Landscaping Design on the Main Line

Serving the Main Line, Suburban Philadelphia and Tri-State area

December 11, 2011
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Comments Off on Holiday Landscaping Lighting Ideas for Your Main Line or Philadelphia Home

Holiday Landscaping Lighting Ideas for Your Main Line or Philadelphia Home

Are you looking for some new holiday landscaping lighting ideas this year, for your Main Line or Philadelphia area home? Architectural night lighting is an art form employed to maximize the visual effect of lighting on objects, as they are viewed at night in the absence of daylight.

Night lighting contrasts the appearance of forms seen under daylight, with the appearance of forms seen at night under artificial lighting in the absence of daylight. Integrating lighting with your landscaping design is a means of bringing the exterior of your home to life, by strategically spotlighting significant horticultural or architectural features.

Add decorative holiday decor to your home and landscape, and direct a spotlight as an up light, down light or concentrated spot towards the decorations. A few suggestions are:

  • Add greenery to post lanterns, and wall sconces, along with colorful bows and decoration.
  • Add evergreen boughs to outdoor benches, wood trim, columns, etc.
  • Add evergreen wreaths to windows, doors, arches and significant architectural features.
  • Use spot lighting to accentuate similar repetitive architectural features such as walls, columns, dormers, windows, large shrubs, trees, etc.
  • Gently wind strings of single color lights through selected tree, shrubbery or greenery to emphasize or direct the visual approach to your front door, or other architectural or landscape features.

Outdoor holiday lighting provides safety as it illuminates the way for family members and guests as they come and go. Additionally, it provides security lighting for those busy holiday evenings you are out shopping or attending a Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s event in your Philadelphia area community.

Adding exterior spotlighting will create a dramatic, warm and inviting effect on the exterior of your home this holiday season.   Aardweg Landscaping of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, is one of a few Philadelphia landscaping companies with a principal certified by the American Society of Landscape Designers.

Providing Philadelphia landscaping services for over 35 years, landscaper Steven T. Aardweg, A.P.L.D.  of Aardweg Landscaping is experienced in designing holiday landscape plans for Main Line area residences.  To make an appointment for a complimentary consultation to discuss holiday landscaping lighting ideas for your Main Line or Philadelphia area home, contact Aardweg Landscaping by calling 610-355-0703 or by visiting the Aardweg Landscaping website.

It’s Nutcracker Ballet time again! When was the last time you gathered the family or a few friends, and journeyed into town for the annual presentation of The Nutcracker? For the 43rd year, this timeless ballet is being performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet to the Music of Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky.  It will feature the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra and the Philadelphia Boys Choir. The two hour performance is scheduled to perform December 10, 11, 16 -18, 22-24, and 26-31. For more information telephone 215-551-7000 or visit the Pennsylvania Ballet website. 

 Photo Sources: houzz.com-DoreenLeMayMadden, Aardweg Landscaping

December 7, 2011
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Comments Off on Landscaping Design Portfolio by Main Line and Philadelphia Firm

Landscaping Design Portfolio by Main Line and Philadelphia Firm

The Aardweg Landscaping Portfolio provides a perfect opportunity for you to see the breadth of our professional landscaping design at Main Line, suburban Philadelphia, northern Delaware and southeastern New Jersey residential properties.

Mixed Borders:  Inspiring and evocative positioning of trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses and annuals.

 

 

 

Perennial Gardens: Composition and focused succession of bloom with changes in line, form and texture is our signature.

 

 

 

Hardscapes and Water Features: Expertly coordinated water features and hardscaping design in the form of pathways, walkways, stone walls and backyard patios.

 

 

Formal Gardens: The Formal Garden design utilizes symmetry, massing, layering, perspective, and framing with evergreen and border shrubs, and a wide array of selected local and regional  plants.

 

 

 

Garden Transformations:  Gardens are transformed by Aardweg Landscaping horticultural style and design expertise.

For over 35 years, Aardweg Landscaping has provided expert professional landscaping design, installation and maintenance services to Main Line, suburban Philadelphia, northern Delaware and southeastern New Jersey homeowners. Certified by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, Steve Aardweg of Aardweg Landscaping is available for a complimentary on-site consultation. Review our landscaping design portfolio, then contact Aardweg Landscaping at 610-355-0703, or email us using our web contact form, for more information.

Photo Sources: Aardweg Landscaping

 

 

 

December 5, 2011
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Philadelphia International Flower Show “Hawaii: Islands of Aloha” January 2012 Workshops

January, 2012 workshops are scheduled in anticipation of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society event beginning March 4, 2012 — The Philadelphia International Flower Show, “Hawaii: Islands of Aloha”.  If you are interested in learning more about Flower Show exhibition and floral arrangement, don’t miss the 2012 Philadelphia International Flower Show workshops scheduled throughout the month of January.

The workshops are held at the Lower Gwynedd Township Park Building in Penllyn Woods. Visit the PHS website for directions.  Coffee service at 9:45 am precedes the prompt 10am beginning of each of the workshops. The workshops are for the purpose of trying out creative ideas and fine-tuning exhibits.

 Quoting the workshop flyer, “These sessions are very informal; come when you can and leave when you must. Programs will end by noon. Exhibitors are encouraged to remain after the programs to try ideas and consult with their advisors. Samples of the staging will be available. Backgrounds can be fitted in the niches, and a variety of colored lighting can be tried.  We are not there to remake your exhibit or copy your ideas. We will have actual niches as used in the Show; light bars, and colored bulbs so that you can try your backgrounds, etc. Class Advisors and members of the Passing Committee will be at the workshops to share their expertise and to help you work out mechanics so that installation will go smoothly on the day of entry.”

The January, 2012 workshop dates are 14, 18, 21, and 28. Topics include the following:

  • “Ambrosia,” a Design Using Fruit
  • What’s New on the Horizon by Michael Bruce
  • Leaf Manipulation by Melinda Moritz
  • Backgrounds Made Easy by Gabrielle Smith
  • Basic Rules and Passing—Renee Waite

Exhibitor’s Guide, Entry Forms, And Exhibitors’ Handbook: Artistic Classes

These materials are available for downloading from the Flower Show website  or by sending your name and address to Exhibitor’s Guide, Shows Department, The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 100 N. 20th St., 5th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1495, or e-mail fsguide@pennhort.org.

A new Penn Press book highlights the Chanticleer garden, located in Wayne, Pennsylvania on the historic Main Line. Written by Adrian Higgins, with photographs by Rob Cardillo, ‘Chanticleer – A Pleasure Garden’ follows the garden’s development and reincarnation from season to season, including two growing cycles. The book covers such subjects as Teacup and Entry Gardens, Tennis Court Garden, Chanticleer House, Asian Woods; and Pond, Stream and Cutting Gardens.

From Amazon.com, “Adrian Higgins is Garden Editor at the Washington Post and the author of The Secret Gardens of Georgetown: Behind the Walls of Washington’s Most Historic Neighborhood and The Washington Post Garden Book: The Ultimate Guide to Gardening in Greater Washington and the Mid-Atlantic Region. Rob Cardillo has been photographing gardens and the people who tend them for the past twenty years. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Better Homes and Gardens, American Gardener, and Organic Gardening, among many other publications.”

For expert professional landscaping  design, landscape installation and maintenance services in the Main Line, suburban Philadelphia, northern Delaware and southeastern New Jersey, visit the Aardweg Landscaping website. With many satisfied customers over 35 years of service along the Main Line, Aardweg Landscaping is your first choice for beautiful, transforming fine garden design. Certified by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, Steve Aardweg of Aardweg Landscaping may be contacted at 610-355-0703, or contact Steve Aardweg by email.

 

 

longwoodgardensfountainshows2011

November 28, 2011
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Main Line Philadelphia Aardweg Landscaping Expert Joins Local Scouts to Plant 60 Trees — Longwood Fountains 2011

Visit the MarpleNewtownPatch online to read about an exciting October 8, 2011 event in Newtown Square where friends and family of St. Anastasia’s Cub Pack 315 and Boy Scout Troop 315, joined forces with Newtown Township’s EAC (Environmental Advisory Committee) members and tree expert Steve Aardweg of Aardweg Landscaping at Episcopal Academy to plant 60 trees. This event was part of the initiative by Pennsylvania’s TreeVitalize to plant one million trees by 2014.

TreeVitalize is a southeastern Pennsylvania organization created in 2004 to battle the depletion of trees in Pennsylvania’s metropolitan areas. The goals of TreeVitalize, a partnership of public and private parties, are to:

  • Help restore tree cover
  • Educate citizens about planting trees as an act of caring for our environment
  • Build capacity among local governments to understand, protect and restore their urban trees

From the TreeVitalize website, “ …TreeVitalize already has achieved its goal of planting 20,000 trees in that five-county region.  In spring 2008, TreeVitalize expanded to the Pittsburgh region; by the end of 2009, it was launched in metropolitan areas statewide.  Tree-lined streets make communities look great, and they also clean the air, provide shade to cool buildings and paved areas, increase property values and help control stormwater.  With its expansion statewide, TreeVitalize hopes to plant one million trees across the Commonwealth in the next five years.”

Aardweg Landscaping of Newtown Square has done its fair share of tree planting during the 35 years it has been in business along the Philadelphia Main Line. Aardweg landscapers have designed and installed scores of fine gardens, selectively completing many designs which incorporate new trees, plants and shrubs into the southeastern Pennsylvania landscape.

For Main Line garden owners visiting local garden and nursery centers for landscaping, hardscaping, gardening, landscape design, and flower garden design ideas – contact Steve Aardweg at Aardweg Landscaping. For more than 35 years, Steve has been taking simple gardening ingredients such as mulch, organic mulch, soil, stones; and plants and trees of every type, and created fine designs in Chester County, Malvern, Exton, West Chester, Paoli, Phoenixville, East Goshen, and West Goshen, Pennsylvania neighborhoods. For more information about the Aardweg Landscaping process, visit the Aardweg Landscaping website, or contact usby phone at 610-355-0703.

Longwood Gardens Presents Festive Christmas Fountain Shows in the Open Air Theatre – Set to Holiday Music! longwoodgardensfountainshows2011

From the website: “Throughout the Christmas season, dancing fountain shows are set to holiday music once every hour from 10:00 am–3:00 pm. From 3:30–closing, shows run frequently, with a 5 minute delay between each show. Evening shows illuminate the night with vibrant colors and a glittering backdrop of snowflakes.” For more information about a visit to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA go to the Longwood Gardens website.”

Image Sources: MorgueFile and Longwood Gardens

November 22, 2011
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Comments Off on Philadelphia Landscaping & Floral Designers Receive Free 2012 International Flower Show Tickets Upon Joining The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Philadelphia Landscaping & Floral Designers Receive Free 2012 International Flower Show Tickets Upon Joining The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society

Philadelphia landscaping & floral designers will attend the 2012 International Flower Show, “Hawaii, Islands of Aloha“, for free upon joining the Pennsylvania

hurontoursandtravelflickr-aardweglandscapingmainlinephiladelphia

Philadelphia Flower Show

Horticultural Society. As America’s first horticultural society, founded in 1827, The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society endeavors to protect and enhance the quality of life for citizens through a wide array of civic and horticultural programs.

The strength and effectiveness of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) is contingent upon maintaining and growing membership. The Society has various levels of membership to accommodate every greenhorn gardener, experienced horticulturist, or civic minded citizen.

Membership categories include:

General Membership Levels include:

  • Professional ($150, 4 Flower Show Tickets)
  • Households of 1 to 4 members ($75 to $105, 1 – 4 Flower Show Tickets)
  • Family Associate ($70, 2 Adult & 2 Children Show tickets)
  • Dual Associate ($65, 2 Flower Show Tickets)
  • Single Associate ($55, 1 Flower Show Ticket)
  • Student Associate ($45, 1 Flower Show Ticket)
  • Subscriber ($50, Does Not Include Flower Show Ticket)

Leadership Membership Levels include:

  • Contributing ($175, 4 Flower Show Tickets)
  • Sponsoring ($325, 5 Flower Show Tickets)
  • Sustaining ($625, 10 Flower Show Tickets)
  • The 1827 Society ($1250+, 12 Flower Show Tickets)

Quoting from the PHS website, Flower Show membership benefits include: “Free tickets to the 2012 Philadelphia International Flower Show, Islands of Aloha, March 4-11, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. (Subscriber level excluded); Discounted shopping in the Show’s Marketplace section & PHS Shoppe; and exclusive access to the Members’ Lounge at the Show (Not open during Members’ Preview).

Year-round membership benefits include: Special membership pricing for special events, educational programs and garden visits throughout the year; PHS News (members’ newsletter, 6 issues annually); Discounts at local garden centers including Meadowbrook Farm, an affiliate of PHS; Household level and above enjoy 6 issues of the award-winning Green Scene Magazine; FREE plant at the Fall Garden Festival Plant Dividend (Subscriber level excluded); Gardening advice through Garden Q&A; Member circulating privileges at McLean Library; Discounted admission to Chanticleer in Wayne, PA; and participation in the Subaru VIP Program.”

PHS members find many ways to contribute to the community by becoming involved as volunteers in the wide array of programs and events sponsored by the PHS, such as the Philadelphia Green (a program designed to Develop and preserve community green space, Plant trees and Create green streetscapes), The Philadelphia International Flower Show (the world’s largest indoor flower show next held March 4-12, 2012),  Meadowbrook Farm (an estate in Abington Township featuring a retail nursery and gardens), The City Harvest Program (fresh produce distribution to Philadelphia residents) and TreeVitalize 2020 (a one million regional tree planting program).

The Pennsylvania Horticulture Society McClean Library located at 20th & Arch Streets in Philadelphia, houses the largest repository of horticultural books in the metropolitan Philadelphia area. Philadelphia landscaping & floral designers interested in obtaining free show tickets for the 2012 International Flower Show, “Hawaii, Islands of Aloha”, may contact the PHS about membership, or call 215-988-8800.

Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Main Line Philadelphia residents seeking professional landscape design, installation and maintenance services may contact Stephen T. Aardweg, at Aardweg Landscaping. As a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, Steve Aardweg has more than 35 years of design and installation experience as a Philadelphia area landscaper working in the Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Main Line Philadelphia area. For premium Philadelphia landscape design services, contact Aardweg Landscaping today at 610-355-0703.

Photo Sources: Huron Tours & Travel

November 19, 2011
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Main Line Philadelphia Landscaping Design and Installation Process

Main Line landscaping design and installation customers often contact Aardweg Landscaping of Newtown Square, with the following question: “What is the process for having a landscape design completed?” Here’s our answer!

Our Philadelphia landscaping design services process begins with a meeting between our principal, Stephen T. Aardweg, and the clientaardweglandscapingphiladelphiagardendesignandinstallationMainLine.  As an Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) certified landscape designer, with over 35 years experience in the business of landscape design and installation, Steve is fully qualified to evaluate the particular challenges of your property to assist you in formulating a discriminating and unique design for your landscape.

Steve will then explain the presentation format options, which include:

Photographic Image Design Our most popular imaging option, realistic photographic digital images are taken and imported into a CAD program. We use the images to design and consult with you about the new “look” in the garden. The final image is emailed to the customer. Photographic image designs typically cost $100 per image, and two or three are required for a complete front yard or backyard design.

Landscape Master Plans These are traditional master landscape plan views of the property including the existing structure, plants, and new garden design. Landscape master plans vary from $550 to $1250, depending upon the size of the property, and the total new landscaped area.

 3D Image Renderings We measure the property, draw it in the 3D modeling computer landscape design software, and 3D virtual images of your landscaped garden. 3D virtual image renderings vary from $750 to $1500, depending upon the size of the property, and the total area to be landscaped.

Once a format has been determined, the design process begins. Upon completion, the client is presented with preliminary figures for installation cost estimates for high, medium and low cost options, enabling you to adjust your installation costs to meet your budget.

Our Main Line landscaping design and installation process is carefully designed to provide you with a finished landscape installation that surpasses your highest expectations. Our Philadelphia landscaping design services include fall maintenance such as seasonal pruning, trimming and cleaning services; including bed weeding, and overgrown ivy and invasive plant control. 

Whether you are considering professional landscape design and installation , or seeking someone to perform seasonal maintenance services, be sure to contact Aardweg Landscaping at 610.355.0703 for a complimentary consultation and competitive estimate.   

Upcoming Main Line, Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania horticultural events:

The Chrysanthemum Festival at Longwood Gardens, October 29–November 20. See the biggest North American chrysanthemum and a video about Longwood’s 2009 thousand bloom chrysanthemum.

Green Wreaths Workshops are coming up at the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Five sessions are scheduled to run from Thursday Dec. 1 thru Saturday, Dec. 3. The class teaches students to create a unique and festive wreath with a variety of  freshly cut greens. Registration fee is $50 for non members per session and $40 per session for members. Call 610-328-8025 to register.

 

 

Landscaping Design on the Main Line