Spring has Sprung!

Cherry Blossoms! In mid-March....

               Well, it is looking like we are going to get an extra month of spring here in South Eastern Pennsylvania!  Last year it snowed on April 1^st!  Here at LawnScapes we have been in contact with our suppliers and everyone is ready to go.  99% of the perennials are ready to be picked up, shrubs and trees are ready to be planted, and our guys are itching’ to get back to work.  Mike and I think that it would be best to wait until at least the second week in April for any planting, just to head off any freak frosts we might have but, mulching and spring clean ups are a go.  Let’s enjoy this weather and use it to get a jump start on our summer projects!  Go ahead and schedule your spring clean up and mulching job so your yard is ready for that Easter Egg Hunt.  Since the ground never really froze this winter, the weeds are getting a head start and we need to head them off at the pass.  Please call us for your lawn weed and feed so we can get your lawn looking great for the months ahead.  If you have any questions don't hesitate to visit our web page at www.lawn-scapes.net.

-Matt Bradley, BLA, PCH 

A simpler Time.....

Ever wish you could step back in time?  Find a place where all the hassles of the modern world melt away?  Well I have found that location.  Now I do not want to give the exact location where this magical retreat is but, I will tell you about it!

A shot of the stone chimney and naturalistic landscaping.

               My wife’s family has a lake house in Great North Woods of Wisconsin that her Great Grandfather built during The Great Depression.  He needed a way to keep his factory workers busy so he would not have to lay them off.  If you have ever seen “The Great Outdoors” with John Candy and Dan Akroyd then you have a great picture of the surrounding landscape.  Once a year Sarah and I like to escape for a week or two to decompress, mountain bike, water ski, and drink the amazing Wisconsin beer. 

View of the dock and "Echo Cove"

               The lake house and the crystal clear lake it is on serves as an inspiration to me every time I visit.  We have no television, internet (wireless included), and out cell phones barley receive service!  We really can relax, listen to the sounds of the lake, and have good conversations with our family.  I always come back ready to work and with plenty of photographic inspiration for my design work.  Since the family owns it, we have the responsibility of keeping it up.  I love working on the cabin, the boathouse and in the surrounding yard/woods.  To keep the upkeep to a minimum the landscaping is very naturalistic and composed of flora native to the North Woods.  Species include Black Pine, White Birch, and several varieties of native grasses.  The main focus is on removing small trees (when they grow in nuisance areas), ensuring that the crushed red stone walks are compacted, and the paths are swept clean.  Unfortunately, any chores must be completed before we can go skiing, kayaking, or for a bike ride!

View to the Boat House showing the natural landscaping and walkways.

 The idea of a wooded landscape composed of native flora and fauna really inspires me.  In spite of my chosen profession, I really do not enjoy yard work all that much!  With an eye for design and function I would love to see more landscaping like this in Pennsylvania.  How much lawn do you really need?  Enough to lounge, through the football, or run the dog; with careful planning all of these uses can be accommodated without requiring a Saturday spent on the mower.  Color within a naturalistic landscape can be provided with native azaleas, dogwoods, and other shade tolerant understory plants. 

Mixture of native grasses and ferns.

   Once you move beyond the landscape surrounding the cabin and start exploring the wondrous natural expanse of the forest beyond it you find many interesting things.  One of my morning rituals is to take either the kayak or the canoe out and paddle around our cove.  There are two islands and several swampy areas to explore.  The first is named ‘Bud’s Island’ after the man who built the primitive cabin that is on it.  As you can see from the pictures nature is slowly reclaiming all of his hard work.

Cabin being slowly reclaimed by nature.

I really love the aesthetic created by the cabin, pine straw, and the birch trees; it is just so picture perfect.  While exploring we were extremely careful to not disturb ANYTHING!  We want to preserve this for future generations to explore and enjoy.

Close up of the cabin.

  Once done photographing the cabin and exploring the island, I moved on to exploring the swamps.  The flora is amazing, encompassing all manner of flowering water plants and lily pads.  Lily pads bloom in two colors on our lake, white and yellow.  The white blooms are becoming more and rarer as they are out competed by the yellow.  One sad sign of the times is the appearance of the Eurasian Milfoil  in the lake.  The Milfoil is an invasive exotic that is quickly out competing the native plant species in the lake.  It is quite the nuisance and pretty disgusting when it attaches itself to your leg when swimming.  The local forestry office has come up with a pretty interesting way to control this pest.  Their method consists of a pontoon boat, two divers, and what is basically a vacuum.  One diver goes down and uses the suction hose to harvest patches of Milfoil while the other stays up top.  This seems to be working quite well, though every time a boat drives through a patch the prop cuts any Milfoil present to pieces and disperses little pieces to reproduce asexually.  We do our part by taking out the kayaks and raking the dock and beach areas clear of floating pieces

Lily pads in the swamp.

Rare white blooming lily pad.

These plants bloom a beautiful purple spike.

Mini Trees!

Greetings from a simpler time!

Interesting facets of daily life in Wisconsin’s North Woods are the so called ‘Supper Clubs.’  These are mostly family run restaurants that are run out of lodges or old homes.  Our personal favorite is Norwood Pines.  The lodge it is run out of is absolutely beautiful and the ice-cream drinks are to die for; by far the best food in the area.

Norwood Pines Supper Club

  Many of the homes in the area are marked with amazing stone work, be it chimneys or walls, our cabin included.  The craftsmanship inherent to this kind of work is on display every place you visit. 

Fireplace in the boathouse.

Stone retaining wall.

I love our cabin for its obvious age and the antiques that still work perfectly (or not so perfectly).  These antiques lend a feel of a time gone by to the cabin and I would never update any of these items for the sake of modernism.

I love the illustration but I don't know if I would trust this in a fire.

Vintage door closer.

View of the boathouse and our dog, Sam.

I hope all you readers are enjoying these blogs about what inspires me and you have thought of a place that inspires you as well.  Writing these help me recapture some of the thoughts and ideas that I had when I was experiencing them and by writing are refreshing them in my memory! If you have any questions please do not hesitate to visit our web page at www.lawn-scapes.net.


-Matt Bradley

Design Blog #1-The Entry Courtyard

In this series I will be discussing the thought process, materials, and hard work that went into our more recent projects.  I hope that this series will not only serve as an example of the quality of work and design, but how we work with the client to arrive at the final design.  This process, though stressful at times, is extremely rewarding for us (the designer/contractor) and the client/homeowner.  I hope you guys enjoy and we would love to hear your thoughts and commentary!

The Entry Courtyard

 I had the pleasure of designing a classic entry courtyard for a home in Chadd’s Ford.  The home is set back quite far off the road providing a large open green space for the front yard.  The current landscaping did not fit the grandeur and architecture of the home.  The home owner was looking for something a little more grand, gave room to lounge, and allowed for the use of the front yard as an area to throw the football or kick a soccer ball.

The obligatory 'before picture'

To accomplish this, I put together a design with the help and input of the clients, incorporating all of their needs, while reacting to the genus loci of the area and the architecture of the home. 

Final Rendering

As you can see from the plan, we worked with a rectilinear design language creating a walled courtyard that still allows for entry to and from the yard.  I chose the classic ‘range pattern’ flagstone to reinforce the rectilinear design and chose to match the face stone of the seat walls to the existing stone on the home.  The walk is edged with a classic double sailor course of 4”x8” bricks.   

Picture of the walkway illustrating the range pattern flagstone and double sailor course border

Picture illustrating the Avondale Brownstone walls of the home and the newly constructed seat walls

These design elements reflect the genus loci of the site by replicating the design language and the materials use the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, and the many stone farmhouses of the area.  All of the materials use were locally sourced and are the classic materials of the region.  In fact, our office is just minutes away from the only quarry that produces the Avondale Brownstone used on the walls!  The pattern on the walls and the home is called ‘rubble’ and requires fitting the stones together like a puzzle, piece by piece.  This is an immensely time consuming endeavor but creates a stunning look that breaks up the wall and creates immense interest.  To cap the walls we used ‘thermalled’ and ‘gauged’ Pennsylvania Bluestone.  ‘Thermalling’ is a technique in which the stone is heated up then sprayed with water to split the stone and create a rough texture.  ‘Gauged’ means that all the stone is split at a specified thickness be it 1, 2, or 3 inches thick.  In the case of our caps they are gauged at 2”.  To finish the seat walls and columns we installed brass lighting fixtures with a louvered finishing plate to light the walls and the walkways. 

Seen here is the focal point of the entry courtyard; this paving detail is to set off the future fountain installation.

The focal point of the courtyard is to be a fountain and the paving detail is meant to set it off.  Planted around the fountain are dwarf boxwoods and red barberry.  The red stone chips were an idea that I took from Longwood Gardens and will help set off the grey colored fountain.

24"x24" Bluestone Steppers set into the lawn

Setting 24” x 24” flagstone stepping stones into sod creates a transition between the hardscape and the grass by breaking up the monolithic feel and injecting a different texture between the stepping stones.  This is meant to draw the eye and make the visitor comfortable leaving the ‘structured’ space.

The evergreen plantings were chosen for ease of maintenance, to add another structural element to the landscape, and because they are a classic landscape element.  Perennials and bulbs will be installed when the weather warms back up in the spring.  The perennials and bulb planting will be a mixture of classic bulbs such as Allium and loose, grassy perennial textural plants such as Coreopsis.

View across the courtyard

Front of the home

As you can see from these pictures we created a dynamic, comfortable space, and that matches the scale of the home.

View into the yard

We used hardscape material from: Delaware Hardscape Supply and CST Pavers.  Our plant material came from Water Crest Farms and Valley View Perennials.  If you have any questions don't hesitate to visit our web page at www.lawn-scapes.net.

-Matt Bradley

Mulching.......

I posted this blog earlier this year but I have been getting a lot of questions about mulch and what we recommend lately so here is the re-post.........

Check out mulch options on Delaware Hardscape Supply's website.

Mulch is generally sold by the cubic yard.  A cubic yard is about one bucket of a loader.  In order to make sure that you have enough, I recommend adding 20%-35%, more to the total cubic yards you require.

(x)(y/12)=z/27=Cubic Yards

x= the square footage to cover

y= the depth of the mulch in inches

z= cubic feet

            There are many benefits of mulching your beds and garden.  Mulch keeps weeding to minimum by keeping their seeds from sprouting.  Water in soil naturally evaporates; mulch insulates the soil from drying out.  Mulching can also prevent soil borne diseases from spreading to fruits and leaves.  This happens when water splashes the soil onto the leaves.  Soil will also take longer to change temperatures.  Decomposing slowly, mulch adds nutrients to the soil, and makes the soil looser.  Earth worms really enjoy mulch.  The worms break down the mulch and aerate the soil.  Before mulching it is important to remove weeds currently growing and water thoroughly.  Finer mulches should be applied no more than 2” deep.  Coarser mulches can be laid up to 4” thick.  In order to determine how much mulch you need measure the square footage of your beds you can use this formula:

            Everyone knows that mulch makes our flower beds much, much more attractive.  Mulch is defined as a soil cover that is composed of organic material.  The forest creates its own natural mulch each year when deciduous plant and trees drop their leaves.  Because of this we should replicate natural process in our gardens.  We recommend bark mulch for your beds because it lasts a long time and looks really good.  I usually stay away from stone chips and river jack because they retain heat and can cause root damage.  Using stone as mulch also removes the benefits of decomposition and adding amendments back to the soil.  Mulching should be done about twice a year, once in the spring to freshen your beds and once in the winter to insulate your plant’s roots from the cold.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to visit our web page at www.lawn-scapes.net.   

-Matt Bradley