Landscaping

Tips for laying out and organizing your landscape
Here's a useful tip you should remember when you next plant trees, shrubs or any other type of flora. It's something that professional landscapers always do, but the rest of us might overlook.

Controlling landscape pests – without chemicals
When it comes to landscaping there's one word that seems to evoke strong feelings from opposite sides of the subject: pesticides. It seems that there are very few people who are neutral about pesticides.

How to get started on your landscaping project
You look out of your window and all you see is wide expanse of nothing but grass, but what you really want to see is a vista of attractive landscaping with colorful shrubs and trees.

Lovely landscapes... even when water is scarce
A recent e-mail question from a reader got me thinking about a subject that we haven't discussed before in this column. Monette West wrote: " We get your column in the Zapata County News in Zapata, Texas.

Smart landscaping can lower your Summer energy bills!
Can planting trees actually save you money? Not just you, but the entire United States according to a report that I read recently at a fascinating web site called Pioneer Thinking.

Unusual plants add unique look to landscape
“Gee, I hadn’t thought of that!” It’s something I often hear from friends and visitors to the nursery. They ask me for some suggestions for shrubs and trees to add to their landscape.

Your "edible landscape:" more than just apples!
In a previous column, I discussed the enjoyment you can derive from planting "edible landscape" or trees and bushes that produce fruit. The emphasis then was on apples and the benefits of some of my favorite varieties.