the grasshopper's gazette MARCH 2021

This is one of the most important times of year for your landscape. The weather is usually not too hot and the risk of freeze has almost passed (March 6). We had a good handful of freezes this winter and most of the shrub foliage is showing it. 

PRUNNING

It is finally (March 6) time to get that frost bitten foliage off your plants and find out which plants survived and which didn’t. We had a cold winter and it most certainly shows on some plants. Feel free to trim away! This is a great time to bring some overgrown shrubs back down to size. Use your fingernail and lightly the scratch some of the bark off the plant, if it shows green it is still alive and will re-grow it’s leaves (flowers), if there is no green, go ahead and prune that branch off all the way down until your find green. 

SHRUBS

Believe it or not shrubs actually have a life expectancy. A lot of the more popular shrubs found around The Villages are Boxwoods, Holly, and Viburnum. After about 20 years they begin to get “sparse” or “leggy”. They will lose their bushiness and start to thin out. This is usually the time we recommend replacing them. There are lots of factors when adding or replacing shrubs: growth speed, max height/width, color, fragrance and thorns. Our two top pick shrubs are the Loropetalum for it’s color and Tea Olive for it’s perfume.

PLANTS

Now is the best time to replace or add any plants to your landscape. The rainy season is coming and will help establish any new plants. Once everything gets cut back and removed, you get a better look at what needs to be filled in, or where more color needs to be added. Two of our favorite choices for adding pops of color to any landscape are the Penta and Ixora. They are a pretty, flowering plant that blooms all spring and summer while requiring very little pruning.

MULCH

Adding mulch is one of the best ways to make your landscape “pop.” We recommend the shredded mulch (as seen below) over the bark mulches because it provides a better weed suppression base. Choosing the right color mulch is based on personal preference. Red mulch was VERY popular a few years ago but the darker brown and black mulch are what’s currently “trending.” You can visit our website: AheadOfTheGrass.com/landscaping to see all the different options and get inspiration. 

LAWN CARE

Making the biggest impact with your landscape is your lawn. A pretty, green, weed free lawn provides the ideal foreground for a beautifully landscaped house. This is not something that is achieved or maintained overnight. A beautiful lawns requires a multifaceted approach. The late winter/early spring treatment sets the tone for the year. This is the application that kills off all the overwintered weeds, and puts down blanket pre-emergent to help reduce the amount of weeds that come up over the summer. It is also one of the feeding applications. This means it includes a granular, slow release fertilizer for your turf to uptake over the next couple of months. If you have questions about our lawn care program, or would like pricing just give us a call or email. 

IRRIGATION

Water is a crucial part of any landscape. Not enough, everything dies. Too much, everything also dies. Spring is a good time to make sure your irrigation is running properly. We also recommend that everyone has a rain sensor device, also called a moisture cutoff device. This handy technology automatically turns off your irrigation when we get rain. It will also automatically turn it back on when needed. This mitigates having to manually turn off the sprinklers and remembering to make sure to turn them back on. There are also new control boxes available that rely on local weather forecasts and make adjustments to the watering schedule as needed. Let us know if you would like more information these new boxes.