It all starts with a plan. Many homeowners are overwhelmed by the prospect of landscaping their home and don't know where to start. Many just start ripping out all the shrubs and trees on a mature and overgrown landscape and then start from scratch but do the same mistakes all over again. 6 outdated landscaping trends designers want you to ditch asap

Folks often purchase a home and inherit a landscape that the previous owner took care of over many years. Beautiful, colorful gardens and perennials with flowers from spring to fall. Problem is the new homeowner has neither knowledge or time or money to keep up this Labor of Love as I like to refer to it. Here's an interesting article that I came across that describes 90% of the landscapes that I have been going out to renovate over the years: Top 10 Landscape Mistakes

This is a project we started July 2022 where the homeowner had requested some ideas to update his older landscape and called to have more color and textured landscape that he would like to then have maintained (pruned and mulch refreshed annually) due to his family's busy schedule.

We tackled it in phases over a 3-year process removing trees, renewal pruned and transplanted or eliminated some shrubs and perennials he did not like-transplanted a few for design purposes and updated his home with new curb appeal and 3 seasons of interest. We also referred some strategic partners like an arborist Mike Chaput MC Treecare, a lawn fertilization company Palatine and an irrigation company Fournier Irrigation. Now he's all set and we just did his spring cleanup/pruning and after the pool patio and firepit are completed this spring we will be discussing phase 4- backyard plantings and along wood line to create an enclosed border 🙂 SMART PLANNING

Picture Perfect Landscapes Designed with Smart Maintenance in Mind: For over 30 years Picture Perfect Landscape has specialized in lower maintenance landscapes that offer 3 seasons of color and texture including evergreens, flowering shrubs, some specimen trees for interest and non-invasive perennials. Simpler but colorful, easier to maintain Picture Perfect landscapes for today's busy people.

Over 30 years we have done dozens of new construction blank slate projects but the trend over the last decade is renovations on existing landscapes. Homeowners looking to protect their investments and do not know where to start. Here is a great article from a fellow landscape designer that describes exactly what we see every day: How Did This Landscape Disaster Happen?

This makes it easier for clients to have a smart maintenance program to manage either themselves or to have our crews come in once or twice a year to maintain for them. Interested in finding out more, contact us today for a free landscape evaluation and estimate to have your home become "Picture Perfect" 🙂 We also offer photo and 3D video design for visuals depending on the size of the project and budget.

If selling your home or buying a new one in the next 1-3 years, contact our office for a free assessment to get the best return on your home and landscape investment today. Here's a great article to get you started:  22 Mistakes Realtors See Too Often august 2025

Need a visual? We have the latest 2D and 3D software to bring these plans to life! We have been offering this as a part of our client's experience, so they get added value for these outdoor living spaces. It's important to know what type of accessories such as patio furniture, grills, fire pits or bowls, planting areas need to be incorporated into the space and then design around these.

Summer is just a few weeks away and I'm excited especially since we have had to deal with some really windy, cold temperatures January through March and now lots of rain since April. Many folks make plans for their backyards during the winter/early spring so they can get started extending their time quality living outdoors as soon as the weather warms up. But some may not know where to start especially if you've recently purchased a home the last few years. We can definitely guide you in the right direction! For over 30 years, we have worked with clients to create a space that works for their goals, family activities and budgets. Taking the time to Plan your outdoor patio space and backyard is important and will involve more than one meeting. Doing it in phases is also budget friendly and allows you to add on as needed once you start enjoying your cleaner outdoor space. Many folks do a 2- or 3-year plan with hardscapes, privacy plantings, and landscaping. Contact us today to get started 🙂 860-228-3915

At Picture Perfect Landscape we specialize in Concrete Paver Patio Areas and Retaining Wall Systems for over 30 years. They offer durability and longevity versus poured and stamped concrete especially with the extreme weather temperatures we get in New England. Check out some pros and cons by clicking here. We have found many homeowners like to upgrade their original poured concrete patios and driveways areas with a longer lasting and lower maintenance product that will enhance their property for the next 30-50 years versus poured concrete that will eventually crack.

As we talk with each family, not everyone has the same budget or purpose for their outdoor living space. Some folks work all day and only get to enjoy time outdoors after supper or on the weekends. Others work from home and want a clean space to enjoy for that morning coffee and zoom call or to get some fresh air for lunchtime. Here's a great article from HGTV about Patio Planning 101 that I found helped if you are thinking of renovating your backyard or seeing what possibilities and options might be available for this year!

These days more folks work from home, may be retired or may have younger kids they are watching so are looking for a clean and safe space to retreat to. Give our office a call today to setup a free consultation and estimate 860-228-3915.

Here's a good article on some 2024 Backyard Modern Materials ideas to get you started and we can show you a 3D visual mockup of a proposed outdoor living area.

Picture Perfect Landscape is an Authorized Contractor for Unilock Pavers and Walls and they have some beautiful material to create your outdoor oasis. You can check out their design center for ideas to get started. Once you have a basic idea as to what style you like and elements you would like to incorporate, give us a call.

We also are certified TechoBloc installers and New England Silica has a showroom located in South Windsor that we highly recommend. We are able to meet with clients at their home, check out the project site, discuss their plans and goals, and suggest the appropriate materials and design/layout to fit their budget.

Depending on budgets and long-term goals, sometimes this may mean doing the project in a couple of phases, but clients can achieve their objectives without having to sacrifice quality. Having a realistic budget is key and smart planning goes a long way to customer satisfaction. Also working with a reputable and experienced contractor makes a huge difference in customer satisfaction and overall experience. We have over 30 years of referrals and building a relationship with folks who continue to refer us out to friends, family and neighbors goes a long way in client retention.

Here are just a few sample computer video designs that we have done. See what your landscape can look like before the project starts.

Every winter Ron attends seminars and hands on training demos up in Massachusetts on the latest products for patio area spaces. Lots of beautiful paver choices as well as updated wall block available for creating walls and seating areas. These are some new interlocking wall block systems that looks great for complimenting patio and pool areas.

If you are interested in incorporating structures such as pergolas, pavilions or gazebos, our friends over at Kloter Farms in Ellington CT have a great outdoor showroom with lots of outdoor furniture as well as structures including swing sets, gliders, fireplaces, etc. to add to your patio area enjoyment.

You can also visit Carefree Buildings in Colchester or Newington that have sheds, playscapes, gazebos as well as open pavilions and pergolas to assist in providing shade and protecting your furniture.

You can also check out gazebo.co for assorted open pergola ideas and options wood, vinyl and metal and get ideas to create your backyard dream space.

Your Front Entrance and Landscaping create a lasting first impression. It's also what welcomes visitors to your home whether it's relatives, friends, the delivery folks or just you and your family when you come back at the end of a long day. Safety and cleanliness are just 2 of the top reasons clients call us when looking to invest in an updated and functional walkway and planting beds. Usually this is when putting their home on the market or a recently purchased new home.

4 Landscaping Mistakes Realtors See When Selling Home

At Picture Perfect Landscape we specialize in concrete paver installations only. For over 30 years we have found that New England weather is not forgiving to poured concrete due to hot summers and cold winters and those temperature fluctuations will eventually damage stamped concrete and asphalt. Here's a good article to check out when weighing your options: https://blog.techo-bloc.co/breaking-it-down-comparing-stamped-concrete-vs-pavers-slabs

If you are looking to get ideas on materials, you can visit one of our long-time vendors New England Silica which has an outdoor showroom located in South Windsor. They are usually closed on the weekends, but you can still visit the outdoor area and walk around without having to deal with any salespeople 🙂

Today's homeowners also want interesting trees and shrubs in their landscape, but most can't afford to have a gardener or landscape company on their property monthly to take care of it to keep it looking beautiful. Especially when they don't have a green thumb or even have an idea as to what's a weed or what's a flower.

Let’s face it, we all have a long list of added responsibilities that make it difficult to keep up with what’s going on in our yards. Between work, kid's schedules, and taking care of other responsibilities, many find themselves overwhelmed and exhausted by the weekend and want to just relax in their backyard.

We specialize in Lower maintenance designed landscapes which are a great alternative to demanding ones but remember that low maintenance does not mean NO maintenance. You will still have to take care of weeding (monthly) and pruning (once or twice a year) especially during the spring and summer, but if you can't do that yourself then you can hire a professional like us to help out.

Lower maintenance landscapes start with a well-planned design. You can't just pick a bunch of plants that look good at the local garden center like you are going grocery shopping. You need to know what shrubs do well in the shade versus the sun, how tall or wide they will get, how much water they require, when is their peak flower or foliage time (spring, summer or fall) and when to prune them to keep them re-blooming, healthy and compact.  Keeping in mind 3 seasons of color and interest, deer and drought tolerance, and winter hardiness for CT are just some of the requests we have to consider as well 🙂

Also, by incorporating outdoor living spaces like paver walkways, patios, fire pits and water features like fountains and waterfalls that disappear into rock, you will cut down on lawn care costs and watering. Easier to shovel snow during the winter, not slippery when wet from rain, and they need minimal maintenance if repairs are ever needed, or they need to be cleaned up after 5 or more years exposed to Mother Nature's elements. Power washing and a little TLC maintenance will make things new again!

Here's a recent backyard space that is now clean, user friendly, and used almost like another living area but built for the outdoors! 2020 Update-With recent stay at home activities, this client is having a pool installed in a few weeks and we will be extending patio 🙂

Does your walk or patio need some TLC after years of neglect and Mother Nature causing shifting and dangerous conditions with rain and snow? This is a walkway that we cleaned up, reset base and relaid pavers and installed new paver edging. Swept in some new polymeric sand and voila! Safe and Picture Perfect again 🙂

Are your shrubs overgrown and out of control? Perhaps you've got too much green going on and you want some 3 seasons of low maintenance color. Maybe it was originally installed 20 or 30 years when the house was built and is now mature and dated. We can assess and give you some options to update your existing landscape with keeping smart maintenance in mind. Here are a couple before and after front foundation plantings to show you some of the possibilities available when updating your landscape with us!

Once things warm up in March, we get frequent inquiries as to lawn care and repair after the winter months. To make things a little easier, here are some other things you can do to make sure everything is going to be “Picture Perfect”: 

Early Spring seeding or later in August/September seeding: De-thatching, Aerating, adding Soil and Nutrients, Over-seeding and Weed Control

Not sure what some of these items are then click here for some info on Lawn Care Blunders to Steer Clear of

Unless you have an irrigation system to water new grass seed in, Spring and Late Summer are the better times to get your grass back into shape especially with the winter we had this year. The days are warm, but the nights are cooler which makes watering much easier. Getting rid of weeds and adding back soil and nutrients to your lawn is also important to establishing a good base for new grass seed.  If the ground is compacted and full of dead turf this also needs to be addressed before attempting to repair your lawn. Also check if you need to aerate and de-thatch before overseeding and fertilizing. The folks over at SCOTTS offer some great advice on the above areas when it comes to green lawns. Click HERE to go to their site.

There is a short window in the Spring to get your new grass going and the first few cuts in before either the summer heat sets in or if late summer over seeding the leaves start to fall so plan now. Remember it takes a few weeks to get the grass seeds to sprout, then a few more weeks before your first mowing. After 5 weeks you can then apply fertilizer with weed and grub control so that all your hard work does not disappear overnight. Also remember to keep the falling leaves off the new lawns so it does not get smothered as well. It's often compared to taking care of a baby, so we send this to our clients as a guide to watering grass seed and establishing a new lawn: Watering Grass Seed-A Caution and a Guide

Due to continued high demand this year for our services, we are currently only estimating and scheduling new lawns and repairing lawns if it's part of a larger project such as a front landscaping renovation or backyard transformation so give us a call today to speak with a consultant: 860-228-3915

Lawn Care 101 It might be a bit of a sorry sight after the past 6 months, but with a bit of work, you can bring it back to life. If you can see a fair amount of thatch (the dead, straw-like stuff) you will need to rake it out before you attempt any other lawn care projects. The reason? Anything you add, such as new seed or fertilizer will simply sit on the thatch, rather than getting down into the soil, unless it is removed. Once you have de-thatched your lawn, you can add your fertilizer application. This helps the lawn to green up and recover from winter or summer stress. Weed control and crabgrass preventative should also be applied during this step if you are not attempting to grow new grass or overseed. If you are growing new grass by seed wait until 5 weeks before you start weed and grub control and do your first mowing 🙂

Depending on your property location-If you would like to find out more about lawn fertilization or just have lawn questions or need some advice, contact our friends over at Palatine Lawn Care (strictly lawn and Glastonbury only)

Both of these companies below provide additional services and more than just the lawn care, since we are are a specialized landscaping company they provide other services for trees, shrubs, and weed control which is important as well to protect your investment.

The Green Scene, and  Allied Tree and Lawn Care

If you are like many of our clients that have surrounding oak trees or pine trees on the borders of your property and find that growing grass is an uphill battle every year due to the tree itself and its needles and/or acorns, you may find these articles helpful:

Why grass doesn't grow under pine trees

Planting Under an Oak Tree: What Can You Plant Under Oak Trees

April/May Update: Informative website regarding year-round care recommendations for the perfect lawn for you the homeowner. Check it out here.

Plant and transplant April and May are good times to plant those new roses, flowering shrubs, fruit trees, evergreens and most deciduous plant but so are the cooler months of late August into September. If you’re still not sure what to plant, you can always contact us. We are able to design and help you plan your landscaping project. As far as transplanting existing plants from one spot to another, time is running out, so the sooner the better. Many plants are already starting their spring growth and you want them to get used to their new spot before the heat starts coming in.

Pruning If you need to prune trees and shrubs, the best time to do this is before growth starts in the spring. The exceptions to that rule are spring-flowering shrubs. For those, you need to wait until after they finish flowering (mid-season May-July). Spring would be a good time to prune roses and ornamental grasses if they look like they need a trim. We are happy to assist you on any particular pruning questions you may have or give you a quote to do it for you to keep your landscape healthy and shape/size in check.

Weeding Probably everyone’s least-favorite garden activity, possibly because it feels destructive rather than beneficial, and it can be backbreaking work. Did you know we can apply a premium pre-emergent application to your planting beds that will save you lots of weeding and money! CLICK HERE for more weed control tips we recommend homeowners use. If you are busy or have an extensive landscape, the licensed professionals over at The Green Scene can provide this service as well as lawn, shrub and tree fertilization and tick control spraying if this is a concern. Protect the landscape that you have invested in since weeds are a constant concern in CT. due to all the trees and woods, we have around us.

Specializing in Lower Maintenance Landscapes
for Today's Busy Homeowners

Mulching

Mulching is one of the most important ways to protect and maintain healthy landscaped plants, shrubs and flowers. Some of the uses for our Premium Dark Brown Shredded Bark Mulch are:

• it prevents weeds from coming through.
• organic mulches break down and add to the nutrient base of the soil making the soil richer.
• helps to hold water and moisture in your plants and gardens, therefore you don’t have to water as much.
• helps the roots maintain an even temperature.
• protects your soil from erosion.
• adds to the aesthetic appeal of your landscape by making it look more finished.
• Our premium mulch is 100% organic so sometimes during wet season clients will notice fungus or mushrooms growing. This is natural but usually not something folks like to see in their landscape beds. Here's some advice: Getting Rid of Mushrooms/Fungus

Adding color to your landscape Now is a great time to plant, so take a look around your landscape and decide if you can brighten the place up with a few new “faces.” We can help you with updating your landscape and putting together a free quote once we determine the amount of sunlight affecting that part of your landscape and what type of shrub or tree would give you the “Best Bang for Your Buck”. Flowers are great for short term but by selecting specimens that have interesting color or texture in their foliage also you will have a more lasting visual effect in your landscape. Click on the photo gallery at the top of our website to see some other plants that we like to incorporate in our lower maintenance designs. Email us today for a free estimate!