Watering
Water is
essential to a landscape thriving. The
first season is usually the hardest on plants.
If your landscape is planted in the spring you will have to water until fall. Then the following year you will have to
water during long dry spells. By the 3rd
year you should be self sustaining, except for the few plants (mostly
perennials) that will still need some help on real hot days, to keep from
getting sun burn.
Watering
should be done in the evening or early morning if possible to minimize the
chances of mildew. This usually works
well for people’s work schedules. As a
rule of thumb we instruct our clients to water “areas” every other day. For example water the front of the house one
day, the back of the house the next. You will need to soak the plants with a hose (the
larger the plant the more water they need). Set the hose on a steady trickle for best
results. Soak perennials about 5 min. per plant, small
shrubs the same, medium size shrubs 10-15 min. large shrubs and trees, soak
each side of the root ball 15-20 min. Make
sure that the water is permeating through the mulch. You may have to move some mulch aside and set
the hose on the earth.
What to expect after installation?
Plants,
Perennials in general, usually reach their full maturity after the 3rd
year of growing. Shrubs are ever growing,
but your landscape will reach that full feel after the 3rd
year. We space our plants according to
maturity growth so some landscape may look “open” for a season or two. Over planting a space causes many future
problems with overcrowding. Then
removals have to be done.