Landscaping Waukesha Archive

How Good Landscaping Can Add Value to Your Home

Attractive, unique landscaping adds substantial curb appeal to an otherwise ordinary home. We’ve all noticed houses that stand out on the block due to beautifully sculpted hedges, ornate stonework, and well-tended flowerbeds. If you’re toying with the idea of a major landscaping project on your property, consider the fact that curb appeal has major financial implications as well. Simply put, high-quality landscaping work increases the value of your home, ensuring you a return on your investment. In Waukesha and Milwaukee, there’s no better landscaping partner than Central Services.

It can be said that quality landscaping work pays for itself. In today’s housing market, buyers are looking for move-in-ready homes that have been well cared for. They’re interested in homes that won’t require a large amount of additional work or investment after the sale. Most homebuyers are more excited about touring a home that looks inviting on the outside than one that is sad and dreary, unless they are focused on buying a fixer-upper. For these reasons, homes that present a finished look and exhibit careful maintenance by the current owners sell faster and at a higher price than the competition.

How much investment is necessary, and what is the return that can be expected? It’s not easy to quantify, but the success stories are plentiful. A quick search online will show you numbers ranging from a 100 to 1000 percent ROI on landscaping work. Further digging will show a range of 5 to 20 percent increase in the value of your home from landscaping work. One story even showed a homeowner that invested $20,000 in landscaping work and was able to sell their home for $200,000 more than they had paid for it just a year prior. This is certainly an outlier, but it shows that substantial value can be earned by adding landscaping to your property.

All landscaping projects are challenging, and your contractor’s experience and skill will determine if your job is done right, completed on schedule and within budget. Since 1974, Central Services Company has offered excellence in landscaping work in the Waukesha and Milwaukee areas. When you partner with Central Services Company, you benefit from our superior standards, our exceptional employees, and affordable pricing. We also back every service we provide with our 100% satisfaction guarantee. When it comes to landscaping, we are the visual difference in Waukesha and Milwaukee.

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Central Services are your local experts in landscape design, not to mention grounds maintenance, snow removal, and much more! Contact us today at (262) 548-0005 to get started on your project today!

Landscaping in Wisconsin’s Winter Season

Follow these simple winter landscaping tips to add beauty and interest to your yard

In the winter months, plants are at rest, snow and ice are abundant, and skies seem perpetually gray and static. Combined with virtually nothing to plant and a short winter to-do list, these conditions do little to motivate gardeners in snowy regions. But with careful planning and a few decorative touches, it is easy to build interest in your garden. Learn to appreciate your yard in the winter months by following these winter landscaping tips.

1. Assess your landscape – Because winter tends to conceal and not reveal, it is a good time to assess your landscape for missing focal points. Perhaps instead of non-plant elements, your yard could benefit from hardscapes such as a bird bath or a rustic trellis.

2. Embrace bark – Focus on bark that is colorful or that has a unique or unusual texture. Distinctive bark is easy to spot even in a blizzard and adds winter interest. Birch trees and dogwoods, in particular, add major winter curb appeal.

3. And embrace berries – Evergreen hollies, viburnum, and hawthorn add a striking pop of color to any yard during the drab gray winter months. Many other trees and shrubs have berries that attract birds for cold-weather bird watching. Crabapples, too, hold onto their fruit through the winter and add beauty to any snow-covered landscape.

4. Don’t forget evergreens – Conifer trees and evergreen shrubs can add visual interest year-round, but especially in the starkness of winter. Not only do evergreens come in a variety of colors such as a green, yellow and blue, they also tend to be tall. Appreciable height prevents evergreens from being dwarfed by mounds of snow, making them good, hardy focal points.

5. Embrace perennials – Use four-season perennials with evergreen foliage such as hellebores, feather reed grasses, and sedum. Read labels carefully to determine whether or not a plant can be used year-round. Additionally, use the season to stock up on hardscape elements such as sculptures, trellises and ornamental pots or planters. These items can often be bought at a bargain during the winter months.

6. Use summertime containers – Abundantly fill your window boxes or hanging baskets the same as you would in the summer months. Use evergreen boughs or birch tree branches if you want an inexpensive, but eye-catching look. Other striking options can include broadleaf evergreens, miniature dwarf Alberta spruce and red dogwood.

Fox Point Landscape Renovation

Landscape Update for a home in the Fox Point area in Milwaukee County.  Updating planter beds, reconstructing a lannon stone walkway, and installing new steps using natural lannon stone. The project was finished with sodding the entire front yard.

Landscape Renovation

 

Lawn Winter Damage Repair in Milwaukee & Waukesha

Winter Lawn Damage Repairs

As the temperatures start to rise, you may notice your lawn is not looking as well as it did in fall. Most lawns experience winter damage in one way or another, some worse than others.  The good news is most damage is easily rectified.  The first step is for you or a lawn specialist to determine the cause and then come up with the appropriate solution. Over the years we have noticed the top three concerns and causes of winter damage are salt, voles and snow mold.

 

Salt damage: Salt damages your grass because the salt draws the moisture away from the roots and dries out the turf area. Salt damage is typically on the edges of the road, driveway and sidewalks.

salt damage

 

What can be done: A professional can apply a organic Gypsum product to the salt damage areas. It should be applied only when the area has dried out and temps are averaging around 40-50 degrees. Gypsum is a calcium sulfate that replaces the salt with calcium and sulfur to help heal the damaged grass. It will then help retain the moisture in the soil to promote healthy grass. Once applied it should be watered in well.  If the lawn has been severely damaged by salt, shoveling and plowing damage, a top soil and seeding is recommended. If you are looking to prevent the damage from returning every year in areas that are prone to salt damage, a salt tolerant seed can be applied. A salt tolerant seed is a wider blade grass and can withstand the salt.

 

Voles: Voles are small rodents with short tails and legs. They like to feast on lush grass under the snow.  They can leave tunnels of dead grass in their path’s and this is typically what we see when the snow cover melts. When the voles chew on the grass leaves they typically leave the root system in tack.
Voles Smaller file

What can be done: Once the grass and soil dries out from the melting snow, rake away the dead grass and you can let nature take its course. The grass will grow back in, filling in the tunneled areas. If the damage is significant a spot seeding can be done to promote more grass growth. Voles can become a nuisance and a consistent problem, a professional can help with safely applying repellents to remedy the problem.

 

 

Snow Mold: Snow mold is a fungus that appears on the lawn area after the snow has melted. Snow mold appears in circular, matted down patches that can be gray or pink in color. A lawn specialist from Central Services can help identify your snow mold. Gray snow mold can be rectified on its own, however pink snow mold is harder to treat.

Snow mold 1

What can be done:  Gray snow mold will typically clear up on its own once the weather starts to warm up. It is only active up to temperatures that reach approximately 45 degrees. Pink Snow Mold can interfere with the root system of your grass and do permanent damage if not treated. The best solution for pink mold is to have a professional treat the areas with a fungicide. Pink mold is active when temps are between freezing and 60 degrees.

 

 

Spring is also a great time to have a lawn specialist from Central Services to evaluate your lawn condition for weeds and fertilizing needs. The sooner a yard is treated the better the outcome. Spring is a good time to put down a pre-emergent so that you can prevent any new weeds from seeding in. A spring application must be done in early spring before the temperatures start to rise. Here at Central Services we recommend having our horticulturists meet with you at your property and go over your concerns, and they can recommend solutions for you landscape maintenance needs.

 

4 Poplar building 010

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Preparing for spring –Early Spring Clean-Up

 

 

Preparing for Spring –Early Spring Clean-UpSpring 2015-3

 

 

Spring is right around the corner. March is a month where the weather is unpredictable, one day it can be snowing and cold, when the next day it is 50 degrees, the sun is shining and the snow is melting.  These days are great days to get outside, walk around your landscape, do a little early spring yard work, or contact a contractor to do the job for you.

Early spring is a great time to rake out any leaves, dead foliage, and debris from your landscape beds. Cut back those ornamental grasses, and any other perennials left standing thru the winter, this will prepare for the new growth. Ornamental grasses and other perennials should be cut back 4” to 6” from the ground.

Early spring pruning is a good time to prune away any winter killed branches to make new room from new growth. Do not prune any spring flowering shrubs. Their buds start to appear /form in late winter, by now their buds have been set for blooming, and pruning them would eliminate them from flowering.

As the ground starts to thaw and your trees and shrubs start to bud, it is a good time to give them a long soaking of water, especially for newly planted items from the previous year.

As the weather starts to warm up, there are other beneficial landscape maintenance services for your yard. April and May, are great times to start your weed and fertilization programs, core aeration for your lawn, seeding any areas damaged from the winter, fertilizing trees and shrubs, mulching planter beds, edging of beds and sidewalks.

Central Services offers a variety of spring clean-up, spring maintenance, and landscaping services. Contact us today and get your free quote!

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Slit Seeding Your Lawn

Does your lawn need a Slit Seeding?

The major benefit in slit seeding over conventional seeding is that you get direct seed to soil contact. It allows for a clean approach without disrupting your existing turf.  It can help improve the overall appearance of your lawn.  A slit seeder is a machine that slices even rows into the soil /existing turf, and drops grass seed directly into those rows to improve the growth rate. With our slit seeding service we also apply a starter fertilizer of slow release nutrients to promote healthy growth. The key to a successful slit seeding is the quality of seed, fertilizer, and adequate water.

A slit seeding service can be offered in conjunction with other services,  to improve results.  A great program we are offering includes a slit seeding, with applying an organic compost mixture over the seed to aid in the growth process.  The mixture promotes extra nutrients, holds moisture better, and is an all-natural material.

A slit seeding can be included with a lawn Aeration, where lawn aeration is first performed then followed by the slit seeding program to help relieve compacted soil, and better seed germination.

Slit seeding is also recommended after a dethatching service to improve bare areas where the thatch has been removed.

If you think you are interested in a slit seeding service please contact our office and a lawn professional will answer any questions you may have, do a site analysis, and get you the necessary quote.

Organic Over Seeding Program

Slit Seeding Program

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Organic Lawn care options –Top Dressing and over-seeding

Organic lawn care products are equipped to give your lawn the boost it needs to be lush, green, and environmentally safe. Organic options for lawn care, work with nature to feed the soil, as opposed to taking from the soil, to feed the plants directly. An organic program can help improve the soil capacity to hold more nutrients and water and promote a safe environment for you, your family, and your pets. Using organic materials correctly can promote healthy, deep, root growth; healthy grass will then out-compete the weeds, and pests, and be more drought resistant.

At Central Services we offer an organic program to Top Dress for nutrients. This program can provide 100% of your lawn’s fertilization needs. It then can be paired with an over-seeding application. Overseeding allows for a clean approach without disrupting your existing turf. This can improve the thickness and density to thin lawn areas. Compost-seeded lawns can create a lush lawn up to 60% faster than conventional seeding. Central Services will customize a formula that is right for your lawn area.

Contact The Pros At Central Services Co. For More Information On Organic Lawn Care Options

For more information on Topdressing with organic compost and over-seeding contact Central Services and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

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Landscaping Waukesha

For landscaping, Waukesha residents turn to Central Services.

Our team of professionals has created satisfied costumers in Waukesha for 30 + years. From lawn fertilization and weed control to award winning landscape construction and design, Central Services is your full service landscape company.

We work with plants that are low maintenance/low water, irrigation that’s designed for maximum efficiency/minimal waste, materials that come from recycled, renewable or sustainable resources and projects that can be approached in an environmentally conscientious manner to create beautiful sanctuaries.

We understand that you and your landscaping needs are unique. After truly connecting with you, we make it our aim to work long and hard until the job is complete. You can depend on us to fulfill our obligations on time and trust our business practices.

Let our qualified team creatively design and install the landscape for your new or existing property! Call us at (262) 548-0005 or click Landscaping Milwaukee for more information.