What Exactly is Hardscaping?

Chances are, you’ve come head to head with the term “hardscaping” at some point or another. Unless you’re familiar with the world of landscaping and masonry, you may be left standing there scratching your head. What, exactly, is hardscaping? As a premier masonry contractor in Massachusetts, our team at Green Leaves Landscaping is here to answer your questions!

Hardscaping Defined

According to the Meriam-Webster dictionary, hardscape is a noun that described structures that are incorporated into a landscape.

These structures can range from stonewalls to walkways, seamlessly integrated water fountains that blend with the natural landscaping, or even handcrafted fireplaces that create a tranquil atmosphere for friends and family to gather together.

Hardscape vs. Softscape

As a masonry contractor, one question we often hear concerns the difference between hardscape and softscape. These two elements are the primary foundation for any landscape. Think of them as polar opposites. Hardscapes, as we briefly discussed, are tangible items in and around your yard. Often created from natural stones, bricks, and pavers, the term hardscape covers a wide range of elements.

However, softscapes are things that are growing. Whether trees, shrubs and bushes, flowers or gardens – these elements create your softscape.

Hardscape Materials

A masonry contractor is your best resource when it comes to choosing the best material for your hardscaping design. Why? Well, because there are so many materials to choose from, with each offering different benefits to your overall project. For instance, there are brick walkways and there are bluestone walkways, two very different materials. While each material offers beauty and durability, they function better in different environments.

Brick is perfect for a walkway that leads guests to and from the driveway to the front door, or from the front yard to the back. However, bluestone requires a bit more maintenance and can be prone to staining, so it may not be the ideal solution for high-traffic areas.

Masonry Contractor Projects

Including almost any type of decorative or practical structure in your landscape, hardscapes cover a wide range of exterior projects. Here are just a few:

  • Retaining stone walls
  • Brick walkways
  • Bluestone patios
  • Paver walkways
  • Outdoor fireplace
  • Outdoor natural stone kitchens

If your yard is asking for a facelift this upcoming spring and summer season, contact the most trusted masonry contractor in Massachusetts, Green Leaves Landscape. Our dedicated and experienced team will take the time to understand your visions to create a unique hardscaping design that will leave your neighbors in awe.

Contact us today to see what we can do for your landscaping (508) 393-0005!

How Your Masonry Contractor Is Keeping the Outdoor Season Going

While many people are pumped thinking about the upcoming winter seasons, others are missing the warm days of summer. Whichever side of the fence you stand, your trusted masonry contractor can keep your outdoor season going – just the way you like it.

By customizing an outdoor fireplace fit for your needs and requirements, you will have the perfect gathering spot for family, friends, and those nights that you feel like staying in and cozying up with that someone special! Here’s a closer look at a few of our favorite designs here at Green Leaves Landscape.

Everyone needs a firepit in their life.

As a top masonry contractor in Massachusetts, our team at Green Leaves Landscape can say one thing is for sure – outdoor fireplaces are worth the investment! With fully customizable designs and layouts, this element is perfect for any space and any budget. Stone fireplaces, in particular, provide a durable, inviting, and unique outdoor atmosphere perfect for year-round use. From summer gatherings to the winter months, the ambiance is truly unmatched.

Let’s talk about stone for a moment.

As mentioned, natural stone provides endless options. The hardest part is choosing which stone is best for your needs. To begin, we always recommend our customers consider their budget and the overall aesthetic they’re hoping to obtain. Once these two factors are settled, the stone selection process becomes much easier.

Some of the most common choices include pavers and granite. However, if layering your fire pit, you can utilize a fire-resistant material on the inner lining to allow use of a less resistant material on the outer layer. For example, fire brick is ideal for the inner circumference of a pit, while traditional brick is best suited for the outer layer.

Now, it’s time to find the best masonry contractor in the region.

Whether you research and plan your new outdoor space on your own or with professional help, the time will come that calling in a masonry expert is a necessity. Be sure to check out our previous article highlighting four questions to ask before signing the contract!

Or, you can keep things simple and give the professionals at Green Leaves Landscape a call! Our team is happy to consult and recommend the best design for your desired goals. Give us a call today at (508) 393-0005 and start your winter season off on the right foot! Or left, whichever you prefer!

Retaining Walls: Which Material Is Best For Your Project?

Natural stone landscaping in home garden

As the number one masonry company in Massachusetts, our experts at Green Leaves Landscape are often called in about retaining walls. As one of the best elements to turn unusable land into a usable landscape, retaining walls come with options. Before jumping into your project, knowing these options and understanding the benefits is crucial. Here, we are taking a look at a few of the top requested materials and why they are appealing.

Fieldstone

From garden features to walkways, fieldstone is also an extremely popular choice for retaining walls. The varying size and textures make for one of the most unique, one of a kind results. Besides the originality, fieldstone walls can last an upwards of 100 years with proper installation, care and maintenance.

Cobblestone

As a timeless classic, cobblestone is often associated with roads and walkways. However, cobblestone is also an excellent choice for stone walls. This natural material provides a historic feeling and some of the most versatile color variations available.

Pavers

From classic to modern, let’s talk pavers. Like many options, pavers come in a variety of styles, making them one of the most versatile options for nearly any masonry company to work with. Made from a combination of concrete, this material is moldable to almost any pattern and size. Furthermore, pavers provide excellent drainage, slip-resistance and offer a relatively easy install to keep your costs lower.

When it comes to building a new retaining wall, finding an experienced masonry company is a must. At Green Leaves Landscape, our professionals provide decades of expertise to ensure your project delivers the ultimate, most durable, and visually appealing result. Whether paver or fieldstone, we can help.

Contact Green Leaves Landscape today to schedule your consultation. Our team is happy to discuss the many options that may work best for your needs and requirements. Call us today at (508) 393-0005 to learn more.

It’s Time For Fall Lawn Maintenance

bright fun autumn. girl and dog Corgi lie on a plaid on the lawn and read books

Now that it’s September, it’s time to start thinking about your fall lawn maintenance plan! The key to a green, healthy lawn doesn’t end after the summer season. To survive the harsh New England winters, your lawn needs a little bit of TLC!

Green Leaves Landscaping can help you with all of the lawn landscaping projects you need to take care of before the first snow, like leaf cleanup and fertilization. Here are the top care tips to guarantee your lawn will flourish next spring.

Fall Cleanup

As life get’s busy, cleaning up leaves and branches from the fall season can get put on the back burner. While it’s not quite the leaf-peeping season yet, there’s nothing wrong with planning ahead. Green Leaves Landscaping is here to help you make sure your lawn is ready for whatever the winter season plans to throw at it, which includes cleaning up piles of leaves for you. Leaving debris on your lawn throughout the winter can damage your lawn once the ice and snow begin to melt. It can lead to dead spots and poor grass growth.

Fertilization & Aeration

Most people have heard about fertilization, obviously. It’s an important part of keeping your lawn green, thick, and free of disease. But have you ever considered aerating your lawn? Aeration is the process of perforating your lawn with many small holes. This way, water, air, and the necessary nutrients can seep into the soil and penetrate the grass roots directly. Consequently, the roots can grow deeper, strengthening the lawn.

If your lawn is frequently used, it’s likely ready for aeration this fall season. Heavy use can compact the soil, especially after months of play and outdoor activities! So, the beginning of the fall season is perfect for aeration when the weather is cooler. To top it off, fertilizing afterward will promote healthy grass growth in the spring.

Fall Lawn Maintenance

If you haven’t figured it out yet, fall lawn maintenance is imperative to the upkeep of your hard-earned lawn. By making sure your backyard is ready to go in the fall, you’re already a step ahead of the game for the spring season!

We can take out the hard work for you. To set up your lawn maintenance appointment, visit our website or give Green Leaves Landscaping a call at (508) 393-0005.

The 3 Best Late Summer Lawn Maintenance Tips

During the late summer season, lawn maintenance is more critical than ever. Proper care and practice will help maintain or revive your lawn. Now that it’s August, the shorter days and cooler nights mean that it’s the perfect time to reinvigorate the lush grass your home deserves. Green Leaves Landscape can help maintain your lawn, so it’s ready to make last through the cool, fall weather! Thus, let’s hop into common late summer lawn maintenance tips from the experts!

Lawn Aeration

Core aeration is one of the easiest ways to revitalize your lawn. After a summer of fun and lots of foot traffic, the soil can become compacted. When this happens, water and essential nutrients the grass needs to grow don’t reach the earth. Thus, it results in low-quality grass. But, aeration can fix this issue! During the core process, small plugs of soil are removed. Therefore, moisture and minerals can start to move throughout the ground easier!

Hand planting grass seed for overseeding green lawn care

Overseeding

Are you finding patches of thin or stressed grass? It might be time for late-season overseeding. Late summer and early fall are ideal for establishing the base for overseeding a thin and damaged lawn. But what does overseeding accomplish? The extra seed will help increase the density of the grass and help the lawn fight back against erosion, damage, and disease. Plus, when overseeding is done in conjunction with aeration, it will have incredible results!

Fertilizing plants, lawns, trees and flowers. Gardener in gloves holds white fertilizer balls on background of green grass

Fertilization

One of the key late summer lawn maintenance chores is the last round of fertilization. Spreading a good fertilizer over the grassy terrain before the cold sets in prepares it for spring! Some of the most common benefits from late-season fertilizer are allowing nutrients to be store over the winter, encouraging a healthy root system, and providing hardiness against the cold weather.

Green Leaves Landscape Lawn Maintenance

Just because it’s technically not fall yet, doesn’t mean you can’t start preparing for the change of seasons! Doesn’t it feel like everyone dreams of having a beautiful, green lawn? But lawns cannot grow like that with just water and mowing! With aeration, de-thatching, overseeding, and fertilizing with proper nutrients during the last of the growing season will guarantee your lawn will hold that green from spring to fall, surviving the worst that winter can throw at it.

For more information or to make an appointment for Green Leaves Landscape to help you take care of your lawn, call us at (508) 393-0005.

Top Five Perennials For Landscapers in Hudson

Young female planting flower in garden,aerial view

Are you serious about upgrading your curb appeal but don’t want to deal with the upkeep and maintenance because life is too busy sometimes? We understand. The crew at Green Leaves Landscape are the number one landscapers in Hudson, NH. So, if you’re in search of fuss-free flowers and plant bed upgrades, you know who to call. Let’s hop into the top flowers and shrubs for low-maintenance alternatives in your home garden.

Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)

The Foamflower is native to Eastern forests and woodlands. Plus, it’s one of the best shade perennials that also happens to be deer resistant. That means Foamflower won’t be the deer’s first choice, and your garden will stay growing beautifully! These flowers are perfect for shady areas near trees or around the home.

Monarch butterfly

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

This rare species of flower is native to open and sandy areas across the East. Butterfly Milkweed is a gorgeous perennial plant that is perfect for well-draining soil areas. Furthermore, the spring orange blooms offer butterflies and other pollinators a delicious sweet meal.

Carpet Bugle (Ajuga)

Also known as Bugleweed or Carpet Bugle, the Ajuga plant is a ground-covering perennial perfect for low-traffic ground cover. Due to its small structure, it’s easy to grow. In addition, it prevents the growth of weeds because the plants grow in dense colonies. Plus, it can handle various levels of the sun, making it ideal for all areas around the home.

Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)

Black-eyed Susans are one of the most popular wildflowers grown in North America. These tough perennial plants are known for their bright yellow petals are dark brown centers. Furthermore, they attract butterflies, bees, and other nectar-loving creatures. But, they can squash out other plants, so it’s best to keep them in a dedicated section.

Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis)

Despite its strange yet beautiful flowering bloom, the Bleeding Heart plant is surprisingly tough. This flower loves shady or full-shade areas and blooms only once a year. But, the flowers last for a few weeks before waiting until the following season.

Landscapers in Hudson – Green Leaves Landscape

From a beautifully manicured lawn to a new planting bed, the landscapers in Hudson at Green Leaves Landscapes are capable of it all. We can take out the hard work for you while keeping your planting beds neat and vibrant all season long. For more information give us a call at (508) 393-0005.

The Top Four Summer Hardscaping Trends

Natural stone landscaping in home garden with stairs

Warm summer weather is here! Are you ready to take advantage of your outdoor space and spruce it up? There’s no time like the present to have the backyard oasis of your dreams finally. As a matter of fact, hardscaping your yard can elevate the space with new and unique elements that totally change the feel of your home. At Green Leaves Landscape, we can help you conceptualize the design and aesthetics of your hardscaping ideas. Here are a few ideas to help you imagine the backyard of your dreams!

Stairs & Walkways

There are so many different ways to incorporate stairs and walkways into your landscape and hardscape design. Furthermore, you can improve the look and feel of an area by choosing a complementary stone and rock design. There are many options to create a natural stone or a paved look around your home.

Stone Walls

If you’re looking for a retaining or freestanding wall around your home, Green Leaves has your back. Walls are a simple way to elevate your home’s appearance through hardscaping. Equally important, you can use walls to add more finishing touches, such as ambient lighting for safety and style.

Fire Pits

Custom fire pits? Count us in! Stunning features such as BBQ Islands, Outdoor Kitchens, Fire Pits, or an Outdoor Fireplace are a superb way to create a functional outdoor space that also looks great. There are nearly endless options for custom fire pits. For example, you can create deep hearths or elevated rings to enjoy those gorgeous summer evenings.

Patio

Patios might be the most popular choice in hardscape design. But, just because they’re a typical home addition doesn’t mean a patio has to be boring or basic. In other words, you can customize and make a patio unique and your own through shape, size, layout, and material choice.

Hardscaping from Green Leaves

Here at Green Leaves Landscaping, we understand how important and unique your Massachusetts backyard is. Our teams are highly skilled and pride themselves on transforming your backyard into your vision through hardscaping and landscaping design. For more information or if you would like a consultation on how hardscaping can transform your home, give us a call at (508) 393-0005.

6 Tips For Spring Lawn Maintenance

The time has come to pull out the rakes and fertilizer! Sometimes dreaded but extremely important, spring lawn maintenance sets your lawn up for a successful season. However, all too often homeowners don’t know how to go about handling the necessary tasks or even when to begin them. Here, the experts from Green Leaves Landscape provide six tips for success this spring!

Dethatching

Often referred to as raking, dethatching is one of the first steps in spring lawn maintenance. This step loosens packed, matted down grass as well as removes any dead blades. Without this step, new grass is prevented from sprouting and fungus growth is encouraged.

Prune and hedge

Cleaning up your yard means more than raking. Spring lawn care also involves trimming back damaged or dead branches, removing plants that didn’t survive the winter, and cleaning up any other debris around the lawn.

Aeration

Like the grass, your soil also compacts during the winter. Aeration helps to reverse the damage by allowing air, moisture, and nutrients to penetrate the ground’s surface.

Fertilize

Speaking of nutrients – spring fertilizer is a must! However, you want to be careful not to fertilize too early in the season as it could harm vulnerable grass. Instead, wait until late spring to apply the first application.

Weed control

Another high-priority during the spring is weeding. By attacking them early in the season, you can help prevent an influx of weeds once the hot summer arrives. Talk to your local professionals about options that work best for your home.

Reseed

Unfortunately, bare spots happen. If you happen to have a few, skip over the weed control and fertilizers for now. Instead, you want to put down some grass seed. Be sure to provide the TLC new grass needs so you won’t be reseeding again in the fall!

When it comes to lawn maintenance, spring is one of the most important times of the year. Without the proper steps, you may be setting your lawn up for failure. If you don’t have the time, or the tasks seem too daunting, it’s time to give Green Leaves Landscape a call.

To schedule your consultation or to receive a free quote, please contact our team by calling (508) 393-0005.

Stone Wall Landscaping: We’re Thinking Spring

Here in New England, winter has arrived. Long cold nights and short days have our team at Green Leaves Landscaping dreaming about spring. Heading back outdoors for spring cleanup opens the doors for a beautiful and enjoyable summer landscape. However, landscape isn’t just about the yard and the trees. Stone wall landscaping is an element in high demand that adds tons of visual interest to any yard.

Here, we’re taking a look at a few different stone wall landscapes that are sure to add curb appeal.

Backyard stone wall landscaping

Not all plants thrive in a stone wall, so understanding different varieties is important. For instance, if you’re going for a backyard, blended look and feel, you may want to consider a creeping vine. Some like wooly creeping thyme, phlox, trumpet vines, or clematis may be the solution you’re looking for. Each of these plants offers a unique look and feel, some with flowers, others without.

No matter what you chose, a creeping vine will quickly create a waterfall effect. It’s imperative to research your plant beforehand as some species grow quickly and may provide more coverage than you bargained for.

Walkways

Another common area for stone walls is walkways. Guiding your guests to and from your driveway to the front door, or perhaps the backyard, these walls can add elegance while serving a purpose. Here, you’ll want to consider trimmable shrubs or flowers that are compact. The last thing you or your guests want is to feel like you’re tangled in a jungle when trying to arrive at the front door.

Front yard landscaping

Similar to walkways, stone walls along your front landscape can be used for various reasons. From providing visual interest to creating a flat surface on an otherwise sloped landscape, these walls are often front and center. Because of that, you want to be sure that your landscape is on par.

While there is no right and wrong, you want to consider the same concerns addressed in walkway walls. However, every home and every landscape is different. So, what works for one may not necessarily work for another.

For more expert advice on stone wall landscape, contact Green Leaves Landscape. As experts in the industry, our team will take the time to meet with you and discuss all options. Whatever path you choose, we’ll help create a landscape that functions while creating curb appeal.

To schedule your consultation, contact us today at (508) 393-0005.