Drab Winter? Not if you add cool season annuals to your landscape!

 As the heat of summer winds down, it doesn't mean that we have to resign ourselves to drab landscapes during the winter months. The begonias, impatiens, and other summer annuals have done their job, but they can't handle winter's cold. So now it's time for a change.

There are beautiful annual flowers that do very well in our mild winters here in the south. Some that we particularly like are violas and pansies. Kales and cabbages can also be added as accents for texture in your beds. You can use snapdragons for height. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what's available:


Sorbet Purple Duet Violas

 

Penny Citrus Mix Violas


 

Monet Mix Pansy



Blueberry Thrill Pansy



Penny White Violas



Red Russian Kale

 

Winterboor Kale



Snapdragons


With the multitude of varieties available, you can really give yourself a nice winter look. In the fall beds we prepare for our clients, we rely on violas and pansies as our mainstays because of their hardiness. With hundreds of varieties available, the possibilities are endless. This is just a sampling of the cool season flowers that are available in our area. Check your local greenhouses for availability. For more information on the services we offer, give us a call at 704-821-0708. We're happy to help.

We do recommend that you apply a systemic fungicide and systemic insecticide at planting. You also will want to fertilize multiple times during the growing season for maximum blooms. We use an organic fertilizer and a granular type at installation. Then we also add a liquid bloom producing fertilizer similar to the type you find at your home improvement stores. For more tips on bed prep, check out: http://aatexlawn.blogspot.com/2010/11/add-color-to-your-landscape-during.html

As an added note, it is almost time to plant bulbs for that burst of early spring color! Depending on weather, bulbs can be planted in the October/November timeframe when the soil temperatures start to fall. Who doesn't love to welcome spring with beautiful tulips, lilies, and crocuses!


Happy Planting,

The AA Tex Lawn Team

Composting: A good use of our resources and a rockin’ bon-fire

At AA Tex Lawn, we try to be good stewards with our resources. We look for ways we can keep our operating costs down, as well as help our planet. One way we do this is by contracting with a local tree company to recycle our landscape waste in mulch and compost. Not only does this keep the tree branches, dirt, leaves, etc from going to the landfill, but turns this waste material into something usable. The tub grinder is an impressive piece of equipment. Check out the video of the tub grinder at work on our pile of debris:

After a couple of months this compost is a rich soil amendment or mulch to put in plant beds. Here's how composting works:

Composting is a way to speed up the decomposition (or break down) of organic matter. By putting carbon rich materials like fallen leaves, wood chips and straw in a pile with nitrogen rich materials like fresh grass clippings and vegetable and plant waste, you create a mix of materials that bacteria and other microorganisms will feed upon. These organisms break down these materials into rich mulching and soil amendments much quicker than they would decompose naturally. The process creates heat which also helps with the break-down process (and also kills any weed seeds that may be left from the grass clippings).

Composting needs several things to work efficiently. You need the right ratio of carbon to nitrogen. The materials you put in the compost pile need to be small to provide more surface area to help the material break down quicker. Because of the energy produced by the microorganisms, the compost pile needs to be turned and watered frequently to keep the heat from building up. Watering also facilitates the break-down process.

A compost pile can spontaneously combust when materials self heat to a temperature high enough to cause them to ignite. As strange as this sounds, we actually had this happen to our pile this summer. There is nothing like walking out to a huge smoking mound of (what looks like) dirt! This is not something that usually affects a home compost pile as they are smaller, allowing more airflow with less dry pockets in the pile. Spontaneous combustion is more prevalent in larger piles that are not turned often. We turn ours every 1 to 2 months now. To be safe, if you are thinking of starting a compost bin at your house, locate it away from buildings and flammable structures. (It will also help control critters that are attracted to the organic material.) Be sure to turn it periodically to accelerate the decomposition process and let air into the pile. Also water it to encourage break down.

In a relatively short time, your compost will be ready to use and great for your soil! Although the grinding process is not cheap, we're excited to have this organic material to add to our plant beds and sell at our facility. And we get the added bonus of knowing we're doing something good for our Earth.

Thanks,

The AA Tex Lawn Team