Now that summer has drawn to a close here in Metro Vancouver, homeowners find themselves looking toward Fall chores and preparing to winterize their exteriors. When it comes to your home’s exterior, Fall is a great time to review your landscaping and see to some seasonal chores that can make your life a little easier, and help your plants survive the winter. Here are some of the main things to plan for when arranging landscaping in Vancouver this Fall.
Leaves and Debris
As deciduous trees change colour and drop their leaves, the Lower Mainland enjoys one of its most beautiful displays of nature. However, for homeowners, these falling leaves can wreak havoc on storm drains, rain gutters, driveways, and other exterior surfaces. Fallen leaves and branches can clog drains causing flooding, interrupt the flow of rainwater along your gutter system, and pose a slip-and-fall hazard to pedestrians. Although leaves are beautiful when they change colour and drift on the ground, their beauty is quickly lost as rain and weather break them down into a rotten, soggy mess on your property. Working with a company specializing in landscaping in Vancouver offers you routine maintenance and cleanup of your property so you can enjoy the splendour of fall without worrying about its soggy aftermath in your driveway, across your lawn, and down your storm drain. Fall is also a good time to assess your trees once the leaves have begun to drop, looking for weakened spots that may need removing before falling on something or someone during a winter storm.
Perfect for Planting
Although spring gets a lot of attention for being the most popular time to plant, fall is also a great time to put plants in the ground. With its mild weather, and guarantee of rain, trees and shrubs planted in the fall can establish their roots without transplant shock and get comfortable before going dormant for the winter. Even though the weather is cooler during the fall, there is still plenty of sunlight to allow transplants to store food for the winter. With that said, not every plant is a perfect candidate for fall planting. If you’re hoping to do some landscaping in Vancouver this fall, it’s best to trust your home’s exterior to professionals who work closely with horticulturists and can assess the particulars of your soil, irrigation, and sunlight exposure to determine which plants would thrive and add aesthetic value to your property. More importantly this season, they can tell you which plants will do well with a fall transplant and which plants should wait for the spring.
Getting Ready for Winter
During the winter, most plants go dormant and conserve their energy for the following growth spurt in Spring. However, with our increasingly unpredictable climate, sometimes winter proves to be too much for plants. Normally hardy plants could falter under a particularly harsh freeze. One great way to help your plants through the winter is to put them to bed in a nice layer of mulch. There are a variety of materials that work well for mulching, but every plant is different. Relying on the knowledge of a professional landscaper familiar with Lower Mainland winters will ensure your gardens are properly mulched and put to bed.
Fall is an important time of year for making sure your garden beds, lawn, and trees are ready for the cold ahead. It’s also a great time to plan for Spring. If you need help with exterior landscaping in Vancouver this Fall, reach out to our expert crew here at Exo Contracting today!
