A lot of people think that hardscapes, the solid surfaces of the landscape, don’t need any maintenance. After all, concrete and paver stones are hard as rock, right? To look their best, they do need some tender loving care.
Clear Debris
Sweep or blow your hardscape regularly. Leaves and other debris can keep your hardscape damp and cause stains to occur. Over time, the constant moisture begins to break down concrete and the finish of the pavers. At that point, the sand between the pavers can also wash out, destabilizing the stones. One tip is to clean your hardscape on the same day of the month every time, you won’t forget to do it.
Power Wash Your Patio & Driveway
Once a year, you should use a power washer to wash the hard surfaces of your property. Power washers force water out in a strong stream, so it washes off the dirt that has been ground in over the last season. Be careful not to direct the power washer on the joints between paver stones. You want to keep the water moving over the stones, not wash out the joints. Many tool rental stores carry power washers if you do not have one.
Chemically Clean and Seal
Every two or three years, your concrete and pavers need to be cleaned with special chemical cleaners to remove the particles that can be removed by the power washer. This step also prepares the pavers to accept the new sealer. You can do this on your own with a pump sprayer and scrub brushes, but the chemicals are harsh, and it is better to let a trained professional do this correctly and be safe. Once the patio is completely cleaned, you may need to touch up some of the sand joints. However, you will have to wait for it to completely dry again before applying any polymeric sand to avoid it sticking to the surface of your pavers. We like to use a wet-look sealer on most applications to bring out the colors of the pavers and give them a wet look.
Let Us Do The Work
As mentioned above, chemically cleaning and sealing pavers and concrete is best left to the professionals. At Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping, we have the right equipment and training. If you subscribe to our hardscape maintenance program, we will come power wash your hardscape once a year. Every two years, we will chemically clean and seal your hardscape. To take advantage of this affordable program, call our office at (816) 825-2524 or schedule a consult soon.
After all the great rain we have gotten this spring, everything is growing in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, that includes the weeds. If your pre-emergent control is failing, here are the ways Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping deals with weeds.
Thriving Turf
The best defense against weeds is to maintain a thriving lawn. Most turfgrasses will crowd out weeds when they are healthy.
Pick an appropriate turf grass and plant the recommended variety. The Kansas City area is in the transition area from warm season turfgrass like Bermuda and Buffalograss to cool season turfgrasses like Kentucky bluegrasses, perennial ryegrasses, tall fescues, and fine-leaf fescues. Most lawns will be cool season turf and we typically use tall fescue for residential lawns unless there is deep shade where we may use bluegrass as an alternative.
Maintain the soil pH between 6-7
Mow, water, and fertilize properly
Control insect and disease damage
Control thatch
Aerate compacted soils
Mechanical Control
Set your lawn mower at the correct height for the species of grass you have. Frequent weekly mowing will control many types of weeds because they never get tall enough to seed. We recommend 3 ½” to 4” height on fescue lawns. If you have a few weeds in your grass, you can pull them by hand. It is harder to eradicate weeds with deep root systems by weeding by hand.
Herbicides
Sometimes the weeds are so bad you must use an herbicide to kill them. Care should be taken when choosing a herbicide to make sure it will not only kill the weeds involved but won’t damage the turf grass you want. For this, we use a selective herbicide. If the lawn is badly infested with weeds, a broad herbicide that kills everything may be your only choice. After the weeds are dead, you can de-thatch and reseed the lawn to start over. Sometimes, this is necessary in areas where insects or disease has killed an area of your lawn and the weeds have taken over.
Landscape Beds
This time of year we are re-visiting our garden care clients at least once a month to help manage the weeds in their mulch and rock beds. We will spray in areas where the weeds are heavy and there are not a lot of ornamental plants. If it is planted more densely and the weeds are here and there we will pull them by and as often as possible.
Help Is On The Way
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping is developing a comprehensive lawn care program to care for your turfgrass, eliminate weeds, treat disease and insect pests, and establish a thick, lush lawn. Call our office at (816) 825-2524 to get on the lawn care subscription list, and we will contact you with the details soon.
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping is expanding our business and wants to help Homeowner Associations (HOA) keep their neighborhood looking as nice as we keep your home’s landscape looking all year round.
How Quality Landscaping Helps Neighborhoods
Communities with quality landscapes often have a higher value, not only in the prices of the homes but also in the quality of life for the families who live there. These communities will have common areas like playgrounds, sports courts, swimming pools, lakes, and club houses where neighbors gather and spend time outdoors together building relationships and creating memories.
We want to help these communities to maintain and enhance their beauty and their value by providing excellent service and communication along with professional expertise and experience.
FUN FACT: Neighborhoods with lots of vegetation stay an average of 3 to 5 degrees cooler than neighborhoods that don’t have much vegetation. Trees shade the area and make it more pleasant to walk outside in the heat. All vegetation helps cool the air and ground by drawing water up from the roots and allowing it to escape from the leaves. The water cools the surrounding air as well as the plant.
We would prefer to help HOA communities with established mature trees and landscapes to help manage their resources and the land around the neighborhood.
Homeowner Association Responsibilities
HOAs are responsible for the upkeep of the common spaces that have landscaped areas around the neighborhood signage, swimming pools, or a club house. The HOA along with sometimes a Property Management Company will solicit proposals to help with the maintenance and care of these areas. Some neighborhoods even have maintenance agreements for the individual home’s lawn, landscape, and sprinklers as well.
Decades of Working with Homeowners
Over the last decade, we have worked with hundreds of homeowners to build great personal landscapes on their property. We want to expand to help keep the common areas around your neighborhood looking beautiful as well. A well-kept neighborhood with stunning landscaping and well-kept lawn is generally safer and more pleasant to live in than one with tall grass, dying plants or overall lack of appeal around entrances and amenities. We know what makes a great landscape from decades of designing and maintaining them. Our meticulous attention to detail from our design background is what gives us an edge when it comes to high level maintenance. This is the difference between good and great landscapes. We want to take this skill and put it to use to help some selective neighborhoods enhance and maintain their beauty.
Here is a heat map of our current clients.
We would like to find HOA communities within this same area to help.
Here is a drive time map from our new headquarters.
We would like to work with HOA communities within 15 to 20 minutes of our home base.
How You Can Help
Who do you know that serves on a HOA board in and around our facility and target area a few blocks east or west along the State Line Road corridor between 63rd Street and 159th Street?
Some of the neighborhoods we would really love to help include Mission Hills, Hallbrook Farms, Mission Farms, Loch Lloyd, The Woods, The Pavillions, Lions Gate, and Lakewood just to name a few. If you know of any others like these, we would love to learn more. Please consider giving us an introduction to your HOA board member or Property Management Professional who could help connect us.
We would love to find 1 to 3 neighborhoods to highly focus on and give special attention to so that those families have a community that they can be proud of and get outside and enjoy their surroundings.
Remember to Adjust Your Irrigation for Summer
As we move into summer, remember to adjust your watering schedule. Plants need more water to keep cool and hydrated when it is hot. Sign-up for our Lawn Sprinkler Subscription and we can take care of that for you. Call the office at (816) 825-2524 and talk to Tammy, Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping’s office manager, to sign up or give us a tip about an HOA that needs someone to maintain their landscaping.
Pools provide a focal point for summer fun. They bring the whole family together across generations, from grandparents to grandkids. Pools can also increase the value of your house with the right buyer.
Types Of Pools
The three most common pools are liner pools, gunite/shotcrete pools, and fiberglass pools.
Liner Pools
Liner pools are usually the least expensive in-ground pools. The liner is manufactured to your specifications, so can be tailored to your wishes. The vinyl liner is smooth, so it won’t stub the toe of your child. In addition, the smoothness makes it harder for algae to grow on the sides.
Vinyl liners only last about seven to ten years before they need to be replaced. While not as costly as the initial installation, replacing the liner is not cheap. If you have pets and children playing in and around the pool, you may want to choose another option. It is relatively easy to pierce the liner, which means the water leaks out. The liner warranty is typically prorated over twenty years, so accidents can be costly. Finally, vinyl pools may lower the house’s resale value relative to the other choices. Buyers often ask that the liner be replaced by the seller before closing.
Current Pool Project by the Blue Crew
Gunite/Shotcrete Pools
These pools last a long time and are totally customizable. You can build in sun tanning ledges, benches, seats, and other custom features. You can also make the pool any color you want, from bright blue to white or even black, for more of a lagoon look. The potential features are limited only by your imagination and your pocketbook.
Gunite/Shotcrete pools are more expensive than other options. They also take longer to build, usually three to six months. These pools may need to be resurfaced every ten to fifteen years, which is also expensive. The sides can be harder to keep clean and may require more pool chemicals to keep the algae down.
Fiberglass Pools
Fiberglass pools are cast off site and then brought in and installed. They are very durable and last a long time as long as you maintain the pool water chemistry according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Most fiberglass pools come with features such as tanning ledges, benches, and seats. The fiberglass has a gel coating over it that is not abrasive and also retards algae. Fiberglass pools are relatively quick to install, so you can get in the water sooner.
Fiberglass pools do have some downsides. They are cast in large molds, so you won’t be able to customize the design. For the same reason, they can’t be wider than sixteen feet because of shipping regulations. Fiberglass pools are more expensive up front compared to liner pools and about the same as concrete pools.
Current Pool Project by the Blue Crew
Shipping Containers
A relatively new type of pool is one made from shipping containers. We have put these in for customers who have been very happy with them. Modpools are customizable with the same features as other pools. However, Modpools can be installed in sloped areas that a traditional pool won’t fit in. We can build a deck and landscape around it and set it in the ground for you and manage the entire project.
Fun Pool Additions
One of the advantages of having your pool designed by an architectural landscape firm is that the pool will be integrated into the landscape in a comprehensive way. A pool isn’t just a hole in the ground, it is a part of the landscape. Here are some fun additions we have designed and built for our customers.
Sun Ledges
If you want to sit by the pool and get some sun, we can integrate a sun ledge into your pool. You can sun in a shallow 6” – 12” of water for a while, then take a deep in the deep end to cool off. Repeat as desired😊
Fountains, Waterfalls, and Fire/Water Bowl Features
Pools can have other water features built in them such as fountains and waterfalls. Water or fire bowl features are striking at night for those evening parties. We even built one pool with a grotto waterfall you could swim under.
Schedule A Consultation
As the temperatures continue to creep upward, a pool sounds better and better. Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can design a pool that is integrated into your landscape and customized just the way you want it. Schedule a consultation now to get that pool started.
We have had a lot of rain this year and are not having drought problems yet. Last year was a different story, and some plants are still suffering drought stress. As summers get hotter and drier, drought-hardy perennials will make your landscape use less water. You can have a drought resistant garden that is beautiful. You don’t have to choose one over the other.
Why Native Matters
Using native perennials that are adapted to the rainfall in our area does more than reduce your water bill. Native plants feed and shelter an amazing number of insects, birds, and animals. Everyone knows pollinators are in trouble. Planting native trees, shrubs, and perennials gives them a place to live, reproduce, and feed. As a quick example, an oak tree houses 532 species of caterpillars, 147 species of birds, 120 species of mammals, and 60 species of reptiles and amphibians. In contrast, something imported like Bradford pear trees might feed a few birds, who like the fruit, but not much else.
Native Perennials
We have some suggestions for native drought-resistant perennials that will not need to be watered much once established.
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
This attractive coneflower is native to both Kansas and Missouri. It grows to be from two to four feet tall with vivid purple flowers on tall stems. In the wild, it grows in well-drained limestone, sand, clay, loam, so it grows in a variety of soils. As a bonus, this plant attracts butterflies and hummingbirds and is valuable to native bees.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
This cheerful flower can be an annual, biennial, or a short-lived perennial, depending on the growing conditions. It grows to be three feet tall. Black-eyed Susans grow easily and can sometimes spread aggressively if the conditions are too perfect for it. Insects use the nectar and birds eat the seeds.
Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Milkweed or Butterfly Weed grows up to two feet tall. It attracts butterflies and hosts monarch butterfly caterpillars. The pollen and nectar attract other insects, as well. The plant is often home to aphids, but it will attract predator insects like the ladybeetle. Both the larvae and the adults love aphids. This plant is a must for anyone who wants a true butterfly garden, as it is the best place for caterpillars to grow and thrive.
Bonus: If you crush the seed heads of these perennials in the fall and leave them around the base of the plants, you may get more of them to fill in for a very full-looking plant next season.
While we don’t plant exclusively natives, as it would limit the combinations and creativity of our landscapes, we do like to incorporate them as much as possible along with other hardy plants for our area.
Need More Help?
Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping can come to your landscape and recommend the appropriate native plants for your location. You can remove non-native plants or start filling in natives as other plants die. Simply schedule a consultation and a garden care specialist will come suggest some native plants for your landscape.
