape Architects on staff and available to work on your project.  Make sure the landscaping company has a good Better Business Bureau rating.  They should be licensed and insured to work on your particular project.  Many licensed landscape design/build specialists are also members of local Home Builders Associations and other organizations that also assure you they are active members of their community and care deeply about the quality of their work. These credentials, as well as their community reputation, may give you a good indication that they will indeed build you a durable, long-lasting outdoor environment.

Obtaining the perfect lawn and landscape can be easier and far less stressful with the right landscaping company. To ensure you get the most professional service, choose landscapers with experience, expertise, and a diverse set of skills.  

Tulsa Outdoor Environments - Outdoor Kitchens, Fireplaces, Pools - Tulsa Landscaping Company Oklahoma Landscape

Tulsa Landscaping Company Oklahoma Landscape is your one source for everything outdoors. From landscape design and lawn care to complete outdoor environment design/build, we are the premier landscaping company in Tulsa. As your landscape professionals, Oklahoma Landscape is the company that will work with you from concept to creation, taking your ideas and building them into luxury outdoor environments. Also serving the Jenks, Bixby, Owasso, Broken Arrow, Catoosa, Claremore, Sand Springs, and Sapulpa areas, we are your local Tulsa landscaping company, offering complete lawn care and landscape design services. We offer comprehensive landscaping services including basic lawn care and mowing, weed control and fertilization, luxury garden design, outdoor kitchens, outdoor fireplaces, patios, pool design, hardscapes, pavers, irrigation, drainage, and landscape and holiday lighting. As a full-service landscaping company, we love to design living works of art for Tulsa commercial and residential customers. When you want quality, reliability, and innovation, choose the landscaping company that Tulsa has trusted since 1982 – Oklahoma Landscape – built around customer service and a love of landscaping.

LANDSCAPE DESIGN

As a professional landscaping company in Tulsa, Oklahoma Landscape is adept at creating luxury gardens, transforming ordinary backyards into relaxing outdoor living spaces, and building environments that add beauty and practical value to your home. Landscape design is the core of what we do. We are the Tulsa landscaping company with a complete team of design/build experts working together to make your dreams become reality, all with less communication issues and a tighter work schedule, to get the job done right. Oklahoma Landscape keeps the big picture in mind – creating sustainable spaces that conserve water and energy, determining the most practical materials to use for the long-term, and designing with our client’s plans for the future in the forefront. From state-of-the-art outdoor kitchens to outdoor fireplaces, pools, water features, and pergolas, we are your local landscaping company, here to help you ‘find yourself outside.’

·         Custom Landscape Design

·         Design/Build Experts

·         Tulsa Outdoor Kitchens, Fireplaces

·         Pergolas, Water Features, and More

IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE

As a full-service landscaping company in Tulsa, we can provide the custom irrigation and drainage services your landscape needs to thrive. As your local irrigation company, we service all brands of sprinkler systems, diagnosing and repairing any problems in your irrigation system.  With smart controllers and ET weather sensors, we can manage your irrigation and sprinkler system in real-time, conserving water while creating a healthier lawn. We can make sure your irrigation system is winter ready and always running at its peak efficiency during summer with annual service agreements. Proper drainage is vital for your landscape as well as your home. Our drainage specialists can inspect your home and determine the best drainage system for your landscape, whether French drains, tightline drains, waterproofing, or other surface drainage systems.  The Tulsa irrigation and drainage specialists at Oklahoma Landscape can protect your home and keep your landscape looking its best all year.

·         Sprinkler System Repair

·         French Drains

·         Tightline Drains

·         Irrigation System Management