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  This is a post of the article I wrote for the January 21, 2013 edition of Lehigh Valley Business. Curb appeal!  On HGTV when residential home remodeling is the focus, curb appeal is one of the first things presented as a sure-fire, instant value builder.  The curb appeal of your business should be considered…

Are you one of those people who care about our environment?  Or do you take the natural world, all of the birds, the animals and the plants, for granted?  Recently, I attended a lecture by Doug Tallamy, the author of “Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants” (April 1, 2009, Timber…

Do you have a tree with a mound of mulch around the trunk?  Don’t get me wrong, putting mulch around your tree trunks so the lawn mower does not hurt their bark is a good thing but only when it is 2″ or less of mulch.   Many people loose trees and they don’t know why. …

Why leave your outdoor containers that held your annuals this past summer empty?  Fill them with all kinds of greens from your landscape.  If you have any holly, great!  If you have hydrangeas, seed heads of Autumn Joy Sedum, use them for interest.  They can be spray painted for color as well as ornamental grass

If you are one of those people that mourn the end of the gardening season, here’s some good news.  Just because plants go dormant in winter, doesn’t mean that people have to do the same.   Planning is such a very important part of winter.  With the bones of the landscape exposed, you can see…

You can see the difference new plants and path can make in the curb appeal of a home. * Create an entry path that’s wide enough for two people to walk side by side to get to the door.  Four feet is a good target dimension. *Choose evergreen plants for your foundation because our winters…

What makes a landscape look outdated?  The number one reason is plants sheared in various shapes to prevent them from growing over windows or eating your house.  Many new homeowners install plants along their foundation when they initially move iinto their home.  They haven’t studied varieties,k cultivars, and selections enough to understand how big some…

When you look out your windows, do you have beautiful views to enjoy? Can you watch the birds getting their seeds and berries, the butterflies flitting around? If not, you are not taking full advantage of the property where you live and either pay taxes or rent to be there. In order to create beautiful…

For this rather unique look in bulbs, we mixed various varieties of tulips, allium, and lilies and threw them about around the perennials in this outdoor living room. In spring it will look very naturalistic with green mounds of perennials around them. Check back in spring to see what it all looks like!