Dodge Winter Lawn Damage

11/23/2016

Winter conditions can present a wide range of challenges to your lawn and landscape, but there are precautions you can take to protect your lawn, as well as your trees and shrubs, from seasonal harm. These preventative steps can help your lawn survive the winter season’s harsh elements, including snow plow damage, cold temperature stress, freezing temperatures, winter dehydration and ice melt.

Dodge Winter Lawn Damage

(Family Features) Winter conditions can present a wide range of challenges to your lawn and landscape, but there are precautions you can take to protect your lawn, as well as your trees and shrubs, from seasonal harm.

Preventive steps from the lawncare experts at TruGreen can help your lawn survive the winter season’s harsh elements.

Snow Plow Damage
Install brightly-colored boundary markers along the edges of paved areas to help protect lawn and shrubs from snow plow and snow thrower blades. Lightweight wooden stakes, at least four feet tall with bright reflective tape and brightly covered fiberglass rods, serve as good markers. Avoid heavy metal, fence posts and other large objects, as they can pose a hazard to snow plow operators.

Cold Temperature Stress
More so than any other season, trees and shrubs are vulnerable to changing weather conditions during the winter. Wide temperature fluctuation and extremely low temperatures are the biggest factors of tree stress, meaning your trees are more susceptible to things like frost cracks, sunscald and winter burn.

Keep twigs and limbs from breaking under the weight of ice by carefully brushing away, whenever possible, any snow load from plants, which will reduce the weight on the limbs and decrease the damage. Placing a burlap cover around shrubs such as boxwood and yews will help reduce winter desiccation.

Proper fertilization can help keep your trees and shrubs healthy well into spring, and allow them to better tolerate winter. A service like TruGreen can help with tree and shrub services customized to meet your landscape’s every need, including applications to control overwintering insects, pests and mites.

Freezing Temperatures
Damage to plants, shrubs and trees as a result of sustained low temperatures can typically go undetected until spring or early summer, when plants fail to produce new growth. To help prevent damage, maintain a two- to three-inch layer of mulch to help protect the crown and roots from weather extremes.

Winter Dehydration
During the colder months of winter, plants cannot replace moisture lost from leaves and needles. This leads to “dehydration” – technically known as desiccation. To help avoid this problem, maintain proper watering late into the fall, or water during periods of winter thaw. TruGreen offers an anti-desiccation service that helps reduce moisture loss caused by cold winter winds for broadleaf evergreens that are most susceptible to winter desiccation.

Ice Melt
Ice-melting agents, such as rock salt and products containing calcium and magnesium chloride, may accumulate in the soil and cause damage to plants. Use extreme care when applying ice-melting agents to prevent damage to your plants or concrete surfaces.

Find more advice to help prep your lawn for winter at TruGreen.com.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

SOURCE:
TruGreen

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Harvest Your Own Home Decor

10/3/2016

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Put your personal touch on your home’s decor with crafting projects that highlight the best of fall: copper detail, animal icons and pumpkins of every color, including white. Create a seasonal tablescape or mantel decoration with these Harvest Fall Lanterns or apply an outdoorsy look with a Birch Wreath.

Harvest Your Own Home Decor

(Family Features) Warm up your home with this season’s trendiest looks. Put your personal touch on your home’s decor with crafting projects that highlight the best of fall: copper detail, animal icons and pumpkins of every color, including white.

Create a seasonal tablescape or mantel decoration with these Harvest Fall Lanterns created by the crafting experts at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores. The lanterns lend a coppery sheen to complement the seasonal hues of the pumpkins and gourds. Place them atop a swatch of soft plaid for a multi-textured look that celebrates the season indoors.

For a unique outdoorsy look, piece together a birch wreath using natural supplies such as twig stems, cattail stems and foliage.

Find more harvest perfect fall home decor at joann.com.

Harvest Fall Lanterns
Skill level: Beginner
Crafting time: 3-5 hours

Supplies and Tools:

2 boxes fall pumpkin and gourd decorations
1 bottle (2 fluid ounces) cloud white paint
Black sponge paint brush
2 metal and glass lanterns
Hot glue gun and sticks

Select two pumpkins to paint white. Paint them and let dry.
Choose multiple sized pumpkins and gourds and attach them to the inside bottom of each lantern with hot glue to begin building a design. Add more pumpkins and gourds, and glue them to each other.
Insert leaves and berries to accent pumpkins and fill in any empty spaces.

Birch Wreath
Skill level: Beginner
Crafting time: 1-2 hours

Supplies and Tools:

Burlap garland
Dark brown raffia
Florist wire (22 or 24 gauge)
Burlap-wrapped wreath
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Wire cutters
Beige twig stems
Brown floral tape
2 pinecone pick stems
2 onion grass cattail stems
5 fall leaf foliage
5 bags medium birch rounds

Craft bow out of burlap garland and dark brown raffia. Wrap wire around middle of bow and poke it into burlap wreath in desired location. Secure with hot glue.
With wire cutters, cut twigs to length and tape together with brown floral tape. Add pinecone stems to twigs and tape together with floral tape.
Wrap twig and pinecone stems with wire and poke wire into wreath under bow. Use hot glue to secure.
Add cattails and fall foliage to accent. Attach to wreath in desired locations with hot glue.
Cover remainder of wreath with birch rounds using hot glue.

SOURCE:
Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores

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Fall entertaining forecast: casual, comfortable and outdoors

8/25/2016

(BPT) - Whether an afternoon tailgating before the big game or a fun-filled evening under the dazzling autumn stars, the forecast for this season's entertaining is trending toward cozy, comfortable and outdoors.

"I think the big lifestyle shift right now is toward eating out less and entertaining more at home, and autumn is the perfect season for taking your get-togethers outside," says Keith Winkler, marketing manager for dinnerware giant Replacements, Ltd. "Think about it - the temperatures are cooling down following our record breaking summer heat. You can have more people at outdoor gatherings than you can generally fit in your home. Plus, there's more flexibility because you can easily have one or more set ups, whether that means setting up tables for dinner or having canapÃ©s and finger foods around a fire pit."

Fall is a great season for ditching the paper and plastic and taking your dinnerware outdoors. Tableware industry experts say there are many positives to introducing your "good stuff" to Mother Nature. It won't blow away like paper plates, and it's far more environmentally friendly than Styrofoam.

Mix it up

While serving finger foods on small plates is extremely popular and encourages your guests to mingle, there's a definite return toward the comfort and connection of a sit down meal. To set the perfect fall table, designers encourage mixing and matching patterns to reflect your distinctive style.

"I generally start with a pattern that sets the tone for the evening, one that reflects what I'm feeling for this particular gathering," says Replacements' designer Julie Robbins. "Whether that's a cute salad plate that's going to sit atop the dinner plate, or a fun color I want as my main design element or theme. I then add pieces that either draw out that feeling or ground the place setting to give me the ambiance I want for my entire table."

Robbins says that may mean pairing a current fall favorite, such as a dinner plate in Woodland by Spode, with vintage American amber glass from the 1940s. She also mixes different pieces. For example, adding a hued glass accent salad plate creates another layer of dimension, while a bright goblet can infuse a much needed pop of seasonal color.

Light up your evenings

There's really no need to go heavy on the decorations for fall outdoor entertaining. Bright leaves, pumpkins, seasonal berries and other naturals create the perfect autumn decor. Experts say you don't need a floral centerpiece if you have nature all around you. Instead, use candles to light up your evenings.

"It's time to upgrade from the Mason jar look by mixing glassware and candles," says Robbins. "Lighting can truly set the mood for your gathering, which is why I'm big on creating an eclectic grouping down the middle of my table by mixing glass and metal candlesticks with hurricanes, clear decanters and other pieces I can use to hold candles. If you don't think you have enough pieces, old tumblers make great votive cups, while you can also turn wine glasses and goblets upside down and place candles on the inverted base. This is beautiful for daytime entertaining, and when lit, creates a simple, warm feeling on those nights when you're just starting to feel a nip in the air."

Looking for more fall inspiration? Robbins and team suggest checking out Replacements' website at www.replacements.com.

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