Garden Center Archives - Page 5 of 9 - Stephens Landscaping Professionals

Aug 08, 2022

The Best Flower Combinations for Stellar Gardens

One plus one often equals much more than two—and that’s especially true in the garden. A full-blooming flower on its own is a sight to behold, but surrounding it with contrasting blooms is where gardening meets artistry. In a sense, gardening is all about creating stellar flower combinations that elevate one another. Here are a few to get you started!

Salvia – Daylily – Garden Phlox

Salvia is the first of this trio to open its flowers. The indigo towers bloom in late spring, and if you cut them back, they continue flowering all the way until fall. They’re soon joined by the beautiful contrast of daylilies, which unfurl a barrage of yellow or orange flowers from late spring to early summer. The glowing pink petals of garden phlox join the mix by midsummer.

These complimentary flower shapes and colors are sure to make a stellar portrait in the garden. All of them prefer full sun and well-drained soil.

Catmint – Tickseed – Blazing Star

Here’s a combination to take the spotlight in the middle of the growing season! It begins with the light blue glow of catmint, along with its soothing fragrance, in late spring. From June to September, tickseed unfurls a cloud of bright yellow flowers above the finely textured leaves. By midsummer, blazing star displays impressive wands of frizzy lavender petals.

The combination of heights and colors brings a splendid contrast to the perennial garden during the hottest months. These plants prefer full sun to part shade and average moisture.

Echinacea – Goldenrod – New England Aster

This triad of flowers brings music to the garden in late summer and fall. The fluorescent purple or white petals of echinacea start blooming in midsummer. They carry on their tune right into the fall when they’re joined by the sunset yellows of goldenrod. New England aster joins the chorus around the same time—late August or early September—with the star-like violet petals.

These late-season bloomers provide a banquet for the senses, as well as the pollinators. They all thrive in full sun or part shade and well-draining soil.

Ligularia – Swamp Milkweed – Great Blue Lobelia

Here’s a combination to take advantage of any wet conditions in the garden. Ligularia’s vibrant yellow or orange blooms and mound of dramatic foliage set the scene with a cheerful backdrop. Then comes the swamp milkweed with its clouds of pink petals, which butterflies adore. Meanwhile, the great blue lobelia unfurls towers of ethereal blue petals above leafy stems throughout the summer.

This stellar combination thrives in wet meadows, moist soils, or at the edge of ponds. They’re also great candidates for a rain garden.

Hosta – White Wood Aster – Fern

Here’s a team of perennials to bring beauty to the shade garden. Hostas offer lush green or variegated green leaves and subtle pink or white flowers that open sometime during the summer, depending on the variety. The white wood aster, like other asters, saves its beautiful white blooms for the fall. Meanwhile, ferns anchor the space with graceful green fronds that freshen the air throughout the growing season.

If you were ever wondering what to do with a shady area, this is a great combination to try. Ferns like evenly moist soil, while the hosta and white wood aster are adaptable to many soil types.

How to Create Your Own Flower Combinations

If you’re feeling creative, try experimenting with your own perennial combinations. Look for beautiful color contrasts, varied leaf textures, and differing flower shapes. Keep in mind that combining plants with similar light, soil, and moisture needs will give your garden the best opportunity to thrive.

For more inspiration on stellar garden flower combinations, visit our garden center in Moultonborough, and follow us on Facebook or Instagram!

Aug 01, 2022

Everything You Need to Know About Mulch

Garden Center · Landscape Design

Mulch is arguably an essential part of the garden. It adds beauty, reduces our workload, and benefits the soil in many ways. There are so many types of mulch available; how do you choose the best one? Here’s a breakdown of wood and rock mulch and the advantages and trade-offs of each kind!

The Benefits of Wood Mulch

Wood mulch usually comes in two forms: bark mulch and wood chips. Both are by-products of the lumber and paper industries, offering many benefits to the home garden.

Moisture: they hold moisture in the soil, reducing the need for water.
Protection: they protect the soil from erosion, wind, rain, and UV rays. Plus, they protect plants from extremes of heat and cold and the thaw-freeze cycle of early spring.
Reduce Weeding: mulch significantly reduces your weeding by preventing weeds from accessing the soil.
Improve Soil: as the mulches break down, they furnish the soil with decaying organic matter and nutrients, which benefits the whole garden ecosystem.

Bark Mulch vs. Wood Chips

Both share all of the advantages mentioned above and differ mainly in aesthetics. You’ll find a wide selection of sizes and colors among both bark mulch and wood chips. The choice is mainly a personal preference about what you find beautiful and how your mulch best fits into the overall look of your landscape.

A small consideration is that large, chunky mulch generally takes longer than small ones to break down and tends to shift around more in the garden during rainfall. Mulch from certain types of trees, like cedar, also lasts longer since the wood naturally resists decay.

The Benefits of Rock Mulch

Rocks are another way to enhance the beauty of your garden, protect the soil, and reduce the workload of weeding. Rocks don’t break down as quickly as wood mulch, meaning you don’t have to replace them as often. If they become dirty, you can hose them off, and if leaves fall on them, it’s easy to blow any debris from the surface.

A trade-off of their durability is that they don’t add nutrients to the soil. They can also be annoying to move if you want to access the soil for new plantings, etc. During the hot summer days, rocks also capture the heat, making them ideal for cactus gardens, rock gardens, or plants that benefit from warm and dry soil.

Types of Rock Mulch

River Rock: these are smooth, naturally weathered stones in uniform gray, white, black, or a mix of colors. They come in different sizes.
Crushed Stone: this mulch is made by crushing larger rocks. As a result, they have a rugged texture. They come in a variety of sizes and colors.
Gravel and Pebble: these are the smallest type of rock mulch. They lend a particular zen look to a garden and are easier to shift around if necessary. They can be smooth like river rock or rugged like crushed stone.

What Is the Best Type of Mulch?

All mulch has the benefits of enhancing the beauty of your garden, reducing weeds, and protecting soil from the elements. Beyond that, wood mulch has the extra benefit of bringing nutrients to the soil, whereas rock mulch has the advantage of being durable. There’s really no “best” type of mulch. The choice is yours, depending on your tastes and application in the garden.

Straw, grass clippings, and shredded leaves bring many practical benefits to the garden as well. They hold in moisture, suppress weeds, protect the soil surface, and add nutrients to the garden. However, these products don’t bring the same aesthetic benefit. They’re best in vegetable gardens or to add a layer of nutrients to a bed before winter.

How to Install Mulch

Mulch is pretty straightforward to install, provided that you follow some basic guidelines. Ideally, you should have 2–3 inches of mulch evenly spread throughout your garden bed—don’t make piles around the base of your plants, as this can harbor pests! Ensure you don’t bury your plants or go above the crown of the plant—it will cause the plant to generate roots too high and girdle the plant. Make sure you leave your perennials uncovered so they can come back next year, and you’re all set!

When it’s time to add more mulch, take a look at the condition of your existing mulch before you add more; old mulch can become compacted over time, or it might not break down the way you anticipated. If your mulch isn’t breaking down, adding more will thicken the layer of mulch beyond the recommended 3-inch maximum, which won’t help your garden! In this case, it’s best to clear out the previous layers before adding fresh mulch.

To find the best type of mulch for your garden, visit our garden center in Moultonborough, where you can peruse our bulk products, including spruce and hemlock, and our wide selection of bagged mulch, including cedar. We also have a handy bulk material calculator on our website to tackle the math for your project! Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook or Instagram for the latest sales and updates!

Jul 25, 2022

Fragrant Native Plants for Your Landscape

Garden Center

Nothing is better than sitting outside in your yard and catching the sweet aroma of wild bergamot in the breeze. With these native plants, you can breathe in the natural fragrance of our home woodlands. They’re hardy, low-maintenance, and benefit the wildlife of our larger ecosystems. Here is a taste of the beautiful scents and colors you can enjoy right in your garden!

Woodland Phlox

In April and May, Woodland phlox displays a dazzling carpet of small white or pink flowers. The cloud of blooms is a feast of early season nectar for hummingbirds and butterflies, especially the tiger swallowtail. This low-maintenance native plant thrives in semi-shaded areas and provides good groundcover in woodland gardens or between other perennials.

Anise Hyssop

This anise hyssop unfurls towers of lavender blooms from mid to late summer. This fragrant native plant exudes a unique anise scent, which will waft through your garden and attract pollinators from far and wide. Easy to care for and drought-tolerant once established, it’s an ideal, long-blooming perennial for your wildflower garden. Plus, you can eat the leaves as a herb.

Wild Bergamot

This aromatic native perennial blooms with purple-pink flowers in early summer. Though they look like tufts of petals, they’re actually a mass of tubular flowers, which butterflies and hummingbirds love to feed on. You can use the fragrant leaves as an herb, similar to oregano, or brewed for a soothing, minty-oregano tea. They thrive in well-drained soil and full or partial sun.

Buttonbush

Both intriguing and adorable, this native plant features pom-pom-like fragrant flowers that draw pollinators in like a magnet. An excellent choice for damp soils, buttonbush is a moisture magnet that also helps to control erosion in the landscape. The whorls of glossy ovate foliage and red, ball-shaped fruit of this native shrub remain attractive outside of its June through September bloom period.

Common Milkweed

This native wildflower blooms with spherical tufts of mauve flowers from June through August. The fragrant blooms are a magnet for pollinators, and the whole plant is essential to the life cycle of monarch butterflies. During their cross-continental journey from Mexico to Canada, they lay their eggs on the milkweed, which the larvae exclusively feed on as they mature. Besides attracting insects, these easy-to-grow wildflowers bring clumps of color and fragrance to any naturalized garden or perennial border and are an excellent addition to a pollinator garden.

Swamp Azalea

This delightful native shrub is a great choice for multi-season appeal in the landscape. Clusters of funnel-shaped white or pink-tinged flowers emerge in the early summer, releasing a perfume so potent it can be enjoyed from a nearby patio. In the fall, the foliage takes on brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and purple that meld whimsically with the New Hampshire autumn scenery.

Aromatic Aster

Asters shine brightly at the end of the growing season when other flowers are fading; they are aptly named with the Latin word for ‘star.’ They display vibrant violet petals with yellow centers, similar to daisies, from late summer into fall. They are both host plants and an important source of late-season nectar for butterflies and bees. They are low maintenance, easy to grow, and drought tolerant once established. This particular species of aster is well-loved for its especially fragrant flowers.

Come into our Moultonborough garden center to see and smell these fragrant native plants in person. We promise that you’ll love the sweet scents they bring to your garden, and they won’t cost you any extra effort or maintenance. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more news and updates!

Jul 18, 2022

How to Plan Your Flower Bed for Maximum Impact

Garden Center · Planting

There’s nothing as satisfying as planning your garden and watching the beauty come to life. But what are the tricks to creating beautiful designs? It’s a big topic, no doubt, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are simple ways to use perennials, annuals, and bulbs together to make a big statement in your flower beds!

How to Plan Your Perennial Garden

Perennials are the primary plants we count on for recurring blooms and foliage each year. Whether you’re a beginner gardener laying out a new bed or want to improve the beds you have already, these timeless tips will let your perennials work their magic!

All Season Blooms: research when your flowers bloom and strive to have plants that bloom at different times of the season so that you have flowers from thaw to frost, even in the late summer and fall with plants like asters, anemones, goldenrods, and hyssops.
Arrange According to Size: generally, you’ll want to place the tallest perennials at the back, the mid-sized plants in the middle, and the shortest plants at the front. But avoid adhering to this rule too closely. Instead, use groupings, clumps, and drifts of plants to create a looser, more natural feel while ensuring all the plants are visible.

Use Texture and Shape: color is only one variable to use in your design. Different shapes and textures also add liveliness and interest to your beds. Think of the varying shapes of ferns, hostas, and heucheras, to name a few.
Use a Variety of Colors: take advantage of the rich diversity of plants available by selecting a wide diversity of flowers and foliage. Native wildflowers, in particular, offer so many choices of colors, including pinks, oranges, yellows, whites, reds, purples, and blues.
Use Groupings: group at least three individuals of the same plant together; a single flower usually won’t create much impact unless it’s large. Odd numbers look better than even numbers, so plant in 3, 5, 7, etc.
Create Color Patterns: lead the eye through the garden bed by repeating certain colors. For example, a group of purple coneflowers can link up with the similarly colored blazing stars or New England asters a few plants away.

How to Use Annuals in Your Design

When planning garden beds, people often focus on perennials, but annuals can play an important role too. Their main advantage is their versatility and ease of planting. You can buy annuals from the garden center and go home and plant them for immediate results.

Annuals are especially good at filling in any gaps of time or places where you don’t have any perennials blooming. Some gardeners reserve a bed just for annuals so they can enjoy a new design every year. They also work great in containers and hanging baskets. You can start some annuals, like sunflowers, from seed, while you can transplant others from the garden center.

How to Integrate Bulbs into Your Plan

Bulbs are small, bright perennials that emerge for a short bloom time and then disappear again underground. Crocus, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and snowdrops are a few common examples. People love them because they’re among the first flowers that come up each spring, bringing early color to a garden bed. Here are a few tips for using these precious flowers to their full potential:

Plant in Clusters: avoid planting in rows or single flowers. A cluster of bulbs creates a more colorful impact.
Plant Around Late-Leafing Perennials or Shrubs: bulbs can bring beauty to the garden before your other plants have produced foliage. The bulbs will naturally disappear after their show is over, leaving ample room for the late-leafing plants to expand.

Layer the Bulbs: a creative technique to bring more flowers into a single space is to layer bulbs in the ground. Plant earlier blooming bulbs over late-blooming bulbs so that new flowers spring up when the earlier ones are fading.
Plant Bulbs in Unexpected Spots: because they have compact roots, you can tuck bulbs into unexpected places throughout your garden, like in rock crevices or between pathway stones. They’ll bring those forgotten places to life in new ways.

You can plant bulbs from September to mid-October. Remember to take advantage of summer-blooming bulbs and the much-loved spring bloomers.

The beauty of gardens is that you don’t need to plan them all at once. Planning and designing a flower bed is an ongoing process that you can shape throughout the seasons to evolve as you do.

For more advice on flower bed plans or to see the many flowers available, feel free to visit our garden center in Moultonborough or follow us on Facebook or Instagram for updates and featured products!

Jul 12, 2022

Apple Trees You Can Grow in Moultonborough

Garden Center · Planting

Apple trees are one of nature’s great investments. Plant one sapling, and a few years down the road, you receive hundreds of apples every autumn, not to mention the beautiful springtime blossoms. As one of the best cold-hardy fruits, we don’t have to settle for crab apples or less desirable varieties—some of the tastiest apple varieties available are right at home in our region.

Our Favorite Varieties for Moultonborough

McIntosh

McIntosh apples are an extremely popular variety in North America. They’re medium-sized with marbled green and red skin. They are an “all-purpose” apple; the crisp, white flesh and tart flavor make them ideal for eating, ciders, or cooking into desserts or sauces. Originating from Ontario, Canada, they’re a cold-hardy species that thrives in our region.

Granny Smith

Another famous apple, the Granny Smith, is known for its bright green skin and crisp, tart, and sharp taste. This flavor profile makes them ideal for baking into pies, sauces, preserves, and other desserts, and the crispness guarantees that they won’t go mushy once cooked. Their well-known tanginess is equally loved and enjoyed for straight eating. They grow to a mature width of 15-20 feet and start producing after two seasons in the soil.

Cortland

A descendant of the McIntosh, Cortlands have a snappy crunch and a sweeter flavor, balanced by a subtle tanginess. They are an ideal eating apple, produce great cider, and hold their shape when baked. They go mushy in storage quicker than their cousins, so they’re best enjoyed or processed soon after harvest. Cortland’s don’t need a companion tree for pollination but increase production if they have one.

Gala

Galas are another all-around apple for any purpose, from eating to baking or cider, and are known for their sweet, mild flavor, and crispy texture. They are another one of the few self-pollinating apple trees. They grow to a manageable size of 10′ in height and 15′ across, and need a hardiness zone 5 or above.

Why It’s Often Necessary to Plant Two Varieties of Apple Trees

Unless they’re self-pollinating, most apple trees need the pollen of another tree to produce fruit, and that tree needs to be a different apple cultivar. So if you’re planning to plant an apple tree that needs cross-pollination, make sure one of your neighbors has an apple tree nearby or plan to plant two on your property. Whether self-pollinating or not, having more than one tree improves pollination rates, making for bigger yields.

What to Do with Apples After You Harvest Them

Besides spring pruning, growing an apple tree is very low maintenance. Without much work, you reap a bountiful harvest. The main challenge is figuring out what to do with so many apples at once. Fortunately, there are many solutions.

Apples that store well can stay in cold storage throughout the fall and winter. You can also make apple sauce and store it in the deep freeze; press the apples into cider, juice, or vinegar; or you can boil them into apple butter. You can dry them in rings or press them into fruit leather. If all else fails, you can share the harvest with friends and neighbors.

The apples we mentioned above are certainly not the only ones available. Empire, Freedom, Red and Gold Delicious, Red Rome, and Spartan apples also grow in zone 4/5. When choosing a site for planting, ensure that your apple is in full sun, in well-draining soil, and away from wooded areas. Know the mature tree size before you plant to ensure you have space, and then you’re ready to plant.

For more advice on growing apples, feel free to visit our garden center in Moultonborough! We have plenty of delicious varieties available. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram for updates and featured products.