Fort Smith Lawn Care | Does Mulch Color Matter?

When it comes time to put down new fresh mulch, whether it’s for your spring cleaning, sprucing up in the fall, or any time of year, you’ll be faced with many mulch types and color. We’ll tackle what type of mulch is best to use another time, but today, lets talk about color. Here at Cutting Edge, we’re big believers in not just knowing “what” but knowing “why”. So lets start with why colored mulch exists and what it’s actual use is.

Obviously, this offers options if you’re bored with regular natural brown mulch. It’s also about longer lasting color, it doesn’t just add color, it locks in the color longer. Any color mulch, once under the influence of the elements for so long, will eventually fade to a dull greyish color. Which isn’t bad, if you prefer a natural look. But mulch isn’t cheap, so you want it to last as long as possible, and get the most for your money.

Now as far as what color to choose, it depends on what your goal is. if you want to be subtle, then you’d want to go for a natural or brown color mulch, then it’s not as much of a pop or statement. But if you want to make a statement, and add color to your landscaping, and if you’re proud of your landscaping and house, then you may want to draw attention to it; which means you would absolutely want a pop of color to draw the eye. At this point, we would suggest going off the color of your house. If you have a darker house, with brown colors, then we would discourage using a dark brown, and sometimes black; it would be a good time to go with a pop of red, or maybe even the natural color, to give some light to the landscape.

On the flip side, if you have a red brick house, it may not be best choice to go with red mulch. if your house is bright and colorful, maybe it would be best to give it a darker contrast, and go with dark brown or black. On a side note, there’s also a myth that roaches hate red mulch. So if you’re having roach troubles, you may try red, and see if you notice a difference.

In the end, it comes down to what you want. However you want your house landscaping to look, we can help you out with it. We have access to all the best deals, and varieties. So give us a call when you’re interested in some color, and we’ll give you a free consultation and estimate. Call the experts at Cutting Edge!

Fort Smith Lawn Care | When is the Right Time for Fresh Mulch?

When it comes to landscaping, one of the biggest difference makers that can set your curb appeal apart from the others around you is fresh mulch. It can make it look like spring has sprung after the messy and bleak fall and winter, or it can make your landscaping look like it still has life throughout the dead of winter. So how often and when exactly should you refresh your mulch?

Well truthfully, there’s not a bad time to put mulch down, that is, there’s no time you “can’t” put mulch down. But there are better times to put mulch down that better utilize it for your lawn and landscaping. Nobody wants to spend the money putting down mulch several times a year, and if you put it down at the wrong time it can be rendered ugly quickly if you’re not careful. This is why it’s important to know the right time to put it down.

Aside from color, the chief purpose of mulch is to make your landscaping look uniform and clean. So the last thing you’d want to do, is put mulch down right before it’s about to get messy again; mainly right before you trim your hedges. If you spread mulch before you trim all your bushes and do some pruning then all the clippings will mix in with the mulch, or you will blow or rake some of the mulch out while trying to clean up the mess.

This is why you want to be strategic, you can save yourself some extra trouble if you coordinate a mulch application with a big pruning, especially your spring cleaning. Then you don’t have to be completely thorough when cleaning up the clippings. You can just pick up the big pieces, and cover up the small clippings with your fresh mulch; then your bushes are trimmed, your bed is fresh with new color, and you can let the natural clippings break down into the soil for compost. It’s a win all the way around

These reasons are why we say, if you have a regularly kept landscape, the best time for mulch is right after a pruning in the spring and/or fall. However if your landscaping has been neglected and needs a big cleanup, then it should definitely be followed up with mulch no matter what time of year; otherwise it will never look truly transformed.

As always, you don’t have to do it on your own, mulch can be a back breaker and a messy pain. So reach out to the professionals at Cutting Edge Lawn Care today, and we can help you with mulch or any other lawn care and landscaping needs.

Fort Smith Lawn Care | How to Trim Crepe Myrtles

It may not be spring yet, but we are already doing spring cleaning, pruning crepe myrtles, trimming pampas grasses, monkey grasses, trimming hedges etc. Just waiting for lawn mowing season. We are so ready to for that grass to turn green so we can do what we do best: lawn mowing. But before we get to the lawn mowing season, we have to address one of our biggest dilemmas: crepe murder.

There is a very popular pruning method out there for Crepe Myrtles that is known in the professional lawn care world as "crepe murder.” This is what you see 90% of Crepe Myrtles looking like in the spring, when they’re cutdown to the nubs. it might look nice and uniform and clean, but it’s terrible for the tree.

Now a quick disclaimer: We do sometimes trim Crepe Myrtles this way, but only at the request of the customer. Because while we may advise on the proper pruning method, we will still do what the customer requests.

What is the proper way to prune this popular tree? Well the hint is in the words “prune” and “tree.” What you have to realize is that Crepe Myrtles are not a bush, which is how they are typically trimmed; they are a tree, which is how they must be treated.

When pruning a tree, it’s not proper to cut all the branches off back to the trunk. You prune away the unhealthy, unnecessary, and unbecoming branches. We will attach picture examples of an improperly and properly trimmed Crepe Myrtles at the end of this article, but here are a few key steps and tips for pruning the proper way.

1. trim away sucker growths on the trunk, from the ground up to the where the branches start

2. trim away any branches that are not straight and may be curving in strange directions.

3. trim all branches that are not growing in an upward desired direction as well as any branches that are touching, or less than about a pinky finger's width. The idea is to get it spacious and uncrowded enough where a bird could fly through the middle of it.

If this is all confusing, and hard to understand, then just call the professionals here at Cutting Edge Lawn Care. We love to help people get the landscaping and pruning they desire and deserve out of their lawn care service. Please check out the pictures below for visual examples. (left) improper (right) proper.

Fort Smith Lawn Care | Why is Spring Cleaning Important?

Here at Cutting Edge, we believe spring cleaning is crucial and a must for well maintained lawn and landscaping. We know as well as anybody how anxiously we await that grass to turn green so we can have a beautifully manicured lawn again. But if before the grass turns green and lawn mowing season starts you have to prep your property with a proper thorough spring cleaning!

First of all, your property will look ugly and messy if you don’t, but it’s also important for the health and vitality of the your shrubs and grasses. There’s usually left over leaves that fell after the leaf season that got neglected, or leaves that were blown or swept up under the bushes and caught up in the monkey grass even during the leaf season. It can be harmful to the shrubs if leaves remain packed in underneath them. Most plants also need a fresh cut and trimming to cut away old dead ends from the previous year, and make way for the new fresh growth. This is why pruning is important, and is the whole concept behind pruning: cut away the unnecessary and unfruitful to free up the wasted resources for the healthy and fruitful growth.

Spring cleaning can be a daunting task with so much mess and so many different plants needing different types of care. It definitely gets procrastinated by most, but there’s no need. We can do it fast and the right way for the right price. We love spring cleaning and would be happy to do yours before lawn mowing season starts and everyone gets too busy. Contact us for your free estimate.