At Ecoyards, we try where possible to salvage plants, along with concrete, soil, bricks, pavers and nursery pots for reuse. When we redo landscapes for clients, our clients will sometimes ask us to remove or replace certain trees and shrubs. We always try to find new homes for these plants. We either give them away to friends or plant them in our own yard.

King County has a terrific program that rescues native plants from construction sites to replant later at salmon habitat and wildlife restoration projects around the county. The county salvages the plants from sites slated for development and provides them at a low-cost for revegetation projects throughout the state. Native plants such as the evergreen huckleberry (pictured right) attract native wildlife, require little maintenance and water, helps control erosion and runoff, survive better than ornamental plants and are truly Northwest. At Ecoyards, we use native plants in virtually every project we do. Some of our favorites are evergreen huckleberry, flowering currants, and mountain hemlocks.

PlantAmnesty also has a great “green share” program with an active on-line adopt a plant list. You need to be a PlantAmnesty member to view the list, but anyone may list a plant for adoption.

We have approximately 15 pieces of extra flagstone available for free to the first taker.  These flagstone pieces were salvaged from a landscape project that we completed in West Seattle.  If you are interested in picking up the flagstone, please send us an email though our contact info in the right sidebar.  We will update/remove this post when the flagstone is gone.

Update:  the flagstone was snatched up quickly, and is no longer available.

Photos of plants that are currently blooming in the Ecoyards garden –

You know it’s time to prune your roses when forsythia in the neighborhood start to burst with yellow flowers. That’s happening right now around Seattle. Late winter/early spring is the optimum time to prune because new buds are easy to spot.

There are many reasons to prune roses, including keeping the size and shape in check, removing diseased canes and producing the best blooms. Pruning also keeps roses healthy by allowing more light and air to flow to the plant and stimulate growth.

1. Start by removing all dead, diseased and damaged branches on the plant. You’ll know it when you see it, but typically they’re black, blown, and discolored. Prune sections about 1/4 inch above an outward-facing bud. Prune down the cane until the pith (the substance inside the plant) is cream colored. Sometimes this may mean removing the entire cane.

2. Prune out weak or spindly canes (typically smaller than a pencil in diameter), suckers and canes that cross or rub others. Each year, you can also remove the oldest cane down to the crown (regardless of its health) to encourage new cane growth.

3. Trim the remaining canes, pruning out no more than half of the original cane height to give it a nice overall shape.

For more detailed information on pruning hybrid tea roses (which most of us have), check out PlantAmnesty’s Web site. The Seattle Roses Society also has this simple guide to pruning roses.

Contact Ecoyards if you’d like to setup garden maintenance services for your property.

We have six large swords ferns available for free.  These ferns were salvaged from a landscaping project on Mercer Island.  If you are interested in picking up the ferns, please send us an email though our contact page.  We will update/remove this post when the ferns are gone.

Update on 2/23/10 – the ferns have found a new home and are no longer available.

sword fern

At Ecoyards, we’re always looking for better ways to create beautiful, sustainable landscapes while being kind to Mother Nature. So we were pretty excited when we recently connected with VAST Enterprises – makers of composite landscape pavers. VAST pavers are made of 95 percent post-consumer recycled materials –plastic bottles and scrap tires — rather than traditional concrete or clay. They’re manufactured with zero emissions and zero waste. They’re also the ultimate recycled product since they can be removed and made into brand new pavers.

VAST composite paver

We’ve spent some time looking into VAST pavers, and we’re happy with their natural look and durability. We’re excited to start offering Ecoyards clients another environmentally-friendly option to build their patios, driveways and walkways. The pavers are lightweight but sturdy and have a lifetime warranty against cracking. While the cost of VAST pavers are nearly double that of traditional concrete pavers, they’re much easier to install so the overall cost of a project to the consumer is comparable to traditional installations. The pavers are brick-shaped and come in six different colors.

Prolonged mild, wet weather tends to bring out mushrooms on lawns, so you can expect to see lots of them poke through lawns during the fall and the spring in the Northwest. Mushrooms are the “fruit” of fungi that live on underground dead or decaying matter, such as rotting tree roots or buried logs. In the soil and under bark, you’ll find a cluster of thin, white threads called mycelium. Because the mushrooms are only the “fruit”, removing them won’t kill the underground mycelium.

Some fungi such as fairy ring fungi can damage lawns, while many others are beneficial because they break down organic matter and release nutrients for other plants. Mushrooms that develop from decaying tree roots or other organic matter are generally harmless to lawns. Still, many people like to get rid of them because of their unsightly appearance, or they worry that children or pets may eat them. 

To get rid of mushrooms, rake or pick them off the lawn, or dig out the buried tree root or logs. The Washington State University Master Gardeners also suggest drenching the area with detergent and water in the early spring. The group advises: poke holes about 6 inches deep, about a foot apart, through the surface, and drench the area daily for a month. Use 1 to 2 quarts of water per square foot, with 1 to 2 tables of liquid detergent per 3 gallons of water. 

Removing excess thatch and aerating the soil to improve water penetration may also help. 

For more information on how to control fairy rings, which are circular or semi circular rings in the lawn, read this Master Gardener handout.