Ground Cover May Be Required By Property Owner

Here is a sample of rules that are required by some property owners when it comes to ground cover and trees. Required landscaping of front yard setbacks: At least 90 percent of the required front yard setback in any zoning district shall be landscaped and maintained with living ground cover. The required setback may include necessary hard surfacing of driveways to reach allowable parking, loading, or stacking areas. Poured or laid asphalt, concrete, or similar hard surfacing shall not be used as allowable landscape material. Landscape areas must be capable of providing a substantially full expanse of foliage within three years after planting.

Trees: Valuing the benefits provided from the use of trees in reducing heat, pollution, and the loss of habitat resulting from the use of expansive areas of hard surfacing for parking purposes, the following standards regarding trees shall be met and maintained.

Total number of trees required: Trees shall be required at the rate of one tree per 50 feet of frontage or one tree per six parking, loading and stacking spaces provided on the site, whichever is greater. Where fractional trees result, the number of required trees shall be rounded to the nearest whole number.

Exception: If parking facilities or buildings can utilize zero setbacks, one tree per 50 feet of frontage shall be provided within the right-of-way subject to approval by the property owner.

Deciduous shade tree may be utilized for 100 percent of the total tree requirement. Only deciduous shade trees may be utilized. No more than 20 percent of the total tree requirement may be planted in the right-of-way area. Deciduous ornamental and evergreen or coniferous trees—up to 25 percent of the required trees may be deciduous ornamental, evergreen, or coniferous trees; however, they shall not be planted in a driveway or intersection safety zone nor utilized for parking lot interior trees or right-of-way plantings.

Interior tree requirements: When unenclosed interior parking spaces are provided on the site, one tree shall be required for every 18 interior parking spaces. Every interior tree shall be located in a planting island within the hard-surfaced area utilized for parking and maneuvering purposes. Said islands shall have dimensions of at least 5 feet wide and contain a minimum of 36 square feet per tree. Planting islands shall utilize raised curbs or wheelstops necessary to prevent damage from vehicles.

Let us help you deal with complex and confusing landscape issues. It doesn’t matter to us whether you want commercial desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented By:

Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC

623-848-8277

http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com

greenskeeperllc@cox.net

You Might Say Greens Keeper Landscaping Maintenance Is All Ears!

I know, you have heard that one before.  At Greens Keeper Landscaping there is a big difference.   We really do listen, we listen to our customers and potential customers.

We have learned that being a good listener and then following up on that information is really the way, perhaps the only way, to achieve happy customers.  The amazing thing about happy customers is that they tend to bring you even more customers.

We listen to what our customers want and need.  Over the years we have learned to both listen and know what are the right questions to ask.  Knowing the right questions to ask leads to the right answers.  Having the right answers leads to doing a great job for our customers.  We always try to ask open-ended questions that encourage a true dialogue, rather than one-word answers.

Are we bragging? Yes, I guess we are.  Our results are more than just bragging.  Our results, making your commercial property look great are rewards all their own.  When your property shines, then we can bask in your light.  

Businesses should never forget to listen to their customers. In fact, really listening to customers happens so rarely these days that we found a big competitive edge just by doing it.  We listen at the office and we listen out in the field.  

As good listeners we try to respond to broad comments with questions that get to the heart of the problem.  We don't rely on just preprinted customer feedback forms, or a fixed set of questions. All our staff tries to think on their feet and go where the discussion leads, rather than stick to a script.

If you feel this is the way business should be done then give Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance at shot at listening to your landscaping needs.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want lush lawns, desert landscaping or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Famous Parks: Phoenix South Mountain Park

We have featured many famous parks from all over the world, but did you know that here in the Valley of the Sun we have a very special park as well? The Phoenix Metro area can lay claim to several park records. South Mountain Park in Phoenix, Arizona, is the largest municipal park in the United States, one of the largest urban parks in North America and in the world. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride.

South Mountain Park preserves in a natural state a mountainous area of 16,283 acres or approximately 25.5 square miles of native desert vegetation. It was originally called Phoenix Mountain Park, it was formed in 1924 when President Calvin Coolidge sold its initial 13,000 acres to the city of Phoenix for $17,000. It has since been expanded through bond programs during the 1970s into the early 1980s. It is located south of central Phoenix, hence the name. Since the naming, suburban growth has nearly surrounded the park. Ahwatukee now borders to the south and Laveen to the west.

South Mountain was originally known as the Salt River Mountains. The original mountain park committee consisted of J.C. Dobbins, chairman of the Phoenix city planning commission, Mrs. John Hampton, and H.B. Wilkinson. Dobbins Road, named after J.C. Dobbins, runs east and west just north of the park.

The park's lookout point rises over 1,000 feet above the desert floor. Beyond the roads leading to ramadas and the summit, the park features 58 miles of trails for cycling, hiking and horseback riding. Much of the original park infrastructure was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1930s. The landmark Mystery Castle is located within its foothills.

There is a variety of flora and fauna within South Mountain Park. One of the most notable flora is the Elephant tree, (Bursera microphylla), which exhibits multiple contorted trunk architecture. 

South Mountain Park is also notable for its chuckwalla population. With an average of 65 chuckwallas per hectare, South Mountain has the highest density of chuckwallas that has ever been reported. Further, male chuckwallas at South Mountain exhibit a “carrot tail” phenotype, which is unique to this population.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want commercial desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented By:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Plant of the Week: Mexican Poppies

Mexican poppy is a common name for several plants and may refer to: Hunnemannia and Argemone mexicana species.

The term poppy is used to describe any flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colorful flowers. One species of poppy, Papaver somniferum, produces edible seeds and is also the source of the crude drug opium which contains powerful medicinal alkaloids such as morphine and has been used since ancient times as an analgesic and a source of narcotic, medicinal and recreational drugs. Following the trench warfare which took place in the poppy fields of Flanders, during the First World War, poppies have become a symbol of remembrance of soldiers who have died during wartime.

Poppies are herbaceous annual, biennial or short-lived perennial plants. Some species are monocarpic, dying after flowering. Poppies can be over 4 feet tall with flowers up to six inches across. The flowers have 4 to 6 petals, many stamens forming a conspicuous whorl in the centre of the flower and an ovary consisting of from 2 to many fused carpels. The petals are showy, may be of almost any color and some have markings. The petals are crumpled in the bud and as blooming finishes, the petals often lie flat before falling away. Poppies are in full bloom late spring to early summer.

Hunnemannia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the poppy family Papaveraceae, containing the single species Hunnemannia fumariifolia (tulip poppy or Mexican tulip poppy) native to the highlands of Mexico. It is typically found at elevations of 5,000 to 6,500 feet in the Chihuahuan Desert and south into central Mexico, where it favors rocky habitats, occurring along roadsides as well.

It is a perennial whose erect stems are somewhat woody at the base, and may reach 24 inches in height. The leaves resemble those of the closely related Eschscholzia, being finely divided into many gray-green linear lobes. The flowers are solitary yellow cups formed from four overlapping petals, 2 inches across, vaguely resembling the unrelated tulip; the two sepals underneath typically fall away as the flower opens. The numerous stamens are short, with orange anthers. The long thin fruits are also reminiscent of Eschscholzia.

The genus is named for English botanist and collector John Hunnemann (1760-1839). The Latin fumariifolia literally means "with leaves like Fumaria" (fumitory).

It is widely cultivated, usually as an annual from seed. The cultivar 'Sunlite' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want commercial desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented By:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Photo Credit: By No machine-readable author provided. Curtis Clark assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=716110

We Need To Understand What Plants Are A Real Problem and Why

Normally on Tuesdays we are talking about some aspect of weeds and why they are either a problem or something about them that is useful. Today we are going to expand that topic to include growing things that can be problematic no matter the definition of a plant or a weed.

The definition of problematic: constituting or presenting a problem or difficulty. Yes, weeds are covered by that definition. But what about grass that can get out of control, cacti that can injure guest or plants that can exacerbate allergies.

Wire Grass

Like other forms of Bermuda grass, wire grass turns brown during the winter, so you can easily spot the telltale patches in a fescue or bluegrass lawn. If you’re planning to dig wire grass up, it’s best to do it while it’s brown and dormant. If you’re going to spray wire grass, take note of the patches in your lawn, then wait until it’s green and growing.

Cactus Can Bite

Be sure to plant cacti away from main thoroughfares in your yard. Kids and dogs are not likely to pay much attention until they get a few painful reminders. Even grownups may prick their ankles if the plant is too close to the walkway.

Plants and Allergies

Hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, doesn’t have anything to do with a fever, or hay for that matter. Instead, the watery eyes and stuffy nose are most often due to pollen from the beautiful plants and trees gracing your commercial property or neighborhood. The condition was called that because it was discovered during haying season, when its symptoms were most present.

The most allergenic plant we have is ragweed. It is less common on the West Coast or in New England. Therefore there is less pollen in those areas. About 75% of Americans who have plant allergies are sensitive to ragweed, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

Ryegrasses as a whole are often problematic for allergy sufferers. There’s no allergy-free grass. And if you mow it, you pick up mold as well as pollen. Other common allergens including timothy, blue, and orchard grasses.

Pigweed or tumbleweed and other weed allergens in the West include Russian thistle and green molly (aka kochia or burning bush). Peak time: Spring to fall

Nearly every growing plant will produce something that will have an allergic reaction in at least a small part of the population.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want commercial desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented By:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

How Grass Makes Your Property Look Professional

When it comes to your commercial property, and it really doesn’t matter the type of business, you have competition that is trying to outdo your business. The look of your property makes a difference to your potential and current customers. 

No lawn area or smallest patch of grass that is visible can be overlooked. Spring is a pretty easy season, all things considered. Are you easy to please because we’re just happy that everything is finally greening up again? Things are growing and budding and blooming but they’re still manageable. Even our clients who complain about a lack of a green thumb can make their property look great in spring. Keeping everything looking great all year, though, is another story. Here are some our pro tips that will help.

Cut It Right

Grass is pretty amazing when you stop and think. It takes a lot of abuse, from kids running over it to property owners and pros using whirling steel blades to cut it, and it just keeps on growing. How about giving it a little love? First, you want to make sure to cut your grass at an appropriate height. For most cool season grasses like fescues, that can mean 3-4”. That will help shade out weeds and retain moisture at the roots. Also, keep your blades nice and sharp because dull blades lead to torn, ragged, unhealthy grass that’s prone to disease. A clean cut at the proper height can make a huge difference.

Edging Makes It Complete

As you drive around your business area, you can tell the professionally maintained properties from the rest is by the edging. Does grass spill over the sidewalks and driveway or is there a clean, sharp line between the lawn and the pavement? It is labor intensive.  It’s a lot easier to use a tool like a lithium cordless string trimmer and wheeled edger. The trimmer’s wheels allow you to keep a consistent depth without getting fatigued, and the cordless power means you’re not choking on fumes while you work or accidentally resting your arm on a ripping hot exhaust. When a task is easy and almost fun you’ll do it more often. Edging your property as little as once or twice a month will make your property look crisp and professionally maintained all season long.

Hope that helps, or of course you can give us a call and not have to think about your grass again as we will take care of it for you.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want commercial desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented By:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Consider Your Clientele For Commercial Landscaping Ideas

Although good landscaping is important for homeowners, it can mean the difference between success and failure when it comes to your business. A beautifully landscaped business will encourage potential customers to stop by for a visit, but a poor landscaping job could send those same potential customers to drive on by.

It is also a good idea for business owners to build green technology into their landscape designs. For instance, business owners can use native plants in their landscape designs, incorporate drought resistant varieties of trees and shrubs and use landscape elements that will reduce soil erosion. These designs are good for the environment - and good for business as well.

One mistake many business owners make is designing a magnificent landscape without considering the cost of ongoing maintenance. No matter how beautiful or well designed your business' landscape might be, the grass will need to be mowed, the flowers will need to be watered and the trees will need to be pruned. It is imperative for business owners to factor in not only the cost of the initial landscaping job, but the monthly cost of maintenance as well.

One way for business owners to reduce the maintenance costs of their landscapes is to complement traditional design elements like trees, shrubs and flowers with rocks, boulders and other hardscaping elements. These elements can be stunning, but they are also low maintenance. By incorporating them into the overall landscape design, business owners can cut maintenance costs without sacrificing a beautiful and enticing exterior.

Before getting started, it is important to understand the nature of your business and your clientele. The landscaping choices you make should be tailored to meet the needs, and the expectations, of your customers. For instance, the landscaping choices made by a discount retailer would be quite different than those for a high-end luxury clothing store. A high-end retailer would want to invest in the most beautiful landscape elements, including magnificent flowering trees and shrubs, to entice and please wealthy customers.

Or you can let Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance do all the work for you and take the burden off your shoulders all together.  Give us a call at 623-848-8277 and let’s talk about it.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Famous Parks: Phoenix Park

As our regular readers know once a week we feature either a famous landscape architect or a famous park.  This week since the Phoenix Metro area is famous we thought we would feature Phoenix Park.  But it is in Dublin Ireland and not the Valley of the Sun.

Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland – A 1,750 acres urban park in Dublin. Phoenix Park is one of the largest city parks in Europe. The park includes Dublin’s Zoo, big green lawn, woodland, many historical and religious monuments and an old fort. Several hundreds of Deer live within the park’s boundaries as well

 After the Normans conquered Dublin and its hinterland in the 12th century, Hugh Tyrrel, 1st Baron of Castleknock, granted a large area of land, including what now comprises the Phoenix Park, to the Knights Hospitaller. They established an abbey at Kilmainham on the site now occupied by Royal Hospital Kilmainham. The knights lost their lands in 1537 following the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII of England. Eighty years later the lands reverted to the ownership of the King's representatives in Ireland. On the restoration of Charles II of England, his Viceroy in Dublin, the Duke of Ormonde, established a Royal Hunting Park on the land in 1662. It contained pheasants and wild deer, making it necessary to enclose the entire area with a wall. The Park originally included the demesne of Kilmainham Priory south of the River Liffey, but when the building of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham commenced in 1680, the Park was reduced to its present size, all of which is now north of the river. It was opened to the people of Dublin by the Earl of Chesterfield in 1745.

Deer grazing near the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park

The Park is split between three civil parishes: Castleknock to the north-west, Chapelizod to the south and St James' to the north. The last named is mainly centred south of the River Liffey around St James' parish church. The Park has its own piece of legislation the Phoenix Park Act, 1925 which includes giving powers to Park rangers to remove and arrest of offenders who disobey its bye-laws, which include "No person shall act contrary to public morality in the Park".

The residence of the President of Ireland, Áras an Uachtaráin, built in 1754, is located in the park. As the Viceregal Lodge, it was the official residence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland until the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922.

Dublin Zoo is one of Dublin's main attractions. It houses more than 700 animals and tropical birds from around the world and was founded in 1830[13] and opened to the public on 1 September 1831, with animals from the London Society, making it the third oldest zoo in the world. Within a year the zoo housed 123 species.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want commercial desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented By:

Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC

623-848-8277

http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com

greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Plant Of The Week: Desert Milkweed

Our Plant of the Week is a special one for our area. Here in the Valley of the Sun we have many that are called Desert Milkweed.  Also called Asclepias subulata is a species of milkweed known commonly as the rush milkweed, desert milkweed or ajamete. This is an erect perennial herb which loses its leaves early in the season and stands as a cluster of naked stalks. Atop the stems are inflorescences of distinctive flowers. Each cream-white flower has a reflexed corolla that reveals the inner parts, a network of five shiny columns, each topped with a tiny hook. The fruit is a pouchlike follicle that contains many flat, oval seeds with long, silky hairlike plumes. This milkweed is native to the desert southwest of the United States and northern Mexico.

Milkweed is crucial to the life-cycle of the monarch butterfly. Female monarchs search for milkweed to lay their eggs. Monarch larvae (caterpillars) will only feed on milkweeds in the Asclepias family. There are 108 species of milkweed in North America. Monarchs are only known to use 30 of them, but they may use any or all of them. Below is a list of milkweeds that Monarchs favor in Arizona. We hope to expand the list to the entire southwest. They are labeled whether they are more likely to grow in the low or high desert areas of the state.

Most species of milkweed contain cardiac glycosides. When the caterpillars consume the leaves, they become toxic to many predators. This protection continues when they become butterflies. Predators learn to avoid monarch larvae and butterflies because they taste bad or make them vomit. There is a wide variation in toxin strength in different kinds of milkweed.

Desert milkweed can be used as an upright sculptural accent in the landscape. Softer-foliaged perennials and annual wildflowers compliment milkweed's form. Producing practically no debris, desert milkweed is perfect for poolscapes. It is tough enough to thrive in dry, hot, sunny locations, so use it in those difficult spots of full sun and reflected sun and heat. Preferring well draining soil, it is quick to establish and very drought tolerant. For a natural look, use desert milkweed when planting wash areas.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented By:

Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC

623-848-8277

http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com

greenskeeperllc@cox.net

What Makes A Weed A Weed?

Well, some people view weeds differently than others.  Here is a good example. In the photo some people would see a weed while others will simply see it as a wish.

Ralph Waldo Emerson described a weed as a plant whose virtue has not yet been discovered. And when you’re hoeing or pulling weeds, it definitely can be a challenge to find anything virtuous about them. Those that are the peskiest and most hated thrive in places you don’t want them to be, whether in your garden or lawn, in a field or on wild land or roadsides.

Weeds tend to share some common attributes that contribute to their bad name — helping them survive under conditions where other plants would fail. Here are just a few of the characteristics that make a weed a weed:

They tend to produce lots of seed — sometimes tens of thousands of seeds per plant.

Their seed can sometimes survive for a very long time in the soil, going dormant but then sprouting just as soon as conditions are right. Simply disturbing the soil is often enough to trigger new growth.

They are able to establish themselves quickly. Sometimes they seem to crop up in the blink of the eye.

They often have mechanisms that enable them to spread easily, such as the ability to reproduce vegetatively without seeds.

\They can grow in inhospitable locales where more desirable plants typically wouldn’t survive.

The more of these weedy characteristics a plant has, the more successful and problematic a weed it will be. One colorful example is the common dandelion. This is the first weed most children learn to identify. It is adapted to a wide range of environments and is found in many parts of the world. As for having mechanisms for spreading, what better way to disperse than by a puff of wind or by kids blowing ‘parachutes’ of seed over the neighborhood? Dandelion plants can also reproduce vegetatively thanks to large tap roots. So unless you cut the root deep into the soil, you can rest assured the plant will reemerge. Dandelions also seem to thrive under almost any growing condition. The hot, dry weather that is less than optimal for grass growth may allow dandelions to take over your lawn.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Commercial Property Lawn Maintenance

Consistent maintenance is the key to preserving your investment in your landscape. Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC is experienced in providing unfailing and reliable maintenance service for your commercial or business property. We will modify your needed maintenance to your budget and needs. Our maintenance goal is to keep your landscape vibrant, healthy, and safe to enjoy from season to season. By bringing our unique one stop shop services to our customers, we are able to differentiate ourselves from our competition and keep the customer base pleased at all times.

List of Services

What follows is a partial list of services we offer; Lawn Service, Landscaping, Reviving Undernourished Yards, Trimming, Landscape Debris Removal, Plant Installation, Lawn Mowing, Fertilization, Weed Control, Grub Control, Insect Control, Seeding, Fungicide Treatments, Edging and Brush Chipping

Irrigation & Sprinklers

Proper lawn watering practices and lawn maintenance play a major role in the ability of your lawn to tolerate and resist stress and pest problems. Choosing the correct sprinkler is an important step in maintaining a beautiful green lawn. A proper irrigation system insures that your plants receive the correct amount of water on a daily basis. Our trained professionals will provide quick assessment, efficient maintenance and repairs to the irrigation system to ensure proper coverage of the entire property. Our irrigation specialist will keep your landscaping beautiful all year with their extensive knowledge of irrigation systems.

Keeping Your Trees Healthy 

With proper care and maintenance, trees provide privacy, shade, beauty, a natural environment, habitat and add value to your property. In order to keep the trees healthy and help preserve their life, accurate pruning is vital. Pruning should be done carefully and professionally to avoid damaging the tree.

Water Conservation

Cut back the sprinkler system - Commercial properties are embracing smart water management. The use of water conserving spray heads, smart irrigation controllers, targeted irrigation techniques, and weather stations are all becoming popular in commercial landscaping. This trend is likely to continue throughout 2016 as many of these measures save water and save money, as well. This is a win-win situation for commercial property managers.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

We Have Your Commercial Landsape Services

Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC. is a service oriented family owned business specializing in commercial landscape maintenance in the Phoenix Metro area.

Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance has been maintaining commercial properties in the Valley of the Sun, here in Arizona, to the highest level. We have many years of experience here in the valley caring for plants in our desert climate and in commercial property landscapes.  

We are always a reliable source for all of your property maintenance needs. We employ a well educated, fully trained and experienced staff who can attend to all of your needs in a knowledgeable and professional manner. 

Our services include all facets of Property Management. We cover property maintenance to customized lawn treatment programs, tree & shrub diagnostics and care, annual color programs, enhancements, Irrigation System management, We can help with your Holiday and Event Decorating. Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance has a full time staff to fulfill any and all of your needs twelve  months a year! 

We are certified, licensed and insured to meet all local requirements and regulations. Contact our award winning company to schedule a commercial property consultation today. 

We will design and develop a custom program for your specific property and budget needs. You can be on your way to improving your property’s appearance and value with our guidance and expertise.

Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC, features first class customer service, providing unmatched value, superior products, our extensive local experience and unquestionable reliability.

All of our vehicles are clearly marked and all of our employees are in uniform for easy identification. Many of the small unexpected things that other companies charge for, are included in our everyday service.

Or you can let Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance do all the work for you and take the burden off your shoulders all together.  Give us a call at 623-848-8277 and let’s talk about it.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Famous Parks: Parc Monceau Paris France

Parc Monceau is situated in the 8th arrondissement and covers an area of 8.2 hectares. Landscaped in the 18th century with many follies (Corinthian pillars, an Egyptian pyramid), Parc Monceau was restored during the Second Empire in an English style made up of curved walkways and randomly placed statues. The public garden is a very popular play area for children residing locally.

The park was established by Phillippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres, a cousin of King Louis XVI, fabulously wealthy, and active in court politics and society. In 1769 he had begun purchasing the land where the park is located. In 1778, he decided to create a public park, and employed the writer and painter Louis Carrogis Carmontelle to design the gardens.

The Duke was a close friend of the Prince of Wales, later George IV, and a lover of all things English. His intention was to create what was then called an Anglo-Chinese or English garden, on the earlier model of Stowe House in England (1730–1738), with its examples of the architectural folly, or fantastic reconstructions of buildings of different ages and continents. It was similar in style to several other examples of the French landscape garden built at about the same time, including the Desert de Retz, the gardens of the Château de Bagatelle and the Folie Saint James.

Carmontelle employed a German landscape architect named Etickhausen and the architect of the Duke, Bernard Poyet, to build the follies. The intention of the garden was to surprise and amaze visitors. This goal was clearly stated by Carmontelle: "It is not necessary for gardens or nature to be presented in the most agreeable forms. It's necessary instead to preserve the charm that one encounters entering the garden, and to renew it with each step, so that the visitor in his soul will have the desire to revisit the garden every day and to possess it for himself. The true art is to know how to keep the visitors there, through a variety of objects, otherwise they will go to the real countryside to find what should be found in this garden; the image of liberty.".

The garden designed by Carmontelle was finished in 1779. It contained a miniature Egyptian pyramid, a Roman colonnade, antique statues, a pond of water lilies, a tatar tent, a farmhouse, a Dutch windmill, a temple of Mars, a minaret, an Italian vineyard, an enchanted grotto, and "a gothic building serving as a chemistry laboratory," as described by Carmontelle. In addition to the follies, the garden featured servants dressed in oriental and other exotic costumes, and unusual animals, such as camels.

Though the Folly was (and is) frequently described as an Anglo-Chinese or English garden, its architect, Carmontelle, had a very different view. In his work, Jardin de Monceau, près de Paris, (1779), he wrote: "It was not at all an English garden that was intended at Monceau, but precisely what the critics said; to put together into one garden all times and all places. It is simply a fantasy, to have an extraordinary garden, a pure amusement, and not at all the desire to mimic a nation which, when it makes a "natural" garden, uses a roller on all the greens and spoils nature."

As garden fashions changed, in 1781 parts of the park were remodeled into a more traditional English landscape style by the Scottish landscape gardener Thomas Blaikie. In 1787, a new city wall, the Wall of the Farmers-General, was built along the northern edge of the garden, along with a circular rotunda in the form of a classical Doric temple, known as the Pavilion de Chartres, designed by Claude Nicolas Ledoux. The ground floor of the temple was used as a customs house, while the upper floor was an apartment with a view of the garden reserved for the Duke.

While The Duke was a supporter of the ideas of the French Revolution, and even voted, as a member of the Assembly, for the execution of his own cousin, Louis XVI, it did not save him. He was guillotined during the Reign of Terror in 1793, and the park was nationalized.
Schematic depiction of André-Jacques Garnerin's parachute used in the Parc Monceau descent of 22 October 1797. Illustration dates from the early nineteenth century.

In 1797, Parc Monceau was the site of the first silk parachute jump, when André-Jacques Garnerin jumped from a Montgolfier hot air balloon, landing in the park where a large crowd was gathered. 

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Plant of the Week: Hens and Chicks

Are you looking for something to line your paths and walkways on your commercial property? If guests, tricycles and pets aren’t going to veer off the walkway and you must have succulents, hens and chicks are popular choices. These drought-tolerant ground covers spread by growing multiple plants, come in a variety of colors and prefer sun, otherwise they fade to a light green. Some hens and chicks grow taller than others so make sure to check the height if you’d like them to rise to the same level as your walkway.

 Hen and chicks (also known as hen-and-chickens, or hen-and-biddies in the Southwest) is a common name for a group of small succulent plants belonging to the flowering plant family Crassulaceae, native to Europe and northern Africa. They grow close to the ground with leaves formed around each other in a rosette, and propagating by offsets. The "hen" is the main plant, and the "chicks" are the offspring, which start as tiny buds on the main plant and soon sprout their own roots, taking up residence close to the mother plant. They are very popular here in the Phoenix Metro area.

Plants commonly referred to as "Hens and chicks" include ground-hugging species of Sempervivum (houseleeks) such as Sempervivum 'Pekinese', S. arachnoideum (cobweb houseleek), and S. arachnoideum (common houseleek), as well as members of the related genus Jovibarba. The name is also used for some species of Echeveria, Sedum and Bergenia although these plants differ significantly from Sempervivum and Jovibarba, and may require different cultivation and care.

 Hen and chicks are popular in gardens for its varied and interesting appearance and hardiness. It is grown as container planting or in rock gardens. It does best in well-drained, rocky soil; if they are kept wet, the outer leaves will rot. Although it does best in sun, it will grow in light shade. 

Please keep in mind that this plant should be used with caution where a guest may encounter it direct. 

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Weeds In Your Commercial Landscape

Any weed that is 2″ or less can be sprayed and left to die, anything else needs to be pulled by hand. This eliminates the dead, brown carcass of the dying weed languishing along the sidewalk for a week or two until someone removes it.

When pulling weeds, it is important to get the root system out with it. You can’t just snap the top off or you’ll have a bright, shiny new weed in the same place within days. They are tenacious buggers.

More Important Prevention

Mulching landscape beds helps to curb weed growth. Hardwood mulch is easily the best for preventing weeds. You need 3-4″ of mulch to keep weed seeds form germinating. The chemicals that are released while the mulch is biodegrading into the soil act as a natural pre-emergent. As well, any weeds that do germinate in the upper layers of the mulch are fairly easy to remove before they get too big.

Do not install landscape fabric under hardwood mulch. You will actually get more weeds because the mulch cannot adhere to the soil.

What do you do with weeds in a rock bed?

Rock beds stay fairly clean for the first five years or so, but as sand, dust and debris collects in between the rocks it becomes a great place for seeds to take root. You can add additional rock a time or two but after that you need to remove the rock and clean it or add new on top of new weed barriers.

You may also see weeds in rock beds if the weed barrier (plastic or fabric) has been punctured or degraded over time. In this instance, you need to pull everything out and install new weed barrier.

Weeds in parking lots, loading docks, sidewalk cracks and along curbs?

Weeds in parking lot cracks, along walls and curbs are pretty easy to manage. Spray them.

It is pretty difficult to get the root system pulled from these areas, so you will need to spray them instead of pulling – hopefully when they are little. If they do get larger, you can spray them and at the next service, use a line trimmer to whack them back down to the ground and clean up.

If you are having a lot of problems with weeds in those areas, you can combine a pre-emergent to the liquid chemical that will keep new weeds from sprouting. As with any chemical, only use them when necessary.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Are You Ready For Spring Grass Preparation

The Phoenix Metro area has wonderful weather that gives us year round opportunities for plants and grass.  But it isn’t something that happens with no effort on the part of your commercial property manager. Planning and the right maintenance program areall part of a beautiful property for your clients and customers. Some steps are outlined in the following article.

Aeration

To maintain a healthy lawn through periods of stress, the soil should have adequate water, air and nutrients in the top 6 to 10 inches. Soils that are hard and compacted impede root growth, which prevents the grass from developing the deep root system that is essential to survive hot, dry periods.

Core aeration is the process of mechanically removing plugs of thatch and soil from the lawn. Aeration opens the soil, helps reduce compaction, improves water infiltration, improves rooting, reduces thatch and acts in many other ways to improve the lawn and to reduce stress.

Power raking is also an effective way to reduce thatch buildup, but it does not have the soil stress alleviation effects of core aeration. These techniques are labor intensive processes that require specialized equipment, but they may be necessary to maintain your lawn in top condition over an extended period of time.

Core aerification can be used to minimize thatch accumulation, to modify its physical characteristics, and to remove certain amounts of thatch. Core cultivation is not as effective as power raking in removing thatch debris, but serves more immediately to reduce soil compaction. Soil cores are either removed or allowed to stay in place after the cultivation process. When left on the surface, cores can be allowed to breakdown and redistribute soil throughout the thatch. Surface cores when dried can be broken up by raking or dragging the lawn with a weighted carpet mat or chain link fence. Cores can be mowed by using a rotary mower at a low travel speed when using a vertical spring blade (dethatch) attachment. This will usually lift up the dry core and pulverize it. The soil within the core modifies the physical structure of the thatch, making it a better growing medium. Soil incorporation also enhances thatch breakdown by improving physical properties of thatch and introducing microorganisms. Core cultivation can be done once a year during the vigorous growing season for bermuda grass to minimize thatch accumulation. Most turfgrasses growing on heavy clay or layered soils require annual cultivation to restrict thatch buildup and more importantly, to relieve soil compaction. Core cultivation is not a substitute for dethatching!

It is not necessary to add topdressing as an attempt to fill in the holes in most cases. Most soils will respond to a topdressing of organic matter, but it is difficult to fill the holes entirely with an amendment. However, this is a logical time to topdress. Aerification can be done once a year on home lawns. It is best done on warm season grasses during the first third of the summer and in the early fall at higher elevations on Kentucky bluegrass, fescue, and ryegrass lawns (see Maintenance Table).

Spring Transition-Back to Bermudagrass

The return of bermudagrass in the spring is lessened and sometimes a struggle due to the overseed ryegrass. Twenty years ago, simply shortening the mowing heights with more frequent mowings would kill the ryegrass. This is still true for annual ryegrass and the hybrid ryegrass, but not for perennial ryegrass. Spring transition can be a unsightly time for turf. For a better transition, start these practices only when the minimum nighttime temperature is 60ºF or higher for five days in a row. Fertilize the lawn once per week with 1/4 pound of water soluble N. Scalp the lawn slightly every other mowing. Apply regular irrigation amounts as usual. Do not shut off the water for 10_14 days. This will damage the underlying bermudagrass. Keep on this schedule for 3-4 weeks. Then return to the normal base height for the underlying bermudagrass. Mow regularly, as you would for the bermudagrass variety you are growing. Areas with poor transition by mid-summer are probably growing in shaded and/or wet areas, which heavily favor ryegrass.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:

Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC

623-848-8277

http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com

greenskeeperllc@cox.net

We Are Looking For Additional Customers

We want to make sure you know that we are welcoming new customers.  Do you have a commercial property that you would like to see if we can add to our regularly scheduled landscape maintenance?

We would like the opportunity to bid for your business. Let us know if you would a new competitive offer for your property maintenance please give us a call and let us show you all the ways we can help you save.

We are a service oriented family owned business specializing in commercial landscape maintenance, providing high quality care based on open communication, and the highest quality service.

We offer a full range of options for our customers by tailoring a maintenance program to the specific individual needs of each property, and budget. We will strive to keep your landscape safe and beautiful, while at the same time keeping your costs as low as possible.

We meet or exceed the highest insurance standards, with $2000000 business liability, $1000000 commercial auto, and $1000000 workman's comp. We list all our customers as additional insured at no extra charge upon request.

Our vehicles are clearly marked and our employees are in uniform for easy identification. All our employees are verified through the I-9 verification system and have successfully passed background checks.

Keep in mind that Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance can Help!  Please contact us at; Sales: 623-848-8277 We serve businesses like yours throughout the entire Phoenix Metro Area.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net

Martha Schwartz Famous Landscape Architect

Martha Schwartz, born 1950, is an American landscape architect. Her background is in the fine arts as well as landscape architecture, and her projects range from private to urban scale. She studied at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and graduated from the University of Michigan. She married and later divorced fellow landscape architect Peter Walker Schwartz practice Martha Schwartz Partners currently has an office in London.

MSP is a leading international practice whose work focuses on activating and regenerating urban sites and city centers. Combining landscape, art and urbanism, MSP has extensive experience designing and implementing installations, gardens, civic spaces, parks, institutional landscapes, corporate headquarters, urban regeneration projects as well as creating master plans. MSP also works with cities at a strategic level to look at longer term planning at city or regional scale.

Having had over 30 years of experience as a landscape architect and artist, she has received a number of highly regarded awards and prizes including the Cooper-Hewitt Museum National Design Award for her body of work in Landscape Architecture, an honorary fellowship from RIBA, several design awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, and visiting residencies at Radcliffe College and the American Academy in Rome, although accolades in the art world continue to evade her work.

Martha has been inspired by the work of Isamu Noguchi, and her practice aims to create landscapes that speak to the public about being human and that communicate ideas, as she believes that landscape should reflect who we are and who we want to be . Her design approach has been characterized by striking and highly colorful projects such as the Grand Canal Square in Dublin, Ireland, hard landscape projects like Exchange Square in Manchester, England and more architectural installations such as the City and Nature installation in Xi'an, China but what is perhaps less well known and rather overshadowed are the more naturalistic projects such as Yorkville Park in Toronto, Canada by Schwartz in collaboration with Ken Smith and her then husband Peter Walker, and Geraldton Tailings Landscape in Canada as well as MSP's more transformative community based projects such as the Monte Laa Central Park which converted an eight lane highway into a new neighborhood park for residents of an ethnically diverse area of Vienna, Austria.

Noted for her exploration of new design expression in the landscape, Schwartz’s projects span the globe; from her striking Dublin Docklands project in Ireland to the Children’s Discovery Centre in Damascus, Syria, Schwartz’s project portfolio is extremely diverse. Recent and current projects include: Leamouth Peninsula, London, UK; Wellington Place, Leeds, UK; St Mary’s Churchyard, London, UK; Cosmopolitan Casino, Las Vegas, USA; Frederiks Brygge Master Plan, Copenhagen, Denmark; Qatar Petroleum Headquarters, Doha, Qatar; Al Ain Sports City, Al Ain, UAE; Mesa Arts Center, Arizona, USA; Master Plan for Lulu Island, UAE, Jacob Javits Convention Center Plaza, New York City, USA, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Washington, USA, Rio Shopping Center (1988-2000), Atlanta, USA and many others.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want desert landscaping, lush lawns or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  We serve businesses like yours all over the Phoenix Metro Area. To find out how give us a call at 623-848-8277.

Presented by:
Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC
623-848-8277
http://www.commerciallandscapecare.com
greenskeeperllc@cox.net