The Many Benefits of Outdoor Lighting

Are you debating investing in outdoor lighting? The benefits of an outdoor lighting system strongly outweigh the few objections you may have. Outdoor lighting is just what your home needs. From entertainment to security, outdoor lighting has an array of benefits for both you and your home:

• Security

One of the major advantages of outdoor lighting is the instant added security it provides. A lit house immediately suggests an occupied household to potential threats. It is important to feel safe and secure in your own home, and outdoor lighting can provide just that when the sun goes down. TLC can provide lighting customized to your own security needs to make you comfortable with your home’s security.

• Showcase:

Have you spent countless hours perfecting your curb appeal only for its recognition to be lost in the darkness of night? Without Brentwood outdoor lighting, all of your hard work is forgotten once the sun sets. Lighting emphasizes the unique features of your home such as architecture and landscaping. TLC can help you decide what architectural or landscaping focal points you would like to showcase. Let the neighbors see what you have worked so hard on, and have outdoor lighting installed to showcase your beautiful home and the landscaping that accompanies it.

• Visibility

The installation of lighting outdoors greatly increases the visibility of your home, driveway, and lawn. We’ve all had those times driving up and down a street over and over looking for an address in the darkness of night. Do not make your guests suffer the same fate. Not only will your guests benefit, but the next time you drop your keys at night you will not be fumbling around in the grass. Installing lighting outdoors greatly increases visibility of your home as well as its surroundings for both you and your guests.

• Entertainment

While outdoor torches and similar outdoor lighting features can be fun, they just do not compare to professional lighting when you are entertaining on a summer night. Whether you are playing a night game of football or entertaining guests on your deck, outdoor lighting is a solution worth having if you would like to enjoy your home outdoors after dark.

Nashville outdoor lighting has a plethora of benefits for homes. The security, ability to showcase your home, visibility, and entertainment the lighting provides all makes outdoor lighting a home improvement feature you should definitely invest in.

Use a Professional for Outdoor Lighting

Why Use a Professional

Once you have put all of your effort into your landscaping and home design, it is only natural to want to show it off. Nashville Outdoor lighting is the perfect way to display your architecture, landscaping, and add additional security to your home.

Do-it-yourself outdoor lighting sounds simple enough until the difficulty, time, and quality difference are compared to superior quality professional work such as TLC. While many home improvement stores carry the materials necessary for at-home outdoor lighting installation, there are many advantages to using TLC opposed to time consuming and tricky DIY methods.

If appearance, quality, and efficiency are all important to you and your home, you should consider letting a professional take this task off your hands. The advantages of professional outdoor lighting are numerous:

• Quality: The overall quality of TLC’s outdoor lighting fixtures cannot even be compared to those sold at most hardware and home improvement stores. Made with professional grade materials, TLC can provide you with high quality outdoor lighting solutions sure to compliment your home’s individual and unique architecture and landscaping. To guarantee this high standard of quality, all of our parts and labor are accompanied with a 5 year warranty.
• Time: For anyone inexperienced in electricity and engineering, installing outdoor lighting can be a very time consuming and unpleasant task to undertake. Our immense experience makes outdoor lighting installation a timely and efficient experience with very little to none of your valuable time wasted climbing ladders or wandering around home improvement stores.
• Appearance: The overall appearance of DIY work just does not measure up to professional work. The position and brightness of your lighting can greatly affect your home’s curbside appearance. Our landscaping experience gives us the ability to determine the various focal points of both your home and landscaping. With years of professional experience in outdoor lighting since 2003, we are sure to position your lighting in the most aesthetically pleasing setting to highlight your specific home and landscaping, while adding security where you need it most.
• Complexity: Various voltages, circuits, and other perplexing electrical terms are confusing yet vital in lighting your home both indoors and outdoors. If done incorrectly, electrical wiring can go wrong quickly with devastating results. Save yourself the headache and risk, and let TLC handle the complex and copious details of your outdoor lighting needs.

Selecting a professional to complete your outdoor lighting needs has countless benefits. TLC offers a variety of outdoor lighting options, including LED lighting, that are sure meet your specific outdoor lighting needs. The difference in quality and appearance are sure to outshine any DIY attempts; not to forget the time and energy you will save by handing this task off to those more qualified in outdoor lighting. With professional quality outdoor lighting, your home is sure to be the brightest on the block.

Let a professional give your home the Brentwood outdoor lighting that it deserves.

LED Outdoor Lighting

A well-designed outdoor lighting system can radically transform the look of any home. From illuminating your home’s unique architecture to increasing security at night, outdoor lighting is truly a worthwhile investment. However, many Tennessee homeowners are reluctant to invest in a Nashville outdoor lighting system because of the cost of installation and the cost of replacing old incandescent bulbs that have a tendency to burn out quickly.

Thankfully, there is a solution – LED lighting. LED stands for light-emitting diode, and it is frequently used as backlighting in devices like TVs, radios, telephones, and calculators. In recent years, however, the technology has advanced enough to the point it is now being used in light bulbs. While LED lights initially were very expensive to produce, they have dropped in price significantly over the past two years, making them practical and affordable for just about any lighting needs, including Williamson County outdoor lighting.

The advantages of LED lighting over typical incandescent lighting are tremendous:

• Longer lifetime. An LED light lasts 40 to 50 times longer than an incandescent bulb. LED lights last for 50,000 hours (although some can last much longer than this), while incandescent bulbs only last for around 750-1,000 hours.
• Less energy consumption. LED lights are much cheaper to operate than incandescent. LEDs only require 6-8 watts of power to operate, while incandescent bulbs require 60. Even compact fluorescents (CFLs), which are often touted as being energy efficient, require 13-15 watts to operate.
• Fewer kilowatts. The difference of the kilowatts of electricity used in one year for each type of lighting is astounding: Incandescent bulbs use 3285 KWh/yr, CFLs use 767 KWh/yr, and LEDs use 329 KWh/yr.
• Cheaper. Because of their incredibly low power consumption, LED lights are extremely cheap to operate. In one year, the cost of powering 30 incandescent bulbs is $328.59, while 30 CFLs cost $76.65. LED lights, on the other hand, only cost $32.85 per year.
• Works in all weather. Unlike most incandescent and CFL bulbs, LEDs operate without any loss in functionality in all types of climates and weather. LEDs are not sensitive to extreme temperatures, and are not sensitive to humidity. Additionally, LED lights produce almost no perceptible heat.
• Environmentally friendly. Unlike CFL bulbs, LED lights can be disposed of at any time and without special precautions and many parts inside can actually be recycled. CFLs, however, are dangerous to the environment, and contain mercury, which can be absorbed into the soil and water supply, causing contamination.

LED lighting was initially very expensive and could not match the brightness of incandescent and CFL bulbs, but the technology has progressed rapidly in recent years. Today, most LED lights are reasonably priced (especially once you factor in their low cost of operation), and they are generally just as bright as incandescent and CFL bulbs.

To put it simply, LED lighting is the future of lighting – for both indoor and outdoor use!

Lawn Irrigation Done Right

All plants need ample water and sunlight to survive and grow to their full potential. Unfortunately, as a homeowner, you only have control over one of those factors. The good news is that with proper lawn and garden irrigation, you can maximize the growth of your plants and ensure your lawn gets the best environment possible in order to be thick, lush, and green.

Proper lawn irrigation involves a lot more than just pulling a hose out into the yard and watering the plants and grass. Careful planning and using just the right amount of water at the right times are vital in ensuring that your lawn has the most optimal conditions for growth possible.

• More water, less often. One of the most common mistakes people make when watering their lawn is doing it too often. It’s easy to see why – rainforests get huge amounts of water and also have the greenest plants of any environment on earth, so the more often your lawn gets water, the better, right?

  Not so fast. In fact, watering your lawn too frequently (and shallow) will cause grass and plant roots to be shorter than they should be for ideal growth. Additionally, the short roots will cause the plants to wither and die more easily in the event of a drought, as they cannot reach the water that is deeper in the soil.

  Deep watering (1-2 inches) once or twice a week is much better for the health of your lawn. This causes the roots of grass and other plants to grow longer, giving them a much better chance of survival when rain is scarce.

• Set a schedule and pay attention to the weather. Watering is best done early in the morning between 4 and 8 a.m. This is because less water is lost due to evaporation. Watering in the evening will cause the grass to stay wet throughout the night, which can promote the growth of turf grass diseases.

  If your lawn has recently received heavy amounts of rain, you can safely avoid watering for a few days to give it time to soak up the rainfall. If the rain was light, additional watering may still be needed — placing a container outside to collect and measure rainfall is a good way to determine if this is necessary.

  Watering is most vital during the hottest summer months from June through August. More water is lost to evaporation during this time, and rainfall may be reduced. There are certain things to watch out for during this time and throughout the year that can be considered tell-tale signs that your lawn is dehydrated and needs extra water:

  -  The grass begins to turn blue or gray.

  -  The grass turns brown. This does not mean the grass is dead – it will usually turn green again once it gets enough water.

  -  Some of the leaves begin to curl up and wilt.

  -  Footprints and pressure cause the grass and other plants to stay flattened.

  With summer watering, you must make a commitment to either keep your grass fully watered at all times or to let it go dormant. Going back and forth is very harmful for most species of grass.

• Consider installing a sprinkler system. Sprinklers and automatic lawn irrigation systems can be tremendously effective at preserving and improving the look of your lawn with minimal interaction on your part. Modern sprinkler systems will have timers that allow them to only water during ideal early morning hours, as well as water and rain sensors that cause them to automatically shut off during rainfall or when too much water beings to accumulate in the soil.

  If you decide to have a sprinkler system installed in your lawn, make sure the sprinkler heads are low to the ground and aren’t spraying a mist into the air. They should also be spread evenly throughout the grass and that there is no excessive overlap. You should also check the heads regularly to make sure they aren’t watering your sidewalk, the front of your house, or your driveway.

Landscape Maintenance Done Right

Having a great looking landscape is the pride and joy of any homeowner. A well-designed landscape is a living work of art and is just as important to the appearance of your home as its architecture. Well-designed landscapes increase the value of your home as well as your enjoyment of it. But having and maintaining a showpiece landscape goes far beyond just calling up a landscaping company and then sitting back and enjoying their labor for years to come – ultimately, you will be responsible for its upkeep to make sure it looks great year after year.

Maintenance Basics

Diligence and patience are the key words here. Keeping your eyes peeled for potential problems and addressing them right away will keep your landscape looking great with minimal effort. With that in mind, there are specific problems and issues that arise more frequently than others and will require frequent attention.

• Cleaning. Since your landscape is obviously outdoors, many of the fixtures, including statues, patios, fire pits, chairs, tables, lighting fixtures, etc., will get quite dirty over time. Make it a point each week to walk through the landscape and clean any obvious buildup of dirt or grime you might notice. You should also frequently sweep any pathways that may become covered with leaves or mud after a storm. Pressure washing is also very effective for pathways and permanent fixtures that have become stained over time.
• Watering. Even if you have an automatic irrigation system, there may still be some parts of your landscape that don’t receive enough water. This is why it helps to pay close attention to the health of all of your plants throughout the year. If any of them begin to wilt or look unhealthy, manually water them regularly or move them to an area that is within the range of a sprinkler head.
• Mowing. If you don’t have a landscaping company doing this for you on a regular basis, you will have to take matters into your own hands. For the best results, frequent mowing while leaving the grass at a moderate height (between 2-3 inches) will give you a great looking lawn while also protecting the health of your grass.
• Weeding. Weeds are tenacious plants and can pop up anywhere, even in the most well-groomed landscapes or gardens. Pull any weeds you notice right away, as leaving them for too long can quickly result in an overgrowth that will cause your other plants to die off as they are forced to compete for nutrients, water, and sunlight.
• Pruning. Eventually, your beautiful shrubs and trees will start to become too big and may grow into pathways, over windows, or dangerously close to your house. Make sure you regularly prune the branches of any plants that are getting too big (without cutting them too short) to keep their growth in check.
• Fertilize and Seed. If you notice some of your plants aren’t growing the way they should or if you begin to see dead spots in your lawn, make use of fertilizer and seed to get your landscape back in business.
• Pest control. Mice, moles, and neighborhood or stray dogs can make quick work of your expensive landscaping if it isn’t properly guarded. Setting up fences and other obstacles can help protect it. You should also inspect your plants for insect damage and apply fertilizer as necessary in order to control their population.

Although it sounds like a lot of work, maintain your landscape amounts to just a few minutes per week. The more regularly you tend to it and the quicker problems are resolved, the less work you’ll have to do in the future. Having great looking landscape is an investment, and maintaining it is just contributing to that investment!

Insects & Pests That Can Destroy Your Lawn

No matter how much aerating, seeding, plating, fertilizing, weeding, mulching, and irrigating you do, your landscape and lawn is still at the mercy of pests. Because they are so prevalent and can reproduce so quickly, it can be a challenge to keep them under control. But with the right knowledge and preventative tools, you can keep the pesky creatures out of your yard and away from your plants.

• Billbugs are a type of beetle and are found in every type of grass, and usually aren’t noticed until a brown patch appears in the middle of your lawn. Their numbers are usually the highest in sod-based lawns, and they feed off the leaves and crown areas of plants. Heavy populations can destroy a lawn with alarming speed. Keeping them under control is best accomplished by using a pesticide in early May, which will kill the adults before they have a chance to lay eggs.
• White grubs are another damaging insect found in almost types of grass. Their larvae feed on the roots of grass, killing the plant from the bottom up. Because they live in the soil, they are difficult to see and may be unnoticed until damage begins to appear in the lawn. The best way to control a white grub infestation is to have a healthy lawn to begin with, as weaker lawns are more susceptible to damage. Pesticides are effective, although they will not kill the entire population. Treatments combined with aeration during the optimal weeks (generally midsummer) usually give the best results.
• Aphids are a major problem in gardens and can also be found in lawn areas as well. Aphids are very small – about 1/10^th of an inch in length – but can be very damaging to your plants. They feed on plants by sucking the sap out of the leaves, which weakens the plant. This interferes with the plants ability to undergo photosynthesis, which can stunt the plant’s growth or cause it to wilt and die altogether. Controlling aphids can be as simple as regular watering (as the water will wash them away), or by attracting/releasing beneficial insects like lady bugs to attack and eat the aphids.
• Moles are a common pest that can also wreak havoc on your landscape. They dig holes throughout your yard and can easily destroy a garden by constantly digging in the soil. They also open up your lawn to invasion by pests that will use their subterranean tunnels to quickly move around your yard unseen. The best way to control mole populations is to use traps or poisons. These can be very effective but should be used with caution if you have small children or pets.

Helping Your Trees & Shrubs Survive

Helping Your Trees Survive the Elements

Having a lawn full of beautiful trees is a great way to increase the attractiveness and value of your home, but like any living creature, your trees require care and proper maintenance in order to thrive, especially when they are first planted. Nature can be tough on new trees, and if they don’t get what they need, they’ll die before they ever get a chance to flourish.

Winter

Winter isn’t just a miserable time for people – it’s extremely harsh on your trees as well. They are subject to all sorts of injuries during cold winters. Sunscald is one of the most common types of damage found in trees during the winter, and is caused by rapidly changing temperatures that can sometimes kill the living tissues that exist beneath the bark. Sunscald is most frequently seen in younger trees that have not yet developed a thick bark.

Excess snow or ice can weigh branches down, which can cause them to break off on younger trees. Frost cracks are also common; these are caused by a weakness in the bark that makes it susceptible to freezing water. Frost cracks can be extremely loud, often sounding like a gunshot as the bark violently rips open in a large chasm across the trunk of the tree.

While you can’t protect your newly planted or older trees completely from cold weather, there are some steps you can take to reduce the chances that they will be injured. Making sure your trees have the proper amount of water is one thing you can control, and it will go a long way toward helping them survive the winter. However, you should be careful to avoid over fertilizing or overwatering your trees, as faster growth makes a tree more susceptible to snow, ice, and wind damage.

To avoid frost cracking, you can wrap young trees with a cold weather tree blanket. This will help regulate the temperature of the bark and make it less likely to experience a rapid change in temperature, which is the most common cause of frost cracks. You should also prune any weak branches that may collapse under the weight of excess snow and ice.

Summer

While trees naturally thrive and experience the most growth during summer, they are still susceptible to damaging elements of nature, including insects and diseases.

Obviously, trees need the most water during the summer, especially newly planted ones that haven’t had a chance to mature and develop a strong root system. Similar to the way sweat works in humans, trees cool themselves through a process called transpiration which releases water from their leaves. If the tree doesn’t have enough water, its leaves will become wilted, scorched, and eventually die. Pay attention to the weather — if your area is experiencing a drought, you should definitely manually water your trees.

Sometimes your trees may get too much water during the warm months, particularly if your area is prone to flooding. After a flood, your trees may lose their leaves and will be covered in a layer of silt. The loss of leaves is usually a temporary reaction to the excessive water, and most trees will regain their leaves a short period of time. Do not attempt to use a nitrogen based fertilizer in an attempt to bring the tree back quicker – damaged trees require a period of dormancy in order to properly recover before they can begin growing again.

When mulching a newly planted tree in the spring or summer, be careful to not use too much. Many first time tree-planters build a massive mound of mulch around the tree, which can kill the roots and bark of the tree and lead to insect infestations. A proper spread of mulch should be a 3x3x3: 3 inches deep and spread out in a 3-foot radius around the trunk of the tree, with a 3 inch gap between the mulch and the trunk itself.

Flowers 101

Whether you’re thinking about planting a garden, or you’d just like to add some color to your lawn, you can’t go wrong with planting flowers. For many people, there’s nothing more satisfying than digging in the dirt and then watching their hard labor turn into beautiful living works of art right before their eyes. But before you can have a beautiful, handmade flower-filled garden of your own, you must arm yourself with the knowledge of some of the most common flower types in order to help them grow to their fullest potential.

Common Types of Flowers

• Annual flowers. Just as their name might suggest, annuals last just a single season and then poof — they’re gone. If you like the look of them, you must replant them again the next year. While this may be more work, it also affords you greater possibilities in the future, as any unappealing flowers can quickly be swapped for another variety. An example of an annual flower is a petunia or a marigold. They tend to do best in gardens, and are also very well-suited for hanging baskets.
  1. Planting annuals must be carefully timed, as they’ll die if they’re planted too early in the spring and the weather turns too cold, and if they’re planted too late, they won’t get the chance to fully mature before they die off. Annuals generally do best in locations that receive lots of sunlight, although you should check each variety before planting to verify, as some do prefer shade. One important method to keep annuals healthy is to regularly remove any dead or wilted petals and flowers from the plant.
• Perennials. Again, the name of this flower suggests its lifecycle: unlike annuals, these come back year after year. They’re lower maintenance because of this, but once they take root, they are harder to get rid of. If you decide you don’t like the look or you wish to plant something different, you’ll have to manually dig them up first. Popular perennials are daylilies, irises, and garden mums.
  1. Planting perennials can be done either in the fall or the spring. They do best in dry and loose soil, and should be placed deep enough to give their roots room to take hold. Once they’ve been planted, they should be watered quite frequently, with the water going directly into the soil (and allowing it to completely dry between waterings.) Perennials require a moderate to low amount of fertilizer to achieve full growth, and many gardeners only utilize a single application.
• Bulbs. Common examples of bulbs are daffodils and tulips. While certainly beautiful to look at, they do not handle cold weather very well and cannot survive freezing temperatures. Many bulbs are considered perennials, and will continue to grow back each year (provided they survive the winter). Bulbs have the advantage of blooming virtually every time they are planted within the first year, and they are quite resistant to pests and diseases.
• Planting bulbs (spring flowering varieties) is best done in the autumn. Choose a spot that receives lots of sunshine and has well-drained soil. For large bulbs, they should be planted at a depth that is roughly twice their height. After planting, apply a dry fertilizer and spread a 1-inch thick layer of mulch around the area.

Autumn Leaves in Tennessee

Autumn Leaf Color in TN

One of the most spectacular sights in Tennessee is a forest in the middle of autumn. The previously green leaves adorning the many varieties of trees suddenly become engorged with color, and the resulting color spectrum can be breathtaking. At higher elevations throughout the state – particularly the Great Smoky Mountains – the change is even more drastic, and for around two weeks in the middle of October, the forest looks like it is on fire with the dramatic reds and oranges the trees proudly display.

What causes the color change?

Although certainly beautiful to look at, the changing colors also serve a very functional purpose for trees. As the days get shorter and shorter and the temperature begins to drop, the veins in the leaves will close off. This reduces the amount of chlorophyll (the chemical that makes plants green) that is present in each leaf.

Once the amount of chlorophyll drops, chemicals called carotenoids that were already present in the leaf start to take over and be revealed, giving the leaf its characteristic autumn color. Carotenoids are responsible for the yellow and orange tint in leaves of trees like hickories, ash, maple, birch, sycamore, and cottonwood.

Another chemical present in the leaves is anthocyanins. These are responsible for the red and purple coloring found in autumn leaves. Instead of being present in the leaf year-round like carotenoids, they are only produced in the late summer and early fall. Their production is related to the amount of phosphate in the leaf as well as the amount of sunlight the leaves receive. The more sunlight in the late summer and early autumn the tree receives (and the milder the temperatures), the bright its colors will be.

Anthocyanins are most commonly found in trees in the New England states, but they are present in trees throughout the country including oaks, maples, dogwoods, cherry trees, and sweetgums. The combination of anthocyanins and carotenoids are what give autumn forests their striking and often beautiful colors.

Best places to see autumn leaves in Tennessee

Without question, the most vivid colors occur in trees and forests in the highest elevations in the eastern part of the state, which is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At elevations around 4,500-6,000 feet, the leaves begin changing colors earlier, usually starting around mid to late September and peaking in the middle of October.

Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in Tennessee, and the Blue Ridge Parkway are both excellent vistas to view the leaves. The reason the colors in the Smokies is so intense is because of the sheer number and diversity of trees in the forest – in fact, there are over 100 species that are native to the area and almost all of them are deciduous.

Overfertilizing Your Lawn

How to Save an Over Fertilized Lawn

It seems like a no-brainer: in order to have a great looking lawn, you must use fertilizer. If the lawn still doesn’t grow like you want it to, you might use more and more fertilizer, confident in the knowledge that all of that plant food will make your grass thick and lush. But then the opposite happens: instead of having thick, healthy green grass, you have sparse, weak grass – or even worse – a dead spot, right in the middle of your yard. What gives?

The truth is that you probably over-fertilized your lawn. When it comes to using lawn fertilizer, there can certainly be too much of a good thing. But what can you do after the damage has already been done? Thankfully, there are a few solutions to saving a lawn that is covered in excess fertilizer.

• Water. Giving the lawn extra water is the first step to saving it from the fertilizer. If this is done quickly enough, it will wash away all of the salts that are in the fertilizer before they get a chance to soak into the roots. Doing this every day for a week will provide the best results.
• Rake. Raking out the excess fertilizer is another great way to prevent damage. If it’s not physically present in the grass, it can’t hurt your lawn. This can be quite time consuming, but sometimes it is the only way to be certain that your lawn won’t be damaged.
• Mow. Mowing the lawn shortly after applying the fertilizer will destroy much of the fertilizer that was dumped on the grass, and it will also encourage the grass to grow faster, using up most of the excess fertilizer.
• Reseed. No matter what kind of precautions you take, you’ll still probably end up with some dead spots in your lawn. If that’s the case, you’ll need to dig up any dead grass and reseed the area. Sod is a good option for this, as it will blend in with the rest of the lawn very quickly. With seed, you may have to wait a few months.

How to Avoid Over Fertilizing Your Lawn

Over fertilizing your lawn is a common problem, but it can be avoided with a little education and preparation.

First, you should know the type of grass you have. Kentucky bluegrass will require a different amount of fertilizer than a tall fescue. Research your grass and any other plants you have and become familiar with the needs of each one.

Second, you should research all the types of fertilizer available. Most are a combination of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, but each one will have a different mixture of these. Pay attention to which ones work best for your specific type of grass.

Third, pay attention to the condition of your grass. If it already appears healthy, it probably doesn’t need any extra fertilizer. Additionally, you should not fertilize if you have done so recently and the grass still appears healthy. Any extra will at best waste money and at worse could harm your lawn.

Finally, you should read the instructions. Knowing how to use it, how to apply it, and when it is best to use are important steps to make sure you get the most growth possible without damaging your landscaping

• The Many Benefits of Outdoor Lighting
• Use a Professional for Outdoor Lighting
• LED Outdoor Lighting
• Lawn Irrigation Done Right
• Landscape Maintenance Done Right

• Autumn
• Flowers
• Grass
• Insects & Pests
• Irrigation
• Landscape
• Lawn
• Maintenance
• Outdoor Lighting
• Shrubs
• Trees

• May 2012
• November 2011
• October 2011