Long Island Landscaping

Splendor Landscape Design celebrates 15 years serving the Long Island community.

Long Island, New York (PRWEB) August 28, 2013

Splendor Landscape Design, a Long Island-based company specializing in landscape design, masonry, irrigation system installation and lawn sod installation, is proudly celebrating their 15th anniversary as a leader in the Long Island landscaping industry.

Established in 1998, Splendor Landscape Design became the new name of Top Cut Landscaping as they began to phase out the landscape maintenance services to focus on their growing landscape design business. Since then, Splendor Landscape Design has served over 1,000 properties encompassing both the residential and commercial sectors of the Long Island community stretching from Western Nassau County to the Hamptons.

The move to focus primarily on landscape design and its various components was to fill an area that the Splendor ownership viewed as underserved on Long Island at the time. Up until that point, landscape design was limited to simplistic designs created by companies whose primary focus was on the maintenance aspect of the landscape business and who undertook landscape design when asked by their clients. By changing their focus to introduce more stylistic designs, combining shrubbery and floral designs with masonry accents and water features, Splendor Landscaping brought a fresh new approach to the Long Island landscaping industry and gave potential clients a new option in response to their desire for landscaping that was both functional and artistic.

By creating landscape designs that include the various elements that were rare in designs up to that point and working within their diverse clientele’s budgets, they have built a loyal customer base who appreciates their attention to detail. During Splendor Landscape Design’s 15 years in business the Splendor staff has grown in both knowledge and experience which has allowed them to become one of the true powerhouses of the Long Island landscaping community. With the massive success of their first 15 years, the entire Splendor family looks forward to the next 15 years with excitement as they continue to serve their Long Island neighbors.

Since 1998, Splendor Landscape Design has focused nearly exclusively on landscaping, servicing both residential and commercial. Splendor Landscape has grown as a direct result of the talents and experience of their employees. Trained in all the most innovative methods of landscaping masonry, their staff offers their customers innovative ideas to enhance their properties. Splendor Landscaping uses the best quality materials to secure a long lasting fresh look for years including Cambrige Paving Stones Nicolock Paving Stones. Splendor Landscaping is among the most sought after landscape design service providers throughout Long Island and may be contacted at (631) 242-6058 or online at http://www.splendorlandscaping.com.

PDF


Print

Posted by Guest
on August 28, 2013.

To the editor:

I am baffled by Sandy Springs’ leadership and the mayor’s vision for building the Sandy Springs downtown center out of suburban sprawl. Each week, the pages of the Sandy Springs Reporter bring fresh news of how our tax dollars are being spent: on outside consultants, failed traffic control ideas, and beautification projects that are not adding value, community or efficiency to this newly-formed city.

I read about the vision for a new downtown City Center, which displaces or destroys existing businesses. I read about grand ideas for European-style traffic roundabouts, which won’t improve traffic flow. I read about out-of-state consultants being paid for beautification and landscaping schemes to welcome visitors to see what? And I wonder who is filling our leaderships’ heads with ideas that clearly don’t work or won’t add community value? Can we not hire a local city planner, traffic engineer and landscaping architect who know the area and can come up with viable solutions that make sense for residents?

The mayor wants park-like landscaping to welcome visitors on the Roswell Road exit from I-285. The additional lane recently added to the bridge has not helped solve Roswell Road traffic one iota, as it was promised to do. I hope our guests, once lured off the highway, will enjoy the attractive shuttered bars and pubs between Allen and Cliftwood as they sit in the unbearable traffic on Roswell Road, waiting to get to the run-down visitor’s center.

While I applaud the idea of a thriving downtown area, I question the action to get there. The mayor threatens eminent domain on small businesses in the proposed “city center” area, while offering the business owners no options for how to survive and thrive in new locations.

• Why not supplement the displaced businesses’ leases and build-out expenses by offering tax incentives or cash incentives for them to stay in the “city center”?
• How about offering a deal to the landlords of strip shopping centers along Roswell Road? Fix up your shopping center and we’ll help you fill your unleased space with the aforementioned businesses.
• How about helping poor CityWalk attract some businesses that can sustain life in that center? This center should be the crown jewel of the ‘downtown area’, but is instead mostly shuttered.
• Want a great idea of where to put an ice skating rink? Instead of the inaccessible Roswell Road/I-285 intersection, how about CityWalk? How about the Prado? How about one of the many run-down shopping centers with traffic lights, parking and better egress?
• While we’re at it, how about incentivizing renovation of the Bank of America building and neighboring Northside Tower to attract the live/work crowd to downtown?

While I believe our city leadership’s intentions are good, their execution is far from good. What I hear and see makes no sense, is not a long-term plan, and is using valuable resources ineffectively.

If the city of Sandy Springs wants a heart, it is going to take a lot more than the current fluff, squabbling and squandering to form a true thriving downtown. It takes vision, commitment, community action and leadership.

Patrick Farrell

About Guest

Facebook Comments:

comments

Related posts:

1. Gateway project should be a ‘no-go’
2. Sandy Springs splits city center streetscape project
3. Roswell Road getting better, officials say

Photo: Flickr

Many homeowners use their porches, decks, and yards as extensions of their living space. To feel at ease, however, they need privacy. Walls and fences create privacy, but can be off-putting and expensive. ‘Living screens,’ methods of landscaping for privacy, provide another alternative.

Related: Creating Privacy and Beauty with Hedgerows

When creating a living privacy fence, make sure to pick plants that are appropriate for your property in terms of hardiness, sun, and moisture. Younger plants will be cheaper and easier to install, but if you need privacy quickly, buy larger ones and expect to pay a lot more. You can also use shades, shutters, or awnings until your plant cover grows in fully.

Trellises
Plants grown on trellises create an effective screen that allows light and air to pass through. “Trellises are very handy because they take up very little space,” says Doug Gagne of The Mixed Border Nursery and Gardens in Hollis, NH. They can be made of pressure-treated wood, plastic, iron, copper, or aluminum—just make sure the trellis is sturdy enough for the plant you grow on it. Most trellises have stakes that go into the ground. If you’re going to use one on your porch, you’ll also need to secure it to the frame or soffit. If you use a trellis to screen your deck, you may have to combine it with a structure like a pergola across the top for support. Good perennial vines to grow on a trellis include clematis, honeysuckle, and Dutchman’s pipe. Popular climbing annuals include morning glories and scarlet runner beans.

Hedges
Hedges can be as tall or short as you like, and can fit in small or large spaces. Select shrubs or trees that won’t grow taller or wider than you need, otherwise you’ll spend lots of time pruning. When planting, calculate how much space the full-grown plants will fill so they don’t encroach on your house or the neighbor’s yard. Leave breaks in the hedge, so you won’t be boxed in or send an unfriendly message. “You want privacy but you also want it to be inviting,” says Patricia St. John at St. John Landscapes in Berkeley, CA. “To enclose it all the way makes it seem very uninviting and tells visitors to go away.”

When planning your hedge, remember that deciduous plants drop their leaves, so most of your screen will disappear in the winter. For year-round privacy, evergreens may work better. Arborvitaes are fast-growing evergreens that come in many sizes. “They have the effect of looking like little soldiers, but if you have a narrow area, that might be your best alternative,” says Judy De Pue, owner of New Vistas Landscaping in Goshen, IN, and president of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. If you have lots of space and need to screen your yard from a multi-story building next door, larger evergreens like blue spruce, white pine, or hemlock can do the job.

If you’re using deciduous shrubs, mix different kinds and colors to make your hedge interesting. One of De Pue’s favorite combinations includes burgundy ninebark, variegated red-twig dogwood, dwarf lilac, golden privet, and Onondaga viburnum. You can also incorporate herbaceous perennials, ornamental grasses, and annuals into your hedge for interest and variety.

Trees
Carefully positioned small trees, especially those that branch out at the base, also help create privacy. “We find trees give all the benefits of a hedge with a lot less maintenance,” says Judy Drake of Sunscapes Landscape Design in Jacksonville, FL. Options include magnolias, flowering dogwoods, Japanese maple, Japanese tree lilac, stewartia, birch, and palms. Bamboos make good screens, but the aggressive roots of the running variety need to be contained.

If you’re planting trees you may want to mix the sizes. “That way your screening will look more natural because in nature trees are all different sizes and have different rates of growth,” St. John says. You can also plant shrubs to fill in under the trees. For a beautiful but high-maintenance privacy wall, consider an espalier or flat, broad screen, made with trained apple, pear, or fig trees.

Outdoor Rooms
You can build a private “outdoor room” in your yard with greenery instead of solid walls. Use posts covered with vines to establish the boundaries and enclose the sides with trellises, planters, shrubs, or perennials. You can also create a pergola effect by connecting the posts from above with wood, wire, or chains and training vines across them. Make sure you match the materials, colors, and style of your outdoor room to the house. “It’s important that this outdoor space doesn’t look like it’s been stuck on,” Gagne says.

Berms
Another option for screening your property is an earthen berm or mound with plantings, which serves as a living hillside. The berm should not be too narrow or steep, because a broad, gently rising area blends with the yard more naturally. Use drought-resistant plants when creating a berm, because water tends to run off the incline, leaving plants thirsty and undernourished.

For more on landscaping, consider:

Landscape Edging: 10 Easy Ways to Set Your Garden Beds Apart 

How To: Transplant Trees, Shrubs, and Perennials

5 Ways to Use Bamboo in Your Landscape