Tips to Consider When Choosing a Landscape Company in North Carolina

In coordination with Tideline Pools and Welsh & Associates, we installed a pool, a cabana with an outdoor kitchen, gravel patio, dry creek beds with subsurface drainage and an LED low voltage landscape lighting system.

There are so many different landscape companies in North Carolina that it can be a little overwhelming to begin looking for one that is the right fit for you. You want to choose a professional, experienced and reliable professional who will meet or exceed your expectations. Here are some things to consider when researching companies:

1. Get a referral or recommendation.

Ask friends and family who have recently had landscape work done who they recommend and what services they provide. Local online community boards are another place to get great leads.

Excellent landscape companies will always have a professional, well-maintained website showcasing a variety of their work. You’ll want to look at their portfolio to get a sense of their scope of work. Does the company only provide installation or a wide variety of services? Does the landscape company specialize in the kind of project you have in mind or offer services you want? If you have multiple needs, it can be good to invest in a company that can service them all. We’ll discuss more about that later.

The company should have a large number of client testimonials so you can see what others have to say about them.

Researching all of these areas will help you build confidence in your choice.

Installation of a dry creek bed with subsurface drainage along the left side property line to help surface water drain to the back of the property.

2. How much experience do they have?

It’s important to look for a company that has a proven track record so you can be sure they know what they are doing. They should either have extensive previous experience in the industry or have been in business, with a good reputation, for 10 or more years in the area of expertise you are seeking. For example, you don’t want to hire a company that has only been mowing lawns for the past ten years to take on installing retaining walls, patios, drainage, etc.

Make sure the landscape company is licensed, accredited and/or certified as well as what affiliations and partnerships they have with others. For example, in North Carolina, a business cannot legally operate as a landscape contractor unless they are licensed by the NC Landscape Contractor’s Licensing Board. The license is important because you know if they have one then the company is accountable.

Landscape design, installation, hardscapes, irrigation, low voltage lighting, water feature and maintenance courtesy of The Whole Blooming Landscape.

3. What Services Do They Provide?

Once you know the experience and standards of a landscaping company and what their clients think of them, you'll want to know what services they provide.

Some landscape companies only offer maintenance or only work on landscape design, but not installation. If you need a variety of projects done, you need to look for a company that is "full-service." Full-service means their work is design, installation and maintenance (hence the name The Whole Blooming Landscape for example).

They will have designers, account managers and field crew supervisors who can provide you with everything you need from designing a landscape plan, constructing hardscapes, installing plants and irrigation to routine maintenance services.

This photo features the installation of a new pondless waterfall. Includes excavation and debris removal, installation of water basin, pump, filter, stone and gravel surround and decorative boulders.

4. Get a consultation.

Before hiring a landscape company to do the work, you want to first make sure they are a good fit for you. Contact the company and speak with someone on their team. Discuss setting up a free consultation where someone from the landscape design team comes out to your residence, discusses your landscape needs and understands your vision for your property. The details of the project or projects should then be provided to you in the form of a written proposal.

Ultimately, the total cost will be one of the most important deciding factors, but also take into account the company’s experience, reputation and references from past clients. Factor all of these elements to help you decide which landscape company will be the best fit for you.

Client wanted a backyard oasis on their equestrian estate to share with family and friends. The project was a blank space that was transformed into an “outdoor room” with a kitchen, fireplace, bathroom and pool.

Ways to Refresh and Enhance Your Outdoor Patio

This Bromley Estates back yard has a custom hardscape patio with ribbon fire feature and arbor in beautiful Weddington, NC.

Spring is finally here, and there’s no better time to start this new season off right than by refreshing your patio. Whether you want to use your patio for entertaining or to simply curl up with a good book, here are some ways you can enhance your outdoor living space:

1. Patio Maintenance: After you’ve had your patio area pruned back for spring, you’ll want to make sure your hardscape is in great shape. Remove any weeds which may be growing between cracks, and have your patio pressure washed to remove any stains, dirt and grime leftover from winter.

2. If your poured concrete patio slab is cracking, consider installing pavers instead. Pavers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. If one of them cracks, it’s much easier and more cost effective to replace a single paver than it is to pour a new slab. Installing natural stone like irregular flagstone is another alternative to concrete.

This back yard has hardscape walkways, a patio with a natural stone water feature and a playground for little ones to play.

3. Soften your patio space with potted trees or shrubs. Potted plants are great since they soften the overall look of your patio space. You’ll want to choose trees or shrubs which are small in size so they don’t crowd your patio over time and can easily be move, if needed. You can also add containers with a perennial centerpiece and layered annuals, or install hanging baskets to attract wildlife to make your patio more inviting.

4. Create planting beds by your patio and install shrubs and perennials like boxwoods, hydrangeas and ferns. These beds can easily be enhanced with splashes of colorful annuals.

5. Create a gathering place by adding a fire feature like a gas fireplace or fire pit which you can use at the flip of a switch.

This is a custom-built Ribbon fire feature and patio with a waterfall and pond.

6. Add a water feature. A custom pond, fountain or waterfall provides a soothing, calming oasis you’ll appreciate for years to come.  

7. If your patio has a grassy area which has become too shaded to grow grass, consider planting ground cover, installing artificial turf, pebbles or mulch to create a new, more usable space.

8. If you’d like a little bit of shade over your patio, consider investing in an arbor or pergola. You can create a shade canopy with fast growing flowering vines like Carolina jessamine, confederate jasmine, or wisteria.

9. If you do a lot of entertaining, you may want to invest in an outdoor kitchen. Outdoor kitchens are a big help so you can do all your cooking outside while being able to enjoy your guests without having to run in and out of your house to check on food or to chop ingredients.

10. Finalize your patio by adding some strategically placed outdoor lighting. Energy-efficient LED lighting not only highlights aspects of your yard, it also provides safety and security at night.

With so many ways to refresh and enhance your outdoor patio, it may seem overwhelming to you. If so, give our experts at The Whole Blooming Landscape a call so we can help you create the patio of your dreams which you’ll enjoy for years to come.

This multi-use space was designed and custom-built for adults and kids. The lower gardens include a pool, fire pit area, waterfall, café table for the kids and a playset.

Getting Your Yard Spring Ready

We do the installation, irrigation, lighting and maintenance of this beautiful Myers Park residence.

Seeing all those birds fluttering about and looking for food, gets us thinking about spring. While you might already be thinking about spring cleaning your house, you also want to think about spring cleaning your yard. Here are some things to consider when getting your yard ready for spring:

1. General Clean-up of Your Property

Remove fallen leaves, dead foliage, spent annuals and other debris cluttering your beds.  

Freshen up your property by pruning trees, shrubs and plants as needed. Remove branches that have been damaged by harsh winter weather. Be sure to prune back to live stems, and use hand clippers to shape hedges and bushes rather than gas powered or electric shears. Shearing only removes the top layer of the plants' foliage and doesn’t encourage internal growth. Hand pruning allows for a more selective approach to branch removal from all over the plant. This allows more light and air to penetrate the plant, encouraging natural growth habits, healthier growth, and helps to prevent the occurrence of disease and insect infestations. 

Trim overgrown evergreens back as needed. Cut back spent perennial blooms that are left from the fall and dormant ornamental grasses. Pruning plants back now will allow for new growth in warmer weather. In crowded beds, thin perennials like hostas, irises, Lenten roses and daylilies by dividing and transplanting them as needed.

2. Bed Prep

Edge planting beds and natural areas whose edges may have shifted from heavy winter rains and storms. Use a square-head shovel applied at a 45 degree angle to give beds a clean edge. This also helps prevent turf grass from growing into them. Once you've done this, apply fresh mulch to a depth of 3-4” in landscape beds and around the base of your trees. Mulch discourages weed growth and assists plant roots, helping them to retain moisture. It also refreshes and enhances the overall look of your landscape.

3. Assess and Clean Hardscape Surfaces

Landscape design, installation, hardscapes, irrigation, low voltage lighting, water feature and maintenance courtesy of The Whole Blooming Landscape.

Put gravel back in its place by raking or sweeping escaped gravel back into aggregate walkways and patios, and apply more gravel as needed. Readjust any pavers which may have shifted out of place. Finally, use a pressure washer (on a low setting) or brush to remove slippery algae spots or stains from stepping stones, walkways and patios.

4. Turf Care

If you didn't aerate your lawn in the fall, or if the weather effected your fall overseeding, you'll want to make sure you aerate and overseed in the spring. Apply a slow-release fertilizer for a greener lawn and to strengthen grass roots. If weeds appear, spot treat them as needed. Once your grass seed has germinated and is up and growing for at least two weeks, apply a pre-emergent application to your lawn to help prevent weeds.  If you don’t need to overseed, make sure you apply a fertilizer with pre-emergent before the dogwoods bloom to green up your turf and control weeds before they appear. 

Formal landscape design installation showing a Japanese maple with boxwoods and a manicured lawn.

5. Plant Care

Speaking of fertilizer, once the threat of frost has passed, be sure to drench your established boxwoods with an organic all-purpose plant food like Espoma Plant-tone and add lime to the base of each plant. The benefit of drenching them with this kind of plant food in early spring is to help them fight off disease throughout the season. Additionally, all plant materials would benefit from an application of slow release 14-14 -14 or Espoma organic Plant-tone or Holly-tone in early spring.

6. Turn on Your Irrigation

Have a licensed irrigation contractor run through your irrigation system for you to make sure it is working as it should. Walk your property to make sure drip lines are properly attached, and everything is getting the right amount of water needed. Make adjustments and/or repairs to your system as needed. 

7. Dress Up You Yard With Annuals

When most perennials are just starting to poke their heads up, installing annuals can quickly enhance the overall beauty of your garden. Annual beds give uniform beauty, while colorful containers filled with tiered annuals can really give your garden that instant pop. When installing annuals, we recommend waiting until
all threat of frost has passed. For our area this is usually the end of April/beginning of May. Start planning now where you would like to plant annuals or fill in containers so that you are ready when plants become available at local nurseries.

If you want to get your property in great shape, contact the experts at The Whole Blooming Landscape today.  We'll take care of your property so it's spring ready for you to enjoy.

A stunning annual flower bed display bursts with color during warmer weather months.

Drainage: How to Manage Your Landscape in a Wet Environment

To help with drainage issues, we lay and set a new dry creek bed along the curb edge at the street. We created a small swale using a mix of various sized creek rock and small decorative boulders.

With all the wet weather we’ve been having in the Carolinas, you may be experiencing drainage issues, leaving your yard a soggy or muddy mess. Our clay soils can become super saturated. Even a yard that previously drained well can become a swamp with nowhere for the water to go. There are many solutions for drainage issues depending on your site and drainage problem.

Basically there are two types of drainage issues: surface and sub-surface water.

Surface water puddles or pools in your yard, on your driveway or walkways. The water has nowhere to go due to grade, soil issues or obstructions.

Subsurface water may be a more complex problem. Water collects below the visible surface of your yard. In some cases, if not corrected, this could cause damage to foundations, paved walkways, driveways and more.

Solutions to your drainage problem will depend on the individual situation at your site.  Here are some possible solutions:

Surface Drainage Systems

Surface drainage systems are typically the simplest solution. They are most often used when the slope of the property allows the water to be drained off-site through grading.  Water is directed by slope or swales, shallow drainage channels which funnel water off site or into a sub-surface drainage system.   

Swales or Drainage Channels

Swales can be grassed, or if they carry a high volume of water, turned into a dry creek bed. A dry creek bed can be decorative, functional and add interest to your landscape.

Permeable Pavers

Permeable pavers are used to minimize run-off water in paved areas. They are designed to allow water to seep through them and be collected into ground water or collected into a catchment system and either be held for use on-site or drained off-site.

Surface drainage systems are frequently combined with sub-surface drainage systems to collect and carry water off site.

Sub-Surface Drainage Systems

There are many components to sub-surface drainage solutions. Some or all of them may be used to remediate water issues on a site.

French Drains

A French drain is used to remove water that is collecting either in a low area or against a wall or foundation.  A trench is dug in the area where water is collecting, and drainage gravel and perforated pipe encased in filter fabric are installed to collect water. They are then connected to a solid collector pipe that either drains into another drainage structure or off-site.

Catch Basins

Catch basins are drop inlets which are installed where point sources of water can be identified.  A low spot is created in the turf, a natural area, or at the terminus of a dry creek bed. The catch basin is set to collect the water, and is connected to a solid collector pipe that either drains into another drainage structure or off-site.

Trench Drains

Trench drains are a type of drop inlet which are typically 4” or 6” wide, and are of varied length, typically no less than 2’ long. They are useful when there is a drainage issue at the edge of a paved area or leading into a garage to keep water from flowing into a pool, patio or garage. Water is then carried using sub-surface piping to drain off-site.

Piping of Downspouts Away from Foundations

Frequently downspouts are connected to subsurface piping to be drained away from the foundation of the home and carried off-site. Collection pipes from downspouts can be combined with other drainage elements or may be the only drainage needed on a site.

Flo-Wells and Dry Wells

In some instances water cannot be drained off-site and must be funneled into a collection basin. These are pits which are dug in a low spot on-site and filled with clean drainage gravel, and/or possibly a vault which has a drop inlet on top and is surrounded by clean drainage gravel. The water is then held sub-surface as it slowly drains into the surrounding soil.

If you need help managing good drainage, give us a call so we can access your yard. You'll be glad you did so you can enjoy your yard to its fullest potential.

Drainage swale helps to control water in this front yard in Providence Park.