Gardening  in Ottawa  by Chuck & Jean     we are Plant Partners 
  [email protected]

Since you are viewing this on the web I think I can safely say that I am a "soft ware guy".  We install/maintain/upgrade your "landscape soft ware".  In some cases we are called in to re-install a clients shrubberies etc. after the "hard ware" guys (that's heavy machinery, rock piling and paving guys)  have already tried once. Sometimes we are even called in to rethink a designers choices from a gardeners point of view. Which is picking the right plant materials to suite clients artistic, and/or functional concepts , considering site conditions such as drainage, exposure, soil, usage, surroundings, etc.   


My Landscape gardening is organized into three main categories
Please note:  none of them include piling or unpiling stones natural or man made :-).  These activities I reserve for at home ( if I get caught)


  Planting             Maintenance             Upkeep

Planting:   call   Chuck or Jean 613-657-8915

My favorite job in the spring is flower planting.  Jean and I spend hours in various garden centers choosing flowers. We oohhh and ahhh over the new varieties and colors that growers have managed to create for this year.

Most of our regular clients outline what look or objective they want, and leave plant selections to us. Both of us always look for the best plant material available.  We have books, computer software, and a good relationship with local suppliers, that help us understand what will grow where. Some  rock garden plants come from our own gardens.

Bed preparation:    the key to good growing lawns and gardens  Here is some of the things I look at.

  1. border   transitions are so important to the overall appearance of a landscape
  2. existing surface what's there now ?  weeds , concrete, shrubs, last years flowers, sand, clay
  3. subsurface, soil amendments required i.e.. More/ less drainage, sweeten, add organics, etc.
  4. nutrition: I use a slow release granular starter for transplanting, and compost (from the city dump) for long term
  5. top dressing black earth or mulch, eg. colored stone, bark chunks, cedar strip, and my current fav., broken brick

  Tree, shrub and hedge planting:

Using established planting techniques (that's stuff like hole sizes, soil additions, fertilizer, etc.) helps to ensure success.  Observing a few key micro climate conditions such as soil, water, wind, and sun and then making adjustments, helps a little more. Planting trees vertical is eye pleasing don't you wish everybody got it straight.

Shrubs, we do so much with them , from evergreen hedging, to regimented masses in beds, foundation screening, or stand alone features. They originate all over the world. They even act as symbols, I mean what would a MacDonald's be without it weeping pea. (originating from the Russian steppe)

In the Ottawa area eastern white cedar grows very well and is the most popular hedge plant. It surprises most people to know that they are not truly a cedar at all.  It's kinda like the English sparrow which isn't really a member of the sparrow family at all but the weaver family. Arbor Vitae (eastern white cedar) is a tremendously rugged plant surviving in rocky cliff's for hundreds of years and swamps alike. However it really helps to do it right.

If your commercial project is Large and requires "Landscape Architect services", Corush/Sunderland/Wright is a excellent company based in Ottawa.  email Sue at [email protected]


Maintenance:
   Pruning

My favorite job in the fall is Cedar hedge trimming.   Smells great
Its best to prune your flowering shrubs shortly after they flower. I do most of my cedar hedge trimming in the cool weather of spring or fall.

 Elements of a Landscape maintenance program.

Spring Clean-up (April)
 - 
raking lawns (for leaf pickup , winter dumped road gravel, and snow mold)
 -  clean out  - beds - hedging - tree circles
 -  litter pickup
 -  soil cultivation
, weeding
 -
Lawns
 -  weekly grass cutting
 -  trim around curbs, tree's, beds, fences, structures
 -  fertilizing  (long lasting granular)
  -  litter pickup weekly /
 -  weed control/and or liquid fert. (sub contracted)
 -  edging
 -  fruit/pinecone pickup

Beds, Shrubs & Trees
 
-  tree circle maint. - weeding - edging
 -  beds - weeding - edging - deadheading
 -  tree pruning - dead branches - shaping
 -  hedge trimming
 -  Shrub pruning
 -  fertilizing - beds - shrubs/hedging  -trees
 -
Waste disposal
 -  dispose waste off site (extra)
 -  use on site facilities (included)

Fall Clean Up
  
  Part of our turf maintenance natural lawn feeding program is to chop/cut (mulch) the dried fall  leaves and even excess plant materials generated by beds, etc.  This practice has us cutting ( fertilizing / cleaning /mulching) the lawn latter in the season than most.  It also reduces  fall clean-up chores .
-    beds   removve annuals, cultivate, bulbs
-    shrub protection
-    perennial protection <
-    storage equipment, plaant materials, tools.


Upkeep:

     My upkeep program is customized to work with each clients special needs.

-    It usually contains some or all the elements of regular maintenance
-    Yearly (or less frequeent) maintenance and/or restoration including pruning, and  replacements
-    Weeding and cultivatioon
-    annual flower plantingg
-    heavy pruning (below 115')
-    Transplanting , dividiing, rearrangements, reductions
-    soil additions
and ph balancing
-    some path, patio, retaaining wall, repairs

-  create and /or maintain those all important borders

 

                              Chuck Barton a Plant Partner                            

               613-657-8915       [email protected]

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