Professionals in most industries tend to forget that their clients don’t have the same training as them. This leads to the use of terminology that clients just don’t understand. To avoid frustration with your next landscaping service, here is a list of the most commonly used (and misunderstood) landscaping terms that you need to know.

Annual plant – a plant that needs one year to complete a life cycle

Biennial plant – a plant that needs two years to complete a life cycle

Perennial plant – a plant that needs more than two years to complete a life cycle

Hardscaping – using hard things such as rocks and stone to landscape an area

Softscaping – using “soft” things such as plants, flowers, and trees to landscape an area

Retaining wall – describes a wall made of stone or brick that’s built to keep dirt and plants to a particular area. Most commonly used to clear space for walkways and decks.

Weeping hole – an opening in a wall to allow water to drain from plants

Cold hardiness – communicates how well a plant can survive in cold temperatures

Tender plant – describes a plant that doesn’t do very well in cold climates

Girder – a bean used to support deck construction

Armed with these terms, you should be able to have a relatively transparent conversation with your next landscaping company. To ensure you work with a company you can trust on your next project, contact Showcase Land & Care at 702.531.6789 today.

It’s no secret that gardening in the desert is really tough. Of course, it’s a lot harder if you don’t know how to overcome the common challenges faced here.

So, check out this resource on becoming a desert gardener! It was written by a PhD from the University of Nevada so you can trust the information as reliable.

Coming in at 12 pages, the PDF is long enough to be full of good information and short enough to not feel like it’s a waste of your time. It’s set up so that you can glide right through it, picking out what you need as you need it.

This super helpful guide breaks down everything you need to get started as a desert gardner. It digs deep into the issues that make gardening in the desert so difficult (like the clay based soil and the arid climate) and shows you how to overcome them with relative ease.

Once you have a better understanding of what it takes to manage a garden in these tough conditions, you can contact a landscaping company in Las Vegas to help you get your garden started. Because, of course, you want your garden to be functional as well as attractive. Just call 702.531.6789 today!

Surely, you’ve seen yards that feature barriers in the landscape to separate a flower bed from the grass. This separation is known as lawn edging. Not only is the use of lawn edging practical in the sense that it keeps the flower soil from getting in the grass, it can also add a sense of beauty to your yard.

If you choose to add lawn edging to your landscape, there are a few different ways to go about it. You’ll first want to decide if you want it to be trench-like or a barrier. The trench can take extra work to create which leads more people to go with the barrier style. Some materials that work well as a barrier are wood, plastic or stone. The decision will be based on your budget and whether or not you want to use natural materials.

Lawn edging can be a simple DIY process if you don’t have the money for a professional service. Of course, Las Vegas landscaping services would be the optimal choice to ensure it is done correctly. If you’re going the DIY route, you’ll need the following tools:

• Concrete pavers
• Shovel
• Spray paint
• Garden spade
• Tape measure
• Sand
• Level

Step 1: Define borders

How the borders look is strictly determined by your imagination. You can get creative by forming a unique shape or keep it simple by creating a circle or square. Be sure to look at the shape from every angle to ensure it looks just how you intended. Once you have finalized the shape, mark it with spray paint.

Step 2: Lay out the concrete pavers

You’ll want to place down concrete pavers in the center of the spray painted line. This will give you the dimensions of the trench. If you are creating a circular lawn edging, it’s best to use interlocking concrete pavers.

Step 3: Excavate mower strip

First, you will plunge the spade into the ground a couple inches deep right along the edges of the concrete pavers. If you don’t have a garden spade, anything with a sharp end can be useful. Because you have marked the lawn with a garden spade, the concrete pavers can be moved to the side.

Step 4: Determine the depth

You have to take into account the height of the law edging you are using and the amount of sand that will be placed down. This should equate to about 4 inches. Using the shovel, you’ll remove 4 inches of the lawn . Check your measurements using the tape measure.

Step 5: Fill it in

Now that the lawn is completely excavated, you’ll begin filling it with about 2 inches of sand. Finish this by placing the concrete pavers on top of the sand. Use a level to ensure all of the pavers are perfectly in place.

The lawn edging is completely finished. Now, it’s time to create the garden bed or whatever else you wish to have on the other side of the lawn edging.

If the process of creating a lawn edging or starting a garden seems to difficult, leave it up to the professionals at Showcase Land Care. The expert Las Vegas landscaping services will ensure your yard looks flawless. For more information about the landscaping Las Vegas homeowners trust, contact 702.531.6789.

Ah, the invention of the leaf blower was a truly an amazing one. This gardening tool makes maintaining your Las Vegas landscaping in the fall so much simpler. Of course, there are a few things you should take note of to ensure you are using it properly.

First and foremost, don’t start using a leaf blower with the assumption that you’ll never rake again. The leaf blower can certainly speed up the process, but it won’t complete the entire task of clearing away the leaves. It’s always good to keep a rake nearby.

Before we get into the process of using a leaf blower, let’s first go over the uses of the rake. The leaf blower’s main and only job is to clear the leaves from your lawn. The rake, however, can be used for multiple other purposes.

One of the most important uses of the rake is lawn aeration. This is the process of perforating the soil with small holes. This helps the roots take in more water and nutrients to prosper. Failure to aerate the soil causes soil compaction which causes thatch to form on your lawn.

As far as the leaf blower is concerned, there are two modes that can be used on this gardening tool. The first is blower and the second is vacuum.

Blower mode

This is used to essentially sweep away unwanted leaves from your lawn and patio. You would use a leaf blower as opposed to a broom or rake to get the job done quickly. If your Las Vegas landscaping is particularly large, you probably have a great deal of leaves along your lawn during the fall. It only makes sense then to use a leaf blower as raking would take an extraordinarily long time.

The easiest way to eliminate the majority of leaves on your lawn is to lay out tarps on blow the pile onto the tarp. From there, you simply fold up the tarp and dispose of the leaves. To finish the entire yard in a timely manner it’s easiest to start from the corners and move inward.

Vacuum Mode

Naturally, vacuum mode does the opposite of blower mode. Rather than blowing the leaves away, instead it sucks them up. If you have a large yard and are dealing with a large amount of leaves, vacuum mode isn’t going to be beneficial. The bags can only hold so many leaves at one time. You’ll only be increasing the time your work in the yard by using the vacuum mode.

This mode can be of great use for leaves stuck in the nooks and crannies of your Las Vegas landscaping. Leaves stuck at the base of a fence, in rocks or on decks can easily be removed with the vacuum mode.

If having to maintain your yard this fall season seems like too much work for you, consider hiring a trusted landscaping service in Las Vegas. The pros at Showcase Land Care offer specials to first-time customers so you can have a supreme looking yard at an affordable rate. For more information about the Las Vegas landscaping experts, contact 702.531.6789.

Last week, we held an in depth discussion of proper lawn maintenance from January through August. In the final part of your desert gardening calendar guide, we are going to teach you the best  lawn care from September through December.

September

Though it doesn’t quite feel like the weather is cooling down, this is the time to reset the watering clock. You can check with the SNWA Drought Watering Restrictions Guide to learn what the new schedule should be. This is also the time of year when your irrigation system should be inspected by your trusted Las Vegas landscaping services.

During the summer, your yard can become full of Bermuda grass. This is your last chance to kill off any unwanted grass before the dormancy period sets in. Talk with the expert landscapers to learn which products are most effective in this task.

Before fruit trees enter their dormancy state, they will need their final feeding. Use a low nitrogen and high phosphorus fertilizer to stimulate the growth for the next spring season. Shrubs and trees should only receive organic fertilizers to recover from the stress of the summer heat.

October

With the temperature drop, your yard is at risk of pests such as aphids and caterpillars. There are plenty of insecticides that will provide control of these two pests.

Now is also the perfect time of year to start planting for the next spring season. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, narcissus and crocus are some of the best choices. Space out the plantings about two weeks apart for continuous flowering during the spring season.

This is also the ideal time to plant more grass seeds. You are going to want to over seed the lawn for the best results for the next spring season. You should also remove any thatch that currently resides on your landscape. This will prevent the new grass from receiving the water it needs to survive.

November

This is the final time you’ll have to reset the watering clock for the calendar year. Because the weather in the morning is quite chilly, it is recommended that you do not water before 9 a.m. Any time earlier than this puts the grass at risk of freezing over.

Even though we live in a desert, frost can appear as early as November 10. Be sure to move any houseplants indoors or prepare them with thermal blankets.

Lawn weeds will start sprouting up again during this time. Use the same pre-emergent weed control spray from a few months earlier to stop them from spreading.

December

The temperature can drop pretty substantially during the night. You need to be especially prepared for frost during this time.

Over watering needs to be avoided at all costs during this cold month because it will damage the yard. It’s best just have one deep soaking every two weeks to prevent frost. If you have cacti in your yard, do not water it at all during the winter season.

For professional Las Vegas landscaping services, contact Showcase Land Care. They are dedicated to creating a beautiful yard for your home. They even offer specials to new customers. For more information about the experts in landscaping Las Vegas homeowners rely on, call 702.531.6789.

Earlier this week, you learned how to properly care for your Las Vegas landscaping from the months of January to April. In part two of your desert calendar guide, we are going to teach you everything you need to know about gardening and landscaping during the months of May through August.

May

Now that the weather is starting to significantly heat up, you are going to have to reset your watering clock yet again. The best times to water your garden is between 3 and 6 in the morning. Be sure to check the SNWA Watering Guide to learn what is allowed.

This is the time of year where insect infestation is at its worst. You’ll want to act aggressively with insecticides or their organic equivalents. Be sure to cover the bases of your trees in the chemicals to keep bugs away.

If you have any desert loving plants in your yard such as cacti or certain flowers, now is the time to prune them. Be careful that you don’t trim them too much as they can get sunburnt when exposed to the sun.

Be sure you are using the right fertilizers in your lawn as well. Talk with the Las Vegas landscaping experts to learn which one is right for your lawn.

June, July & August

Because the temperature consistently remains in the triple digits throughout these three months, your landscaping and gardening care will remain similar. First, you’ll want to reapply weed control on any new plants that were added earlier in the year. The first application of weed control is now ineffective. Weeds grow most rapidly during the warmer season so take preventative measures right away.

Many people assume that because the weather is so dry and temperatures are so high that plants need extra watering during this time of year. This isn’t necessarily the case. Often times, people think a plant looks dry. This doesn’t mean it needs more water. In fact, too much water can drown the plant. The best watering strategy is deep, infrequent waterings.

During this time of the year, your yard is susceptible to roaches, ants, black widows, earwigs and roly-polies. Use a pyrethrin based insecticide for your best chance at keeping these pests at bay. Be sure to read the instructions in their entirety before applying the insecticide. Spider mites are also going to come out and play during the summer season. For these, you can keep them away by simply using a high pressure hose to wash them away.

If you are in need of professional landscaping services to provide quality care to your yard, consider Showcase Land Care. These expert landscapers can handle any type of yard in every weather condition. Check back next week for the final part in this three-part guide for desert landscaping. For more information about the landscaping Las Vegas company, contact 702.531.6789.