Lawn and landscape companies
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Grow the soil
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Add compost to lawns as an alternative to fertilizers
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Use a mulching mower to leave leaves and grass clippings in place
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Protect pollinators
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Manual or perhaps organic approaches to weed control
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Allow lawn-compatible (and non-invasive) plant species to intermingle with turfgrass
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Install native groundcovers
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No use of systemic insecticides such as neonicitinoids
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Milky spore for grub control
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Leave most stems and leaves in place in perennial gardens until spring
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Install pollinator gardens
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Install native plants in containers
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Protect trees
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Plant trees and care for the surrounding area according to the Arbor Day Foundation guidelines
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Remove grass under trees and leave the leaves out to the drip line
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English Ivy or Wintercreeper removal
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Other invasive vine control
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Reduce air, water, and noise pollution
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Install rain gardens or other conservation landscaping
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Use manual or electric tools for leaf removal
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Support the birds
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Replace invasive plants with natives (we have lists of popular native alternatives on our website)
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Create firefly habitat
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Leave unchopped leaves on site
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Install native groundcovers
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English Ivy Removal
The trees in our residential areas are infested with English Ivy, a notorious tree killer. Volunteer Tree Rescuers are alerting their neighbors to the issue, but most of those residents will need hired help to clip the vines at the base of the trees then remove the roots from the ground. Find ID tips for this and other invasive vines here and in-person training sessions on our our calendar.
See the HOA entranceway page for examples.
Entranceway landscaping
Businesses and homeowners associations need formal-looking, well maintained entranceways that utilize native plants.
Popular and reliable plant choices include
Shrubs: Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica), Ninebark (Physocarpus opulofolius), Black or Red Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa or arbutifolia)
Ornamental grasses: Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Common Rush (Juncus effusus)
Ornamental trees: Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus), Green Hawthorn (Crateagus viridis)
We need your help! Can you offer your clients the services they need to create habitat-friendly and beautiful landscapes?
We will list companies on our website who self-identify as having the skills to offer these services.
You are the experts. We only know of your concerns and needs if you tell us. Please work with us to make our materials as useful to you as possible. We would be happy to help you develop your native plant expertise. If you have a website, mentioning your interest in native plants will attract new customers.
Services you can offer customers to help the environment
Native groundcover installation and maintenance
Most traditional groundcovers are invasive non-native plants such as English Ivy, Japanese Pachysandra, Vinca, Yellow Archangel, and Liriope. There are many native alternatives. Most of them will not spread inexorably the way English Ivy does, which is a good thing but which means that you need to space the plants close together to get quick results.
Popular examples include Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea), Creeping sedge (Carex laxiculmus), Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), Hairy Alumroot (Heuchera americana), Green-and-Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum).
The shrub Rhus aromatica 'Low Gro' is frequently used as a substitute for low-growing junipers.
See the Groundcover page for details.
Pollinator garden installation and maintenance
The key to success is to keep it very simple, using a small number of neat-and-tidy natives, clumped together by species and well spaced to make identification easy for the weeders. Choose three or four species that bloom at different times to keep the color coming most of the season.