Green Jay Landscape Design

Green Jay Landscape Design

(914) 560-6570

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We come across water management issues daily in our work as landscape designers and design/build contractors.

It seems there is either too much water or too little. Aside from our 20 point property checklist, we continuously look for signs and indicators of flow paths, wet areas or stress in the landscape environment. Sometimes these are simple and easy to improve. Obvious low lying areas that are connected to culverts, inverts or other piping should be monitored so they do not get clogged with debris. In some cases screens are recommended to exclude animals from piping. On the other hand if debris regularly clogs piping they must be cleaned more often. Larger diameter pipe is less likely to clog.

Mowing is a consideration. We recommend leaving a buffer strip between the stream bed and mowed lawn. This provides both a natural physical and biological filter which significantly aides water quality.

There is much more valuable info in the two courses I developed for The Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, Gardening with Storm Water and Establishing a Riparian Buffer.

If you are looking to improve the appearance or function of your landscape, call today for a consultation.

Every morning I see the beauty of our natural landscapes. Even at the gym! Lifetime Fitness in West Harrison is a great example of contemporary ecological landscape design incorporating native plants into a landscape composition.

The pink flowering dogwood with the flowering black choke cherries is so pretty and attractive not just to us human casual observers but to our native bees and insects. There is a great combination of native and non native perennials, grasses, ground covers, trees and shrubs living in beautiful harmony with the outstanding architecture on a grand scale. The Lifetime news letter is pretty interesting and informative as well.

We should notice and value these progressive resource managing landscapes.

Everything is possible in our brand new world of Green Design!

Using native plants makes managing landscapes sustainably organic so much easier!

Call us or email us for a free design consultation today!

Every summer we are faced with particular challenges in landscape management and maintenance. One of the biggest factors in maintaining appearance as well as health of our landscape revolves upon our watering practices.

If we consider the extremes of heat and humidity in addition to afternoon thunderstorms or over nite rain events, there is a fairly good chance we are getting to much moisture on leaf surfaces contributing to potential fungus problems.

When the total average daily temperature exceed 150, as in 90 degrees and 80% humidity, this is when we see most of the fungus problems on turf and ornamentals. This is also when many insects are doing the most damage.

In organics the best way to prevent problems and insure healthy plants with optimum performance and appearance is to provide the best environment in terms of soil conditions and air circulation.

Native plants which are adapted to soil and weather conditions as well as improved cultivars of ornamental exotics which are less susceptible to insect damage and disease are going to look better and require less maintenance.

The real key to happiness in your home or commercial landscape is biodiversity.
That doesn’t mean one of each kind of plant but rather a rich, attractive composition featuring a layered mix of different types of plants that attract beneficial organisms.

One of the most common mistakes we see in our site visits is the over use or misuse of irrigation. I often see irrigation heads spraying in the rain ! Not only a waste of resources ($) but contributing to root rot and fungus. Smart clocks and rain sensors can help prevent that. I also find many irrigation systems in Westchester are working the night shift! This is very common on well systems which are designed to rest between zones because of the many hours required to run through the whole system at one time. This can be avoided by alternating zones from one day to the next. The best time to water, especially turf grass is between 5 and 9 am in the morning though this may conflict with pressure loss in well systems and cause walkways to be wet when leaving the house etc.

Another common problem is light and frequent watering. This may contribute to shallow root development, roots growing up into the mulch and tremendous evaporation loss causing the irrigation to be less effective overall.

Don’t forget, irrigation should be adjusted throughout the year with the change of seasons and weather conditions.

Sometime it’s better to just turn the system off if nature is taking care or business!

Water is our most precious resource; let’s value it. Conserve and protect our clean water…for our future and our children’s future!

 

Often times our customers ask about example contracts and a scope of work/ services. Below we have provided an example contract as well as images of the work provided for this specific project. We have of course omitted the contact information for our client as well as the costs as costs are always based on specific project details. For more information or to request a FREE no obligation quote, contact us at (914) 560-6570 or jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com.

Contract for Landscape Planting/Mini Rain Garden

We propose to re-grade the front left-hand corner of your foundation planting (including area where tree was removed). Proper positive pitch will be established to conduct surface order from corner to lawn area. This will be accomplished by installing/utilizing an impervious clay/subsoil, prohibiting infiltration. A small planting will include: one River Birch 7-8’, three Clethera (Hummingbird) 3 gallon, assorted perennial ground cover and mulch. This estimate/proposal includes mulching the existing landscape bed.

 

 

You may be asking, how does it work? Where do I start?

I am a client too, and from Soup to Nuts, I appreciate One Stop Shopping.

Things never turn out exactly as you expect them! Sometimes costs may be more than you’ve projected and anticipated. Even with good planning, this can be true! If the goal is to achieve really spectacular results, even on a small project, there may be complicating issues. It’s hard to remember everything, but the more mindful you can be in the planning, staging and development process of your home improvement project, the better the chances you’ll achieve a more successful, stress free and satisfying landscape and lifestyle.

It is important to know who is going to do what, and in what sequence. That means asking the question, does the infrastructure (addition or interior work) happen first? In my own home we did the kitchen first then we redid the entrance to the front door which involved demolition of the masonry staircase and stoop to allow for a redesigned grand entrance. This required a licensed landscape architect to work with our team to develop a design which would be approved by the planning board. This turned out to be much more work and money than we would have thought. The results are awesome.

While we were developing plans to submit to the town, we outlined a schedule and timeline for construction and installation that would involve masonry, carpentry (reconstruction of new deck with cable rail), landscape lighting, planting, irrigation, a new porous asphalt driveway (which required removing and carting four layers of blacktop!), a custom made kinetic sculpture and finally changing the color of the house, front door and garage.

 

This is major home improvement as well as capital improvement. Stay tuned for the whole story when we are finally done.

If you are planning a home improvement project make sure you get everything you want and hopefully everything you pay for! If you need help call or email us for a free consultation. See our portfolio of work on Facebook, Google+ and Houzz to get a better idea of what we can do for you.

Jay Archer, President

914-560-6570

jay@greenjaylandscapedesign.com