Sweeneys Custom Landscaping Articles
Celebrating Earth Day: 5 Easy Ideas
Sloughing off the final olive-drab layers, downy-white flowers unfurled upon the Bradford Pear as the Redbud’s ethereal blooms cast a cheery glow unto the scene. Swelling buds and spring ephemerals dotted the landscape as the grass grew green and lush. Nature was fully engaged. It’s no coincidence that we celebrate…
National Pollinator Week: What Can You Do?
Every flower awaited its turn, like an eager dance partner, as the bees flitted and twirled amongst them. Summer’s arrival finds our gardens and landscapes in full bloom. It’s no coincidence that Summer’s arrival coincides with National Pollinator Week. A wonderful time to revisit the importance of pollinators and how…
5 Easy & Meaningful Ways to Celebrate Earth Day
Sloughing off the final olive-drab layers, downy-white flowers unfurled upon the Bradford Pear as the Redbud’s ethereal blooms cast a cheery glow unto the scene. Swelling buds and spring ephemerals dotted the landscape as the grass grew green and lush. Nature was fully engaged. It’s no coincidence that we celebrate…
The Perennial Question
Autumn, like dusk, gilded the landscape in its ripened rays as the petals and foliage blushed in the frosty air. Beauty was everywhere. As we begin to put our landscapes to bed – tidying, raking, mulching, and pruning, you might consider letting your perennials stand. To many, this seems counterintuitive,…
Bee Friendly: Celebrating National Pollinator Week
Like a thousand tiny lanterns flickering here and there amongst the fading light, the Fireflies made a rousing return to the evening landscape. Their debut seemed celebratory as if welcoming the Summer Solstice, which officially arrives on Saturday. Hot on Summer’s heels, we also welcome and celebrate National Pollinator Week,…
5 Easy Ways to Celebrate Earth Day
Sloughing off the final olive-drab layers, a sapphire carpet of Spring ephemerals unfurled as the Redbud’s ethereal blooms cast a cheery glow unto the scene. Swelling buds and nodding Daffodils dotted the landscape as the grass grew green and lush. Nature was fully engaged. It’s no coincidence that we…
Perennials Provide Winter Interest & Much More
The sun hung over the landscape like a dimly lit bulb. Autumn seems to have become less festive, and more practical and austere as nature prepares for Winter. As we begin to put our landscapes to bed, despite the unseasonable snow – tidying, raking, mulching, and pruning, you might consider…
Celebrating National Pollinator Week
Like a thousand tiny lanterns flickering here and there amongst the fading light, the Fireflies made a rousing return to the evening landscape. Their debut seemed celebratory, and we were a captive audience. As the night sky deepened and darkened, their numbers seemed to multiply, not to be…
A True Giving Tree
Like a silken scarf meandering in the wind, the geese quickly fell into formation, trumpeting their departure across the frigid November sky. Respite and refuge awaited them elsewhere, where life would be immeasurably easier, food more plentiful and temperatures more forgiving. Wildlife depends wholly on nature’s bounty, and exploits each resource for its…
How Birds Survive Winter
A sparkling crust had developed atop the snow with the tensile strength of mashed potatoes. The warming temps and copious amounts of sun had begun the thaw-freeze-thaw-melt cycle, which would be repeated time and time again throughout the season. Not because of climate change but because of weather. Silly, unpredictable, frustrating…
Matrix Gardening: The How & Why
The Forsythia’s arching branches of rich, buttery blooms adorned the early Spring landscape, which, for the most part, still seemed to be outfitted in Winter’s olive drab garb. Here and there, Crocus sprinkled the lawn with delicate clusters of gold and lavender, while the Daffodils and Tulips seemed resolute in their push upwards and onwards. Early Spring rains and…
Finding Beauty in Late Fall
I had nearly forgotten this stage – the lull between a full canopy of vibrant foliage and the cleansing innocence and allure of a snow-covered world. The landscape seems a bit thin and bare, and the sunlight is mostly unfiltered and brash, but I see beauty. Beauty in the form of naked structure, unadulterated form,…