Luke Kalawsky
Luke Kalawsky has a passion for all things trees, plants, and landscape design. He has designed numerous landscapes as the head designer in the Surprise, Arizona region until he became a manager of our Central Phoenix Nursery. He now dedicates his knowledge, expertise, and creative capabilities to help the masses discover how to design, plant, and maintain their landscapes with his writings.
The new year is upon us. It’s the time of year we sit down to make resolutions and plan out the projects for the rest of the year. With the trend of working from home here to stay, you may be looking out your workspace window wishing for a more inspiring landscape, or you may be wanting your office space to be outdoors and need a green, lush environment for your backyard workstation.
Maybe it’s time your plans for the new year include refreshing some of your preexisting landscape, manicuring a beautiful garden, or creating your dream yard from the ground up!
Have goals for your yard? The nursery pros at Moon Valley Nurseries have got you covered. We love hearing about new projects, helping create designs for homeowners, and seeing beautiful finished yard installations that will last a lifetime.
Prepare for Spring Now
The spring planting season is right around the corner, but does that mean winter is a good time to prepare for upcoming planting projects? Yes, it does.
Spring is a wonderful time to get your landscape planted, but you’ll want to take advantage of the full growing season, which means you’ll want to be ready for an early spring planting date.
This will give your new trees and plants time to establish and develop healthy root structures so your yard can take advantage of the following summer growing stage. January and the late winter are the best time to prepare for spring and secure your spot on our planting schedule.
For any project you have in mind, stop by one of our nurseries to have our nursery pros and expert landscape designers create the perfect design according to your style. We’ll help you pick your specific trees and plants from our thousands of options and select a planting date to ensure you have your dream yard done right.
Keep Watering Your Yard for Winter Temperatures
With the irregular temperatures we’ve had this winter, it is important for you to be knowledgeable about how often and how much to water your plants. But how do you know how to water your plants during the winter?
During the colder months, it’s best to water in the late morning. A late morning watering schedule will give your landscape time to absorb all the water throughout the day.
When you purchase from Moon Valley Nurseries, our nursery pros will provide you with a watering guide specific to your trees and plants. If you are not sure how to properly water for your existing landscape, feel free to call your local Moon Valley Nursery, and our expert team will give you detailed instructions based on the trees and plants in your yard.
Use Fertilizer & Nutrients to Stimulate Root Growth
During the winter months, many plants go into a dormancy period to focus on root development and strength. This allows them to be prepared for warmer months when they can push new leaves and concentrate on upward growth.
It is key during these winter months to help your trees and plants by stimulating root growth. Our nursery experts recommend using Super Charged Moon Juice™ during the cold weather. Super Charged Moon Juice™ has been expertly developed for plants growing in our soil and climate. This proprietary blend accelerates moisture intake and provides vital nutrients that develop robust root systems and helps plants recover from seasonal stress.
For more information on our Super Charged Moon Juice and other fertilizer products, click here.
Get Inspired with our Best Trees to Plant This January
If you need some insight on which trees and plants to add to your yard this season, here are several top-performing trees and plants for our area. We have carefully created this list of excellent choices for your yard due to their hardy nature, ability to fit into almost any landscape style, capacity to create instant curb appeal, and they look fantastic year-round. It’s no wonder these are some of our best-selling trees and plants.
Fruitless Olive
Fruitless Olive trees can produce plenty of shade in any area of your yard. Their structural and classic shape will add a dramatic and artistic look to your landscape. Use them as a focal point and highlight your olive trees with nighttime landscape lighting.
Fruitless Olive trees keep their leaves all year, which makes them a great evergreen tree for creating privacy or blocking unwanted views. Fruitless Olives are also very durable to cold, heat, and become very drought-tolerant, requiring minimal water once established.
Japanese Privet
Japanese Privets are excellent hedge trees for winter planting. They are fast-growing evergreens that grow deep green foliage. In spring, they bloom petite, showy white and cream flowers followed by attractive dark blue-purple colored fruit that contrasts beautifully with the foliage.
These versatile trees are easy to care for and can be planted from the coast to the desert. We like to use them as privacy hedges, tall screens, ornamental trees, or windbreaks.
Stone Fruits
Growing apple trees in your yard can provide beautiful color in the spring and can help shade your yard during the bright and hot summer days. Apple trees actually do best in a spot with full sun. If you have limited space, the Beverly Hills variety is an ultra-dwarf tree ideal for smaller yards and even can be grown in pots. The Fuji apple is one of the sweetest varieties that are perfect for snacking as well as use in baked goods and salads.
Peach trees are a popular choice for amateur fruit growers because they are so easy to grow! They are a small trees with a wide-spreading canopy. This makes them an excellent choice as a landscape tree due to the amount of shade they can provide throughout the warmer seasons. Peach trees also bloom showy white/cream flowers with an incredible fragrance. Peach trees like to be planted in full sun exposure and will produce large amounts of fruit with a regular fertilizing schedule. Some of our favorites are the May Pride and Florida Prince variety for their amazing taste!
On top of bearing incredibly flavorful fruit, Plum trees are attractive landscape trees with impressive white flowers that bloom during the spring. We like to also use them as border trees or as accents in garden designs. They need full sun but have low to moderate watering needs, once established. Plums are an excellent source of Iron and Potassium making them a great choice for a healthy snack. Once they are harvested, you can even dry them out and make your own prunes, which come with their own amazing health benefits!
Need even more inspiration? Check out our Style Guides to find out which landscape design style is right for you!
If you’d like any additional information on the best trees and plants to plant this January or would like help putting together the perfect yard this season, our professional landscape designers offer free in-store design consultations at any of our local Moon Valley Nurseries locations.
Feel free to give your local landscape design professional a call today and explore planting your dream yard or drop a comment below if you have any other questions, our expert nursery pros are happy to help!
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