#1- Our Level of Experience and Education- Sixty-two years in business coupled with over 80 years of design/architect knowledge is coupled with an installation team that has an average tenure of 12 years. We have been doing this for a long time and our expertise shows! The home owner is the beneficiary of our extra efforts.
#2- Uniqueness of Designs- No two designs are alike because each client has a unique set of needs for their property. All factors are taken into consideration to make each and every project distinct. Plans are created to exactly match home owner preferences.
#3- Quality of a Projects Outcome- No corners are cut and we fulfill our obligation to each and every customer regardless of size or scope. The founder of this company instilled a culture at Plantique, that no expense is spared when it comes to meeting those goals. We do things VERY differently.
#4- Length and Quality of Warranty- Plantique stands behind it’s work unconditionally. Our commitment to to the long term viability of our plants and hardscapes is, without question the best in the industry. The customer service department maintains a ‘no questions asked’ policy when it comes to honoring the landscapes we install
#5- Ability to Start and Complete a Project Quickly and Timely- The size and breadth of Plantique allows us to run multple projects at the same time. Our staff, equipment and rsources assure that we can meet any deadline on budget, without sacrificing quality.
#6- Selection and Quality of Plant Material- Our sixteen acre nursery is stocked with the hardiest and most unique plant material in the region. Our on staff horticulturist, Jake has taken years of nursery visits to locate several dozen top-of-the-line plant nurseries with which we do business.
#7- Total Project Costs- Plantique has the necessary means to offer such a vast array of services provides economies of scale that are passed on to our clients. Our ability to handle every phase of any outdoor project saves our clients both time and money. We have been competitive in all areas and our clients are always pleased with the outstanding value they receive.
#8- Interaction with Clients- Our staff, beginning with the office personel and ending with our maintenance crews are friendly, curteous and professional. We engage our clients and they become involved in the process from design to completion. Communication throughout the process keeps our customers informed and involved.
#9- Aftercare- We care as much about your landscaping as you do! We are always interested to watch “our plants” grow, mature and bloom. We take the time to drive by to look at progress, even years after planting. To that end our aftercare division offers a wide array of services that will maintain and protect your investment, while offering suggestions.
#10- Passion- We care a great deal about the quality of our workmanship and the ongoing progress of our work. We are extremely serious about making customers not just happy, but delighted with their landscape. Our passion shows in everything we do and that is a quality that Plantique takes great pride in.
Contact us today to find out how you can learn more about The Plantique Experience
I found a recent article that describes 5 Home Improvement To Do in 2010. This is a great article about improving the energy efficiency of your home to make it greener. I thought linking to it would be a great blog entry to kick off the new year. Even though it doesn’t address landscaping, it highlights changes to make your house more energy efficient.
There are, however, a number of Green benefits that professional landscaping provides:
Professional landscaping improves a property’s resale value. A study by the American Nursery and Landscape Association found that beautiful landscapes can increase property value by seven to 14 percent and can accelerate the sale of a home by five to six weeks.
Landscaping also adds energy efficiency to your home. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, carefully positioned trees can cut as much as 25% off a household’s energy consumption for heating and cooling. Properly designed landscapes promote healthy living by filtering outdoor noise and improving air quality, as well as providing safe habitats for wildlife.
Landscaping also enhances a property’s aesthetic value and creates a desirable living environment. We are spending more time at home than ever, and the benefits of adding an outdoor room to your home is appreciated instantly.
This is all important information as we trend towards sustainability. “contact our design team today” tolearn how Plantique can help you ‘Go Green in 2010′.
Happy holidays from all of us to you and yours. We are grateful for your interest in our company and look forward to serving all your landscape design, build and maintenance needs in 2010. Please be sure to check our website for landscaping news and advice, and if you haven’t already signed up for our e-newsletter, make that your gardening New Year’s resolution!
Winter is a great time to get inspired and prepare for all your landscape projects, whether they are large and small. To help you with this process, we recommend the following web resources and blogs:
National Gardening Association’s Mid Atlantic Regional Report & Blog
National Geographic’s Green Guide Home & Garden Page
Garden Web’s Garden Voices Blog
For more great landscaping and gardening ideas from Plantique, visit our FAQ, aftercare and news pages.
Want more great landscaping and gardening news and information? Become a subscriber to our e-newsletter.
Everyone knows what is occurring in our economy. The effects are felt in every region and in almost all industries. The difficult markets we face have been especially tough in the Green Industry, and with design/build contractors in particular.
I started to write a blog yesterday on the ‘State of our Industry’. The reports I received from around the country were, as expected not good. It was only after the arrival of my mother yesterday from central Florida, that I decided to change my report.
Mom hasn’t been to the northeast in almost 15 years. As she flew in and looked out the airplane window on a beautiful Fall morning she was overwhelmed with the beauty below. On our drive home from the airport she couldn’t stop marveling at the wonderful palate of colors that 
surrounded her, something she just doesn’t see in sunny Florida. She pointed to the fiery ‘October Glory’ maples in all of their splendor, the rusty red ‘Village Green’ zelkovas and the numerous yellows, orange and rust colored leaves that graced the canvas of our landscape.
It was then that I realized it is time to step back and look at what I have taken for granted. In all the worries and concerns we face, we often forget the beauty of the world that surrounds us. The simple things. It is important that we stay grounded enough, focused enough to appreciate the blessings we do have; our faith, our families and friends and hopefully our health. The innocent appreciation of a glorious fall afternoon from mom has redefined my focus on what I have, not on what is missing.
We will survive these economic uncertainties, overcome our challenges and be stronger because of it. In the meantime, lets look out the window, in our yards and enjoy the beauty, we too often forget see.
You have probably heard the old saying “Fall is for planting.” It’s an annual reminder to homeowners and gardeners in the Lehigh Valley and beyond that this season is the perfect time to plant trees and shrubs. But have you ever wondered why this is so? Well, for starters:
- With slower leaf and flower production in the Fall, plants allocate their energy to root generation and growth as long as soil temperatures remain warm, so they establish themselves better in your landscaping.
- With shorter days and slow (or no) leaf production, less water is required by the tree or shrub.
- Rain and snow melt will give your trees a great start for Spring.
- There will be less stress on plants due to cooler temperatures.
- You can often reap theh benefits of Fall color before plants go dormant.
- Plants fare better because they have two growing seasons, Fall and then Spring, before they get hit with harsh Summer heat.
- Plantique’s Fall schedule is less busy than in Spring, so schedule backlogs are shorter and installations are done sooner.
Plantique’s 16 acre nursery is brimming with beautiful trees and shrubs and pricing has never been better! Contact us today to learn more and enjoy a professionally designed and installed planting scheme, or just call and schedule a delivery and installation of that special plant that you have been thinking about!
We are so proud to be a part of the Lehigh Valley’s newest sporting tradition that we are celebrating with great Labor Day Weekend giveaways at Coca Cola Park. Come out to the IronPigs home game on Sept. 5 against the Buffalo Bison and enter for your chance to win great prizes from Plantique. Just stop by our booth anytime during the event and enter our free drawing. You could win
- a shade tree (installed)
- lawn aeration
- Express Mulch service
- a garden design consultation.
Together these great prizes total more than $1,500, but you can win one of them just by filling out an entry form. To find out more, click here.
We can’t wait to see you at Coca Cola Park on Sept. 5. Let’s go Pigs!
image courtesy of IronPigs Baseball
Weve all got Spring Fever. And why not? This winter was a long, cold one! Spring in the Lehigh Valley is really beautiful, and since we
all want to make the most of our landscaping, Ive put together some seasonal tips based on frequently requested gardening advice. I hope
they help you enjoy your landscaping this year.
Safeguard suspect trees. If your deciduous trees and shrubs had insect or mite infestation problems last season, dormant oil sprays may
help prevent or control the problem this year. These oils can be used as dormant treatments or throughout most of the season, although
when the weather warms up, a lighter rate of these materials should be applied. Contact our Forever Green tree care division for a diagnosis
and treatment options.
Flowering forsythias = crabgrass control time.
My rule of thumb is, when you see the yellow explosion of the forsythia blooms, its time for crabgrass control. Our trained technicians have
several options when it comes to treatments, depending on weather conditions and when they are able to put down the application.
Mothers Day means flowers. Moms Day is usually a safe bet for planting less cold hardy annuals, such as impatiens and geraniums.
The risk of overnight frost or freeze damage is usually gone by this point although you should still check the local weather reports, just
to be safe. If frost threatens, cover plants with cardboard boxes, cold frames or plastic containers from dusk until morning. Potted plants can also be brought indoors.
What zone am I? The Lehigh Valley and its surroundings fall into a sort of gray area on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which can
sometimes make plant selection and installation confusing. Technically, we fall into zones 5a & 5b. However, the mountainous regions sometime act more like they belong to a cooler zone, while our cities and southeastern sections sometimes more closely resemble warmer ones. Low-lying spots, exposure to the elements, and sheltered areas in your yard are other factors that may affect landscaping conditions. Check with your designer if you are unsure about plant hardiness where you live.
Help for the horticulturally-impaired.
Here are some excellent resources that can assist you, whether youre an avid gardener or yard-work phobic:
Penn State Cooperative Extension
(Lehigh Valley): (610) 391-9840 or
http://lehigh.extension.psu.edu
USDAs Home Gardening web page:
www.usda.gov/news/garden.htm
Plantiques Newly Updated Web Site:
www.plantique.com
Plantiques Forever Green division: ??????
610-481-9882, or 610-861-8566
March certainly has come in like a lion this year. With the snow on the ground its hard to believe that spring is only days away. Soon the forsythia will be blooming and the grass will start growing. Let’s say good bye to this long, icy and dreary winter.
Spring is a season of change and at the risk of sounding cliche, I think we all need some positive change. Make 2009 a year of change by improving the look of your landscaping by adding new mulch to your beds.
Mulching is one of the best and most cost-effective way to beautify your landscaping. Besides looking great, mulch can improve the health of your plants and soil. Mulch prevents the loss of water from your planting beds by reducing evaporation. Mulch can stop the crusting of topsoil by improving the absorption and movement of water into the soil. A mulched bed around plant material and trees will also help eliminate damage due to lawn maintenance equipment.
These are just a few of the many good reasons to mulch early this spring. At Plantiques we offer many services that wil add mulch, beauty and value to your landscape. Please contact us to discuss all your landscape needs. Thanks.
(CC) Audrey Michael/Flickr
National Geographic’s The Green Guide currently has a great article on landscaping and gardening products that are more eco-friendly than some traditional choices. “Greener Garden Supplies” covers a wide range of products, including garden tools, hoses, fencing, patio furniture, composting mixes and rain barrels. There’s even information about pest-eating insects that you can buy, for those who are looking for chemical-free alternatives to insecticides.
According to the article:
More and more people are choosing to garden organically. So it’s somewhat troublesome that garden tools and supplies are often made of materials that are decidedly not environmentally friendly. Just try to find a composter, for instance, that’s not made of a material like polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The wooden handles of garden tools and the fence and other materials we buy require trees, of course, to manufacture. And therein lies the gardener’s dilemma: Must we contribute to environmental degradation in our quest to till the soil? The answer, happily, is no.
For more information on greener landscaping practices and products, please check out Plantique’s tips and advice:
Get ready for an exciting 2009 landscaping season! Plantique will be blogging about many creative and practical landscaping design ideas, as well as useful gardening ideas and news for the greater Lehigh Valley region and beyond.
For more great winter gardening ideas from Plantique, click here.
image license
Want more great landscaping and gardening news and information? Become a subscriber to our e-newsletter.
Outdoor living spaces can be your escape from the everyday, right in your own backyard.
We have seen the bottom fall out in the housing market. Oil prices are fluctuating wildly. Homeowners are traveling less. Many consumers are planning to make upgrades on their homes rather than making a move to a bigger house with a larger mortgage commitment. By increasing your home value today, you can probably expect a quicker sale when the housing market does improve, and you will set your home apart from others of similar size in the current market as well.
An August 2007 Wall Street Journal article on home landscape improvement states:
Real estate agents say a nicely landscaped property can have a pronounced effect on the asking price of a home…Nearly 20% of buyers say they consider landscaping to be a ‘very important’ factor in their decision to buy a new house, according to a new study by the National Association of Realtors.
