If you did your homework, now you know if your prospective contractor is licensed and insured. So they have passed the first test! Now, it is up to you to decide if they are the right contractor for you. No can make this decision but yourself, however, here are some questions you can ask to see how they suit your preferences.  Think of it like a first date, you really need to size up your contractor and find out if they are the right fit for you.

Do you really know your contractor?

1. What is their communication style? Will they notify you before they come to your home, provide you with a work schedule and progress updates? Will it be your responsibility to schedule appointments? Who will be your point of contact? How frequently do they invoice? What payment methods are accepted? How will they ensure you that your job is being done or has been done to your standard? Does everyone in their crew speak and understand English? Do they ask you about your communication preferences? The more    you know about what is taking place at your home the more control you have of the project.

2. Assess their professionalism. Do their crews wear matching uniforms? Do the employees drive clearly marked, clean, and organized company vehicles? Are proposals given on company letterhead? You can tell a lot about an organization by the amount of effort they put into the details.

3. Learn about their employees, especially those who will be working at your home. Do they have any special certifications that may make them more valuable to you? How long have they been working in the industry? A well trained/educated employee who is passionate about what they do will take pride in their work which, more often than not, results in a job well done!

Do internet searches for company reviews. Ask about any specific concerns you may have. Most importantly trust your instincts.

A well informed customer is a happy customer. If you are looking to hire a contractor to help with your landscape design, installation, maintenance, and service call us at Sonoran Gardens at 520-579-9411. Find out how we satisfy your hiring questions. I think we can be the right fit for you!

Enjoy a beautiful night out on your patio!

Many of our maintenance and service customers come to us after a bad experience with a different contractor. Before you sign a contract (and always make sure you sign a contract) it is important to find out who are you hiring. As a customer it is your responsibility to ask questions and,as a contractor, it is our responsibility to provide accurate answers and perform the work as such. In each of my next two blogs I will be providing you with some questions to keep on hand when hiring a new contractor. By asking these important questions you can help mitigate some of the common issues that arise when hiring a contractor.

Do they have Workers Compensation Insurance for their employees?  Ask for a copy of their workers compensation insurance certificate. If they don’t have workers compensation insurance you may be liable for medical expenses and lost compensation if one of their employees is injured while working on your property.       

1. Do they have Liability Insurance?  Ask for a copy of their liability insurance certificate. If they don’t have liability insurance you may have little recourse in the event of injury or damage and that $1,000,000 is generally considered to be minimum coverage.
   

   Create a welcoming entry way to your home!

2. Are they Licensed? Ask for their ROC (Registrar of Contractors) number. You can look them up online at: http://www.azroc.gov/forms/contractorsearch.html. From here you can determine the status of their license.You have no/extremely limited legal recourse against an unlicensed contractor.

Know who you are letting into your home. Once they are able to satisfy the legal requirements to perform your work, you need to make sure will perform the work to your satisfaction. My next blog will give you a list of questions to determine if they are the right contractor for you.

Sonoran Gardens Landscape is a fully licensed and bonded landscape contractor.  For more information on our services please call us at 520-579-9411 or contact us by email.

Shelly Ann Abbott

And, the answer is…Meet our Sonoran Gardens Landscape Designers!

Sonoran Gardens works with the best landscape designers in Southern Arizona. Each month, I will blog about one of them to help our readers get to know them a little better. I am sure you will find a designer that suits your style and compliments your vision.

This month allow me introduce you to Shelly Ann Abbott:

Shelly Ann Abbott, MLA, is a multiple award winning landscape designer and Master of Landscape Architecture. She has won the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s Xeriscape Contest for 2010 and 2011 in the professional landscape category and is a 2011 ALCA landscape design award winner. Shelly graduated with Honors and a Design Excellence Award from the University of Arizona, and is held in esteem by the community for her high standards in residential landscape design and ethics for the community and the environment.

As a native Tucsonan, Shelly has a long-time understanding of the various microclimates and which plants have the potential to thrive and look fabulous in this hot arid climate. The desert is a place of uncommon beauty, but it can also be quite challenging to landscape. By using a large and varied plant palette that she has made her signature mark in the landscape design field, she has been able to instill her ethic of water conservation and appropriateness of place for Southern Arizona while creating exciting outdoor areas with colorful landscapes that contain year-round interest that help support local wildlife. 

“I find that my clients take great pleasure in desert gardens that are breathtakingly colorful and interesting and that contain components that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Daytime temperatures in the desert quickly plummet after the sun goes down, especially in the summer. This is the special time when homeowners want to get outdoors and enjoy their landscape after dark. I love designing night lighting that allows homeowners to enjoy the excitement of their gardens at night too. I have a deep appreciation for landscapes that function as outdoor living spaces with outdoor kitchens, fireplaces and water features which become such great places to gather around and welcome friends and family to spend time”.

Shelly conducts residential landscape design workshops at The University of Arizona as adjunct lecturer in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, CALA. She regularly teaches classes at Tohono Chul Park on landscape lighting, cultural and historical landscapes throughout the world as they relate to Tucson, and designing gardens that attract native desert pollinators. 

Shelly lives in the Tucson area with her husband, Brian, two girls and numerous animals.

Some examples of Shelly’s work:

Let me start by saying, in my opinion, that the best lawn you can have in our climate is an artificial turf lawn. The products on the market are truly amazing and very realistic. We use Southwest Greens (www.southwestgreens.com) for our artificial turf installation and they do a dynamite job!

However, I understand that for many Tucsonans having a yard without a lawn seems crazy. So for those of you just can’t live without grass please know that grass in Tucson acts much differently than grass in Peoria, Illinois.

1.)    If you want green grass all year, you will need two lawns. Not two physical lawns, but two layers of seeding, and this will need to be tended to annually.  This means, at the end of every summer, when the weather is beginning to cool off (think early October), you need to over-seed your lawn with Rye. The over-seeding process will give you a winter Rye lawn which will transition to a Bermuda Grass lawn in the summer. The Rye will die in the summer while the Bermuda is flourishing, because it dies it requires annual over-seeding in the fall. The Bermuda, however, only goes dormant in the winter, so it does not need re-seeding each year.

2.)    WATER! Lawns need more water than Tucson’s native droughts tolerate plants, period. Water deeply and long enough to move water to a depth of 8 to 10 inches into the soil. The best time to water is in the cool morning hours (before 5 am). Your irrigation should be installed to get head to head coverage on all your spray heads.  There are several resources online that can help direct you how to program your irrigation the right way in our climate.

3.)    Mowing: Appropriate mowing height is very important. Avoid scalping your lawn. Grass that is too short requires more water. A scalped Rye lawn can easily burn. You won’t see green again until your Bermuda comes in. A lawn that is left too long can restrict your sprayers and pop-ups disrupting your water coverage. This can result in brown patches and uneven growing patterns.

It won’t be easy, but with the appropriate TLC you can have a thriving lawn in Southern Arizona. Good luck!

If the work seems like too much, but you still can’t live without a grass lawn. Sonoran Gardens offers a variety of services to help out.

• Custom Care packages include weekly mowing and monitoring of the irrigation.
• Quarterly Service Contracts are great for those of you who enjoy mowing and edging your own lawn (you know who you are!).  With this, our Service Technician will adjust and clean your irrigation parts and controller to make sure it is working optimally and you are getting appropriate coverage for the season.
• Over-seeding can be performed by our team in the fall, preparing your lawn for the year ahead.

Call today 520-279-9411 for all the details on our Sonoran Gardens’ maintenance plans.

White Flowering Cactus: Trichocereus hybrid ‘Big Bertha’

The best part about landscaping in Tucson is the versatility – so much color and so many varieties. Here is proof that a xeriscaped yard doesn’t need to be all beige and our team knows how to make it happen!

Orange Flowering Cactus

Before I close out today’s article, I just have to point out another cool thing about this photo. The boulder is actually artificial and being used to hide pool equipment. It blends so naturally into the landscape you can’t even tell. This “boulder” was created by Backyard Boulders and is a great example of the value and importance Sonoran Gardens places on using the best materials, and in the right locations to make an innovative solution.

Sonoran Gardens is a landscape design, construction and custom care landscape management firm in Tucson, Arizona that specializes in extraordinary outdoor living spaces. Since 1998, we’ve created hundreds of environments as individual as our clients, always working closely with them to meet their desires and budget requirements.

For more information on our services, please call 520-579-9411 or visit us on the web at www.sonorangardensinc.com.

 

The wind is not a friend of your trees!

1.)  Drive two tree stakes at least six inches into undisturbed soil on either side of the tree perpendicular to the direction of the prevailing winds.

2.)  Hold the trunk up with one hand a few inches above the ground. If the trunk leans over, love a few inches up the truck and try again. Six inches above the lowest point at which the tree does not bend should be where you attach the ties.

3.) Using rubber or polypropylene tree ties, loop the ties around the trunk and attach one per stake. These products stretch and move slightly which will prevent girdling and allow tree growth.

4.)    Trim the stakes down so they are lower than the tree’s canopy.

5.)    Inspect the stakes regularly. Typically they can be removed after one year.

Sonoran Gardens installs tree stakes during all new installation projects, and installs, monitors, and adjusts tree stakes at the homes of our Custom Landscape Care customers. In addition, if you need assistance with tree stake installation or removal at your home call and schedule an appointment with our Service Technician. Our Service Technician can also help with the removal of downed trees and broken limbs that could be a result of windy weather.

How to properly stake a tree

In 2008 Sonoran Gardens developed their Southern Arizona and Tucson landscape maintenance division known as Custom Landscape Care. Custom Landscape Care provides so much more than traditional landscape maintenance service. Our team puts an emphasis on the client’s desires and needs with unparalleled reliability and communication. Custom Landscape Care is individually developed for each landscape and includes the experience of a Certified Designer and trained professionals to insure your investment and landscape continue to flourish and provide you with years of enjoyment.

Please contact Kira Niccum-Pritzl to learn more and schedule a consultation today 520-579-9411.

If your plants are looking frail, check your irrigation controller. Did you re-program it off a winter cycle? With longer warmer days, even our drought resistant landscapes need more water. If you are uncertain how to reprogram your controller, call our Sonoran Gardens’ Service Technician today at 520-579-9411.  He can set it up for the warm seasons ahead, present you with his “clock school”, or schedule you for quarterly visits so you never have to worry about seasonal adjustments and cleanings again!

Our Irrigation Service Technicians are familiar with all of the commonly used irrigation products including Hunter©, Rain Bird©, and Toro©. They can address any of your irrigation needs including:

·Broken, leaking, clogged irrigation ·Valve service and repair ·PVC and galvanized pipe repairs ·Controller repair/replacement ·Wire tracing and repair ·Emergency repairs ·Extending/Replacing existing irrigation system ·Winterization – cover and protect your pipes from freezing ·Water saving technology installation ·Miscellaneous Troubleshooting

Call Sonoran Gardens at 520-579-9411. We’ll be there to set up a convenient appointment with our Service Technician to take care of any of your irrigation needs!  Our irrigation repairs begin at $85 plus materials (minimum one man for ½ hour)

Metal structures and accent lighting

Did you get a chance to go to the 4^th Avenue Street Fair this weekend? I think it’s one of the most interesting events in Tucson! It’s full of wonderful artists and musicians, grilled corn and buckets of lemonade, as well as some of the world’s best people watching. Throughout the Fair there are countless booths full of unique garden art. Iron sculptures, bird baths and houses, wall plaques, wind chimes, whirly-gigs, fountains – the options are endless. If you missed the Street Fair, another fantastic source for distinctive artwork is to take the short drive to Tubac to pursue their shops. There are many local artists and resources where you can find the perfect art to fit your personality.

Living right on your outdoor patio!

Garden art establishes individuality within your landscape; it adds a pop of interest or a “wow” factor. Your Sonoran Garden’s landscape designer can work with you to incorporate art into your landscape and provide suggestions on what would work with your space. Garden art is yet another, often overlooked, way to bring your living space outdoors.

Stylish metal fountain with water feature

Make your dream come true – call Sonoran Gardens today at 520-579-9411 and let us show you how we can make your outdoor paradise a reality. The only thing we don’t do is mix your margarita, but here’s a nice recipe anyway…

Margarita ingredients

2 ounces tequila

1 tablespoon kosher salt

4 limes, divided

1/2 small orange

2 tablespoons light agave nectar

3 – 4  ice cubes

Directions

Pour 1/2-ounce of the tequila into a small saucer. Spread the kosher salt in a separate small saucer. Dip the rim of a wide rimmed glass into the tequila. Lift out of the tequila and hold upside down for 10 seconds to allow for slight evaporation. Next, dip the glass into the salt to coat the rim. Set aside.

Halve 2 of the limes, cut a thin slice for garnish from 1, and set aside. Juice the halved limes into the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Cut the remaining 2 limes and the orange into quarters and add them to the juice in the shaker. Add the agave nectar to and muddle for about 2 minutes. Strain the juice mixture through a cocktail strainer into the top of the shaker and discard the solids.

Return the juice to the bottom of the shaker, add the remaining 1 1/2 ounces of tequila. Add the ice to the shaker, cover and shake for 30 seconds. Strain the mixture through a cocktail strainer into the prepared glass, garnish with reserved lime slice, and serve immediately.

Drink-up and enjoy!

Sonoran Gardens is a landscape design, construction and custom care landscape management firm in Tucson, Arizona that specializes in extraordinary outdoor living spaces. Since 1998, we’ve created hundreds of environments as individual as our clients, always working closely with them to meet their desires and budget requirements.  Sonoran Gardens Landscape has received over 40 international, national, state and local awards for our landscape projects in Tucson. http://www.sonorangardensinc.com