Ecoyards is now a proud member of the National Association of Landscape Professionals.  The National Association of Landscape Professionals cultivates and safeguards opportunities for the dedicated professionals and companies that create and enhance the world’s landscapes.  The National Association of Landscape Professional’s mission is to be the respected leader and voice of the green industry.

Learn more about planet at the following site:

https://www.landscapeprofessionals.org/

Ecoyards Earns Coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award

Award reflects company’s consistently high level of customer service

Ecoyards has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Angie’s List Super Service Award, an honor bestowed annually on approximately 5 percent of all the companies rated on the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews on local service companies.

“Our Super Service Award winners are the cream of the crop when it comes to providing consistently high quality customer service, as judged by the customers who hired them,” said Angie Hicks, founder of Angie’s List.

Ecoyards is thrilled to have one this 2010 award in three different categories – Landscaping; Lawn and Yard Work; Hardscaping and Pavers.  Thanks to all our great customers for posting positive reviews on Ecoyards.

Angie’s List Super Service Award winners have met strict eligibility requirements including earning a minimum number of reports, an exemplary rating from their customers and abiding by Angie’s List operational guidelines.

Service company ratings are updated daily on Angie’s List, but members can find the 2010 Super Service Award logo next to company names in search results on AngiesList.com.

Angie’s List collects consumer reviews on local contractors and doctors in more than 500 service categories. Currently, more than 1 million consumers across the U.S. rely on Angie’s List to help them make the best hiring decisions. Members get unlimited access to local ratings via Internet or phone, exclusive discounts, the Angie’s List magazine and help from the Angie’s List complaint resolution service. Take a quick tour of Angie’s List and view the latest Angie’s List news.

Recirculating waterfall in West Seattle by Ecoyards

Recirculating fountains are a great way to add a self-contained water feature to your backyard. You get the benefit of a cascading waterfall – and the relaxing sounds – without the hassle of hooking the fountain up to a dedicated water source such as a garden hose or other outdoor plumbing.

Recirculating fountains rely on an electric pump that sends water from a small reservoir pan at the base throughout the entire system. The pump continues to recycle the water as long as it is turned on. The fountains are constantly recirculating water so they don’t waste much water. Occasionally you’ll need to replenish the water that’s loss due to evaporation, but otherwise these recirculating fountains are typically low-maintenance. And because it does not need to be hooked up to pipes or a garden hose, recirculating fountains are a very flexible landscape option.

There are many different choices of recirculating fountains. They can be as elaborate or as simple as you want. You can construct a fountains out of stone, rock, concrete, ceramic or even wood. They can be a tiered system of boulders, or a single basalt column with water cascading from a single hole at the top. Bubblers are nice in that they require even less space than a pondless waterfall, yet they still provide movement, sound, and interest to your landscape. Contact Ecoyards and we can help you decide the right fountain for your landscape.

By now, most of us probably have a rain barrel or two that we use to catch rainwater from our roof. These red 50-gallon barrels have become common features around Seattle, Burien, Normandy Park and other cities, especially because you can get them at a nice reasonable price and they’re easy to set up. We currently have three of them at our house, and we’re able to use the water that we catch to irrigate our trees, container plants and lots more. But as many of you know, the barrels fill up quickly during a rain event. So what to do if you want to harvest more rainwater?

Photo of cistern from city of Seattle Rain Wise program

Enter the cistern. These larger containers can store hundreds or even thousands of gallons of water at a time, which conserve water and improve drainage issues at your property. Think: no more soggy lawn always getting flooded with inches of water when it rains! Because cisterns hold water during a rain, storm or snow event, less water rushes into our streets, drains and sewer systems. That means fewer sewer overflow problems and fewer pollutants washing unfiltered into our creeks, rivers and Puget Sound.

Cisterns aren’t much different from rain barrels. They’re just much larger. Home cisterns can capture anywhere from 200 to 1,000 gallons of water. They can look attractive, too, and blend in with your landscape. Unlike rain barrels, cisterns require a bit more planning and installation. Because they’re considerably larger than rain barrels — and will be heavier because of all the water they’ll hold — you’ll need a good foundation for it. Ecoyards is a licensed contractor registered with the city of Seattle RainWise program. We’re also licensed by the state, of course, but this program registration allows us to install cisterns, or rain gardens, at certain homes that are eligible for city rebates under the RainWise program. (Read more about the rebate program for rain gardens in our previous post).

Whether or not you’re eligible for a rebate, we’re happy to help you sort out all the details. If you’re interested in installing a cistern but don’t want to tackle it yourself, we can help you calculate how much rainwater can be harvested off your roof and then recommend a good size, shape and foundation for it. We’ll figure it all out for you, from pipes and connectors to the right Northwest native plants for your site. Cisterns can be made of many materials, such as plastic, sheet metal, wood or even concrete. You can install them underground, partially underground or above ground. For those who are in the Ballard neighborhood, and eligible for a city rebate, we also can help you navigate the rules and requirements. Please email us and we’ll help you figure it out.

Our neighbors to the south in the city of Portland are doing some great things with rain gardens as well. Seattle has led the way, but other cities have been doing their part as well in stormwater controls. The Portland Tribune has this cool feature explaining how one couple in Portland, Ore. saved money on their utility bill with their three rain gardens.

Rain gardens — essentially sunken areas filled with plants to collect surface water — absorb rainfall coming off the roof of the Hubatches’ one-story home.

That eases the burden on Portland’s oft-overloaded sewer system. As a result, the couple get a discount on the storm water management portion of their water and sewer bill.

The article lists some great ways that homeowners can help manage rainwater runoff, including installing rain barrels or cisterns to capture and hold rain for later reuse. In an earlier blog post, we explained how Seattle rain gardens can help keep pollutants out of Puget Sound. We can help you design, install and maintain your own rain garden. Give us a call at 206-770-7879 or email us.

There are many landscape tools homeowners can use to control stormwater runoff, considered the largest source of pollution in Puget Sound. From planting trees to installing a rain garden or large cisterns, you can help minimize the excess rainwater runoff that washes toxic pollutants into Puget Sound each year. Every time it rains, water falling onto roofs, parking lots, driveways or hard-packed soil washes unfiltered into storm drains and directly into our streams, creeks, rivers and sound. The stormwater carries grease, oils, heavy metals, PCBs, flame retardants and other toxic pollutants into waterways. The excess runoff also causes flooding in streets and sewer systems to backup.

What exactly is a rain garden and how do they help pollution? Rain gardens allow you to redirect rain from your roof into a shallow depression that filters, holds and absorbs water. By holding and infiltrating rainwater, rain gardens help protect our waterways and reduce flooding. These gardens can be shaped and sized to fit your yard. They also can be attractive landscape features, filled with native plants or other shrubs, trees and plantings that fit your soil, sun conditions and surroundings.

Typical rain garden layout in Seattle, Ecoyards LLC.

Ecoyards can help you through the entire process, from designing a rain garden to constructing it to helping you maintain it. Our experienced staff will find the best spot for your garden, suggest the best plants for it and recommend ways to maintain it. Rain gardens are ideal for many properties that are fairly level (up to about 5 percent slope). There should be a way for roof or driveway runoff to flow to the rain garden, whether over the yard or through a pipe or rock-filled ditch. We can help you determine where to install the garden and how big it should be.

Ecoyards is a licensed landscape contractor with the city of Seattle’s Rainwise Rebate program. That innovative program will pay most of the cost of installing rain gardens and cisterns for eligible residents in Ballard, depending on how many square feet of roof runoff is controlled. (Check this map for the qualifying area). Residents can get rebates up to $4 per square foot of area that contributes to retaining runoff. The pilot rain garden rebate program was launched earlier this year in the Ballard neighborhood. You must hire a licensed contractor, such as Ecoyards, to do the work; the city isn’t currently giving rebates if homeowners do the work themselves. A Seattle Public Utilities inspector will do a pre- and post-inspection on site, and you must fill out the rebate form and send it in within 90 days of completion. Don’t worry, contact us and we’ll help you figure it out.

It was a typical dreary Saturday morning, and we probably would have spent it indoors, except we noticed in the West Seattle blog that the Seattle Chinese Garden was offering tours at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The Seattle Chinese Garden? Wasn’t this the same garden that has been in the works for over two decades? We had seen mounds of dirt behind construction fences each time we visited the botanical gardens at South Seattle Community College, but not much else. Curious, we went to check it out (detailed directions to get there).

A very knowledgeable docent named Dewey Webster invited us into the new Chan Education Center, where for the next hour, he presented a slide-show explaining how the garden is the first garden of its kind to be built in the style of the Sichuan province. The garden was designed in close collaboration with Seattle’s sister city of Chongqing — so close, in fact, that architects and skilled construction workers have all flown to Seattle from China for many aspects of the project. Bricks, rockeries, stone pavings and others materials have also been shipped from Sichuan so that the garden resembles, as much as possible, a typical Sichuan garden.

Rocks and materials are brought in from China.

As the docent explained, Chinese gardens contain four elements that all work to balance each other and bring harmony and peace: water, stone, plants and architecture. The elements represent the ying (plants, ponds, streams) and the yang (courtyard, rockeries, architecture). A Chinese garden also attempts to incorporate the natural world into the garden setting; the inclusion of rockeries and stone, for example, symbolize mountains. The other fascinating aspect of a Chinese garden is how it incorporates winding, zigzag pathways (evil spirits travel in a straight line, the docent said, so winding pathways help keep them at bay). “Leak windows” also offer enticing views of the outside landscape and invite visitors to continue to explore.

In keeping with the Chinese philosophy, the Seattle Chinese Garden will include pathways lined with bamboo, maples and pines, a stream that runs from the south end of the garden cascading down to the farthest northern end. The 4.6 acre garden (which sits on state-owned property adjacent to South Seattle Community College’s botanical gardens) will have a large entry courtyard, an 85-foot tall building called the “Floating Clouds Tower” and a cultural center.

Seattle Chinese Garden under construction

After the slideshow Saturday, we put on white construction hats and took a peek at what’s been done on the large entry courtyard, called Knowing the Spring Courtyard. The foundation was laid by a local construction company, but the intricate details — from the stonework to the formal gate to the wooden leak windows — is being handled by a team of 21 artisans from China. They’ll be here until late November. A few of them smiled at us as we walked toward the courtyard. They apparently arrived in August and have been living in trailers on the construction site. A great deal of the work is being done by hand. The workers have been meticulously, laboriously chiseling the stone pavers in the courtyard to give them a non-slip surface. According to the docent, some of the naturally weathered rocks that border the pond in the courtyard were imported from China because locally sourced rock was deemed “too young” and not weathered enough.

Black river rock inlay in pavers

The garden is far from complete, though the courtyard is expected to be done late this year with a dedication ceremony expected in the spring of 2011. Significant funding is still needed to get the complete project to the final finish line. The project, however, has the necessary permits and architectural and design plans, so at least some of the heavy lifting has been done. The Chinese government has donated about $1.2 million in materials and labor. The city of Seattle and the state have committed money as well. More than $7 million has been raised so far, but more is needed. The project is run by the nonprofit Seattle Garden Society, which has launched a brick campaign to raise money.

Public tours are held every Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., and every Saturday at 10:00 and 1:30. No need to register, but there’s a $5 suggested donation. You can also arrange special tours for groups of 10 or more by calling 206-764-5219.

Disappearing waterfall in Seattle

Water features are a dynamic way to add movement, sound, and interest to your landscape. Fountains, ponds or a small babbling brook can add tranquility to an outdoor living space, in addition to attracting birds and other wildlife. There are a variety of water features that go beyond the traditional koi pond, and homeowners now have a plethora of options that don’t require excess maintenance or take up too much space in the backyard. Pondless waterfalls, or disappearing waterfalls, are a great low-maintenance option, and are currently all the rage — with good reason. They allow you to enjoy the benefits of a cascading waterfall without having to deal with the excess maintenance and safety concerns associated with open ponds. No pond means no fish to take care of, no green slimy mold to clean out, no mosquitoes, and no water to refill. They’re becoming increasingly popular among our Seattle-area clients.

Our recent pondless waterfall project in West Seattle.

So how does it work? Water flows from the upper falls, and instead of being held in a still open pond, it pours into a lined basin that is dug in the ground and filled with rocks and gravel. The water is pumped from the bottom of the basin up to the top of the falls, creating a continuously recirculating flow of water.

Ecoyards recently installed a pondless waterfall at a West Seattle home (pictured above and left). The homeowner didn’t have a lot of space in his backyard, and didn’t want to bother with having to clean a pond. We created a natural landscape in a corner of his property with large boulders, small river rocks and some native plantings. Contact us if you want to learn more about how a pondless waterfall might fit into your landscape.

Ecoyards’ youngest employee at the base of the red oak

We’re on at mission at Ecoyards to tour all of Seattle’s amazing Heritage Trees. The first stop last Sunday was a trip through our West Seattle neighborhood, where we found this grand oak tree at Hiawatha Park. This red oak is more than 100 feet wide and was planted in 1911 with nearby trees as part of the first playfield designed by the Olmstead Brothers (they designed New York’s Central Park). It’s native to the northeast U.S. and displays spectacular red and gold in the fall.

The Heritage Tree program was initiated in 1996 by PlantAmesty to recognize exceptional, historic or otherwise spectacular trees.

Douglas fir

There are dozens and dozens of Heritage trees around city. They’re identified by a plaque, and owners are given a tree care manual. You can nominate a tree online — whether it’s a notable collection grove or avenue of trees or landmarks of a community. You can nominate trees on public or private property, but you have to have the owner’s approval. The tree also has to be examined by an arborist and be healthy.

The second stop on our Sunday tour was halfway down the block, in one of our neighbor’s back yard. It’s a Douglas fir (pictured left).

We rounded off the morning with a stop at one of the largest Giant Sequoia that we’ve ever seen in this city. This tree near West Seattle’s Morgan Junction is about 100 feet all and about 93 inches in diameter. The trunk and branching are magnificent on this California native; and it’s one of the largest located on private property in Seattle.

1. Plant a tree in honor of National Arbor Day, which is April 30.

2. Give your lawn a face-lift by aerating, overdressing and topdressing about every two years. (Read more about how to do so in this blog post). Otherwise fertilize your lawn with a good organic slow-release fertilizer.

3. Mow weekly, removing no more than 1/3 of the blade.

4. Add compost to your vegetables, trees, landscape beds.

5. In the vegetable garden, continue to plant cool season crops, such as lettuce, beets, snap peas, chard, radish, spinach and parsnip.

6. Plant seeds for annuals such as cosmos, asters, marigolds and zinnias.