If you’re looking to create a vibrant and resilient landscape, choosing the right plantings can feel like a tall order. With a climate that swings from icy winters to humid summers, it’s essential to plan for beauty that endures year-round. Fortunately, with professional expertise, you can have a stunning outdoor space that thrives through the seasons. When you’re working with skilled contractors who understand plantings in Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove, IL, the possibilities are endless.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Landscaping Services Before Hiring an Expert in Vernon Hills, IL
What Is the Best Plant to Plant in Winter?
Winter in Illinois is no joke. Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove endure freezing temperatures, biting winds, and heavy snowfalls that turn many landscapes into barren scenes. But just because it’s cold doesn’t mean your outdoor space has to look dull. With the help of planting installation contractors, your winter landscape can be as vibrant and structured as it is in the warmer months.
Professional contractors know how to create interest with plants that stand strong through the winter while offering greenery and life to your outdoor spaces. These expert-chosen evergreens and cold-hardy species are not just practical—they're also beautiful, creating a picturesque view from your windows even when the ground is covered in snow.
Boxwood Shrubs
Boxwoods are the ultimate choice for year-round sophistication. These versatile shrubs maintain their rich green foliage through the coldest months and can be shaped into crisp hedges, elegant spheres, or custom forms that complement the overall design of your property. Contractors often plant boxwoods strategically to create structure and symmetry in your landscape, ensuring they serve as a focal point no matter the season.
American Holly
Imagine glossy green leaves punctuated with bright red berries peeking out from a blanket of snow. American Holly is a winter classic, beloved for its festive appearance and hardy nature. Contractors know just where to plant these beauties to enhance the visual appeal of your yard while providing food for local birds.
Eastern Red Cedar
For a natural, rustic look that also offers privacy, the Eastern Red Cedar is an exceptional choice. These evergreens stand up to Illinois winters with ease, providing a cozy backdrop to your outdoor space. Whether lining a property boundary or placed as an accent tree, this native option delivers year-round beauty and durability.
Timing Tip: Planning for Winter
While the middle of winter isn’t the right time to plant (frozen ground makes it impossible), it’s an excellent season for planning. Your contractor will use this time to design your landscape and select plants that will be installed during the more favorable conditions of spring or fall. This ensures your plants have the best chance to thrive while giving you something to look forward to as the seasons change.
What Is the Best Plant to Plant in Summer?
Summer in Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove brings a mix of heat, humidity, and occasional dry spells that can challenge even the most well-maintained landscapes. For an outdoor space that stays vibrant and lush no matter the weather, planting contractors rely on heat-tolerant and drought-resistant plants. These resilient options not only survive the summer but also add beauty and charm to your property.
Black-Eyed Susan
This quintessential Midwest perennial is a summer standout. With its cheerful yellow petals and sturdy nature, the Black-Eyed Susan thrives in full sun, offering a bright and welcoming aesthetic to any garden bed. Contractors love incorporating these flowers as they pair beautifully with other summer plants, creating eye-catching borders or colorful focal points.
Purple Coneflower
A beloved local favorite, the Purple Coneflower is not only visually stunning but also incredibly hardy. Its striking purple petals and raised centers attract pollinators like bees and butterflies, adding life and movement to your landscape. This drought-resistant perennial handles dry conditions with ease, making it a reliable choice for Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove’s summer heat.
Russian Sage
For a dreamy, ethereal look, Russian Sage is a must-have. Its silvery foliage and delicate lavender blooms add texture and softness to sunny areas. Contractors often use this plant to fill larger spaces or to complement bolder flowers, creating balance and elegance in the overall design.
Professional Tips for Summer Planting
While summer planting is possible, professional contractors know the timing and techniques that make all the difference. Early summer is ideal for introducing new plants, as this gives roots time to establish before the peak heat arrives. Additionally, contractors use mulching as a crucial step to help summer plantings thrive, as it can help with the following:
Moisture Retention: Mulch helps keep the soil damp by reducing evaporation, which is especially important during hot, dry spells.
Temperature Regulation: By insulating the soil, mulch keeps roots cooler in the heat, ensuring plants stay healthy.
Weed Suppression: A fresh layer of mulch minimizes weed growth, reducing competition for water and nutrients.
Your planting contractor can carefully select the right type of mulch and apply it at the proper depth to ensure your summer landscape stays comfortable and hydrated.
Related: 11 Plantings to Enhance Your Front and Backyard in Wilmette and Deerfield, IL: A Homeowner’s Guide
How Do I Take Care of My Plants in the Winter?
Winter isn’t the time to leave your landscape to chance. Freezing temperatures, heavy snow, and harsh winds can wreak havoc on your plants. But with the expertise of a professional lawn service provider, your outdoor space can be fully prepared to withstand the season. Winter plant care goes far beyond hoping your plants survive—it ensures your landscape thrives when spring returns.
Without proper preparation, roots can freeze, shrubs can dry out, and trees can suffer permanent damage. The right care safeguards your investment, maintaining the beauty and health of your property year-round while setting the stage for vibrant growth in the next season.
Essential Winter Plant Care Practices
Mulching is one of the most effective ways to protect plants during winter. By applying a fresh layer of mulch, your lawn service provider creates an insulating blanket over the soil. This helps regulate soil temperature, preventing the freezing and thawing cycles that can damage roots, while also retaining moisture in the ground during periods of dry air. Mulch not only protects but also ensures your plants start spring with strong, hydrated roots.
Fertilizing in late fall is another critical step in preparing for winter. While it may seem like plants don’t need nutrients during their dormant phase, this application feeds their roots and stores energy for the coming growth season. Lawn care professionals use custom-blended fertilizers tailored to the specific soil and plant needs of your property. This attention to detail ensures your landscape gets exactly what it needs to bounce back stronger in spring.
Pruning trees and shrubs during the winter months is a vital practice that promotes health and reduces risks. With plants in dormancy, winter is the ideal time for lawn service providers to remove dead or damaged branches. This not only encourages healthier growth but also reduces the risk of snow accumulating on dense branches, which can lead to breakage. Proper pruning improves the overall structure of trees and shrubs, ensuring they thrive in every season.
Is Mulch Good for Planting?
Mulch isn’t just a finishing touch for your garden beds—it’s the secret ingredient that keeps your plants healthy, vibrant, and resilient. A well-mulched landscape doesn’t just look tidy and polished; it’s also an ecosystem working harmoniously beneath the surface. For homeowners in Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove, IL, mulch is essential for managing the area’s temperature extremes, dry periods, and seasonal challenges.
When applied by professional contractors, mulch provides a wide range of benefits that go far beyond aesthetics. By fostering healthier plantings and improving soil conditions, mulch ensures your landscape not only survives but thrives year-round.
The Many Benefits of Mulch
One of mulch’s standout advantages is moisture retention. By creating a protective barrier over the soil, mulch helps lock in water, reducing evaporation even during the hottest summer days. This means your plants stay hydrated for longer, which is especially critical during dry periods or when water restrictions may be in place. A properly mulched garden is less likely to suffer from stress caused by inconsistent watering or prolonged heat.
Temperature regulation is another key benefit. Mulch acts as insulation for your soil, maintaining a more consistent temperature around your plants’ roots. In winter, this means keeping roots warm enough to avoid freezing damage. In summer, it prevents overheating, creating a comfortable environment for roots to grow and thrive. With mulch, your plants are better equipped to handle Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove’s challenging seasonal shifts.
Mulch also significantly reduces weed growth. By blocking sunlight from reaching the soil, mulch inhibits the germination of weed seeds, meaning fewer weeds sprout in your garden beds. This not only keeps your landscape looking clean and pristine but also saves you time and effort in maintenance. Weed control becomes less of a battle, allowing you to enjoy your outdoor space rather than constantly tending to it.
Another often-overlooked advantage of mulch is its ability to improve soil health over time. Organic mulches, such as shredded bark, wood chips, or straw, decompose gradually, enriching the soil with essential nutrients as they break down. This natural process boosts soil fertility, enhances its structure, and encourages beneficial microbial activity, all of which contribute to healthier, more robust plantings.
What Season Is Best for Lawn Care?
Maintaining a lush, healthy lawn is more than just a weekend chore—it’s a year-round commitment that requires precise timing and specialized care. In Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove, where seasonal extremes can be particularly challenging, professional lawn care services are essential. Local experts understand the unique needs of lawns in this region and know how to manage them at every stage of the year.
Each season brings its own set of challenges and opportunities, and giving your lawn the right care at the right time is the key to keeping it vibrant and resilient. Here’s an in-depth look at what it takes to maintain a picture-perfect lawn throughout the year.
Spring: Preparing for Growth
Spring is when your lawn begins to wake up after its winter dormancy, making it the ideal time for essential groundwork. This season is all about giving your grass the tools it needs to thrive during the growing months ahead.
Aeration is one of the first tasks on the list. By removing small plugs of soil, professional lawn care providers create pathways for air, water, and nutrients to reach your lawn’s roots more effectively. This process also helps to alleviate compaction, a common issue in clay-heavy soils like those in Arlington Heights and Buffalo Grove.
Overseeding is another crucial step, especially for thinning lawns or areas that suffered damage during winter. Lawn care professionals strategically spread seeds to encourage thicker, fuller growth, ensuring your turf looks uniform and lush.
Pre-emergent weed control is also a priority in spring. Applying these treatments early prevents common weeds like crabgrass from taking hold. At the same time, fertilization provides your grass with the nutrients it needs to kickstart healthy growth, creating a strong foundation for the rest of the year.
Summer: Keeping Turf Cool and Healthy
Summer in Illinois can be tough on lawns, with high heat, humidity, and occasional droughts testing the resilience of your turf. During this time, proper maintenance is critical to keep your lawn green and thriving.
Mowing takes center stage in summer, but it’s more than just keeping the grass at a certain height. Professionals know how to adjust mowing practices based on the season, ensuring the grass is cut to the right length to promote healthy growth and reduce stress. Cutting too short can weaken your lawn, while cutting too high can invite pests and disease.
Watering is another vital aspect of summer lawn care. Inconsistent watering can lead to dry patches or over-saturated areas, both of which harm your lawn. Professional services ensure your grass receives the right amount of water at the right time, using methods like timed irrigation systems or soil moisture checks.
During particularly hot stretches, lawn care professionals may also recommend treatments to manage heat stress and prevent fungal diseases, ensuring your turf stays healthy and resilient.
Fall: Preparing for Winter
Fall is a transitional season, but it’s far from a time to slow down on lawn care. In fact, what you do in the fall can significantly impact how well your lawn weathers the winter and how it performs in the following spring.
Fertilization is especially important in the fall, as it helps grass roots store nutrients for the colder months ahead. This creates a strong foundation for growth once the weather warms up again.
Aeration often makes a return in the fall to ensure compacted soil doesn’t hinder root development. By creating space for nutrients to penetrate, this process sets your lawn up for better resilience during winter dormancy.
Fall is also an excellent time to address any lingering weeds. Targeted weed control treatments eliminate competition, allowing your grass to take full advantage of the available nutrients. This is the season for overseeding as well, as the cooler temperatures are ideal for germinating grass seed and filling in thin or bare spots.
Winter: Rest and Protection
Winter may seem like a time to forget about your lawn, but it’s actually a critical season for ensuring its long-term health. While your grass enters dormancy and rests under a blanket of snow, lawn care professionals focus on protecting your landscape from potential damage.
Snow management is a key service during winter months. Heavy snow and ice accumulation can harm your lawn and surrounding plants if not handled properly. Professional snow removal services not only keep your property safe and accessible but also ensure that snow doesn’t pile up in ways that could damage your turf.
Winter is also a time for planning. Lawn care professionals use this period to assess the previous year’s challenges and successes, preparing a customized strategy for the upcoming growing season. This proactive approach ensures that your lawn receives the best care from day one of spring.
Related: Arlington Heights and Vernon Hills, IL: Premier Lawn Care for a Pristine Outdoor Space
