Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Types of Gardening

Residential gardening takes place near the home, in a space referred to as the garden. Although a garden typically is located on the land near a residence, it may also be located on a roof, in an atrium, on a balcony, in a window box, on a patio or vivarium.

Gardening also takes place in non-residential green areas, such as parks, public or semi-public gardens (botanical gardens or zoological gardens), amusement parks, along transportation corridors, and around tourist attractions and garden hotels. In these situations, a staff of gardeners or groundskeepers maintains the gardens.

  • Indoor gardening is concerned with the growing of houseplants within a residence or building, in a conservatory, or in a greenhouse. Indoor gardens are sometimes incorporated as part of air conditioning or heating systems. Indoor gardening extends the growing season in the fall and spring and can be used for winter gardening.
  • Native plant gardening is concerned with the use of native plants with or without the intent of creating wildlife habitat. The goal is to create a garden in harmony with, and adapted to a given area. This type of gardening typically reduces water usage, maintenance, and fertilization costs, while increasing native faunal interest.
  • Water gardening is concerned with growing plants adapted to pools and ponds. Bog gardens are also considered a type of water garden. These all require special conditions and considerations. A simple water garden may consist solely of a tub containing the water and plant(s). In aquascaping, a garden is created within an aquarium tank.
  • Container gardening is concerned with growing plants in any type of container either indoors or outdoors. Common containers are pots, hanging baskets, and planters. Container gardening is usually used in atriums and on balconies, patios, and roof tops.
  • Hügelkultur is concerned with growing plants on piles of rotting wood, as a form of raised bed gardening and composting in situ. An English loanword from German, it means "mound garden." Toby Hemenway, noted permaculture author and teacher, considers wood buried in trenches to also be a form of hugelkultur referred to as a dead wood swale. Hugelkultur is practiced by Sepp Holzer as a method of forest gardening and agroforestry, and by Geoff Lawton as a method of dryland farming and desert greening. When used as a method of disposing of large volumes of waste wood and woody debris, hugelkultur accomplishes carbon sequestration. It is also a form of xeriscaping.
  • Community gardening is a social activity in which an area of land is gardened by a group of people, providing access to fresh produce, herbs, flowers and plants as well as access to satisfying labor, neighborhood improvement, sense of community and connection to the environment. Community gardens are typically owned in trust by local governments or nonprofits.
  • Garden sharing partners landowners with gardeners in need of land. These shared gardens, typically front or back yards, are usually used to produce food that is divided between the two parties.
  • Organic gardening uses natural, sustainable methods, fertilizers and pesticides to grow non-genetically modified crops.
  • Biodynamic gardening or biodynamic agriculture is similar to organic gardening, but it includes various esoteric concepts drawn from the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, such as astrological sowing and planting calendar and particular field and compost preparations.
  • Commercial gardening is a more intensive type of gardening that involves the production of vegetables, nontropical fruits, and flowers from local farmers. Commercial gardening began because farmers would sell locally to stop food from spoiling faster because of the transportation of goods from a far distance. Mediterranean agriculture is also a common practice that commercial gardeners use. Mediterranean agriculture is the practice of cultivating animals such as sheep to help weed and provide manure for vine crops, grains, or citrus. Gardeners can easily train these animals to not eat the actual plant.
Read more, here.

707-678-8200
Dixon Landscape Materials
150 East H Street
Dixon CA 95620

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Types of Lawn Plants

Lawns need not be, and have not always been, made up of grasses alone. Other plants for lawn-like usable garden areas are sedges, low herbs and wildflowers, moss lawns, and ground covers that can be walked upon.

Thousands of varieties of grasses and grasslike plants are used for lawns, each adapted to specific conditions of precipitation and irrigation, seasonal temperatures, and sun/shade tolerances. Plant hybridizers and botanists are constantly creating and finding improved varieties of the basic species and new ones, often more economical and environmentally sustainable by needing less water, fertilizer, pest and disease treatments, and maintenance. The three basic categories are cool season grasses, warm season grasses, and grass alternatives.

Read more, here.

707-678-8200
Dixon Landscape Materials
150 East H Street
Dixon CA 95620

Sunday, February 18, 2024

5 Shrubs to Grow for Extraordinary Winter Color!


Discover my top 5 shrubs that will add an incredible burst of color to your garden during the cold season. Let these vibrant plants lift your spirits and inspire your winter landscape. Say goodbye to the monotony of winter and welcome the beauty of nature.

707-678-8200
Dixon Landscape Materials
150 East H Street
Dixon CA 95620

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Happy Valentines Day!


Happy Valentines Day!

707-678-8200
Dixon Landscape Materials
150 East H Street
Dixon CA 95620



Monday, February 12, 2024

Lawn

A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. Lawns are usually composed only of grass species, subject to weed and pest control, maintained in a green color (e.g., by watering), and are regularly mowed to ensure an acceptable length. Lawns are used around houses, apartments, commercial buildings and offices. Many city parks also have large lawn areas. In recreational contexts, the specialised names turf, pitch, field or green may be used, depending on the sport and the continent.

The term "lawn", referring to a managed grass space, dates to at least than the 16th century. Tied to suburban expansion and the creation of the household aesthetic, the lawn is an important aspect of the interaction between the natural environment and the constructed urban and suburban space. In many suburban areas, there are bylaws in place requiring houses to have lawns and requiring the proper maintenance of these lawns. In some jurisdictions where there are water shortages, local government authorities are encouraging alternatives to lawns to reduce water use.

Read more, here.

707-678-8200
Dixon Landscape Materials
150 East H Street
Dixon CA 95620

Friday, February 9, 2024

What is Flagstone?

Flagstone (flag) is a generic flat stone, sometimes cut in regular rectangular or square shape and usually used for paving slabs or walkways, patios, flooring, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstones, facades and other construction. The name derives from Middle English flagge meaning turf, perhaps from Old Norse flaga meaning slab or chip.

Flagstone is a sedimentary rock that is split into layers along bedding planes. Flagstone is usually a form of a sandstone composed of feldspar and quartz and is arenaceous in grain size (0.16 mm – 2 mm in diameter). The material that binds flagstone is usually composed of silica, calcite, or iron oxide. The rock color usually comes from these cementing materials. Typical flagstone colors are red, blue, and buff, though exotic colors exist.

Flagstone is quarried in places with bedded sedimentary rocks with fissile bedding planes.

Around the thirteenth century, the ceilings, walls and floors in European architecture became more ornate. Anglo-Saxons in particular used flagstones as flooring materials in the interior rooms of castles and other structures. Lindisfarne Castle in England and Muchalls Castle (14th century) in Scotland are among many examples of buildings with surviving flagstone floors.

Flagstone shingles are a traditional roofing material, and are a type of roof shingle commonly used in the Alps, where they are laid dry – often held in place with pegs or hooks. In the Aosta Valley, Italy, buildings in historical areas are required to be covered in stone shingles.

Read more, here.

707-678-8200
Dixon Landscape Materials
150 East H Street
Dixon CA 95620

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Garden of the Week Coachella Valley


Garden of the Week travels to the Coachella Valley. This corner lot was discovered while on a photo shoot for the Coachella Valley Water District project.  It resides in the town of  Palm Desert, not far from Palm Springs. In desert landscape design dramatic color and bold textures reign supreme. The brilliant reds of the bougainvillea and the rich tones of the purple lantana provide accents to the overwhelming blue sky. The Yucca rostrate and the Agave Americana provide the contrasting textures while the Mesquite trees tie it all together.  We loved the weaving walkway on the side of the property and the dramatic trellis.

707-678-8200
Dixon Landscape Materials
150 East H Street
Dixon CA 95620

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Bark

Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines, and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner bark, which in older stems is living tissue, includes the innermost layer of the periderm. The outer bark on older stems includes the dead tissue on the surface of the stems, along with parts of the outermost periderm and all the tissues on the outer side of the periderm. The outer bark on trees which lies external to the living periderm is also called the rhytidome.

Products derived from bark include bark shingle siding and wall coverings, spices and other flavorings, tanbark for tannin, resin, latex, medicines, poisons, various hallucinogenic chemicals and cork. Bark has been used to make cloth, canoes, and ropes and used as a surface for paintings and map making.[2] A number of plants are also grown for their attractive or interesting bark colorations and surface textures or their bark is used as landscape mulch.

Read more, here.

707-678-8200
Dixon Landscape Materials
150 East H Street
Dixon CA 95620