The Level Green Landscaping Blog

Expert Industry Advice and Property Enhancement Suggestions.

We love colorful spring and summer annuals as much as the next guy, but your landscape needs more.

Enter the evergreen.

While annuals fade and perennials have one or two showy seasons, evergreens keep your property intriguing all year long.

Shelley Russell, landscape designer at Level Green Landscaping, shares her favorite evergreen trees and plants.

You might want one of each.

If your property doesn’t have a flowering tree that bursts into spectacular beauty each spring, why not?

Level Green Landscaping designer Shelley Russell has a few beauties to recommend. But don’t let their stunning looks fool you — all her picks are “urban tough,” she says.

“Flowering trees are great for the color, the pop factor,” Russell says. “Curb appeal is especially important for a commercial property. They can really make your property stand out, especially if your buildings are gray and drab.”

Pink? Red? White? Can’t choose?

Here are the best flowering trees for Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C.

Shivering yet?

Your plants are. Winter weather takes a toll on your green pals.

Soggy leaves left on your lawn can smother your turf. Cold and wind makes unprotected plants thirsty. Shrubs can break under the weight of misplaced snow piles.

What the key to maintaining plants in winter?

Bradley Sarno, enhancement operations manager at Level Green Landscaping, walks us through a few key tasks.

If your property is cluttered with old tree stumps, now is a great time to get them out of there.

But how? (Hint: don’t try it yourself.)

Looking for stump grinding services in Washington DC? What does it entail? Is grinding a stump the same thing as removing it?

Paul Weaver, construction branch manager at Level Green Landscaping, fills us in.

We don't mean to be nosy, but how old are your shrubs?

Can't think back that far? Your grandmother planted them? Leisure suits were in style?

They're probably too old. Shrubs don't last forever.

What’s the lifespan of shrubs? When is it time to replace them? How do you keep them looking great longer?

Joey Schneider, branch manager at Level Green Landscaping, has the answers.

What’s your favorite thing about a big parking lot?

The huge expanse of baking hot asphalt? The way the sun beats down relentlessly?

We didn’t think so.

It’s those sometimes shady, always green parking lot islands — pretty planted oasis of cool.

But don’t plant them with grass. In these challenging conditions, turf doesn’t cut it.

Paul Weaver, construction branch manager for Level Green Landscaping, shares his favorite turf alternatives for parking lot islands.

The latest buzz about bees isn’t good.

Over the past few years, beekeepers have reported unusually high losses of bees in their hives.

Bee experts say the losses are due to invasive mites, new diseases, pesticide poisoning and changes to the habitats where bees forage.  

Hives can’t sustain themselves without worker bees, so this loss, called Colony Collapse Disorder, is alarming.

What can we do? Add plants and flowers to our landscapes that bees and other busy pollinators love.

No time to research all that?

Relax — we did it for you. Our crews will even install the best pollinator plants to make your property buzz-worthy.

Pruning isn’t just for plants. It’s for property managers, too.

No, our crews won’t stop over to give your hair a trim. But the pruning they do this time of year — called dormant pruning — has benefits for your business, as well as for the trees.

Pruning keeps your trees and shrubs healthy. And a healthy landscape saves you money, time and hassle.

Let’s sharpen the shears and take a closer look at several dormant pruning benefits.