Our very own plants….. need care today

Sunday morning …..rest and giving our plants some tender loving care. In reality this task feeds our psyche and provides a mental rest, calm and peace for our soul. Plants are so grounding. We planted lettuce seeds about ten days ago and they are coming up in our window box. We need to thin out the seedlings today.

Our sched has been brisk lately and so a little break today is more than welcome. Maybe we will prepare a small supper and enjoy a little reading in between beginning to clear out some books and things we no longer need.

All in all…our goal is a simple day. Just relaxing and small tasks. We’ve a full week ahead with two jobs. One on Monday and Tuesday; a new couple who have been communicating with us by txt, and who have been following all our instructions to be fully ready for us once we arrive. And our second project will be Wed through Friday for one of our repeat and very good customers. So far two new beautiful yellow, full bud rose bushes. Both projects are going to be good ones. Looking forward to them. 

We are going to have some rain this week so if you are a gardener, it’s a perfect time for planting. The rain is predicted to be seasonal, but light, and so if you are inclined to be out there in your garden….it should be a pleasant experience. Soft, teeming rain is perfect for gardening tasks. And rain reminds us how important moisture is for the beauty of our world. Our spring season is still stretching her “roots.” While you are out tending your gardens we encourage you to listen for….. and observe our birds and creatures in nature. They will bring you good cheer, if you let them into your world.  

We trust you will renew your spirit today as well.

”Contessa” says……it’s sooo very important! 

Curb Appeal and more…..in pretty Belle View (REVISED) – Saturday – 5/6 – 4:30 pm

Revisiting this project in Belle View, Alexandria, VA. We completed a fall clean up here in September of 2022. All the large bushes have now been removed and we are creating in collaboration with our homeowner to select new bushes and flowering plantings for both beds. We decided to keep the Japanese Maple as a focal point for the right side bed and the one Peony on the left side that is nuzzled next to the stairs. In fact, in this fall picture, the Peony is nearly disguised because of the huge bush crowding it.

This clearly shows you what happens when bushes are allowed to grow way out of control. Some homeowners prefer this, as it means they don’t have to do much yard work. We are going to plant new bushes but recommend routine trimming and suggest a maximum size of growth so as to keep things growing healthy, strong and in proportion to our other new plantings in these side beds. This home has great curb appear and full sun, so our choice selections will reflect a whole new, colorful and scaled to size appearance.

Together we are visiting the Merrifield Garden Center tomorrow to begin our selections and on Saturday we will begin some installs. It’s going to be an ongoing summer project, so follow along with us as we “create” a new look and a lovely and welcoming front yard garden with lots of color.

”Contessa” says…….we are looking forward to it!

NOTE: “Contessa’s” brings with us a “vision” for this project. It may for this year, exceed what our client has budgeted. This is very normal for all of us, who pretend we know how to garden. But a budget is so important and some things will need to be completed in phases. This is wise.

We equate building a garden to populating a new home, when you move in with only a couch, a bed, one end table and one lamp. Building a home is a process that takes a few years. We see a “new” garden the same way. We think we need to start slowly and not try to overpopulate or overspend immediately. We can talk about this concept while we are at the nursery on Friday. We are planning a three hour nursery visit. We have scoped out our bed measurements and are ready to proceed.

••••••••••

(REVISED) Friday – 5/5/23 – 9 pm 

Our three hour site visit at Merrifield was a very productive day. $675+ in new plants. And frankly only a dent based on the size of the property; front, side and back yards. But we are going at this in phases. It is going to be rewarding and a lot of fun. Our homeowner picked all her own selections today based on full sun exposure in the front of the house and our encouragement.

We are meeting up at 10:30 in the morning. First task is to abate the current soil and level the beds out. Creating deep edges on this 17’ x 13’ bed. And the other side is 13’ x 10.’

Our focus is going to be the right side tomorrow. It will be a good days work. We are ready to get started. She and her husband are “all in” for this project.

Please Hang in with us as we learn, work hard and create!

(REVISED) Saturday – 5/6/23 – 4:30 pm

As was previously discussed with our client, prior to our arrival today, the beds were to have been abated with top soil and organic garden soil and leveled. So because this was not completed by the time of our visit, it definitely slowed the project down. We arrived at 10:30 and departed at 2:30 pm. We pretty much did all that work and then created a layout of the plants so we could see how it would come together. We provided instruction on how deep and wide to dig holes, how to loosen root balls and proceeded to help with the planting of three of the bushes. A short intro to what we call Planting 101. When we left…bushes had yet to be planted. But they were running out of time, as they had dinner guests arriving at 5, so it’s up to them to wrap it up for today. I took three pics, but the project is no where near completion and so in about ten days I’ll be going back. That is the soonest I can get there because I’m booked all next week. If they had done the prep work as planned, we could have completed the project today. I’m sure in the end, it will all come together. The bed on the left side remains another project with the same processes needed. Hopefully now they know the drill and they will be ready when we arrive to complete the next “install.”

It was a great day for gardening; nice temps, and bright but not overly hot sunshine. Perfect really….

Let’s see how they proceed….and when invited back, we will oblige. We wrapped it up today with 4.5 hours.

“Contessa” says…..it’s all in a days work!

Martha Custis ……the six hour challenge in the COLD!!!

Can you believe it… 6 hours. Why such a long time?

First off…. the bed is only about 24 inches wide. Over to the left of the sidewalk is a humongous tree with far reaching roots underneath the earth. Upon digging down even six inches we ran in to thick roots and tangled feelers about 30 inches long. There was no way the six Azalea bushes that had been planted there three years ago, could ever survive. No soil, no depth in the bed and no girth to allow for growth spurts once planted. These were planted by a nursery. The root balls were larger than basketballs. We had to totally soak them and used three different shovels to dig them out. This left huge holes to fill, and the bed had to be leveled properly. Our planting technique is to build beds up towards the middle. Less dirt on the edges near the way to close brick borders. In our opinion those six bushes never stood a chance. No sun there and no depth of soil.

So, very wisely our homeowner decided for us to dig them up today and just plant some pretty annuals for this summers growing season.

Today was cold.  It was a very muddy job due to our recent rain and the fact that we had to soak them even more to be able to dig them up.

All the root balls and root feelers were set aside but to wet to bag. So tomorrow we will return to take everything and tidy up any muddy spots left on the sidewalk.

Today we were to have completed the back yard spring tidy as well. Time just did not permit. So we are working to schedule time with the homeowner into next week or tge following week

A NOTE:  Folks always ask how long is the project going to take. It’s a normal question, but until we dive into a job it’s very hard to be sure. This job was one of those hard ones. Today’s work was living proof that until you start digging and get into the “nitty gritty” of a project, it’s really hard to give exact times. Once our homeowner saw the mess outside they had a very good idea that our proposed four (4) hours was in the end, not going to be enough time. But the good news is this bed is in much better shape than it’s ever been and together we will try to come up with a more permanent and longer term plan. We’ve recommended removing the brick borders as they really limit the capacity to plant. And a tidy flowering ground cover that is continuously maintained by us may just be the answer. Anyway we will work together to come up with a more permanent solution. In the meantime these very colorful and very pretty Begonias will look nice this summer. They were reasonably priced and certainly brighten up this very shady spot, as they are shade to part shade annuals. For now it’s looking fresh and attractive.

“CONTESSA” says….it’s all very nice!

of special NOTE: 2nd Year Pink Geranium

This lively/lovely green Geranium has been indoors with us all winter. And in fact, it’s the second winter we have kept her indoors. Last week we had 59 to 69 degree days and so we placed her outside. Her leaves brightened up and she grew so fast and the frail light green leaves brightened up and you could clearly see they were stronger in texture. Friday we brought her in because of all the rain coming. Geraniums need water. But drenching will sometimes turn leaves yellow.  

Today is the day. We cut her back to promote blossoms. In a couple weeks we will plant her in our customers metal hanging basket along with trailing bloomers; some Petunias and White and Blue Lobelia and maybe a hanging vine. We did this last year to the same plant. It’s called over-wintering. And it’s proved to be successful time and again. So we will keep you posted and take pics as we go along here in the process of the “reoccurring Pink Geranium. Our client is amazed. She had no clue you can do this. And we enjoy the process of taking a plant that’s finished in the late fall, moving it to a pot for winter indoor growth and babying it for the winter season until spring arrives. Of course we will plant her in good organic soil in her hanging basket once blossom buds are clearly showing.

Just this morning…. we cut her back. Totally necessary to force blooming again for our clients summer season.

One plant + 2 years growth + care = results.
The reward is all the fun!

“CONTESSA” says its fun, rewarding and….it’s all good! 

THE GARDEN MUSEUM NEWS, the U.K.

New Talk! Dan Pearson at Dartington To mark the 90th anniversary of Beatrix Farrand’s involvement at Dartington, Dan Pearson, recipient of the 2022 Beatrix Farrand Society Achievement Award, will talk about the masterplan he has produced for the gardens. A settlement since the 9th century with a medieval Great Hall, the estate was acquired in 1925 by American heiress Dorothy Elmhirst and her English husband Leonard. Together they created a unique experiment in rural regeneration, agriculture, education and the arts. They employed several of the best known names in landscape and garden design during their time there including Henry Avray Tipping, Percy Crane, Preben Jacobsen and Beatrix Farrand. Pearson has taken the masterplan brief from the Elmhirst’s philosophy of a ‘reverence for the old and a joy in the new’. The 20 year plan for the gardens strikes a balance between respect for the old, while proposing gentle renovation. Tues 6 June, 7pm £20 Standard £15 Friends / Young Fronds £10 Livestream Book tickets Lunchtime talk this week Madoo: The Making of an American Garden For this lunchtime talk we are joined by Alejandro Saralegui, Executive Director of the Madoo Conservancy, to discover the story of a unique American garden. Madoo is a magical garden that had its genesis in the late 1960s on a fallow farm field in Sagaponack, in the Hamptons. Its founder Robert Dash, a self-taught gardener and painter who was also a noted poet, experimented as he went along, turning Madoo into a nexus of the American art and poetry worlds. He often described the garden as having “English bones and American flesh”, and Dash’s interpretations of historic garden periods fill the two-acre site, where Rosemary Verey’s influence can be clearly felt in the potager based on a drawing of her own at Barnsley House. Alejandro’s talk will include archival and present day photography of the garden as well as Dash’s own paintings that illustrate Madoo. Tues 2 May, 12pm £15 Standard £10 Friends, Young Fronds Book tickets Cecilia Charlton: Memory Garden Ahead of her installation Memory Garden opening at the Garden Museum for London Craft Week 8-14 May, we asked textile artist Cecilia Charlton a few questions to learn more about the ancient practice of weaving: How did you come to weaving, when did you realise you wanted to use it as your artistic medium? It is hard to pin down an exact moment when weaving captivated me — all I know is that all of a sudden I was completely obsessed. Every morning watching weaving videos on YouTube, ordering weaving books on eBay to learn techniques. Embroidery is such a rich practice, but you really can’t study the history of textiles without having a relationship with weaving. If there was no weaving, there would not be anything to embroider upon — to create paintings upon, for that matter. Weaving is so fundamental to our everyday life — through its success as a technology it has been rendered invisible by the modern eye. We are smothered in it, yet we completely take it for granted. I was completely fascinated by the incredible richness of weaving and the dynamic capabilities of historical techniques… Keep reading Cooking Workshops inspired by the Museum Collection Inspired by items currently on display in our collection, this new series of three daytime cooking classes led by Garden Museum Food Educator and Chef Ceri Jones will explore vegetable-centric cuisine, one seasonal ingredient at a time. The items chosen for this series include our temporary exhibition on Joy Larkcom, the queen of cut and come again salad leaves, a cucumber straightener and Cecil Beaton’s 1960 work The Cutting Garden, which features the edible flower nasturtium. Sample menu for our first session inspired by Joy Larkcom Spinach and Feta Filo Pie Griddled Pak Choi with Garlic and Chilli Rocket Pesto Orzo Salad Dates Joy Larkcom’s Salad Leaves | Thurs 18 May The Cucumber Straightener | Thurs 22 June Cecil Beaton’s Nasturtium | Thurs 13 July £40 per person Book tickets Watch: Tayshan Hayden-Smith and Tom Massey This week on our Instagram we shared a quick chat between guerrilla gardener Tayshan Hayden-Smith and garden designer Tom Massey. Filmed at the Garden Museum before Tom’s recent book launch, the meeting of minds covered sustainable gardening, early access to nature and favourite resilient plants. Tayshan Hayden-Smith is a social activist, guerrilla gardener, and RHS Ambassador. He founded Grow 2 Know in 2019 with the aim of making horticulture accessible to all. Tom Massey’s new book RHS Resilient Garden is out now. Watch Object of the Week: November 5th, 1933, by Eric Ravilious Catherine wheels, Roman candles, rockets. Ravilious was fascinated by the patterns fireworks make. They appear in his wood engravings, lithographs, ceramics, and the now lost mural for the Midland Hotel, Morecambe. November 5th, 1933 was painted in Stratford Road, Earls Court where Eric and Tirzah Garwood lived when they were first married. The painting depicts a row of gardens alive with activity on Guy Fawkes Night, and was first exhibited in his one-man show that opened on 24th November, 1933, at the Zwemmer Gallery. This painting is on display in our current exhibition Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden until 4 June. Presented in partnership with Liss Llewellyn. This particular work is not for sale but the majority of works in the exhibition are. For a price list and further details email christina@gardenmuseum.org.uk.  Book a visit Images: Chinese greens photo by Joy Larkcom, taken on her research trips around China and Japan, Archive of Garden Design; November 5th, 1933, Eric Ravilious, image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn Garden Museum 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB gardenmuseum.org.uk

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Out and About…. checking on our properties…..

We spent from 9 am to 1 pm today checking up on our properties. Incognito spot checks to see how things were progressing, watering a little, planting a few things and  meeting one new potential client for our 30-minute FREE consultation. And we have another “new booking.” A teacher at Falls Church High School. Lives in Parkfairfax. A simple spring cleanup scheduled for May 3rd.

Glorious rain finally moved in about 2:15 pm. We really need it. It ended too soon but the possibility of some more between 9 and 10 pm this evening.

Oh my Father God…you provided moisture. Thank you so much.  It was  a nice steady rain for about one hour. Praises!! Praises!!

“Contessa” says….. its all very good!

 

NOTE: Unable to provide photos and Video at this time.

Buying Trip to Merrifield Garden Center

We completed a three hour buying trip today for four (4) of our clients. At this stage in our business relationship with them, they trust us to make selections for them. It was very busy at the center today so it took longer than usual. We then headed back to our community and made deliveries to each house. As temps were in the very high 80’s today, we did water the plants at each location and watered their gardens as well. Our monthly maintenance contracts do not begin until June 1st, because we are hopeful to complete all our larger jobs before we begin the tender loving care of our “Summer Maintenance” customers. So from now until then we are charging a fee each time we complete a watering visit, upon their request. It was so warm here in Virginia we just had to water, because our plant install jobs are not commencing until next week.

We did purchase some very lovely plants today. Almost $500  in blooming perennials. So we will be busy.

Tomorrow, Sat we have one client install. And Sunday we have an Open House to attend. The owner of the property has asked us to attend this event so he could introduce our services to the visitors. A very nice gesture. And of course he is hoping his next tenant might continue to use our service for continuous upkeep.

It has been a very busy week and tonight it’s now 9:30 pm and we are just finishing our day. Good production this week. Each day full. And for the next two weeks we are booked.

Ah…spring!

“Contessa” says….. it’s all very good!

Spring Tidy for Valley Drive (REVISED) – 4/27 – Thursday

REVISED – MONDAY – 4/24

Tomorrow Tuesday, we will be back to complete this ten (10) hour job. So far we have six hours on the books. We will complete the final push to ready the beds for spring. Our condo crews are coming to trim the square large Boxwoods which creates a ton of leaf debris to tidy up and the perimeter bed which is quite large will be finally addressed to complete “neat and tidy.”  The beds inside the courtyard will be hand “tilled” to turn soil and our liquid fertilizer treatment will be sprayed once the tilling is complete.  Our Rose bush on the left-center-side is positioned on a sloping area in the bed so we are going to dig it up and fill that area of the bed with new soil to create a more level bed. We believe it’s positioned slightly low in the bed to do well. It’s a ”gardeners guess,” but generally our intuitions serve us and our customers well. We are going to “give it a go.”

We asked our good and gracious Lord for “rain” and on Saturday “HE” provided one full hour of moisture. Thank you dearest Lord.  We really needed it for successful gardens.  Your provision is accepted and we are so grateful.

We will provide a FINAL VIDEO, once our work is complete. Our technical issues are resolved and so we can post pics and video once again.  Thank you WordPress!

Our property today has a number of (7)Pencil Boxwoods. We spent part of today hand trimming them. Early spring and they are “fluffy” with new green growth. So much so, they are branching out. So we used a regular shears to trim them. This is the photo (above) before the trim.

And the (below) photo is after the trim. Last year they weren’t so green, so our fertilizer treatment for them really worked, combined with our proper hand trimming, rather than with an electric trimmer they are looking so healthy.    Hand manicuring makes all the difference. They are quite beautiful when given the proper care they “deserve.” These bushes are rare in residential neighborhoods and quite expensive, so keeping them in good shape is a high priority.

We were at this property for three (3) hours today and three last week. We have video to share once we can post it. Technical issues at the moment prevent our successful uploading.

Please visit us again soon. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow we are visiting the garden nursery and looking for  specific plants for this client. Things in his beds are coming in slowly, but we think we only lost two plants this winter. They are slowly coming into season.

So far this spring tidy has been six (6) hours for this client location.

We completed our deep edgings around the perimeter of the outside of this property and tomorrow when we return from the nursery we will yet again, do some weed pulling. We hope we can work again tomorrow, but we are expecting 90 degrees so we’ll have to see how it goes. A little early frankly for it to be so warm. We aren’t even to Mothers Day yet and in Virginia that is the signal that we can now buy flowering plants for our gardens as any fear of frost/freeze has passed. A strange year so far with NO snow at all and moisture levels at a critical stage.

WE SO NEED RAIN. Oh great creator of all living things we could use your heavens to open up and bring us some moisture. And we know that when your timing is right, you will send it. Thank you our father God, Oh’ thank you!

AMEN……

(REVISED) Tuesday – 4/25

Oh’ a change in schedule today. Could not he helped. We worked a very hard day yesterday and were fighting allergies. Eyes and pollen and wind and muscle aches. Oh my gosh! We had to reschedule our client to tomorrow. We could barely see when we arrived home last night. Eyes very swollen from the pollen count. Fortunately we were able to move tomorrows client to May 2nd. So it has all worked out. We’ve been resting today and trying to stay indoors as much as possible. It’s been a tough couple couple of weeks with allergies and everyone is asking us….”are they crazy that they can’t “see” from all the pollen in the air. No they are not crazy. It’s been exceptionally rough to see. The weather will hopefully provide us with some more rain this upcoming weekend to clear the dusty/green air. Ugh!  Can’t hardly wait for moisture. Regardless tomorrow we must press on. We are fortunate our customers get it. But….they are also suffering too. We all are. Such a really weird spring this year. Pretty of course, but totally off the charts with up and down temps, blooming like crazy flowering trees and plants, and wind to top it all off. Hang tight….one more rainy day and we should be good. I sure am optimistic. Never have we all wanted it to rain so much.

“CONTESSA ” is praying for buckets of RAIN!

(REVISED) – 4/27 – Thursday 

Final Video/Inner Courtyard. 

We need to possibly replace a couple items called Indian Pinks. At $30 each only two came back. And one is trying. The third is robust.  And our Pink Muhly grasses along the center back are taking their time to come round. We know  we need some filler items this year. But as this is our bachelor homeowners first year with an all perennial garden we will go slow, so get can choose his own filler-in-Ed’s. He is particular about his taste and so we are following his lead. We have recommended some bulbs be planted in the fall for next years spring blooming. And he liked the yellow Canna Lilies last year over by his Frank Lloyd Wright statuary, so  he wants more of those tucked in behind where the Pink Muhly grasses will return along back the brick wall of the house. We repositioned  a peachish colored Rose bush that seems to have lost it’s “vim.” But we moved it forward slightly, tended it’s roots and replanted it in new organic garden soil and raised and leveled the garden bed up just a bit. It was sitting in a low spot,  and we think it might have been sitting in a water collection area. So we’ll give it a go for this second season. If it doesn’t come round we’ll replace. But I never give up on a plant “one time around.” I mean I just don’t ever kill a plant. So….as a forever optimist gardener I’m not tossing it just yet. We’ll see how it comes back and if it comes back. It did bloom and was a beautiful pinkish/peach fluffy flower. It just seemed to hug the ground rather than branch out and upward. Upward being the key word here.

During this spring cleanup assignment we ran out of approved hours to revitalize the bed circling the perimeter of the property. As a PFX crew is coming to trim the English Boxwood very tall bushes soon, we will secure additional hours to clean up the perimeter outside area and in and under these notoriously messy leafed bushes post trimming. There will be tons of debris to clear up. They are beautiful but you really have to keep up with them so they don’t mess up your beds. Leaves that drop and are left behind make a real mess on the patio, so we must clean everything up.

Yesterday our clients was billed for ten hours, plus the cost of some organic soil to level out the bed with the rose bush that not performing.

It’s all about bringing the property to “spring ready.” We are close.

“CONTESSA”

Contessa’s Monthly Spring/Summer Maintenance Is Here!

NEW…..NEWS

As of today we have six (6) current clients who have requested renewal of their monthly “maintenance contracts.” And so we are offering this service starting tomorrow June 1st. A few of you have already been in touch and are ready to start, please txt today or …..and we be there tomorrow. Our service is offered from June 1 through November 30.

Maintenance will include watering as needed, light tidying of debris in the garden beds and using the leaf blower to keep your patios and sidewalks ship/shape. 

When we visit we will make note of gardening task items that we can accomplish at our regular gardening rate and notify you of these items, so we can schedule “work task” appointments to complete your work on your schedule, and ours. We will continue serving new customers in Parkfairfax and Fairlington,  so “work by appointment” is absolutely necessary as we go forward 

Our monthly fee is $200 for maintenance. If the temps are over 86 degrees we will water as is necessary, until there is a break in the temperature. A number of you don’t want or have time to water. Folks…..It’s simply essential in VA during the summer months and upon the planting of anything in your garden, for at least ten days to establish new root growth. In fact,  tomorrow it’s going to be 84. And on a Friday 91. Here we go…..!

Plants need water. And most  of the time….your garden needs water every three days. In between our watering, your plants have an inborn system that tells them to stretch their roots to seek moisture from the soil. But VA is in a drought condition so from now on….you do need to be watering. If temps remain mild, a once a week good watering should  take care of it. Please choose early morning or later in the evening. 

You can txt or email us with your permission to START. 
•••••••••••••••••

MORE NEW NEWS;

We now also accept payments via: VENMO.

Again you asked for it, so we have set it up for your convenience. Just ask us for LOGIN instructions. No more writing of checks or scrambling to get cash.

Progress…. We love it.
“Happy Spring/Summer”…. and Fall! 

My Gardening Friends…. We have grown, thanks to you and your referrals.  

We thank you. 

Rest assured you will be cared for as we always do, and look forward to a wonderful growing season in your gardens.

“CONTESSA” says….. it’s all good!

Mt Eagle Client – Fourth Season (REVISED ) – 5/19/23 – 8:30 am Friday

We we usually take a BEFORE video, but this year we are here earlier than normal. Our huge trees in the community are in high frequency with pollen emission and “wings.”  Wings are pieces of nature that fall from the spring trees. To put it mildly they are everywhere right now. So as a result it’s too early to clean this properties bed just yet.

So we used out appt time to complete tidying the lawn in front, cutting back dead growth from winter and trimming any dead branches from all the bushes and extensive watering just because the Azaleas and all the plants were thirsting badly. We have had no rain to clear out the flying dirt, pollen and pre-leaf material that falls from the trees.

When we left the property certainly looked better but we need about until the 15th of May to schedule a proper tidy.  In the meantime we trimmed back the Boxwoods on the porch under the portico and raked the lawn. Everything is blooming except the daffodils which have finished their blooming cycle. When we return to complete the bed clean up we will need to knot the daffodils and lay them on the ground and cover with mulch. Our client said she thought they bloomed this year more than ever.

Still the property looks good. But our homeowner and great client had us come because she is anxious. But it really is  too soon to do very much today. The air is dirty, the soil is very hard and dry and so much “ spring” is flying around it’s just not productive to clean it up yet. Frankly “spring” this year is having serious growing pains. It is still doing it’s thing.

May is our busiest time for this reason. Typically we are still having very cool early mornings, but our daytime temps fluctuate between 60 to almost 80. It’s a “messy” time of spring. But….flowering trees and shrubs are plentiful and superbly beautiful. Spring in Virginia is amazingly gorgeous. How blessed we are…even in the messy.

We completed 2.5 hours today on this project.

REVISED 4/24

Video and Photos Feed is now restored!  Yeah!

Thank you for your patience……

“CONTESSA”

••••••••••

(REVISED) 5/17/23 – Wednesday – 11:30 am 

We came early in the spring and did a quick tidy. But all the daffodils were still bright green, starting to lay themselves down now, but with so many in the bed we decided a later complete cleanup would be needed. She agreed. At that time we cleaned up the beds some, cut back anything dead in the beds, applied Neem Oil to the Rose bushes, and the Butterfly bushes. Raked the dead grass from the yard and pulled a few weeds. Our project that day is seen above in this post.

So today we were invited by our homeowner to complete a proper spring cleanup which should get her to about mid summer. The reason is, she likes everything looking good and prefers not to wait until fall for her beds to receive continual upkeep and attention. So here is our video this morning as we arrive. As you can see it’s time to take the Pansies out and really do our magic……and we begin!

It’s now 5:11 pm. We are finished for today. Returning tomorrow to plant fresh “angel wing” Begonias in peach and yellow. We cleaned all the beds today of debris, pulled out all the very spent Pansies, applied Neem Oil to the Roses and Butterfly bushes. Aphids are messing with both. When you see tiny holes in the leaves that’s them. They are “buggars” for sure, but the Neem Oil spray which is a gardeners answer to Tylenol for plants, is ready to rescue. No real gardener is any good without Neem Oil. We encourage all our client to purchase two spray bottles of it each year.

Tomorrow we will plant the Begonia plants and mulch everything. We will present a Final Video tomorrow afternoon. Please check back in with us. Four (4) hours dedicated to this project today.

“Contessa”

••••••••••••••••

(REVISED) 5/19/23 – Friday – 8:30 am

Yesterday we completed our property on Mt Eagle Place fir our Doctor resident. Her double unit we must say is the nicest property on her whole lengthy and winding cul-de-sac. And she is religious about keep it looking good with our contributions. Everything has been de-bugged, deadheaded, trimmed as needed, beds are cleaned if all debris, and we planted new “angel-wing” Beginia’s in peachy/pink and bright yellow. Just enough color until her Peony pops and her Butterfly bush dies it’s thing. We’ve a light floating of mulch this year as nature provided tons of tiny dropping from their leaf creation so it acted like a sort of grinder mulch and once it dies away it will provide added protection for all her plants. The Azaleas are past bloom and still drying on her bushes and the lilac and daffodils are past bloom as well.

And so we present you with our completion. A total of seven (7) hours for this handsome project.

FINAL VIDEO