Monday May 30th Memorial Day

As you know Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. 

Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

Annual Decoration Days for particular cemeteries are held on a Sunday in late spring or early summer in some rural areas of the American South, notably in the mountains. In cases involving a family graveyard where remote ancestors as well as those who were deceased more recently are buried, this may take on the character of an extended family reunion to which some people travel hundreds of miles. 

People gather on the designated day and put flowers on graves and renew contacts with kinfolk and others. There often is a religious service and a "dinner on the ground," the traditional term for a potluck meal in which people used to spread the dishes out on sheets or tablecloths on the grass. It is believed that this practice began before the American Civil War and thus may reflect the real origin of the "memorial day" idea.

Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day; Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving, while Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you want rock gardens, lush lawns, desert landscaping or some type of landscaping in between, we can help.  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: Luxembourg Gardens, Paris

Founded in the 17th century by the Queen of France and a member of the powerful Italian Medici family, Marie de Medici, Luxembourg Gardens is famous for its neatly manicured lawns, tree-lined promenades and blooming flowerbeds. In other words, these gardens are beyond magnificent.

The Jardin du Luxembourg, or the Luxembourg Garden, located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, was created beginning in 1612 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France, for a new residence she constructed, the Luxembourg Palace. The garden today is owned by the French Senate, which meets in the Palace. It covers 23 hectares and is known for its lawns, tree-lined promenades, flowerbeds, the model sailboats on its circular basin, and for the picturesque Medici Fountain, built in 1620.

In 1611, Marie de' Medici, the widow of Henry IV and the regent for the King Louis XIII decided to build a palace in imitation of the Pitti Palace in her native Florence. She purchased the hotel du Luxembourg (today the Petit-Luxembourg palace) and began construction of the new palace. She commissioned Salomon de Brosse to build the palace and a fountain, which still exists. In 1612 she planted 2,000 elm trees, and directed a series of gardeners, most notably Tommaso Francini, to build a park in the style she had known as a child in Florence. Francini planned two terraces with balustrades and parterres laid out along the axis of the chateau, aligned around a circular basin. He also built the Medici Fountain to the east of the palace as a nympheum, an artificial grotto and fountain, without its present pond and statuary. The original garden was just eight hectares in size.

In 1630 she bought additional land and enlarged the garden to thirty hectares, and entrusted the work to Jacques Boyceau de la Barauderie, the indendant of the royal gardens of Tuileries and the early garden of Versailles. He was one of the early theorists of the new and more formal garden à la française, and he laid out a series of squares along an east-west alley closed at the east end by the Medici Fountain, and a rectangle of parterres with broderies of flowers and hedges in front of the palace. In the center he placed an octagonal basin with a fountain, with a perspective toward what is now the Paris observatory.

During and after the July Monarchy of 1848, the park became the home of a large population of statues; first the Queens and famous women of France, lined along the terraces; then, in 1880s and 1890s, monuments to writers and artists, a small-scale model by Bartholdi of his Statue of Liberty and one modern sculpture by Zadkine.

In 1865, during the reconstruction of Paris by Louis Napoleon, the rue de l'Abbé de l'Épée, (now rue Auguste-Comte) was extended into the park, cutting off about seven hectares, including a large part of the old nursery garden. The building of new streets next to the park also required moving and rebuilding the Medici Fountain to its present location. The long basin of the fountain was added at this time, along with the statues at the foot of the fountain.

During this reconstruction, the director of parks and promenades of Paris, Gabriel Davioud, built new ornamental gates and fences around the park, and polychrome brick garden houses. He also transformed what remained of the old Chartreux nursery garden, at the south end of the park, into an English garden with winding paths, and planted a fruit garden in the southwest corner. He kept the regular geometric pattern of the paths and alleys, but did create one diagonal alley near the Medici fountain which opened a view of the Pantheon.

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 - Rat-Eating Pitcher Plant

Nepenthes attenboroughii, or Attenborough's pitcher plant, is a montane species of carnivorous pitcher plant of the genus Nepenthes. It is named after the celebrated broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough, who is a keen enthusiast of the genus. The species is characterised by its large and distinctive bell-shaped lower and upper pitchers and narrow, upright lid. The type specimen of N. attenboroughii was collected on the summit of Mount Victoria, an ultramafic mountain in central Palawan, the Philippines.

In May 2010, the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University selected N. attenboroughii as one of the "top 10 new species described in 2009". The species appeared on the 2012 list of the world's 100 most threatened species compiled by the IUCN Species Survival Commission in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London.

Nepenthes attenboroughii was discovered by Alastair S. Robinson, Stewart R. McPherson and Volker B. Heinrich in June 2007, during a 2 month research expedition to catalogue the different species of pitcher plant found across the Philippine Archipelago. The expedition was initiated after missionaries reported seeing giant Nepenthes on the mountain in 2000.

The formal description of N. attenboroughii was published in February 2009 in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. The herbarium specimen A. Robinson AR001 is the designated holotype, and is deposited at the herbarium of Palawan State University (PPC), Puerto Princesa City.

Further accounts of this species appeared in McPherson's Pitcher Plants of the Old World, published in May 2009, and in the December 2009 issue of the Carnivorous Plant Newsletter

The leaves are coriaceous and sessile or sub-petiolate. The leaves of rosettes are up to 30 cm long and 10 cm wide, whereas those of the scrambling stem are up to 40 cm long and 15 cm wide. The leaves are oblong to elliptic, obtuse at the apex and shortly attenuate at the base, clasping the stem by approximately two-thirds of its circumference and becoming decurrent for 2–3 cm.

Nepenthes attenboroughii produces some of the largest pitchers in the genus, sometimes exceeding those of typical N. rajah in size, but is not known to have exceeded the size and volume records set by that species. The largest recorded pitcher of N. attenboroughii measured more than 1.5 litres in volume, and traps exceeding 2 litres are likely to be produced on occasion. The lower pitchers are brittle and campanulate (bell-shaped), up to 30 cm tall and 16 cm wide and emerge from tendrils that are 30–40 cm long and 4–9 mm in diameter. The tendrils are flattened towards the leaf, making them almost semi-circular in cross section.

The upper pitchers are similar to the lower pitchers, but generally infundibular, to 25 cm tall and 12 cm wide.

The pitchers show considerable variation in both shape and coloration, ranging from green or yellow to dark purple throughout.

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

Your Commercial Property and Arizona Summer Heat

Feeling the summer heat?  So is the greenscape around your commercial property. This season, lawns can be separated as those who have and those who have not.  Many lawns even with irrigation are showing stress where sprinkler heads need adjusting and fine tuning to keep up with the dry conditions.

With the monsoon humidity, lawn’s can be seen with summer patch diseases starting.  The best remedy for such disease is to watch watering closely, allowing the turf to dry out in between irrigation cycles.  We recommend watering every other day for longer duration to promote deep rooting as the first step to help ward off the fungi from thriving.  Often aerating and seeding with resistant cultivars of turf grass is also required in the fall.

If you don’t have irrigation, you must remain diligent with your efforts to hand water when possible.  Sometimes allowing the lawn to slowly go dormant is the best solution rather than water and then let the turf grass crash and burn when you go away for a week vacation.  Turf types such as fescue handle the dormant stage easily and will bounce back into their prime once cool nighttime temperatures and moisture from Mother Nature return.

Here at Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC. we have been pruning our landscapes.  Thinning and contour pruning plants that have flowered already is best done once flowering is complete and springs growth has almost fully hardened off.  As we prune we identify the perennial weeds that birds have spread and cull them from the ornamentals.

With the scattered thunderstorms summer annual weeds such as crabgrass, prostrate spurge, and purslane are having a field day.  We have been busy applying vegetation control for these pesky weeds to help keep mulch beds and curbing clean and presentable.  At times, nothing beats the elbow grease required to hand weed flowers, juniper beds, and the center of shrubs.

Now is the best time to plan major landscape changes for your property.  By the time you design and coordinate the use for your yard summer will be at a close.   Fall is the best time for planting!  We can help with all facets of your project no matter what size and scale.   As the seasons change, so should your landscape!  There are always a few plants that should be moved, divided, or just downright removed. 

At Greens Keeper Landscape we want you to know how to take care of your property.  If you don’t want the headache of landscape maintenance we take care of your landscape for you.  To find out how we can help just 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

Prevent Crabgrass in the Spring!

Do you have a commercial property here in the Phoenix Metro Area? Do you want a better looking greenspace than your competitors have? At Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance, LLC we can really help!

Crabgrass can be prevented in the spring so they don't become a problem in the summer. Applying a pre-emergent weed killer, like Scotts® Turf Builder® Halts® Crabgrass Preventer with Lawn Food or Scotts® Halts® Crabgrass & Grassy Weed Preventer in the spring, stops the weed seeds before they germinate.

Crabgrass gets its name because it sprawls from a central root low across the ground. It can become a problem quickly during the summer because it is able to grow vigorously in hot, dry conditions. Before dying in the fall, a single weed can distribute thousands of seeds that will be ready to germinate the following spring. You can take care of crabgrass in your lawn easily with our plan.

Prevention and Maintenance

Mow at The Proper Height

You can discourage crabgrass by mowing at the proper height for your grass type. Higher mowing, usually at one of the top two setting on your mower, encourages lawn grasses to shade soil which helps prevent the germination of crabgrass seeds. A thick, full lawn seldom contains much crabgrass.

Deep Water Your Lawn

Weeds are better adapted to adverse growing conditions than most lawn grasses. Shallow and infrequent watering will only weaken the roots of your grass, while allowing the crabgrass to thrive and take over. Water lawns deeply and less frequently. When you water, wet the soil to a depth of 4-6 inches. This usually requires the equivalent of ½-1 inch of rainfall.

Nitrogen is great for fast greening, but too much, especially late in the season, can invite snow mold. Instead, apply a slow-release lawn food like Scotts® Turf Builder® WinterGuard® Fall Lawn Food.

In spite of your best efforts, dead, dying or discolored grass may never recover their healthy appearance. In that case, rake the infected area to break up the crusted, matted grass, then repair or reseed heavily damaged areas as soon as the weather permits.

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

Famous City Parks: Keukenhof, Lisse, Netherlands

Timing is everything when it comes to visiting Keukenhof. The park springs to life for only eight weekends annually, between mid-March and mid-May, when more than 7 million cheery tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths bloom. As you wander among these flowers, look out for more than 100 works of art and four pavilions dedicated to more exotic species.

Keukenhof ("Kitchen garden", Dutch pronunciation:, also known as the Garden of Europe, is one of the world's largest flower gardens. It is situated in Lisse, the Netherlands. According to the official website for the Keukenhof Park, approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted annually in the park, which covers an area of 79 acres.

Keukenhof is located in South Holland in the small town of Lisse, south of Haarlem and southwest of Amsterdam. It is accessible by bus from the train stations of Haarlem, Leiden and Schiphol. It is located in an area called the "Dune and Bulb Region". Keukenhof is open annually from mid-March to mid-May. The best time to view the tulips is around mid-April, depending on the weather.

Keukenhof is situated on 15th-century hunting grounds. It was also a source of herbs for Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut's castle, which is the source of the name Keukenhof (it served to provide herbs for the castle's kitchen). Rich merchants took over the grounds after the Countess's death. VOC captain and governor Adriaen Maertensz Block lived there in his retirement years in the 17th century in the country house (now known as Castle Keukenhof) which he had let built in 1641.

In the 19th century, the Baron and Baroness Van Pallandt assigned the landscape architect Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher, who had also worked on the Vondelpark, to design the grounds around the castle.

The garden was established in 1949 by the then-mayor of Lisse. The idea was to present a flower exhibit where growers from all over the Netherlands and Europe could show off their hybrids – and help the Dutch export industry (the Netherlands is the world's largest exporter of flowers).

The Keukenhof features a variety of different gardens and garden styles. For example, the English landscape garden features winding paths and unexpected see-through points (designed by Zocher in 1830, the garden architect of the Vondelpark in Amsterdam, among others). The historical garden is an enclosed garden where you can see many old types of bulbs. The nature garden consists of a water garden where shrubs and perennials are combined with bulbous plants. The Japanese country garden is a non-traditional garden in a natural environment.

The Keukenhof doesn't contain the long fields of tulips many visitors expect. However, there are tulip fields outside the Garden (mostly privately owned). These fields may have restricted access and are not included as part of the Keukenhof ticket.

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 Hydnora Africana

Hydnora africana is an achlorophyllous plant in the family Hydnoraceae, native to southern Africa that is parasitic on the roots of members of the Euphorbiaceae family. The plant grows underground, except for a fleshy flower that emerges above ground and emits an odor of feces to attract its natural pollinators, dung beetles and carrion beetles. The flowers act as temporary traps, retaining the beetles that enter long enough for them to pick up pollen. It is also called jakkalskos or jackal food. The genus name comes from the Greek word hydon, which translates to being like a fungus, and the specific epithet africana means to be from Africa Hydrona africana is a most bizarre looking desert plant native to Africa. No one can easily identify hydnora africana as a plant because of this unnatural physical appearance, similar to that of fungi.

This plat is completely leafless in nature and have deep brown colored flesh stem. This plant becomes more visible only upon the blooming time. The flowers of hydnora africana have a spherical shape, brown outside and orange color inside. It also produce pungent odor to attract bees for pollination.

These plants do not have chlorophyll and do not perform photosynthesis. They obtain their nutrients from a host plant, such as a species of Euphorbia. Hydnora africana has an enzyme which allows it to dissolve some of the roots of its host plants in order to attach to them. Hydnora africana attaches to the roots of the host and takes some of the nutrients that it makes from photosynthesis. It has a fleshy peachy-orange flower that emerges from the ground after a heavy rainfall. Insects that pollinate the flowers do so by burying themselves in the sepals of the flowers through the very strong fibers that hold the sepals together. After the insects have been in the flowers for a couple of days, the flower emerges and opens releasing the insects to spread the pollen to other flowers in the area.

Hydnora africana has a very strong and unpleasant smell. This smell is generated from the osmophores, which is a white spongy area in the inner surface of the tepals that eventually changes color to grey. Osmophores were first called "bait bodies" by Harmes. Burger et al. concluded that the odor is made up of dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide. These odors are also found in dead-horse arum.

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

Weed Control In Ponds and Water Features

Does your commercial property have ponds and other water features? Many do and they can bring special challenges to a property managers plate. Here is a bit of background information that y9ou may find is helpful.

Aquatic plants growing in ponds and water features can be beneficial for fish and wildlife. They provide food, dissolved oxygen, and spawning and nesting habitat for fish and waterfowl. Aquatic plants can trap excessive nutrients and detoxify chemicals. Aquatic wildflowers such as the water lily are sold and planted to provide floral beauty to garden ponds.

However, dense growths (over 25% of the surface area) of algae and other water plants can seriously interfere with pond recreation and threaten aquatic life. Water plants can restrict swimming, boating, fishing, and other water activities. Water plants can impart unpleasant taste (musty flavor), decaying vegetation emits offensive odors (rotten egg smell), and algae can discolor pond waters. Dense growths of plants can cause night time oxygen depletion and fish kills. Green plants produce oxygen in sunlight, but they consume oxygen at night. Decomposing water weeds can deplete the oxygen supply, resulting in sport fish kills from suffocation. Dense plant growths can provide too much cover, preventing predation, and leading to stunted (small-sized) sportfish populations.

Prevention is the best way to reduce aquatic plant problems. It is cheaper and easier to prevent weed growth than to control weeds in your pond. Constructing ponds with steep slopes that drop quickly into deep water can prevent weeds from rooting. Construction of a sediment basin upstream of a pond or lake will trap out soil and maintain pond depth. Soil erosion and fertilizer runoff (including livestock wastes) are the two major causes of water weeds. Soil erosion magnifies the weed problems. Eroded soil particles not only make the pond shallower and allow rooted weeds to quickly invade, but soil particles also transport fertilizer (adsorbed nitrogen and phosphorus) that further stimulates weed growth.

Selection of the best treatment or combination of treatments depends on the species of water plant, the extent of the problem, economic considerations, local environmental conditions, and pond uses. First, be sure that you have an aquatic plant problem. Some aquatic plant growths are minor and temporary, and do not require costly weed control actions, thereby saving you worry, time, and money. If aquatic plants cover more than 25% of the pond surface area, you should consider implementing weed control. Second, different types of weeds (algae, floating-leaf weeds, emergent weeds, and submersed weeds) require different treatments. Depending on the type of weed and the severity of the problem, one or a combination of the following control methods can be very effective:

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

Inexpensive Ways to Green Up Your Grass

As you look across the road or perhaps down the street does it feel like the grass really is greener in other businesses property? Here in the Valley of the Sun Summer’s heat and low rainfall are tough on turf, so business neighbors sporting lush lawns this time of year probably have better species of grass, higher-quality topsoil, and automatic sprinklers or better irrigation. You, too, can have all that — for perhaps $10,000 or more — with a complete lawn replacement. Or you can try more affordable approaches to keeping your existing grass growing green.

Did you know that taller grass holds more moisture and stays greener than short grass. Well that is true according to Mark Schmidt, principal scientist at John Deere. “Plus, it shades the soil, helping to keep the roots wet.” Set your mower deck to three inches (or as high as it will go). Also, inspect the grass right ­after mowing. Jagged tears indicate that the blade is dull, and these wounds sap moisture from the plants. Get a replacement blade for $10 to $40 or take your mower for a tune-up ($75 to $200), which includes blade sharpening.

Dragging around the hose and sprinklers to hydrate parched grass may do more harm than good. “Coming in and out of dormancy can kill the lawn,” says John Stier, a playing-field consultant to several National Football League teams. “So don’t water unless you’re going to be superconsistent about watering all season long.” That’s probably not realistic with manual efforts, so either let nature take its course or go for automatic irrigation, a $2,000 to $4,000 expense for which there really isn’t a good low-cost workaround. To maximize your investment, ask the installer to arrange sprinkler heads into zones based on the quirks of your property so that shady, sunny, poorly drained, and sloped areas can get programmed for their own watering needs. Opt for a rain sensor too (around $150), which will override sprinklers when Mother Nature provides irrigation for free.

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

We Have Really Great Customers and Want To Add More

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

Famous City Parks: Balboa Park

Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre urban cultural park in San Diego. In addition to open space areas, natural vegetation zones, green belts, gardens, and walking paths, it contains museums, several theaters, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo. There are also many recreational facilities and several gift shops and restaurants within the boundaries of the park. Placed in reserve in 1835, the park's site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. Balboa Park is managed and maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Diego.

Named for the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the park hosted the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition and 1935–36 California Pacific International Exposition, both of which left architectural landmarks. The park and its historic Exposition buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark District in 1977, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The park is essentially rectangular, bounded by Sixth Avenue to the west, Upas Street to the north, 28th Street to the east, and Russ Boulevard to the south. The rectangle has been modified by the addition of the Marston Hills natural area in the northwest corner of the park, while the southwest corner of the rectangle is occupied by a portion of the Cortez Hill neighborhood of Downtown San Diego and San Diego High School, both of which are separated from the park by Interstate 5. Also encroaching on the northern perimeter of the park is Roosevelt Middle School.

Two north-south canyons — Cabrillo Canyon and Florida Canyon — traverse the park and separate it into three mesas. The Sixth Avenue Mesa is a narrow strip bordering Sixth Avenue on the western edge of the park, which provides areas of passive recreation, grassy spaces, and tree groves. The Central Mesa is home to much of the park's cultural facilities, and includes scout camps, the San Diego Zoo, the Prado, and Inspiration Point. East Mesa is home to Morley Field and many of the active recreation facilities in the park.

The park is crossed by several freeways, which take up a total of 111 acres once designated for parkland. In 1948, California State Route 163 was built through Cabrillo Canyon and under the Cabrillo Bridge. This stretch of road, initially named the Cabrillo Freeway, has been called one of America's most beautiful parkways. A portion of Interstate 5 was built in the park in the 1950s.

Surrounding the park are many of San Diego's older neighborhoods, including Downtown, Bankers Hill, North Park, and Golden Hill.

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: Crawling Devil Cactus

Among several endemic (growing in only one region) and rare plants of Baja California, Mexico, the crawling devil cactus has a unique place. It is the only plant species in Mexico that has the practical capacity to move from one location to the other, and to stay alive, and the only non-erect cactus in the country. This cactus has a very limited range of group that put it immediately under threat of extinction when its small habitats are considered for urban, touristic, and recreational developments. Such a threat is now apparent in the Bahía Magdalena area in the state of Baja California Sur, Mexico, where this plant grows. The threat comes from plans for a major tourist destination. This website present photos and popular articles written by a group of concerned scientists in Spanish, English, and Hebrew. Our objective is to publicize the plight of this plant species for conservation to the Mexican authorities and that its remote habitats should be declared protected areas with no significant development except limited-impact ecotourism.

Stenocereus eruca, commonly known as creeping devil, is a member of the family Cactaceae. It is one of the most distinctive cacti, a member of the relatively small genus Stenocereus. It is endemic to the central Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, and is found only on sandy soils, where it forms massive colonies.

As with all cacti, creeping devil is succulent, and is reported to contain mescaline and sterols. Growth patterns can be widely scattered as individual stems; in favorable localities they can form impenetrable patches of branching stems measuring several metres across. The creeping devil is columnar, with a very spiny stem which is creamy green in color, averaging 2 inches diameter and 6 feet long, with only the terminal end raised from the ground. A height of 1 foot is normal since this cactus is recumbent (it grows in a horizontal manner). The large, nocturnal flowers are white, pink, or yellow; usually 1 inch long with a spiny ovary, and flowering sparingly in response to rain. The spiny fruit is 1 inch with black seeds.

Creeping devil lies on the ground and grows at one end while the other end slowly dies, with a succession of new roots developing on the underside of the stem. The growth rate is adapted to the moderate, moist marine environment of the Baja peninsula, and can achieve in excess of 1 foot per year, but when transplanted to a hot, arid environment the cacti can grow as little as 1 foot per decade. Over the course of many years, the entire cactus will slowly travel, with stems branching and taking root toward the growing tips, while older stem portions die and disintegrate. This traveling chain of growth gives rise to the name eruca, which means "caterpillar" as well as the common name creeping devil.

Stenocereus eruca is considered the "most extreme case of clonal propagation in the cactus family" (Gibson and Nobel, 1986). This means that due to isolation and scarcity of pollinating creatures, the plant is able to clone itself. This is done by pieces detaching from the major shoot as their bases die and rot.

Other members of this genus that are found in the Baja Peninsula of California are Stenocereus thurberi (organpipe cactus, pitaya dulce) and Stenocereus gummosus (sour pitaya, pitaya agria, pitayha). While once thought to be threatened with extinction, further evidence showed it not to be so. Transplantation, while not recommended due to environmentally specific factors, can be done successfully with strict adherence to maintaining conditions which mirror the native environment. 

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

Getting Rid of Sand Burs, Seeds, and Stickers

If you live in an area with sand burrs, sometimes called puncture vines or goat head weeds, you're part of a growing list of people who ask: How do I get rid of them?

They are like flypaper stuck to your hands, and killing them seems impossible! My friends, you can control and kill goat head weed and keep it from taking over your yard, but it takes patience, perseverance, and some good tools. Rapidly it begins to spread, sending out tentacles and then it will start producing little yellow or purple flowers. The roots grow deep very quickly and also spread underground, and from those roots more evil plants grow, reproducing at an alarming rate!

After they produce their little flowers, the thorns begin to grow, nestled under the leaves and vines, all but invisible until the unwary come near it. And then, it strikes! Moisture will cause it to either hug the ground (less moisture) or grow more upright, with more spreading vines (more moisture).

At the end of the season, or when the plants mature, the Goat Head thorns begin to fall off, and those are the next seasons army that you have to kill. If you have a patch that you are trying to eradicate, use a small broom to sweep them up so you can dispose of them in the trash!

If you see them sprouting, begin your treatment now. Once the night temperatures rise, they will propagate very quickly and your control efforts will be that much more difficult.

At first sign of sand burs, spray with weed killer with pre-emergent chemical Surflan.

Place tarp over infested areas to block sun. When plants are yellow/brown, remove tarp. Remove plants and roots with upright weeder. Rake area and place weeds in bin. Sweep to remove thorns. Plant wildflowers or other ground cover. Avoid spraying any "good" ground covers, as you want them to flourish and take space away from the Evil One. If you have large infestations, sweep with your weed burner, staying close to the ground to burn out as much of the roots as you can. Follow your burn with a weed killer that will get to the roots still living underground.

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

Spring Is The Time for Rye To Bermuda Grass Transition

The temperatures are climbing and commercial properties are seeking advice on how to properly transition winter ryegrass back to summer Bermuda grass. While Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance can do it for your business here are the DIY instructions and advice. Follow the 5 steps to an easy spring and summer transition.

1. Reduce your watering to 70-80% of your normal usage.  This will start stressing out the rye grass but will continue to support the Bermuda grass.

2. Lightly verticut your grass to open up its canopy.  This allows more sunshine to reach the Bermuda grass below.

3. Aerate your ground. This increases water penetration and nutrient uptake, breaks up soil compaction, and allows more oxygen to reach the root zone.  Most good and well stocked rental locations have verticutting and aerating equipment available.

4. Gradually lower your mower settings and increase your mowing intervals to twice a week so that the grass height does not exceed 1/2″ to 3/4.”  Make sure to bag all clippings.  If they remain on the ground, they’ll create a mat layer that will inhibit the growth of the Bermuda grass.  Use a rake to collect clippings if needed. Beware of shady areas in your lawn.  The ryegrass will grow aggressively in these area so you must maintain a low mowing height to allow the Bermuda grass to get its needed sunlight.

5. Fertilize and then increase your watering schedule.  After about 2 weeks, you should notice that the Bermuda grass is overcoming the ryegrass. Broadcast a balanced fertilizer (i.e. 16-20-0) at a rate of 9 pounds per 1,000 square feet and increase watering back to a normal summer watering schedule.

If you allow the ryegrass to grow unchecked, it will out grow the Bermuda grass. When June comes with its Arizona heat, the ryegrass will finally die and you’ll be left with nothing but bare spots. To avoid that, follow the 5 steps listed above: you’ll have a summer green space that every business in the whole neighborhood will envy!

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

We Are What You Are Looking For In Commercial Landscape Maintenance

Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance is 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 monthly charge as low as possible.

While our normal hours of operations are from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM we offer 24/7 service and Storm Damage Clean-up as needed by our customers.

We keep our overhead low and pass the savings on to our customers. We provide high quality service and pride ourselves on our open communication practices.

Our hourly rate is $26 per hour. Our special project rate, including sprinkler repairs, is $30. We offer convenient payment terms of 2/10 net 30.

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, we include.

If there are minor sprinkler repairs that are needed, most of them are also included (no charge). We accomplish this by providing an allowance for sprinkler heads, drip emitters, shrub heads, and repairs to lateral lines and drip lines. The only sprinkler issues that we would have to charge for would be main line repairs, valves & timers. And we always get these pre approved by our customers.

Unlike other companies we don't mark-up inventory, whenever possible. Another one of our popular services is safety and visibility trimming at no extra charge. This means that if you have things we think could be a liability on your property related to the landscape, we will communicate with you and work together to resolve these issues before they cause an accident or damage vehicles or buildings. If there is vegetation blocking the view of signs or safe passage in and out of the parking lot, trees blocking safety lighting, we will keep those items at their smallest manageable size (no charge).

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 City Parks: Villa Doria Pamphili

As the largest landscaped public park in the city, Villa Doria Pamphili delights visitors with its elaborate architecture and intricate gardens. Originally the estate of a noble family, the expansive grounds feature neatly manicured gardens with clipped hedges and fountains. Wide gravel pathways are perfect for jogging, and antique statues and vases hearken back to an earlier era. Don’t miss the “Arch of the Four Winds,” a commemorative monument at the entrance to the park’s sprawling grounds.

The nucleus of the villa property, the Villa Vecchia or ‘old villa’, already existed before 1630, when it was bought by Pamfilio Pamfili, who had married the heiress Olimpia Maidalchini, to enjoy as a suburban villa. Thereafter he set about buying up neighbouring vineyards to accumulate a much larger holding, which was often known as the Bel Respiro or 'beautiful breath' as it stood on high ground, above the malarial areas of Rome, and offered spectacular views which were a desirable feature of Baroque villa settings.
The giardino segreto parterre today

In 1644 Cardinal Giambattista Pamphili became elected to the papacy and took the name of Innocent X. In accordance with this change in status, the Pamphili aspired to a grander and more expansively sited new villa. Early designs were made, possibly by Virgilio Spada rather than the traditional attribution to Borromini, but these were rejected. Instead the project was placed in the hands of the Bolognese sculptor Alessandro Algardi in 1644, assisted by Giovanni Francesco Grimaldi.

The initial design had a central casino (not the modern usage as a gambling establishment) with wings, but only the central block was built. There is uncertainty as to who the architect was; Algardi was not an architect, and it may be that he had help from Carlo Rainaldi and that the construction was supervised by Grimaldi. The layout has a central circular room around which the other rooms were arranged. Construction began in 1645 and was complete by 1647 although embellishments and the garden layouts were not finished until 1653. The casino, sometimes known as the Casino del Bel Respiro, was designed as a complement to the Pamphili collection of sculptures both ancient and modern, and other Roman antiquities such as vases, sarcophagi and inscriptions; it was only ever intended for display of the collection and the family and guests resided in the older Vecchia Vigna 

As a show case for sculpture, the somewhat crowded Casino facades have rhythmically alternating windows with niches which were elaborately adorned with sculptures, both antique and modern, with busts in hollowed roundels, with panels of bas-reliefs, and reliefs.

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: Silver Torch Cactus

Cleistocactus strausii, known by the common name of silver torch or wooly torch, is a perennial cactus of the family Cactaceae. It is native to high mountain regions of Bolivia and Argentina, above 9,843 feet.

Its slender, erect, grey-green columns can reach a height of 9.8 feet, but are only about 2.5 inches across. The columns are formed from around 25 ribs and are densely covered with areoles, supporting four yellow-brown spines up to 1.5 inches long and 20 shorter white radials.

The cactus prefers free draining soils, strong sunlight, but not high temperatures — in fact it can withstand hard frosts down to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. In its natural habitat it receives plenty of water during the summer, but almost none over the winter. In cultivation, watering too much in winter often leads to root rot.

Older cacti, over 17.5 inches tall, produce deep red, burgundy, flowers in late summer. The 2.5 inches long cylindrical flowers protrude horizontally from the columns. In common with other cacti in the genus Cleistocactus, the flowers hardly open, with only the style and stamens protruding. Cultivated plants often flower freely. In the United Kingdom, this plant is usually grown under glass, and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Cultivation: The cactus prefers free draining soils, strong sunlight, but not high temperatures — in fact it can withstand hard frosts down to -10°C. In its natural habitat it receives plenty of water during the summer, but almost none over the winter. In cultivation, watering too much in winter often leads to root rot.. Older cactuses, over 45 cm (18 in) tall, produce deep red, burgundy, flowers in late summer. The 6 cm (3 in) long cylindrical flowers protrude horizontally from the columns. In common with other cacti in the genus Cleistocactus, the flowers hardly open, with only the style and stamens protruding. Cultivated plants often flower freely

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 To Have Weed Free Grounds

The easy way is to hire Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance and we will do it for your commercial property. But if you are still thinking DYI here are some effective tips.

Summer has its pleasures, but pulling weeds isn't one of them. And as anybody who has struggled to pull a weed will tell you, these plants are a formidable adversary. They grow almost anywhere, thrive under adverse conditions and can be incredibly prolific. Purdue University's cooperative extension office reports that a single dandelion can produce 15,000 seeds a year, each of which can survive in a dormant state in the ground for six years.

First don’t plant them when you plant your lawn. Always quality seed products.

Those pesky weeds. As sure as the days will get longer and the weather will get warmer, the presence of weeds will return, posing a challenge for homeowners to maintain perfect commercial grounds. So how do you eliminate weeds without the backbreaking effort of pulling them or with chemicals that can smell and harm the environment and your pets? Start early and start small, when the weeds are small anyway, and you’ll save a lot of effort. There’s plenty you can do outside as soon as the ground is cleared of the snow and the sun is shining.

Pull weeds while they are still young and tender and the roots are not fully developed. This is most effective, and easiest, after a rain when the soil is soft and the moisture ups the odds that you'll get the top plant and its roots. Dry soil is hard, and it's far more likely that you won't get root when you pull the weed. Above all, pull the weed before it starts to flower and goes to seed.

Stirring the soil severely inhibits a weed's growth by chopping through it, or killing it by exposing the roots to drying. Again, know your weed. You can kill some weeds with a single chop from a hoe, but If you break up its tuber-like root in an effort to pull it, each piece produces a separate plant.

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

Getting Your Commercial Property Customer Competitive

What do we mean by Customer Competitive? No matter what type of commercial you have you are in a competition for customers with your competitors.

I know this is not news to you, but, may we ask,  how does your property compare to the other like type business?

Are you a business or medical complex? Are you a restaurant? Are you an apartment complex? Are you an automotive services store? Is your business a strip mall or perhaps a major destination mall?

View Your Property
Put yourself in your customer mindset and drive by your property and compare it to your competition. Be critical, how does your property look? Is it clean, neat and tidy? What about your feature area? How does your flower garden look? If you are a restaurant how appetizing does your property look to you?

Aging commercial property constructed more than 20 or 25 years ago face stiff competition from newer business types that feature more amenities, smart technology, modern designs and energy efficiency. These days, in order to remain competitive, older buildings need much more than a facelift, fresh landscaping or a lighting retrofit.

In some cases, aging buildings need to be reoriented to take advantage of changes in the broader market. Many downtowns have seen the addition of new transportation hubs, stadiums, ballparks and riverfront revitalizations. Those things serve as activity drivers. An aging building might be located in close proximity to new area amenities, but may not be taking full advantage of that traffic and energy.

Owners should also look at how people arrive at the property. Where are the key entry points and what is the experience for people as they arrive? In some buildings, the entry for commuters is through the parking garage. So it is important to incorporate those different areas as part of a repositioning, and make sure the design is cohesive with other parts of the rest of the building.

Valley Of The Sun
The Phoenix Metro area is a major national market and to stay competitive your property needs to look good and stay looking good to keep your customers and attract new ones.

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