Monthly Archives: December 2010

Bring The Outdoors In with Homemade Decor

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If you didn’t bring any of your perennials or plants indoors for the season, here’s a neat way to create your own mini-tree, courtesy of DIY Life. You’ll need: a flower vase, a bare branch from outside, colored sheets of paper (plain or patterned), scissors and a hot glue gun.
DIY branches

Photo Credit: Laura Fenton via ShelterPop

Instructions:
1. Cut your branch so it fits inside the vase. Feel free to fill vase with stones to keep the branch from moving around.

2. With a pencil, outline leaves onto the colored paper. Cut them out.

3. Heat up the glue gun. Place a small dab of glue on the branch, then attach one of your leaf cut-outs to it.

4. Repeat Step 3 until your tree branch and leaves look just the way you like it.

This homemade décor is perfect to keep on display year-round! Also, leave us a comment and let us know if you tried this project. How’d it come out?

Mixing Trees into Landscape Decor

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Many homeowners tend to lean on small flowers and plants to spice up their outdoor landscape. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But have you ever thought about incorporating trees into your home’s furniture or décor? Take a look at the new line of Sardana by Qui est Paul.
Sardana

Photo Credit: Design Milk

The Sardana line, featured over at Design Milk, consists of weather resistance benches that wrap perfectly around a bonsai-like tree.  Other pieces within the line are large planters. The collection comes in at least 13 colors including purple, yellow and pink – all of which are UV resistant.

Sardana

Photo Credit: Qui est Paul

It takes a lot of imagination to be able to pull off something like this in your home’s décor. But it can work in many ways – outside on a patio or deck, near the front entrance or foyer, near a swimming pool or jacuzzi, or in a backyard garden area.

What do you think of this new line of Sardana décor? Leave a comment and let us know!

Happy Holidays from Phase One Landscapes!

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Phase One Landscapes would like to take a moment to send a big “thank you” out to all of our readers from over the past year and to our extended Phase One family. Happy Holidays  to you and yours and have a happy and prosperous 2011.

City Meets Suburb with Green-Roofed Dwellings

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Do you live in the heart of a big city but miss the peace and tranquility that the rural bubrs offer? The latest design from BIG Architects helps solve the problem of the disconnect between city mouse and country mouse with their new Mountain Dwellings. The project is essentially cluster of homes – each one featuring their own rooftop gardens.

From Freshome:

BIG incorporated some other cool features into the building like north and west facades lined with perforated aluminum plates that let air and light to the parking area. In addition to those functions, the panels are a sweet design element. During the day, the holes in the facade will appear black on the bright aluminum, causing a giant rasterized picture of Mount Everest to appear. At night, the panels look like big photo negatives lit by different colors depending on which floor of the parking lot they’re on.

Visit BIG Architects to learn more about this fun project.


Photo Credit: Freshome

Do You Have a Poinsettia Plant Allergy?

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Did you know that despite its aesthetics, the beautiful red holiday plant known as the Poinsettia has been rebuke for ages because of its powerful effect on people who suffer from latex allergies? Well now you do! According to an article from botany enthusiast David Beaulieu, poinsettia plants contain a latex protein that will easily aggravate those who are sensitive to the material. So if you’re the type that’s known for passing out a planter of this traditional species to each one of your friends and family members around this time of year, you may want to find out ahead of time who is affected by this very common allergy. After all, this is the season of giving, but not the season of giving sneezes!

Phase One Landscapes encourages you to click here to learn more about this finicky but gorgeous plant!

Ornamental Grasses: An Asset to Your Winter Garden

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Whether you’re here in Colorado or down South off the coast of Florida, Ornamental Grasses are one of those rare finds that look just magnificent year-round — and quite enchanting covered in snow on a winter’s morning!  This species is a resilient one that, aside from their gorgeous aesthetics, can actually be an asset to your garden in the winter time though the insulation and barricading they provide to the more delicate varieties in the grips of a harsh winter.

From Suite101.com:

The large white plumes, or colorful seedheads, that are maintained on the plant throughout the snowy winter season look just as magnificent on crisp fall mornings, too. As a general guide, the larger grasses fall into two sorts. The ones with plumes and the ones with seed heads. Color can also be a factor. For maximum winter interest look for grasses that will be above your average snow line. Many will grow to 5 feet or more, with plumes that rise above that.

Contact Phase One Landscapes today to learn more about how we can update your landscape to include this beneficial plant!

Photo Credit: Phoenix Perennials

Christmas Tree Hunting, 101

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When it comes to Christmas trees, what’s your preference? Real or artificial? Most folks fall firmly into one camp or another: those who will only settle for the real deal and then those who opt for the often tidier artificial one. With the help of About.com’s Marie Iannotti, here are a few tips on what to look for for those of you that will heading to the Christmas tree farm this week, on the hunt for a natural one.

Needles – Basically there are short-needled spruces and firs and long-needled pines. Of greater concern than needle length is their needle-holding ability. Something like a hemlock is totally unsuitable because the needles start dropping as soon as the tree is cut. Spruces will lose their needles more readily than pines, when drying out.

Freshness – A fresh tree will look healthy and green, with few browning needles. The needles will feel pliable and when broken and squeezed, they will exude pitch. A simple test for freshness is rubbing your hand along a branch to see if needles fall off.

Shape – Most evergreens don’t grow into perfect conical Christmas trees. Growers shear the trees each year to maintain a nice shape and to encourage the branches to fill out. A full tree is beautiful on its own, but if you have a lot of ornaments, a tree with shorter branches might be a better fit. Ornaments get lost in lush trees, like the firs.

Contact Phase One Landscapes today to learn more about our services.

Photo Credit: Sonoma Uncorked

A Few Winter Lawn Care Pointers

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Is it a good idea to mow my grass in the winter time? Are there certain plants that absolutely need to be moved indoors when it’s cold out? Should I rake dead leaves or use a leaf blower instead? These are all common questions asked during the winter months. Phase One Landscapes has put together a quick lawn care tip for you to use as a reference guide this year.

1. Avoid walking or using the lawn: This probably seems like stating the obvious since it’s too cold in most places to hang out on the lawn anyway but when possible, avoid even walking through the lawn when another path is available. When grass is wet or frosty, it more easily sustains damage since it’s not growing due to the cold and will start to deteriorate quite quickly.

2. Avoid mowing lawn when possible: Only when absolutely necessary should you mow your lawn. This means if it’s growing to an unkempt level and there’s no moisture or frost on it, then it can be cut. But mowing a wet lawn will only cause more damage to it and, in the long run, will make it more unsightly than when it was just overgrown.

3. Gently rake dead leaves instead of using an electric blower: Since grass is more vulnerable to damage during cold spells, we encourage you to gently use a rake instead of a leaf blower to remove leaves as the blower can cause more damage.

Contact Phase One Landscapes today to learn more about our landscape services.

Photo Credit: Trav Buddy

Technology Alert: Self-Adjusting Sprinkler Sprays in the Shape of Your Lawn

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Phase One Landscapes is excited to learn about a new trend in lawn care that could revolutionize the curtailment of superfluous water use. The new efficient VariThrow sprinkler head is noted for the fact that the range of water it sprays or “sprinkles” is limited of only green areas instead of concrete. And another great thing? Not only is the system water-efficient, but the total installation cost is only 1/10th that of installing a water-wasting traditional pop-up sprinkler system.

From LandscapeOnline.com:

One of these sprinklers does the work of up to 16 or more water-wasting pop-up sprinkler heads. Plus, because installation typically takes less than one hour, the cost is dramatically reduced from the normal 8 to 16 or more hours it would take to tear up your lawn and install 16 pop-up sprinklers.

LandscapeOnline also notes that additionally, the durable outer casing can be recessed as low as you desire into the ground and the removable top makes the unit easily serviceable.

Contact VariThrow today to learn more about this “Intelligent Sprinkler.”