outdoors

Looking for ways to spruce up the exterior of your house for the summer? Read along for some tips on how to take your outdoor living to the next level.

1. Keep Your Lawn Green
   1. Lawn maintenance demands can be a complete buzzkill during your relaxing summer months. Over time, your soil naturally loses many of the important nutrients it needs to survive. Apply fertilizer to your lawn to replace and replenish the essentials your lawn needs to grow.
2. Sharpen Your Lawnmower Blade
   1. One of the best things you can do for your lawn is to give your lawnmower a well-deserved tune-up. Ensure your mower does its job correctly by sharpening the blade every month or so during the season.
3. Upgrade Your Mulch
   1. Winter mulch often blows away from the bed. Pull old mulch away from the base of trunks and stems to leave room for new mulch. Rake the blown away mulch back to its home, and spread fresh mulch to replenish the old. Don’t know how? Don’t have time? Outdoor Escapes of New England is the place to call for all of your mulch needs.
4. Make Room for New Life to Grow
   1. This is the perfect time to trim out anything limiting the room for trees and flowers to bloom. Call Mike’s Professional Tree Service, where no job is too big or too small. Tree removal? Stump grinding? Land clearing? Firewood? Mike’s Professional Tree Service is the way to go.
5. Enhance Your Driveway
   1. Your driveway should look as beautiful as your freshly washed car parked in it. Check out Classic Seal Coating and Paving to take care of all of your pavement maintenance. Their rubberized coal tar emulsion sealer counteracts the destructive forces of oxidation, moisture, and outside chemical accumulations.

Ensure your exterior is in tip-top shape with a little hard work and some help from local professionals!

Mikes Professional Tree Services
17 Reservoir Road
Coventry, RI 02816
(401) 823-7485
www.mikesprotreeservice.com

Classic Seal Coating and Paving
15 Industrial Ln
Johnston, RI 02919
(401) 273-6776
www.classicseal.com

Outdoor Escapes of New England
112 Old Pocasset Lane
Johnston, RI 02919
(401) 942-8857
www.outdoorescapesne.com

The weather is getting warmer, which means it’s time to get started on growing your garden again! Start your season off strong by cleaning up your garden and watch your plants (and home value) begin to grow.

Don’t know where to start? Here are a few plant varieties you can start pant in April that can withstand the changing temperatures:

Flowers and Shrubs

• Hydrangea – This shrub is great for smaller spaces, it can grow in full sun or partial shade and blooms light green flowers in the spring that turn pink in the summer.
• Happy Face – This bush blooms bright yellow flowers that require low maintenance, drought tolerant once established, requires full sun, stands two to three feet in height.
• Forsythia – This plant is excellent for fence borders and foundation areas, bright yellow flowers that require full sun and lots of watering, and grow up to six feet in height.
• Viburnum – This plant is a great choice for hedges and borders, blooms pretty white flowers in the spring and berries in the summer, great in full sun or partial shade.

Trees

• Paperbark Maple – This tree can grow to be 30-40 feet tall, prefers moist, well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade, exfoliates bark, and looks burgundy, bronze, and red in the fall.
• Weeping Katsura – This tree is known for its heart-shaped leaves, emerges in the spring with red and purple and transitions to bluish-green in the summer, and smells like a brown sugar and cinnamon fragrance in autumn.
• Tupelo – This firey red and pumpkin orange tree produces irresistible nectar to bees, makes the famous tupelo honey, stands 30-50 feet tall and 20-30 feet wide, and requires full sun or partial shade.
• Japanese Stewartia – This tree stands 20-40 feet tall, blossoms pure white with bright orange anthers, and turns yellow, red, and purple in the fall.

What You Can Do To Prepare

1. Start your cleanup of the lawn and begin planting beds.
2. Remove broken or diseased branches from plants.
3. Pick up a handful of soil, if it falls apart you can start digging.
4. Fertilize trees and shrubs at the beginning of the month.
5. Have fun and enjoy the nice weather.

Looking for more guidance? Violet Hill Landscaping and Nursery has you covered! Located in Warwick, RI, Violet Hill is dedicated to delivering creative designs and installation with minimal disruptions. Whether your property needs renovation, restoration, or a complete makeover, Violet Hill is your answer.

Visit www.violethilllandscaping.com for more information or give them a call (401) 738-1077.

Violet Hill Landscaping and Nursery
60 Knight Street
Warwick, RI 02886
(401) 738-1077
violethills@verizon.net
Hours of Operation
Monday – Saturday
7:00am – 4:00pm