May is a busy month for our team of landscape professionals. We’ve started mulching, weeding, pruning, mowing, fertilizing, applying weed and insect control, as well as tick control. We are also designing and installing new landscapes. With all the rain we’ve been getting and the warmer temps on the way next week, grass and plants will be thriving! Mother Nature will be rewarding us with lots of beautiful blooms and lush green grass.
Please let your landscape consultant know if you are having any issues with your property or if you are interested in any additional services to keep your property looking its best. ~Shayne
“We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us”. Jenny Oglow
ANNUAL SPRING DAY OF SERVICE
On Saturday, April 22 (aka Earth Day) YardScapes team members, friends, family, and business associates came together for YardScapes Annual Spring Day of Service.
Volunteers met at 8:00AM for coffee and baked goods, received their assignments for the day, received “thank yous” from Shayne, and gathered for a group photo. At 9:00AM sharp, teams departed HQ and drove to their specified locations to perform spring clean-ups and worked until noon. In new Milford, teams visited Nathan Taylor House and Village Center for the Arts on Main Street, and Pratt Nature Center to erect a Peace Pole and tidy up the entrance area. A very large team also headed to the Hadlow Preserve in Sherman to clear the overgrowth in the hedgerows and remove shrubs around the bluebird boxes to avoid predation.
Afterwards, all the volunteers regrouped back at YardScapes HQ for a thank you cookout.
Daughters of the American Revolution
Congratulations to Shayne for receiving the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) Conservation Medal and NSDAR Community Service Award as nominated by and presented from the Daughters of the American Revolution Roger Sherman Chapter and CT State Rep. Bill Buckbee.
WHAT IS A DAWN CHORUS?
Some people find the dawn chorus thoroughly enjoyable, while others find it annoying and unpleasant should it wake them up too early! Either way, the dawn chorus is a sure sign of spring.
If you are an early bird, you have most likely heard the dawn chorus of your local feathered friends tweeting, twittering, and chirping as the sun begins to rise – around 5:30 AM – and sometimes as early as 3:00AM depending on the species, the weather, and the amount of illumination from the moon.
The majority of birds begin to wake as the sun comes up. Most of this dawn chorus is made up of male birds because they sing to search for mates and defend their territory. Due to cooler temperatures, lower humidity, and the general stillness of the morning air, their songs travel quite far and seem louder than when they sing during the day and there is a lot of ambient noise. The morning is also a good time for birds to avoid predators because it is still too dark for them to fly off and forage.
The dawn chorus also has a very distinct order in which the birds join the singing. The larger birds like blackbirds and robins are usually first, followed by wrens and warblers. And, as soon as there is enough light for them to see, sparrows and finches are the last to join this special performance.
SEASONAL COLOR
Apart from the warm weather, not much is more welcome after a grey winter than a vibrant and luminous landscape. Everything is alive again and there is striking color everywhere you look.
If you wish to introduce more color into your landscape, first determine your final goal. Try to decide If you want an abundance of spring flowers like daffodils, hyacinth and tulips or landscape with a more subtle appeal. Speak with your landscape consultant or do your own research to find the best plants for your desired outcome.
Consider trees or shrubs that also have interesting foliage when not in bloom. Plants also should be strategically placed whenever possible to ensure that their qualities stand out from the other elements in your landscape. Like colors can be grouped together for impressive, yet subtle impact such as a soft green fern garden or vivid and bold groupings of flowers as seen below for instant visual appeal.
