summer landscaping Archives - Giovine Landscaping Contractors

Do you love seeing birds and butterflies in your garden? Want to help wildlife and the natural environment? Wondering how to grow beautiful plants that cost less time and money to maintain? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should consider adding native flowers to your yard!

What Is A Native Plant?

When a plant is “native” to New Jersey or the United States that means its species evolved and adapted to our local ecosystem and environment. Native species evolved over millions of years to the specific weather conditions of our area.

Many common garden plants are “aliens” imported from Asia and Europe. These foreign plants may look pretty but they are often useless and sometimes require more watering and fertilizer than native species. Sometimes these foreign plants spread into the wild and outcompete native plants. Unfortunately, this can harm wildlife and upset the ecological balance; these plants are called “invasive species.”

Luckily, you can reduce the spread of invasive species by talking to one of our experts at Giovine Landscaping. They will help you design your backyard landscape while incorporating native New Jersey species. By growing native species, you increase the lifespan of your plants, while helping other plants grow naturally around them. Here are the best flowers to grow in New Jersey!

Amazing Plants For Your Garden

Butterfly Weed: This plant gets its name from the fact that butterflies love it! This flower is useful for pollinating your garden, aiding in fertilizing surrounding greenery. It is best to plant it in late spring, with loads of sunlight, while the soil is warm. It prospers in sandy dry-soil and can survive drought-like conditions! This flower is bright and colorful and very low maintenance, meaning it can be a wonderful addition for your garden!

Wood Anemone: Wild wood anemones bloom in woodlands on the edge of New Jersey forests from April to June. The species survives best in gardens that are partly, if not fully shaded. They also thrive in damp, rich, mucky soil. The wood anemone is a delicate plant with a stalked white or pink flower.

Great Blue Lobelia: The deep blue flowers of this plant grow on an upright spike. This native plant blooms in late summer to early fall. The great blue lobelia thrives in moist soil and can live in full sun or partial shade. The plant can grow 1 to 4 feet tall, and you should plant each one about 1 foot apart. The plant attracts pollinators such as butterflies and hummingbirds!

Northern Red Oak: The northern red oak is a native east coast tree that can grow up to 80 feet tall! It thrives in full sun and in partial shade environments. It thrives in normal or moist soils, in early to mid fall. This species is unusually tolerant of polluted environments, making it a hardy tree that can be a welcome addition to any yard. It also attracts birds and mammals such as squirrels and deer.

Black-Eyed Susan: This flower blooms bright yellow, with a black center “eye”. It can grow 1 to 2 feet tall and blooms best from June to October. They thrive in an environment with tons of sun and well-draining soil. This flower also attracts multiple insects and pollinators due to its sweet nectar.

Northern Bayberry: This is a tough shrub that thrives in all types of soil. However, it prefers partial shade in your garden. It can grow 5 to 8 feet tall and grows very rapidly. Due to its toughness the northern bayberry is greatly beneficial to winter birds and butterflies. It blooms from March to June and can benefit your yard!

Purple Coneflower: This vibrant purple flower blooms for two months in mid to late summer. It prefers partial to full sun exposure and is the perfect resource for wildlife. Its pale purple or pink flowers attract a variety of animals ranging from insects to Goldfinches and Hummingbirds! Growing up to three feet tall, this beautiful flower is easy to maintain and is beneficial for your garden.

Update Your Garden Today!

For all of your landscaping and plant needs, please contact Giovine Landscaping. Our professional team can help build and maintain the yard or garden of your dreams! Whether you want to remove ticks, fertilize plants or control unruly weeds, Giovine Landscaping is here to help! Don’t hesitate to contact us at (973) 325-1758 for some help in designing your perfect backyard!

End of summer landscaping tips will keep your lawn looking great!

It may still be scorching hot out, but in the next few weeks, that heat will begin to cool. As summer starts to wind down, you may be wondering how best to take care of your landscaping to prepare for the change in weather. No worries – we’ve got you covered. There are a number of easy things you can do to keep your yard healthy and prepare it for when the weather gets colder. Check out our favorite end of summer landscaping tips!

1. Harvest Your Vegetables

If you have a vegetable garden, you likely already have some crops growing, and you may have more come the fall. In order to make space and keep your plants healthy, make sure you harvest whatever vegetables have already grown. This will help new vegetables grow and receive a nice amount of nutrients. You can then add your harvested veggies into a delicious end-of-summer salad!

2. Deadhead and Cut Flowers

Believe it or not, it’s actually healthy for certain flower plants, like peonies, when you cut off the blooms, especially as they start to shrivel. This is called deadheading your plants. Deadheading is important both for the appearance of the plant and to encourage more buds to grow and bloom. The best part is you can then gather up your cut flowers and display them in your home!

3. Repair Your Lawn

If you have had a baby pool out all summer or any other kind of water play structure, you’ll notice that the grass underneath is probably not in the best condition—and is possibly even dead. The end of summer is a great time to reseed your lawn so that any bare patches or dead areas can have a chance to grow again.

4. Prepare for Fall Planting

Fall is a great time to plant bulbs that will bloom after the winter, and the end of summer is when you can start thinking about which bulbs to buy! There are also some seedlings that do well in the fall and that can be seeded towards the end of summer. Speak to your local gardening professional to get advice on which bulbs and seeds are best prepared this time of year.

5. Prevent Weed Growth

Weeds like to shoot up in your lawn during the fall months, and the best way to prevent weeds is to be proactive. Speak to your landscaper or do your own research on ways to treat your lawn to prevent weeds from growing. Depending on the kind of grass you have and your own personal preferences about chemicals, there are a variety of herbicide treatments you can choose from that will be effective in keeping weeds at bay.

If you keep these end of summer landscaping tips in mind, your property will stay healthy and looking its best! But you don’t have to do it alone. At Giovine Landscaping, our experts can prepare your landscaping to help you stay ahead of the game and keep your lawn healthy and beautiful throughout the fall. We’ll clean up any dead branches or blooms, seed grass where necessary, and treat your lawn to keep it in good shape. No matter what your landscaping needs and goals are, we will work with you to care for your greenery every season!

Tag: summer landscaping

Best Flowers To Grow On The East Coast