Frank D. Porter, owner and operator of Almost Perfect Landscaping, began his early education at Hackensack High School. Next he attained his BA degree in Marketing at Saint Peters College of Jersey City. Following St. Peters, he attained certificates at Rutgers Cook College for Landscape Architecture. While running his company, his passion to help people drove him to further seek higher education in the School of Social Work, also at Rutgers.
Spring flowering bulbs planted in Autumn produce a stunning display of color, growth habits and a panorama of nature’s beauty welcoming us to another gardening season. We stop dead in our tracks and marvel at these palettes of plants; and admit it, all of us want a piece of it to make the neighbor’s envious. Well Fall, Autumn, is the ideal time and ONLY time for planting these spring time displays. In our growing zone, early October through November is the time to get them in. This year almost PERFECT Landscaping has partnered with Spring Displays to offer a very diverse and wide selection of spring flowering bulbs for you to choose from.
The earliest bulbs to bloom include snowdrops, crocuses, squill and winter aconite, all worth seeking out. Deer and rodents can do terrible damage to tulip and crocus plantings, but there are many bulbs critters don’t like, chief among them daffodils.
The question I ask myself often is “what do I want to be remembered by when I am called to the greatest place ever.” What will be my Legacy?
An old, sturdy and tall standing Oak, struck by lightning toppled and damaged not only the home’s roof and front facade; but destroyed and damaged most of the landscaping and lawn area of the property. As such, basically, this was starting with a “clean slate” from scratch.
Thirty Five Years! That’s how long I’ve been doing this; Twelve Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Five Days; Three Hundred and Six Thousand Three Hundred and I have never seen anything like this one before. When I pulled up to this little Suburbia mansion my first thought was that I had hit the Jack Pot. My second thought after conversing with them was I hit another Crack Pot. This unique client had one of the most unusual requests I had ever received in all the 35 years of me being in business. So much came out of left field so fast I couldn’t comprehend the scope of what the client was describing.
Not as widely used today as in previous years, the use of decorative stone as a groundcover is making a comeback as a “green” sustainable landscaping alternative to have the standard green grass lawn area. Coming in a variety of sizes and colors, natural colors seem to be the most popular
Our quick solution to this backyard was to install a decorative stone to cover most of the area. A second larger stone was used to accent the overall look, these being placed close to the lattice to accent the deck area and around the perimeters elsewhere.
Well, here we are again. Smack dab in the midst of the “dog days of summer”. And Lord have mercy, heat indexes in the hundreds of the weekend. GEEZ!!!! Yes, those sweltering, hot, humid conditions are back. You know the “dog daze of summer” officially started on July 3rd and run until the 11th of August.
All plants are susceptible to withering and damage during a heat wave. New plants, however, are more likely to suffer irreparable damage because they are not established in the garden yet. They have not developed much-needed deep taproots, which stay moist longer than shallower roots and help search for water when water is scarce.
So how does a landscaper unwind and relax? You would think go on vacation. Well not this landscaper. Some things just run through your blood and no matter how hard you try to get away from them, you end up right smack dab in the middle of something new yet the same. I go for a “WILD WALK”
