Northampton Nursery and Building SOlutions
Courtesy of Northampton Nursery & Northampton Building Solutions   
April 2010   
  



Northampton Nursery

In This Issue

 
Get in Touch

Northampton Building Solutions

Landscaping
LandscapingTipTips from the Pros
Clean Up, Spruce Up

Spring is here at last! And while that means things are starting to green up and bloom, it also means it's time to spruce up your landscape so you can enjoy it the rest of the year. Start by cleaning up fallen tree limbs and other debris brought down by winter snow and winds. But don't just pile them in a hidden corner. Chip them if you have a wood chipper, or have the debris removed so it won't become a home for pests, molds or harmful bacteria. Now is also time to trim and prune shrubs, remove winter kill from perennials and weed your landscape beds. Remove this debris from your property to keep your landscape healthy. While you're in those landscape beds, take the time to re-edge them. This not only will give them a fresh profile for spring, but it will help keep mulch or topsoil in place.

PlantMonthPlant of the Month
Pansies
Aristocrat Pear Tree

This ornamental won't give you pears, but it will give you beauty on your property every season of the year. In spring, it produces a mass of white flowers and in summer it becomes a bouquet of glossy green foliage. In the fall, leaves turn orange-red or deep red for a strong foliage display, and in winter the bare branches provide a dramatic oval profile. The Aristocrat Pear was developed as an improvement over the Bradford Pear that landscapers loved in the past. Like the Bradford, it is resistant to disease but the branches of mature Aristocrats are stronger than the Bradford, reducing breakage from wind or snow. While the Aristocrat Pear does not produce edible pears, it does produce pea-size fruit that will attract birds to your yard. At maturity, Aristocrat Pears can grow to heights of 35-45 feet with a canopy 30-35 feet wide.

LandscapingTrendLandscaping Trend
Beautiful Fire Pits

If you ever went to summer camp, or took a camping trip with your parents, you remember the fun of sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows, talking or telling stories. In most back yards, making an open campfire isn't an option. But more and more people are installing fire pits to re-create the experience. Fire pits are a great way to provide an accent for outdoor living space and there are now almost as many options as people who want them. Fire pits can be sunk in the ground, raised on legs, enclosed in metal or housed in stone. They can be designed to blend with almost any d�cor and can give homeowners a chance to express their individuality or personality. Best of all they can give a family the warm experience of sitting around the campfire!
 
TimeToIt's Time To ...
In this region, April is when spring starts to hit its stride. Here are things to do in April to make your landscape beautiful and healthy for the summer months.
  1. Plant trees and shrubs. Now's the time to get them in the ground so they'll have a chance to get established before the hot weather hits.
  2. Prune trees and shrubs, but not those that bloom in the spring. This will encourage healthy growth that will fill them out. Prune flowering shrubs after they have bloomed.
  3. Fertilize trees and shrubs. Mature plants benefit just as much as new plantings from a spring fertilizing.
  4. Apply pre- and post-emergent weed control. If you're plagued by March marigold and other noxious weeds, now's the time to get after them.
  5. Apply crabgrass preventive treatments. You may not see it yet, but crabgrass is there waiting to make your life miserable!


Masterpiece Project
MasterpieceProjectA Glorious Raised Patio
Sometimes the projects we get are a dream for us as well as for our clients. When Tony F. came to us, he already had a beautiful home. What he wanted was a beautiful outdoor living space to go with it. Tony had a "masterpiece" in mind: A raised, terraced patio to replace an existing deck, Travertine marble on the floor, stone veneer to match the veneer on the front of the house, an outdoor kitchen with granite countertops, a natural gas fire pit and an area for a hot tub. The first step was to remove the existing raised deck and prepare the area for the marble terrace. This involved installing the outer walls and multiple access stairs and then filling with tons of modified stone. Once we had reached the heights to lay the patio, we carefully installed the Travertine marble, a light-colored stone that gives the area a feeling of elegance. Then we installed the stone veneer to the walls and set to work on the amenities that give this patio all the comforts of home. The outdoor kitchen area includes a sink, refrigerator and grill. The island serves as a work space and bar area and there are built-in benches along the walls. The fire pit gives the lower level a focal point and gathering spot and the hot tub provides both relaxation and luxury. This masterpiece turned Tony's dream into reality - and ours, too!

Home Improvement
HomeImprovementTipTip of the Month
Check for Winter Damage

Now that the snow and ice are gone, it's time to take stock of your property and see if winter did any damage to the outside of your home. First, you want to check the entire perimeter of your home to make sure all the elements designed to keep the weather out are still functioning as designed. Are the gutters still hanging at the correct pitch, and are the gutters and downspouts securely attached? Did you have a leak in the roof from all the winter ice?  Is it something more than "ice damming" that needs to be addressed? Are all the shingles intact? Do any bricks need to be repointed? Does your deck need to be power washed? Are there boards that need to be replaced?
 
NewsNews You Can Use
New Sprinkler Requirement

If you're thinking of building a new house in Pennsylvania next year, here's a heads up. Beginning January 1, 2011, all new one- and two-family houses built in the state will be required to have an automatic fire sprinkler system. Pennsylvania is the fist state in the nation to require new homes to have sprinklers, which are most commonly used in commercial or business construction. Safety officials say sprinkler systems will save lives and reduce property damages, but builders and some homeowners say they will add thousands of dollars to the price of a new home and further dampen recovery of the real estate market. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, home sprinkler systems could bring insurance discounts from 5 to 15 percent.

Living Green & Well
GreenCool Roofs
Walk barefoot across black asphalt in the summer, and you quickly learn where the phrase "hot-foot it" comes from. If you're smart, you move off that hot, dark surface as fast as you can. That driveway experience isn't just teaching about how to avoid pain, however. It's also showing how dark surfaces absorb light and build up heat. According to a new report, that knowledge could help slow the effects of global warming. Introducing light-colored "cool roofs" and paving materials that reflect more light could reduce the build-up of heat on Earth, according to the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. Increasing the reflectivity of roofs by 25 percent and pavements by 15 percent could offset the warming effects of 57 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. That wouldn't solve global warming - most scientists say reducing carbon dioxide is the answer - but it could slow down some of the negative effects. The report was based on research by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.