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 | Tips for Mowing Zoysia

Lawn mowing season is fast approaching in Fort Smith, and at Cutting Edge Lawn Care, we’re very excited. We wanted to drop a few quick tips to keep in mind when mowing and caring for the most tricky grass around: Zoysia

Zoysia is a beautiful, lush, luxurious looking grass, unless you mess up when it’s time to start mowing. Common mistakes when it comes to mowing zoysia are: Mowing too short, Mowing too high, not bagging when needed, not scalping in the spring, creating ruts with the mower. Here are some tips to avoid these mistakes.

Mowing too low, and Mowing too high. It is more harmful to mow it too low, because zoysia is slow to recover, but if you let it grow too long, and keep it too high, it can also not be as healthy as it should. The best height for Zoysia is between 2.5” to 4”.

You don’t always have to bag Zoysia, but better safe than sorry. Thatch build up is the enemy of Zoysia, and cutting too many clippings without bagging, is the quickest way to create it.

Ruts can be created when you always mow in the same pattern. With a Zoysia lawn, the soil is usually softer so running even a push mower over the same path week after week creates noticeable unevenness which can result in scalping and eventually ruts.

As we wrote in one of our first articles, it is very important to actually scalp zoysia in the spring when it starts to turn green. Even though scalping in the summer can be deadly, in the spring, when it starts to turn green but before it’s very tall, it’s very helpful to cut away the old dead grass and bag it, so that it doesn’t compact under the new grass and create thatch.

We hope you find these tips helpful and informative for this lawn mowing season. And as always, remember the easiest way to take care of your lawn is to hire a professional lawn mowing service. Of course, we prefer you hire Cutting Edge Lawn Care.

Fort Smith Lawn Care | Are Rocks Better Than Mulch?

When Spring cleaning comes around, people are trimming hedges, trimming monkey grass, pruning crepe myrtles, and refreshing mulch, and we get the same question every year. People get tired of refreshing the mulch and having it wash away and blow out into the yard. So they ask, “should I switch to rock?”

Our response is always the same, whatever you want, we will get you. But if you want our input, we would almost always prefer to bring in mulch than rock, and it’s not because we make more money, quite the opposite actually. In the long run mulch usually makes everyone’s life easier. It has be refreshed once or twice a year because it decomposes and loses color, and rock doesn’t. Rock is more permanent which is what seems to be the selling point in the short run. But that means you’re locked in, and should you ever change your mind it’s going to cost you much more time and effort to remove it yourself and much more money to have someone do it for you. Not to mention it is much more expensive than mulch to have applied as well.

If you’re using the typical one inch river rock like most do, then it can still wash into the yard with heavy rain, and get blown out by leaf blowers. But the rock isn’t going to decompose and the mulch will.

If you know you never want to touch mulch again then rock is your best option, certainly better than rubber mulch. But it will cost you more upfront, and down the road should you ever need a change. And it is absolutely going to be more time and elbow grease than you want to expend on your Saturday afternoon, so rock or mulch, call Cutting Edge to bring it in for you!

Fort Smith Lawn Care | When can you trim Azaleas?

With the spring fast approaching, people are getting ready to start their spring cleaning and pruning, and Cutting Edge is getting ready to help them in more ways than one. We’re here to drop a PSA for everyone wanting to trim their Azaleas and wondering if it’s the right time. And if not, when is?

Well it’s very simple to understand and know. You can’t trim them whenever you want, because most azaleas only bloom once a year in the spring, and they reseed in the summer. So this leaves us a short window to trim them in. If you cut them after they’ve reseeded and before they bloom, then you have no pretty flowers that year.

The trick is to watch when they bud, it’s impossible to miss the beautiful flowers, and then a couple months later when the flowers fall off, you have a short opportunity to trim them before they reseed for the next year.

Know before you trim, and don’t cost yourself the beauty of your garden. Cutting Edge can help you with all of your landscaping needs this year. Just give us a call.

Fort Smith Lawn Care | What is the Proper Mowing Height?

We’re only a couple months away from lawn mowing season, and here at Cutting Edge we are already gearing up and signing on new customers. With Spring right around the corner and people looking for Lawn mowing services it’s important to make sure you’re hiring the professional lawn care company who knows what they’re doing, or your lawn could suffer the consequences of inexperience.

One of the most important factors to consider is to make sure your lawn mowing and lawn care service know the proper height to mow your grass. Each type of grass has to be handled and cut differently. Here in the Fort Smith area the three types of grass we see most (aside from yards made of weeds) are Bermuda, Fescue and Zoysia. Zoysia and Fescue are the more picky and fragile types so if you have a yard comprised of one of these, you definitely need to make sure your lawn mowing service is knowledgable.

If you Have Zoysia, here in the very hot weather of Arkansas, we typically need to mow it between around 2-3” but you must make sure that if when you cut it lower, you do it often enough that you’re not cutting off more than 1/3 of the grass height. otherwise you could scalp it and cause unpleasant brown spots.

For Bermuda, the best cutting Height is usually between 1”— if you cut often enough— or as most people do, let it grow to about 3” and cut back to about 2” weekly.

If you have a shady spot in your yard where Bermuda and Zoysia won’t grow, and now you’ve brought in the shade friendly Fescue, you need to mow it around 3.5”-4”.

We hope you find these articles helpful and informative, and don’t forget, the best way to take care of your lawn is to hire a professional. So call Cutting Edge and let us handle your lawn care and landscaping!

Fort Smith Lawn Care | How Often Should Grass be Mowed?

Usually when someone calls Cutting Edge Lawn Care to inquire about lawn mowing quotes, one of the questions they ask is: “how often do you mow?” and the answer is that we will mow the lawn as often or as little as the customer requests, because it’s their yard and we do what the customer wants. But how often is grass actually supposed to be mowed?

When it comes to lawn mowing schedules it depends on the grass, because all grasses grow at different speeds. Bermuda is a very common and popular grass, and it grows very fast and steady as long as it has plenty of water and sunshine. In the summer, usually it needs to be mowed at least every week if not more (we’ll come back to that) Zoysia is also a common grass around here, it is very lush and thick but is slower growing. A good healthy Zoysia yard, with plenty of water and sunlight can be mowed as often as every week, and sometimes as little as once a month. It depends on where you live and how often you treat it, and how much water it gets.

The general rule of thumb for the health of the grass, whatever the grass, is that you mow as often as needed where you’re only cutting off about a third of the height of the grass. For Zoysia, this can be every week or every two weeks, or sometimes once a month. For Bermuda, it technically needs to be mowed twice a week in the summer.

Few people have this much time to contribute to the yard and mow it as often as it needs. But if you call Cutting Edge Lawn Care we can set you up on a lawn mowing schedule that is as often as you need it, or as often as you want it. It’s your choice, and we’re happy to oblige! Call us for all your lawn mowing and lawn care needs, whether in Fort Smith or the surrounding area.