Unique Environmental Landscapes will be presented with two Distinction Awards at the annual Urban Ag Council Awards Dinner this evening at the Gwinnett Center. The awards are both for residential landscape design/install projects completed by Unique. The first project in the ‘over $150k’ category is in Millen, Georgia where the client requested a tropical resort in their backyard. The other project in the ’75k – $150k’ category, is located in Kennesaw, Georgia. Please visit the Urban Ag website for a complete listing of all winners http://www.urbanagcouncil.com.
Unique is Presented with Two Urban Ag Council Landscape Awards
December 5, 2012 by
Washington Hawthorn Makes a Super Ornamental Tree Choice
December 3, 2012 by
A Washington Hawthorn is an excellent ornamental tree that will bring spring color and winter brilliance to your landscape. The Washington Hawthorn is a mid-size tree that bears white flowers in the spring and boasts beautiful red berries throughout the fall and early winter months. Unique Environmental Landscapes chooses this tree for many Atlanta landscapes. Our clients love it.
Washington Hawthorn in December
A Ginkgo Biloba Tree Is a Great Shade Tree and Fall Color Addition
November 29, 2012 by
Noted for it’s outstanding brilliant yellow fall color, the Gingko tree is very tolerant and can withstand some pretty harsh conditions. The one thing that must be considered is soil drainage. The Gingko does not like standing water, it prefers a loamy or somewhat sandy soil. It is okay with short droughts, but NOT flooding. It likes a few hours of bright sunlight each day, too much shade could slow the tree’s growth which can grow to enormous heights. At first it grows very slowly and maybe a little crooked, no worries though, it will straighten out and pick up growth after several years.
Low maintenance – The Gingko needs minimal basic fertilization, maybe two times per year. A light layer of mulch at the beginning of each season is adequate. It requires very little pruning unless you want to ‘shape’ the branches which is best done in the spring.
The Gingko plant is readily available at most garden shops. You should know the female variety is fruit producing and this fruit can have a pungent odor. Removing the fruit immediately after it falls helps minimize this problem. Fall is a good time to plant the Gingko or almost any landscape material so it has time to get established before the heat of summer.
Spectacular fall color on a mature Ginkgo Tree
More Landscape Tips for your Atlanta Winter Landscape
November 7, 2012 by
If you follow our blog, you have noticed Unique is trying to encourage our readers to get moving on their landscape! If you’re not a do-it-yourself type, by all means call Unique Environmental Landscapes and allow our professional, experienced designer and crews do ALL the work for you. Here are three more of our suggestions for adding color to your winter landscape in the Atlanta/Georgia region.
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Sasanqua camelia in full bloom
Sasanqua Camelia
(blooms Oct- Dec) or Japonica Camellia (blooms Feb-Mar) are both a staple of southern gardens. Camellias (camellias) are evergreen shrubs and are available in a variety of ‘blooming’ colors including bright pinks, white as well as bicolor. They are happy in shady or filtered sun and prefer a well draining and rich soil. -
Winter flowers of a Daphne odora
Winter Daphne
is also a winter blooming shrub and is available with choices of a variety of shades of pink flower that open to white. The foliage is edged with a thin strip of yellow, providing a nice contrast on the green leaf. They bloom through winter and into spring in the South – one of Unique Environmental’s favorites. Winter Daphne (Daphne odora ‘Marginata’) prefers full sun/part shade in a nutrient-rich and minimally acidic to alkaline soil. -
Close up of Glacier Blue Euphorbia
An excellent evergreen perennial choice is Euphorbia. The ‘Glacier Blue’ variety blooms cream flowers Feb – May and the evergreen leaves of blue-grey with creamy white edges make it a garden standout. One of Unique’s favorite characteristics of Glacier Blue is that it’s deer & rabbit resistant, a feature many gardeners will appreciate. Careful though, it is toxic if eaten!! It’s also drought tolerant. Euphorbia x martini ‘Ascot Rainbow’ is another variety with similar characteristics except these differences including foliage and blooms. The stems are reddish in color and the leaves are variegated colors of dusky sage and gold with cream and green flowers (tipped with deep red in fall.) The Ascot Rainbow prefers full to part shade.
Fall Landscape Ideas from Unique
October 26, 2012 by
Fall is the perfect time to add plant material to your existing landscape or to plan a compete landscape makeover in your yard. Whichever the case may be, Unique Environmental Landscapes has a few plant suggestions for the Atlanta and Northern Georgia region. It just so happens that three of the plants Unique will be using this fall are also University of Georgia (UGA) Gold Medal Plant winners for 2012.
The first, and one of Unique’s favorite, is the Red Bark Coral Maple. One of it’s most outstanding characteristics is the vivid red-coral color the branches turn during the winter. Because it is a deciduous tree, the branches become a focal point in the winter garden, shine a little light on this beauty after dark and add drama to your nighttime landscape (see photo below.) In the spring, the new leaves don red edges adding another cool characteristic to the Coral Bark Maple. Then there is the fall splendor with yellow-gold and red colors.
Another one of Unique’s favorite is the Rabbiteye Blueberry (or Southern Highbush Blueberry.) You will notice this plant at this time of year for it’s beautiful fall foliage color, a deep red. Of course, the blueberries we harvested over the summer are a tasty reason to love this deciduous shrub, too. Next spring, this native blueberry bush won’t disappoint either with it’s incredible cream colored blooms almost like that of Lily of the Valley. Even though plant selection might be limited in the fall, it is the very best time of year to plant a blueberry shrub, it will love a rainy winter. Be sure to purchase at least three plants including two or more varieties for cross-pollination purposes. If Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate, be sure to keep the soil moist. A good layer of mulch at the base always helps retain moisture…a must for best blooming and berry harvesting!
If your landscape project includes adding to your perennial garden, try Coral Bells (Heuchera) in a part-to full-shade garden. It looks best when planted next to the fine textures of plants such as bleeding hearts and ferns. It also looks great around smooth creek rock or garden statues. This perennial adds year round color, though older and tired leaves should be trimmed off before the new spring growth.
All three of the plants listed here tolerate drought conditions fairly well. Though it’s always important to remember, newly planted material requires sufficient watering for the first year especially. And of course, there aren’t really any plants in the south that don’t need a good drink of water occasionally!!
Coral Bark Maple is a night time show piece!
Atlanta Fall Seasonal Color Isn’t Just Pansies Any More
October 10, 2012 by
While Pansies are a great choice for fall seasonal color here in Atlanta GA, Unique Environmental Landscapes expands the options and chooses from a larger plant pallet when it comes to creating those big, beautiful flower beds we all enjoy throughout the otherwise dormant months.
One of our first choices is the Red Bore Kale. This plant is not only ornamental but it is also edible. We like to use it as an accent plant with other flowers such as pansies, etc. As it grows, it turns a beautiful dark, deep purple and the leaves are very curly almost resembling clouds. If you want to eat it, pull the leaves from the bottom of the plant where other flowers will cover this area. Kale likes the sun and well drained, moist soil.
Ornamental cabbage is another great choice. It comes in many varieties and colors so choose one that works best with your other plants. Or create a beautiful collage of color by using a variety of cabbage colors. This too, is edible, but probably not as tasty as the cabbage you purchase from your local farmer’s market. Cabbage prefers full sun to partial shade.
Snapdragons offer a splash of bright color and it’s blooms are especially profuse in cooler weather. Winters in the Atlanta area are quite often mild enough that Snapdragons will excel. They are bushy plants with tall spikes of flower buds and offer a good focal point in the garden.
Choose these varieties as good focal points
- Kale Coral Prince
- Cabbage Osaka Pink
- Kale Redbor
- Kale Red Russian
Choose these as good accents:
- Mustard Red
- Giant Swiss Chard “Bright Lights”
- Cardoon (hardy with Atlanta mild winters)
- Euphorbia “Glacier Blue”
- Yucca
- Rosemary
- Dwarf Conifers
Be sure to use appropriate plants for the size of your bed
So, what are you waiting for. Go out and create a fall color bed for a colorful winter!
Atlanta Habitat for Humanity & Unique Environmental Landscapes
March 5, 2010 by
Unique Environmental Landscapes and MALTA are coordinating efforts with Habitat for Humanity for their third year in a row next Saturday March 13th.
Unique Environmental Landscapes will have staff volunteers helping to assign tasks for the event and working with the materials available to create new living spaces for families on Pryor Road and Bagwell Drive.
If you are interested in volunteering please contact Habitat for Humanity. You can also show up at 2488 Lakewood Avenue, Atlanta, Ga. at 7am. The event lasts until 1pm, so come out and help when you can!
Unique Environmental Landscapes and MALTA enjoy giving back to the community! We hope you can help!
Unique Environmental Displays Excellence At 2010 Flower Show
February 18, 2010 by
Unique Receives Distinguished MALTA Awards for 2009
January 20, 2010 by
At the MALTA Awards banquet on January 19th 2010, Unique Environmental received three awards for Installation and Green Innovation. The Design Team of Todd Guilmette, Matt Cofer and Erik Rieffel lead the Koushel and Howell Projects.
MALTA is metro Atlanta and Georgia’s premier landscape organization for professionals involved in the landscape design, construction, and maintenance industry.
Every year entries are submitted in early November for projects completed that year, Unique Environmental has been grateful to receive an award every year thus far. This year however, Unique Environmental received the highest honor of Judges Choice Award for Landscape Installation Under $75,000. The project, led by Matt Cofer, was for the Koushel Family and turned out magnificent.
The Unique Environmental Team will carry this momentum into the Southeastern Flower Show in two weeks!
Koushel Residence (photo taken by Laura Guilmette)
Unique Environmental used the ideas of Mr. Koushel and added our blend of plant texture, and color, as well as hard scape design and installation to create this picturesque and functional landscape.
-Jesse Edmondson
Rich’s Winter Recommendations
January 12, 2010 by
What will this toe numbing, water pipe-busting, shiver-inducing weather do to our vulnerable southern plants? The weather is anything but predictable as we all know, but the last few years have really been doozies when it comes to extremes! Drought followed by ridiculously heavy rainfall and now freezing weather hanging around for over a week. What is a landscape to do?
Let’s deal with the latest extreme, the arctic express of January 2010. It’s not that the temps have been disastrously low; they’ve certainly been lower and more disastrous in past years. That they are staying below freezing for an extended period of time, however, is cause for some concern.
So what can you do? The harsh reality is that in many cases the answer is nothing. People tend to use plants that are borderline hardy, (and some that just shouldn’t be considered at all) and harsh conditions such as these remind us that perhaps we should choose plants more discriminately while planning a landscape, or when we replace them, as will be the case with many this year I’m afraid. In most instances it just isn’t practical to try to cover all those tender plants for extended periods. Tent cities of plastic and multi-colored blankets over those poor plants look ridiculous on so many levels, and frankly, they’re still going to be damaged.
What then can you do? You can plan ahead and contract with qualified, experienced landscape professionals like those at Unique Environmental who will design landscape areas using plants that will survive these extremes. You can make sure your plants are well mulched before the cold weather arrives. Once the weather warms, make sure that your plants are hydrated, especially in planters or raised beds, as these cold, windy dry days will desiccate a plant in no time flat. Deadhead your pansies and give them a drink (straight up, NOT on the rocks!) and perhaps remulch those perennials, hostas and other more shallow rooted plants that are exposed to these decidedly northern conditions. Should you notice damaged leaves on your evergreens, refrain from cutting them back until it is apparent they have died back, later this spring.
Beyond that, know that this is but a passing event and we’ll soon be warming again. Join us at the Southeastern Flower Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre, February 4th through the 6th, enjoy our garden and those of others, and dream of sunny days and sultry nights.
–
Rich
