Category: The Art of Landscaping

03 May 2012
May 3, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin garden maintenance, Plant health, Pruning, shrubs and trees, The Art of Landscaping

Pruning the Conifers…..

The following observations are made for the general not the specific regarding pruning conifers. It is far better for the growth and health of conebearing  plants if pruning is accomplished in our Northland community before the first  of June of each year.    Some conifers are fussier than others about pruning. GENERALLY, then, you might   find it easier to remember  the pruning requirements of both groups by calling the candle producers  the 'fussy'     and  those which  do not produce candles, the not fussy....

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26 Mar 2012
March 26, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden seasons, The Art of Landscaping

The Spring following the Winter without a January or February

It is cold today....for this Spring, that is.....windy and 40 degrees F. ......a  normal Spring after a normal Winter, but not for a winter without a January and February, that is this past  season of little precipitation and no traditional Minnesota wind and cold.   Last year we wouldn't have noticed. Checking out our landscape grounds, I noticed last Saturday, March 24, 2012,  that the following are now  in bloom performance:      Merrill Magnolia,  Leonard Messell Magnolia,  Weekend Forsythia,...

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18 Mar 2012
March 18, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden seasons, The Art of Landscaping

Why Today’s Cultural Disdain for the Landscaping Industry?

I have never been to Japan, but have spent almost a year of my life  roaming around the traditional landscape gardens of  England, Scotland and Wales.   I moved from one paradise on to another, again and again.   The United Kingdom government is interested in accruing money for the National welfare, and know full well, the art of the Landscape Garden is the Kingdom's most cherished art form.....financially, in  numbers of visitors to these Edens, and historically the...

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27 Feb 2012
February 27, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden maintenance, shrubs and trees, The Art of Landscaping, winter landscape maintenance, winter landscapes

A Snowstorm, the Heavy kind, Expected. Should Landscape Gardeners be Worried?

Snowfalls are great for Landscape Companies in cold climes like Minnesota who have a snowplowing business in Winter.    We,  at Masterpiece are one of them. Winter is a good time for certain kinds  of pruning, but most  gardens in these parts are in deep sleep this time of year.    Thank God for plowing driveways. I have just spent a couple hours prowling through my own gardened grounds to do some pruning and  prepare some conifers for a...

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26 Feb 2012
February 26, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin battling the Minnesota climate, garden seasons, The Art of Landscaping, winter landscape maintenance, winter landscapes

When is a Weed a Weed?

When is a weed a weed.   When it is a dandelion? Well, maybe....usually yes, because dandelions makes a lovely lawn appear ugly, expecially when the seeds are produced.   Because the seeds are produced in such numbers, dandelions become a more noticeable weed. In our Masterpiece Landscaping dictionary,  a weed is defined as "a plant out of place". Our Masterpiece Landscape garden where I live doesn't have much  lawn.    If there are dandelions,  they occur occasionally...

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21 Feb 2012
February 21, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin The Art of Landscaping

IS THERE A LANDSCAPE GARDEN IN YOUR FUTURE?

My Mother was into punishment, that is,  for me,  being her only son.    She was a driven energetic and creative human being who could give a doll to her only daughter to ensure the girl’s  disappearance from my Mother’s tasks at hand…..which were many, including some not terribly necessary from an outsider’s point of view.  I don’t think she ever experienced a bored thirty seconds in her lifetime even on her death bed.  I have learned through these,  my...

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18 Feb 2012
February 18, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin About Masterpiece, The Art of Landscaping

The Landscape Garden

What is a Landscape Garden? "The garden has long been perceived as the highest, most perfect form of all art creations, the one closest to God and bearing the imagery of paradise itself. Indeed, the timeless quote, "One is closest to God in the garden," has been the splendid pleasure driving countless generations to transform the land into garden. No matter how pleasurable, how physically and spiritually rewarding working the vegetable garden and nurturing the...

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31 Jan 2012
January 31, 2012 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin The Art of Landscaping

The Delivery of a Fawn

   I just now came across this beautiful video of one of God’s beauties  of life, the Delivery of a Fawn.     It reminded me of one of the most inspiring sights of my life some fifteen or twenty years ago which occurred in my own home landscape garden one Spring. As you know, I am by profession, a landscape gardener.    I  have planted and nursed a beautiful setting  on my homegrounds since I and  my family  moved...

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30 Dec 2011
December 30, 2011 0 Comments By masterpiecelandscapingadmin garden seasons, The Art of Landscaping, winter landscapes

Not All Minnesota Winters are Equal

Winter Twin Cities, Minnesota, 2011 has not yet arrived.   The joy is mixed with sorrow at Masterpiece Landscaping, at least from this writer's perspective. The Joy:   For most of this past month, December, there has been little precipitation, meaning no snow.   For this past month I have been able to stroll along my garden paths and pretend I am working.  I always enjoy its beauty.   Yes, the ground is frozen which eliminates planting or transplanting/   That suits...

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