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Modern landscaping refers to the designing, planning, and construction of gardens and other features that both create useable space for outdoor activities, and enhance the appearance around a home. Landscaping includes hardscaping and softscaping, although many people refer to them softscaping and landscaping interchangeably. Hardscaping would be the aspect that includes non-organic materials such as stone and woodwork, retaining walls, decks, firepits, and more. Softscaping would then refer to planting designs, creating berms and grading, and mulching. Capital Landscaping does both landscape and hardscape design in the greater Des Moines, IA area.

Annuals grow for one season, and then die when the weather gets cold. Perennials grow for multiple seasons, and regrow every spring after being in dormancy during the winter. Examples of popular annuals in Iowa are pansies, snapdragons, petunias, geraniums, salvia, California poppy, violas, and many more. Some perennial examples are daffodils, phlox, peonies, purple coneflower, daylilies, black-eyed susan, Virginia bluebells, coral bells, hostas, and more.

With a few DIY techniques

• Keep your garden clean. Pick up plant debris, remove dying stems or branches, weed the area regularly, and toss the debris in the garbage.
• Fertilize just enough to keep your plants happy – too much fertilizer promotes weak growth which is susceptible to disease.
• Wait to plant until the soil is warmed up. Planting too early will put extra stress on your plants and make them more susceptible to disease in the soil.
• Use mulch to keep weeds at bay and harmful fungi in the soil away.
• Inspect and remove infected stems and leaves. As soon as you notice signs of disease, carefully remove the leaf or stems and throw it away as soon as possible. By removing disease early on, you can help your plants to continue to grow healthily.

This is a tough one. The conditions that are good for plant growth are naturally good for weed growth. But, there are steps you can take to prevent weed growth early on, and remove weeds if they do appear. First of all, use a landscaping fabric in your flower beds and garden to cover the soil where you don’t want weeds to grow. Then use a weed preventer, such as Preen, to further discourage weed growth. If weeds do appear, pull the entire weed, including the root, early on to prevent it from coming back. For cracks in concrete and pavers, use a commercial herbicide to kill weeds that appear. For a more organic method, try using vinegar in a spray bottle. Be warned, herbicides, including vinegar, will kill all plants they touch, not only weeds.

Whether or not you hire a professional is up to you, but paying meticulous attention to your lawn will provide a multitude of benefits. It’ll give you a great space for your family to enjoy, increase the value of your home, provide oxygen to the environment, and cool down the area around your home, making your air conditioner’s job easier.

An established lawn will also have a deep root system that controls erosion, runoff, and the purity of water that is funneled into the groundwater supply. Healthy lawns can trap the dust and impurities that we want to keep out of that.

There are many benefits, including:

• Helping the soil retain moisture
• Contributing to soil health as the breakdown of the mulch happens over time
• Blocking the sunlight to pesky weeds, helping to keep them at bay
• Repelling insects, depending on the type of mulch used
• Controlling soil erosion

We recommend mulching leaves, as they will add nutrients to your soil and make for a healthier lawn. Raking up the leaves will not harm your lawn, but you’ll also be missing out on the benefits leaves provide. One note of caution, do not ignore blankets of full leaves on your lawn, either raking or mulching is necessary. If you don’t, the leaves can actually do more harm than good since they’ll block sunlight and air from getting to the grass. This problem can be compounded when it rains, eventually leading to turf diseases or dead grass.

Absolutely! Every living plant does its job to filter carbon dioxide out of the environment — one tree alone can remove 26 pounds of CO2 annually, equaling about 11,000 miles of vehicle emissions. Plants also help keep debris and pollution out of our water supply. On top of that, trees that cast shade on your home will keep it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, giving your air conditioner and heating units a break. If you’re thinking about planting additional trees, shrubs, or flowers, they will all benefit our environment in their own unique way, so go for it!