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 3^rd 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 3^rd year of growing.  Shrubs are ever growing, but your landscape will reach that full feel after the 3^rd 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.