New Vibrant Garden Plants & Products for Spring 2015

Warm weather and blooming foliage are on the horizon. In anticipation, Garden Media Group has released its much awaited 2015 Garden Superstars for Spring. Making an appearance on this year’s list are breathtaking patio plantings, chemical-free lawn care products and a new spin on a traditional garden flower.

Much of the winter is spent wishing for warmth and color. Now, it’s time to grow! These low maintenance and durable plants and products leave a lasting impression with their easy outdoor style and vibrant appeal.

Garden Superstars will inspire and influence gardening and “green-living” amongst new demographics such as Hispanics and Millennials, as well as seasoned gardeners.

Win A $100 Gift Card for Fall Planted Bulbs!

As cool fall weather hits most regions of the country, the time is now to be thinking fall planted bulbs. Longfield Gardens is giving you a chance to win a $100 gift card towards their quality bulbs and perennials.

To enter the contest, like Longfield Gardens on Facebook, then click to enter to win.

Plant bulbs Mid-September to late October, when temperatures are pleasant and the ground is easy to
dig.  Bulbs store their own food so there’s no need to worry about them surviving the winter. Come spring, dozens of buds emerge and blossom.

With a staggering array of bulbs to choose from, you can enjoy fall bulb planting and anticipate the spring arrival of some of these beauties:

Hyacinth Shades of Blue
No need to choose your favorite blue hyacinth when this mix lets you enjoy them all. The full range of blues perfectly complements every variety of daffodil and mid-season tulip. They will fill your garden with weeks of intense color and heady fragrance.

Tulip Queen of Night
Close out the tulip season with a dramatic planting that features this dark
and sultry beauty. On the outside, the petals are maroon with a dusky blue sheen. Inside, they're lustrous wine red. A favorite since the 1940s.

Narcissus Palmares
Star shaped outer petals sets off these ruffled, creamy yellow to orange cups. This mid to late season bloomer is as eye-catching from afar as it is up close. Frilly cups give the bloom a ruffled look. Plus, the deer don't like these beautiful bulbs!


Allium Gladiator
Decorate your early summer garden with these big, rose-violet balls of color. The 6" diameter flower heads are slightly smaller than Globemaster allium, but bloom earlier and are about a foot taller. Easy, long-lasting color for the time between spring bulbs and summer perennials.

Falling in love with bulbs is easy, especially when it's free!  And $100 can buy a garden full of bulbs to plant this fall and enjoy the burst of color and fragrance come spring.

So just hop over to Longfield Gardens Facebook page, like them, and click to enter the contest.  There's only a few days left...good luck and happy bulb planting!

~Katie
Garden Media Group

Back from the Windy City and BlogHer'13

Well, we're back from our whirlwind trip to BlogHer'13 in Chicago! Wow, what a truly wonderful and fulfilling experience. As the only garden related booth at the show, our Garden Media "Garden Shop" booth stood out amongst the many other well-known brands such as Walgreens, CVS, Coca-Cola and Dodge, just to name a few.

We were thrilled to share our love for gardening with over 4,000 influential bloggers who write about parenting, DIY, lifestyle, health and food. So many people were excited to see us and learn more about what we do and the brands we represent. Overall, it proved to be a huge success!

Here are some great shots of our booth, that was filled with houseplants from Costa Farms, colorful annuals from Suntory Flowers, all-natural pest control products from RESCUE!, beautiful bulb photos and postcards from Longfield Gardens and unique glass hummingbird feeders from Perky-Pet.

Enjoy....

We're already looking forward to next year!
Stacey & Megan
Garden Media Group

A Fun and Simple Do-It-Yourself Project from NativeCast

If you enjoy DIY projects, especially garden related, you're going to love NativeCast’s DIY Cast Your Own Kit. This DIY kit is a simple introduction to making your own container garden and is the perfect rainy day project for kids and adults.

This DIY project is quick and easy from start to finish. So if you don’t have the time or patience for most projects, this is the ideal one for you.

Each kit is comprised of NativeCast’s custom eco-concrete mix, a shaped mold box, organic potting mix and seeds. It includes step-by-step instructions on how to make your own container. If you’re a visual learner, NativeCast also has a great instructional video that can help you create a masterpiece of your own.

The Cast Your Own line has more shapes and sizes to choose from, like circles, squares, rectangles and even stars and hexagons.

How to build your own eco-concrete garden:

1. Wet the mold box
2.  Place the mix in a disposable container and add 2 ounces of water to the mix
3. Stir in water
4. Apply wet concrete to the interior surfaces of the mold box
5. Let concrete dry for 24 hours and then carefully tear or cut away mold box
6. Insert organic starter soil and plant seeds
7. Add water to soil, keep damp until seeds sprout

What do you think? Would you make this DIY garden planter?

NativeCast is known for unique and modern garden planters that are designed and handcast by Ricky Giacco in his Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania studio. Giacco works with recycled concrete and other materials native to the Mid-Atlantic, like shells, sand and pine needles. His planters are durable, surprisingly lightweight, and easy on the planet.

If DIY isn’t your thing, check out NativeCast's wide variety of eco-planters that modernize any living space.  

~Leah
Garden Media Group

GMG's Friday Find: Celebrate National Garden Month!

For the past several years April has been crowned the National Garden Month.  That seems to make sense, doesn't it? Spring is finally here and the 'itch' to get out and dig and plant can be almost overwhelming if you've overwintered in a cooler climate.  Spring is the time to focus on the essential connection between people, plants and the environment and is an opportunity to discover simple ways to tap into the rhythm of nature.

There are so many ways to participate and celebrate National Garden Month, and here a just a few:

Organize or take part in a town beautification day.  Here at GMG we helped in the 'Garden Way', a local beautification effort to enhance one of the main entrances into town with over 70 other volunteers.  The result was a dazzling island of flowers that won first place in the Keep America Beautiful campaign!

Another idea is to get together with your neighbors and order mulch and compost in bulk quantities.  To find out how much may be needed, click here.

Take an inventory of all your gardening gear and donate the excess to a community gardening program or school garden.

Host a plant swap and share cuttings and seeds with family and friends adding sentimental value to the new plants you add to your garden.

Green up your street or local park by picking up trash.  Volunteer at your local school's garden or start a neighborhood garden club, sharing ideas, seeds and labor, and then share the bounty with friends and neighbors.  Deliver houseplants or flowers to a local nursing home or children's hospital.  And speaking of children, have fun doing a gardening project with them.  Gardening with children teaches many valuable

lessons, from ingenuity to cooperation and the value of fun labor that translates into productivity. Children that learned gardening from their parent or other adults take these lessons with them and pass them along.

There are many ways to be creative and helpful when it comes to celebrating National Garden Month. By participating in small or big ways, we reinforce our symbiotic relationship with nature by giving, growing and greening our places and spaces.  What will you do to celebrate National Garden Month?  We'd love to hear your ideas. 


~Peggy
Garden Media Group

One Man's Vision of Creating Award-Winning Gardens

Understated elegance and simplistic serenity were some of the comments expressed by the expert panel of judges who selected Brandon Jones as the 2012 International Landscape Designer of the Year.

Visions of creating a relaxing retreat for family and friends during hot, humid summer days influenced Jones’ winning design.

A principal designer and director of design at Glen Gate Company, in Wilton, Connecticut, Jones’ award-winning project was selected out of sixty-five entries in the Association of Professional Landscape Designers’ (APLD) international juried competition.

“When I first saw the turn of the century site I was instantly inspired by the space, which already had a pool and gardening shed, and I attempted to keep that history alive,” Jones explained.

To achieve a summertime oasis, Jones knew integrating shade would be vital, so he let the shade pavilion become the focal point. His vision was to create a cozy get-away, saturated in modern simplicity and vintage nostalgia.

When choosing plants for this design, local climate and zone drove his choices.

“Native plants are more likely to succeed because they’ve already adapted to the region’s climate and soil,” Jones explains. “By pairing a few, choice plants with strong architecture, the space became balanced and eloquent.”

His finished product was a hit with both his client and the APLD judges, and Jones was equally “honored and thrilled” when he found out he won the prestigious title.

Jones, who has been working in landscape design for nearly two decades, muses, “Being honored for your work by such renowned professionals is a thrilling acknowledgment, but it also marks the beginnings of an exciting new stage for me: one that comes with a responsibility to contribute back and help foster new design talent.”

Let us know what you think of the award-winning designs. Send us your photos and tell us why you chose the landscape and garden design for your home!
  ~Lynne, Garden Media Group Photo credits: Brandon Jones: Small Garden, Reiner Residence

GMG's Friday Find: Tickle your Mimosa Pudica

We all have a tickle spot (except my dog who seems be missing her's).  Sometimes we can even anticipate the tickle laughter before it even happens!  Now did you know that there is a tickle plant?  This plant, Mimosa Pudica, has other common names like sensitive plant, humble plant, shameful plant and touch-me-not.  The species is native to South America and Central America but is now a pantropical weed grown for its curiosity value.

Like other plant species, the foliage closes during darkenss and reopens in light. Unlike other plant species, the tickle plant also closes and droops under other stimuli such as touching, warming, blowing, or shaking.  It is known how this occurs (cells lose turgor pressure) but not why it occurs. Scientists think it could be the plant's defense mechanism to scare away predators, or to shake off insects. Watch this musical video to see the effects of movement on the plant, and how quickly it recovers to it's normal shape.

A fun gift idea for kids is a complete kit to grow and 'tickle' this unusual plant. Complete with seeds, pods, and even it's own greenhouse, the TickleMe Plant can provide education and fun for kids and adults...I'm ordering one myself for the kid in me. 

So if you don't have somenoe to tickle you, or a dog or cat or hampster to tickle, maybe you'd like a plant to tickle.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on this interesting plant.

~Peggy, Garden Media Group

Plant Something, It will Increase Your Property Value

Living on a street lined with tall, leafy trees is as much a part of the American dream as a green front lawn and a brand-new car in the driveway. While the latter two are fairly expensive and unsustainable (think pesticides and carbon emissions), it turns out that trees reward property owners with more than just shade.

Plants and trees on and around your property are directly related to a higher property value.

Lots of research proves this- try googling it.

• A study [PDF] by the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station published last month in Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, combined rent data from Craigslist apartment listings in Portland, Oregon with tree data from Google Earth to figure out the effect of trees on rent. The researchers, Geoffrey Donovan of the Forest Service and David Butry of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, found that trees planted directly on a property increase a rental unit's value by more than five dollars per month. Rental units with trees abutting the property lines feel a 21-dollar bump. The trend holds true even when researchers control for other factors that determine a neighborhood's desirability. In the past, Donovan has also linked the presence of trees to lower crime and healthier newborns.
• According to the Arbor National Mortgage & American Forests 83% of realtors believe that mature trees have a ‘strong or moderate impact’ on the salability of homes listed for under $150,000; on homes over $250,000, this perception increases to 98% 
• Management Information Services/ICMA says that landscaping, especially with trees, can increase property values as much as 20 percent. 

And, check out an awesome new app from The Davey Tree Expert Company, Tree$ense, to calculate the benefits of the trees on YOUR property.  "Tree$ense turns users into TREEconomists, who can qualify and quantify their trees’ benefits and place trees in the best positions in the landscape to maximize these perks, including how much storm water the trees will intercept, how much carbon dioxide they will sequester and how much air pollution they will reduce."

 Visit value.m.davey.com with your mobile device to access the tool.

GMG's Friday Find: A Pond in a Box!

If you covet the serenity and beauty of your neighbor’s koi pond but don’t have the space or finances to install one, this idea from Lowe’s Creative Ideas may be the answer to your envy. And if you're a wizard with a circular saw, 4 easy steps can bring you the beauty of a deck-top water feature in little time.

Fill the garden compartment with potting mix and your choice of plants. You can add accessories like ornamental rocks or a floating gazing ball...and don't forget the little fish! For instructions on how to put together your Pond In A Box click here!

~Peggy
Garden Media Group

DIY Pots

Image by Ashley Ann

This is one of the coolest gardening crafts I've seen in a long time!  Kudos to Christine Chitnis and Ashley Ann for their creativity and ideas! And as always, thank you Leaf Magazine for finding them!

Image by Christine Chitnis

The total cost of this project was about $3 a pot. 

Materials:
Terracotta pots
Mod Podge
Brush
Fabric 

Directions:

1. Start by cutting a length of fabric that will wrap once around your pot. Leave extra room for folding it over on the top and bottom. 
2. Cut slits in the fabric around the top, to avoid puckering as you make your way around. 
3. Begin by coating a small section of the pot with Mod Podge. 
4. Stick the beginning of your fabric length to the pot and once it is in place
5. Coat the fabric with Mod Podge. 
6. Continue doing this all the way around, without worrying about the top or bottom of the pot. 
7. When the outside of the pot is finished, trim your fabric so that less than an inch hangs over the top and bottom. 
8. Begin at the top, folding the fabric into the pot in pleats so that it lays nice and flat around the rim. 
9. Coat in Mod Podge. 
10. Do the same for the bottom, folding the fabric in pleats so that the bottom edge of the pot remains smooth. 
11. Coat any loose flaps of fabric with Mod Podge. 
12. Let your pot dry.

The PANTS Trade Show is Just Around the Corner!

It's that time again. Penn Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (PANTS) is coming up next week, July 31 through August 2nd. at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks, PA - and I can't wait to go!

PANTS is produced by the green industry trade association, the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association (PLNA). Support of PANTS contributes to a wide range of activities and educational and certification programs that benefit the green industry.

Celebrating its 40th year, PANTS maintains its status in the green industry as the first show of the buying season on the East Coast.

Most attendees regard PANTS as the East's largest green industry event that provides the first opportunity to discover the hot new trends, meet industry professionals, and find buying season suppliers.

As part of the mass of thousands of green industry pros descending upon the summer’s only east coast green industry trade show, I can't wait to visit the exhibitor booths and see live demos of the latest plants, products and services.

The website says this year there's a special feature - the "Ultimate Backyard" - that is "displaying the best that the green industry has to offer in a backyard created right on the floor show." Sounds interesting!

Last year I was impressed the moment I arrived by the cool displays greeting us before we even entered the floor.

Truthfully, I've come to believe that this industry is filled with "ladies and gentlemen": friendly, courteous, knowledgeable plant and product gurus, who are willing to patiently describe the latest composter or irrigation system, with passion for their product, and respect to those of us asking questions.

Check out some of these photos I took from last year. Kinda cool, huh? If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. You won't be disappointed.

Let us know what you discovered that really wowed you... perhaps a funky new plant or a fabulous container or gotta' have garden art. Whatever strikes your fancy, please share it with us!

Enjoy!

Lynne

Garden Media Group

photos credit of  Soil Reef biochar; American Beauties and North Creek Nurseries & Pine Straw mulch: GMG

PANTS booths credit: PANTS

Showy colors throughout the summer!

Summer's here in all its glory. The days are long, hot and steamy, and celebrations like the Fourth of July are upon us.

Whether you're planning a backyard barbeque or a summer bash, it's easy to add a blast of vibrant color to your outdoors with new Bloomtastic! tropical plants from Hines Growers.

Their new varieties of bougainvillea are bred for easy color, abundant flowers and create an instant "party in a pot."

It's a snap to get your red, white and blue on by placing ready made containers of  new Bambino and Babybino bougainvillea throughout your landscape and on your deck, patio, balcony or poolside. They're easy to grow and more compact than typical bougainvillea.

Best of all, the eight new varieties will keep on giving splashes of intense tropical color throughout the summer and into fall!

For a touch of the exotic, add containers of Hines' new carefree Desert Roses, Adenium Kissable Pink, Blush and Red to your outdoor spaces.

The striking flowers rest atop an unusual caudex that has a bonsai-like appearance. Plus, they can be over-wintered indoors, ready to bloom again next spring.

Let us know if you're trying the new bougainvillea and Desert Roses for the first time. Share your photos and let us see your creative flair in your backyard!

Enjoy the holiday!
~Lynne
Garden Media Group

Whimsy in the Garden

Whether you have a small balcony garden or a spacious front and backyard, adding your creative touches with practical and pretty collectibles and found "pieces"  that you turn into garden art add interest and whimsy to any space.

If you're like me, hunting down a few unusual pieces that can be re-purposed and upcycled into a functional and unique work of art, is fun and adventurous.

Perhaps that old discarded wrought iron frame that's lying curbside will take your garden from  "meh" to marvelous.

Don't trash that old metal container- turn it into a fabulous storage bin for a porch or garden. My neighbor added a few coats of blue paint, glass and  ceramic accessories, and transformed an old oil drum bin into a conversation piece that continues to garner compliments and comments like- "Great idea! Why didn't I think of that?"

Or create your own wind chime with old cutlery, a tea kettle and a shepherd's hook. Pretty simple and cool.

Go online for interesting ideas, check out rummage and garage sales, and websites that encourage sharing free stuff and bartering.

And share your artistic creations with us. We'd love to see how you marry your garden art with plants to enhance a wall, a porch, as a utilitarian focal point, or simply, for pure whimsy.

~Lynne, Garden Media Group
Photo credit: Garden Media Group

Keeping Pests Out of the Garden this Summer

So, your garden is planted and now it's time to enjoy spending time in it, right? Well, due to our mild winter and early spring here in the Northeast it's really going to be a buggy summer. I'm already seeing stinkbugs and aphids in my garden!

Check out expert Gardener Nancy Bell from Gateway Garden Center sharing her top tips on the Philly 10! Show on how to get rid of an array of bugs and keep you pest free all summer long.

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

-Stacey
Garden Media Group

A Food (pickup)Truck

Food trucks have hit mainstream, popping up in cities of all sizes across America.  

But this "food truck" is different.  Truck Farm Chicago is a nonprofit organization that uses a 1994 Ford F-250 named Petunia to chauffeur a miniature, educational farm around town.

Petunia is "geared" (get it?) to educate Chicago youth and families about healthy eating. Your education includes a short tour of the farm, plant identification, taste tests, and sensory exploration. 

"I was excited about this project as a fun, unique and creative way to bring gardening and nutrition education to children all over the city—especially those who may not otherwise get to see how food grows up close,” co-founder Shari Brown says. 

"Making healthy choices can be challenging, especially when good fresh food and education about why it's important and how to cook it is not always accessible. Truck Farm is trying to do our part by using our exhibit to spark these discussions, give youth the tools to make healthy choices, and inspire them to use their own creativity to encourage healthy changes in their communities."

Read more about the project at GOOD or on the Truck Farm's website.  What a cool spin on an already cool idea.

Organic Sector Still Growing

 According to Annie White of Inside Grower, the market continues to grow for organic food!

And that comes as good news for organic farmers and producers as the consumer-driven U.S. organic market surpasses $31 billion!

“With 94% of organic operations nationwide planning to maintain or increase employment in 2012, the organic sector will continue to fuel jobs, rural economies and consumer choice,” said Christine Bushway, executive director of Organic Trade Association (OTA.)

Annie provides a few findings from the 2012 Organic Industry Survey from the OTA:

• Organic sales of all products had a 9.5% ($2.5 billion) increase in 2011, while conventionally produced products (both food and non-food items) had a 4.7% increase.
• Organic food sales now represent 4.2% of all U.S. food sales, up from 4% in 2010.
• The fruit and vegetable category accounted for nearly 50% of those new dollars in 2011
• The organic food and beverage sector had sales of $29.22 billion in 2011, a 9.4% increase over 2010
• There are 17,600 certified organic farms, ranches and businesses in the U.S.
• Seventy-eight percent of U.S. families report they buy organic.
• More than half of parents surveyed report they have a high level of trust for certified USDA organic products.

Bushway adds, “Consumers are increasingly engaged and discerning when they shop, making decisions based on their values and awareness about health and environmental concerns. For them, it matters whether foods are genetically engineered, or produced using practices that are good for their families. Price is still an issue, but with the wide availability of private label products and many venues for organic products, they have many choices for where to shop and a variety of products from which to choose.”

And I agree, with the increase of Whole Foods stores and farmers markets, organic food no longer sits on the peripheral of the supermarkets.  It's here to stay.

 

 Katie @KatieGMG
http://www.gardenmediagroup.com

6 Tips to Add Social Media to Your PR

I read this article by Bill Miltenberg, in PR News about 6 Tips for Optimizing News Releases.

I thought I'd share them with you:

Here's what Bill had to say in his opening: "While the press release is not dead by any means, a plain-text version is quickly becoming an anachronism in the digital age.

"A well-written release packed with punchy quotes is still a fundamental way to tell your brand's story to the media, but it's when PR pros optimize their releases (and online media centers, too) for social media and search that they can really maximize their reach. Sally Falkow, social media strategist at Meritus Media and a speaker at the upcoming Social Media Summit/Taste of Tech event on June 21-22 in New York City, says it’s essential to integrate social media within press releases.

According to Bill, Sally says, “You want to make sure that you have sharing buttons on every piece of your content—videos, infographics, press releases, articles.”

It is all news content and should be treated as such. Below, Sally provides six tips for optimizing a news release for social media.

1.Include Photos: "Adding images and video increases views on your news content by as much as 77%, according to a PR Newswire study," says Falkow. However, this might not be the place to insert your brand's latest Instagram photos. Opt for more professional, high-resolution and standard format (typically JPEG) photos.

2.Provide Options: "Add more than one image, so that there is a choice for bloggers and journalists," says Falkow. This allows them to choose an image that fits their take on the story. Supply source codes and URLs for all images. Also consider including charts, slide decks, PDFs and infographics. If you're including an executive's take in the release—especially if they're quotes that Steve Jobs would be proud of—include their photo and add links to their bios and social profiles.

3.Keep Things Pinteresting: "Pin all images to a Pinterest board and link back to the press release in your newsroom," says Falkow. Pinterest is a great visual medium, an effective touch point for influencers, a valuable information aggregator and a perfect platform for sharing. (Not on Pinterest yet? Consider these 5 tips for kick-starting your efforts today.)

4.Add a short video: "85% of all media Web sites now use video, and many of them are looking for completed videos from an outside source," says Falkow. Supply the embed code for the video so that they can immediately embed it on their Web site or blog, and pin the video to the Pinterest board.

5.Highlight Keywords: "Tag all the content with the keywords that will make it easy to find in search or social sites to boost your SEO efforts," says Falkow. "Use words you think a journalist might use to search for when writing story on a topic."

6.Include Icons: Add icons that connect to all social content from the company and provide social sharing links so others can like your news on Facebook, tweet it right from your news release, post it to a host of other social sites or e-mail it to friendr.

Follow Bill Miltenberg: @bmiltenberg

Attend PR News’ two-day Social Media Summit/Taste of Tech event June 21-22 in New York City and learn more from digital leaders like Sally Falkow.

MAY GARDENING TIPS

 

May is the month when things really get going in full swing. Your gardening tasks will increase now but so will your pleasure of gardening as the warmer weather and more dry days make life easier.

The main tasks and priorities this month are:

• Due to the mild winter, there might be more garden pests than usual.  Keep an eye on the roses for signs of aphids and try non-chemical remedies like these from The Growers Exchange before resorting to chemical warfare.  Also, you can plant herbs like lemongrass and peppermint and to deter pests like mosquitoes and flies.
• Larger bulbs like daffodils will now be looking withered and dead, these leaves can be removed but make sure that any green foliage is left undamaged and watch the roots aren't damaged either, they will still be quite fresh at this time of the year.
• Seeds, both flowers and vegetables, started in the greenhouse should now be small plants and ready to be transplanted into the garden providing the weather is suitable. Seeds to be sown outdoors can be sown now, again if it's dry enough.

Find out more at Gardening Monthly and Happy MAY!

Katie @KatieGMG
Garden Media Group

GMG's Friday Find: Pillow Talk

Today's Friday Find takes the look of green grass and creates a whole new use for it...pillows! Now you can bring some of that natural beauty indoors...or keep it outside and dress up your deck furniture!

From their website...
Firmly Planted was created from an awareness that when you surround yourself with beauty, nature, style, and flow, it creates a balanced vibe within your body and soul. Or as we like to say, “It’s all about a feeling.”

With our unique turf-covered indoor/outdoor products, we are bringing the outside in and the inside out by connecting people with Mother Nature with all the comfort of the modern age. Whether it’s with a plush pillow or grassy styled numbers for your home or garden, Firmly Planted believes that you can create a bridge between the need to be in tune with the elements on a spiritual level and the need to be comfortable on the physical. Creating a balance between mind and body, Firmly Planted aims to close that gap and help people feel alive and whole, without having to sacrifice one need for another.

 

Firmly Planted believes there is no need to waste our precious resources and pollute our earth to achieve our goals. In fact, synthetic turf spares billions of gallons of water and millions of pounds of fertilizer and pesticide from being applied to the soil of natural grass fields every single year, while preventing hundreds of thousands of pounds of carbon from lawn equipment being spewed into the atmosphere. The crumb rubber on the back of the artificial turf will prevent loads upon loads of car tires from being rolled into a landfill. If we can protect our earth and bring people closer to it at the same time with style and finesse, then we can say we have achieved our own harmony and that our company lives up to it’s name and is as firmly planted as our customers.

And they do beautiful custom work...just ask for what you want!

I love this idea. Finally I can enjoy the look of grass without the maintenance!
-Karen
Garden Media Group

Trees Matter

A recent article in the New York Times titles, Why Trees Matter, makes the case, once again, for planting trees.

Jim Robbins, writer and author of "The Man Who Planted Trees” says, "trees are on the front lines of our changing climate... and are a potentially major answer to some of our most pressing environmental problems."

Robbins goes on to explain how trees help clean the ocean, filter water, create a heat shield, clean the air, absorb toxic chemical and release beneficial ones. 

In Japan, he explains, it's daily practice to take "A walk in the woods."  This was the part that hit home the most- since we've been touting biophilia a lot this year.  Nature heals!

They say it "reduces the level of stress chemicals in the body and increases natural killer cells in the immune system, which fight tumors and viruses. Studies in inner cities show that anxiety, depression and even crime are lower in a landscaped environment."

So, in honor of Earth Month (or what I like to call Earth Lifetime...) get out there and plant a tree.  PLANT A TREE!

Robbins says California Redwoods are the super trees, but go ahead and just plant something!

Katie @KatieGMG
Garden Media Group