Landscaping

Commercial Calgary Landscaping Companies Winter Tree Care

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The winter weather in Calgary is a challenge for any landscape. Trees and shrubs can sustain damage due to the variable weather. It is important to take care of trees throughout the winter to keep them healthy for next spring’s thaw.

Calgary Landscaping: The Challenges of Winter Weather

Calgary’s unique position in southern Alberta places it right in the path of the warm chinook winds coming off the eastern slopes of the Rockies. The winds pick up speed and strength going through the Bow Valley. This warm wind can cause extreme temperature fluctuations. Add dry air to the mix and you may see tree damage everywhere.

Tip Kill

As the air warms up, but remains dry, the tips of tree branches start to dry out. Since the roots are frozen, they are unable to bring water into the tips to replenish the supply. This leaves the tips starved of moisture, which causes them to die. This condition is known as “tip kill” or “die back”. Common signs are dry twigs and discolored evergreen needles. The damage done can be extensive enough to kill smaller plants. Creating wind breaks or covering plants with mulch are effective options for preventing this kind of damage.

False Spring

Calgary landscaping professionals dread false spring. When the warm Chinook winds stay around longer than normal, it begins to warm the ground. The warm ground can bring trees out of dormancy too early. The sap flows and the tree begins spring growth. When the winter winds return, the freezing temperatures can cause severe damage to the new growth that won’t go away with the approach of real spring.

Another cause of false spring is sun scald. Snow is on the ground and the sun is bright in the sky. As the sun’s rays reflect off the snow, it can cause tree tissues on the south side to start thawing. Then, when the sun goes down, the thawed tissues refreeze. This continual freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw cycle can cause the tree’s bark to split. This can damage inner tissues and even kill the tree. If you notice a split limb or trunk, wrap it to prevent further damage.

Animal Damage

Non-hibernating animals like deer and rabbits are another challenge for Calgary landscaping professionals. They will eat tree bark during winter, plus pillage your perennials and shrubs. This can cause exposure of the tender inner tissues of the tree. Placing wire fencing around the base of the tree is an effective option for preventing this kind of damage.

De-Icing Agents

Plants along sidewalks and near parking areas are vulnerable to any DE-icing agents you put down. Use those DE-icing materials sparingly and only where necessary. Excess use can cause damage and even kill smaller trees and plants.

If you need help with your winter tree care or want a four-season land maintenance company, call us here at Mirage Landscaping. We have been proudly serving the Calgary area for three generations with landscape services and snow removal.

Garden Landscaping Ideas Convert Unused Space Into Something Unique

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The normal practices for most gardeners who have to work with a lawn is to select a patch of land that is open and then sow some plants and wait for the garden to fill up. However, there are other and better ways of gardening and a garden can in fact be placed almost anywhere one wants. It pays to work on a few simple garden landscaping ideas which will help to transform your home from an ordinary piece of property into one that stands out in the locality.

Backyard Swimming Pool

In case there is a backyard swimming pool that is lying disused on your property, why not make use of simple garden landscaping ideas which can help to make better use of any unused apace and convert it into an excellent sunken patio that could also have lovely vegetation in its immediate vicinity to further improve the overall look of the patio.

To take this garden landscaping idea one step further, why not also consider creating different levels, which helps enhance small pieces of land by making even small spaces look larger than they really are. And, with some more imagination, you can easily develop your garden landscaping ideas even more by also using the steps of your pool as a guide to create different levels for the patio.

Other than levels, you can also try out different garden landscaping ideas with regard to the floor of the new patio which may even be made from red colored bricks and you can also use flagstones (vertical) to create barriers with which to keep the garden soil intact. To cap this brilliant garden landscaping idea, you can even use a fireplace (outdoor) in the pool which will be most appreciated whenever you plan on having a picnic at night and in the outdoors.

Even Japanese garden landscaping lends it well to garden landscaping ideas, especially if you have a fascination for everything Japanese. In fact, you can really go wild with garden landscaping ideas for a Japanese style garden because there is a lot of scope for you to play with colors as well as because the ideas can be made very flexible as well as unique.

But, there is even more to the type of garden landscaping idea that you can think up because there is in fact, even another theme worth developing and that is of making your garden attractive to visiting birds. In fact, if you come across birds that visit your home and which show an attraction to fruits you could even think of planting an entire fruit tree which would draw these birds in big numbers, and in addition you will also get to enjoy the scents given off by most fruit trees. Also, you could embellish such garden landscapes by also considering adding bird swings on the tree and even installing a birdbath in your garden that are some other good examples of imaginative garden landscaping ideas.

The History Of Landscaping

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Mayans lined walkways leading to their temples with intricate plants and flowers, the Romans created courtyard gardens within the boundaries of their properties for the enjoyment of their family and friends, and royalty would plant profuse amounts of flowers and trees as a symbol of their wealth. In the 17th century in Jamaica, slave plantation owners would line the walkways to their mansions with Royal Palms. Throughout history, landscaping was used as a sign of not only beauty, but also wealth, power and respect.
Hardscaping is the use of the terrain itself, or rocks and stones brought in from other places. Nowadays it’s mostly just rocks and stone walls for aesthetics, but hardscaping was also used for practical purposes. The most obvious example of this is the Great Wall of China. Qin Shi Huang unified all the states of China in 221 B.C. and to block invasions from the Xiongnu people in the north, ordered that the wall be built to help protect his new borders from enemies. Of course in this case hardscaping was completely utilitarian.
Another example of hardscaping is the mystical Stonehenge of England. The mystery of these rocks is that though they are in England now, they actually came from Whales, which means that the builders somehow transported these rocks over 200 miles. This has led to many theories of everything from aliens to astronomical miracles. Most likely these creators were just very dedicated (or well-paid) individuals committed to finishing the product.
Nowadays, from the San Joaquin Valley of California to New York’s Hudson Valley, landscaping and hardscaping are now used for personal homes and commercial businesses as a way to improve the quality of peoples’ physical surroundings and to give a sense of nature in an increasingly material world.

Landscaping Requires Proper Designing and Resources for Maintenance

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Landscaping denotes to any action that alters the visible topographies
of an area of land, including alive elements, such as flora or fauna,
the drawing and skill of developing plants with a goal of generating a
beautiful atmosphere within the landscape, natural features such as
landforms, topography shape and height, or forms of water, human
elements such as structures, fences or other substantial objects created
and/or fixed by humans and abstract elements such as the weather and
lighting circumstances.

Landscaping and landscape design:


Landscaping is both science and art, and needs good reflection and
design skills. A good landscaper recognizes the elements of nature and
structure and mergers them consequently. Landscaping involves study and
reflection. It is not the identical in different parts of the world.
Landscaping differs according to different areas. Therefore, usually
local natural specialists are suggested if it is done for the first
time.

Understanding of the site is one of the chief fundamentals
for successful landscaping. Different natural features like terrain,
topography, soil abilities, dominant winds, depth of the ice line must
be taken into account. Occasionally, the land is not fit for
landscaping. In order to landscape it, the land must be redesigned. This
reshaping of land is called grading.

Landscape design is a
self-governing occupation and a design and art custom, experienced by
landscape creators, uniting nature and culture. In modern practice,
landscape design bonds between landscape architecture and garden design.
Features in designing include impartial qualities, such as the weather
and microclimates; geography and location, site drainage and groundwater
revive. It also includes municipal and reserve building codes, soils
and irrigation, human and vehicular contact and flow, recreational
facilities, furnishings and lighting, native plant habitation botany
when present, property security and security, construction detailing,
and other quantifiable considerations.

The up-and-coming
practice of online landscape design allows expert landscapers to greatly
plan and plan sites through management of two-dimensional pictures
without ever actually visiting the site. Due to the recurrent lack of
non-visual, extra data such as soil valuations and pH tests, online
landscaping essentially must focus on including only plants which are
tolerant across many varied soil conditions.

Arrangement of outdoor fireplace and water sprinkler in landscaping:


The combination of an outdoor fireplace and screen like greenery can
create a boundary that describes an outdoor living space. The outdoor
fireplace having strong vertical focal point splits the tall, white wall
of the close home, serious to making the outdoor fireplace convenient
and relaxed. Even fashionable presentations of the piece that keep a
steady width and depth will have this result.

Living landscapes
need water to survive and flourish, so the sprinkler installation is
necessary. Trusting wholly on natural rainfall isn’t frequently the best
technique of providing water. Depending on the kind of lawn and other
plantings in a landscape, a more continuous source of water may be
compulsory and a home irrigation system might be what someone need. A
proper sprinkler installation and maintenance of dissident sprinkler
system conserves water by leading it precisely where and when it’s
required.

Sprinkler installation for irrigation system can
protect you money. Keep in mind that putting in an irrigation system
isn’t your classic Saturday morning project. Sprinkler installation
typically takes more than one weekend to fit and fine adjust.