Plant and Shrub Care.
Six visits, healthy beds.
Boxwood going yellow, arborvitae browning from the inside, roses covered in something. The hedges and shrubs get their own six visit program: feeding, bugs, disease and a proper trim.
Pick what you need. We look at the property and text you a number, usually the same day.
Plant and Shrub Care
Plant and shrub care in Bernardsville, Far Hills and the Somerset Hills
The shrubs on a Somerset Hills property are often worth more than the lawn, and they get less attention. Boxwood, arborvitae, hydrangea, rhododendron and Japanese maple all have specific bugs, specific diseases and a specific time to feed. Six visits a year covers it.
Most of what kills ornamentals is slow. Boxwood leafminer hollows out the leaves over a season. Spider mites turn arborvitae bronze from the inside before anyone notices. Scale sits on a euonymus for two years. By the time the plant looks bad it is often too late. A program that puts eyes on the beds six times a year catches all of it while it is still fixable.
What the six visit program includes
- Six scheduled visits, early spring through late fall
- Feeding at the drip line, matched to acid or alkaline plants
- Insect control, leafminer, mites, scale, aphids, bagworm
- Disease control, fungal leaf spot, blight, needle cast
- Trimming and shaping at the right month for each plant
- Dormant oil in late winter to smother overwintering pests
Feeding shrubs is not feeding a lawn
Ornamentals want a slow release feeding in early spring and a lighter one in fall, at the drip line, not against the trunk. Acid loving plants, rhododendron, azalea, holly and hydrangea, want it acidic. Boxwood wants the opposite. The same soil test that drives the lawn program tells us what the beds need, and it is often different from what the lawn needs six feet away.
Trimming at the right time
A hedge trimmed in the wrong month sulks for a year. Spring flowering shrubs get trimmed right after they bloom or you cut off next year’s flowers. Boxwood gets shaped in early summer. Arborvitae almost never. The visits are timed so the trim lands when the plant can take it, and the shape holds because it was cut properly rather than sheared flat.
Where it fits
Plant and shrub care runs alongside the lawn services and the mulch and bed work, so the same person who feeds the lawn is looking at the hedges on the same visit. If a plant is already gone, we will say so and quote a replacement rather than sell you a season of spraying a dead shrub.
Something wrong with the shrubs?
Send a photo with the quote form. We will tell you what it is and what it costs to fix.
How it works.
Three steps. No contract before anyone has seen the property.
We look at the beds
What is planted, what is struggling, what the soil is doing. Number by text.
Dormant oil and spring feed
The season starts before the leaves do.
Four more visits
Bugs, disease, trim and fall feed, each at the right time for the plant.
More services
Everything else on the property.
One quote covers all of it. Pick what you need and we sort it out.
Pest control plan, $80 a month
House perimeter every quarter, ticks and mosquitoes all season, one licensed tech. Month to month, no contract.
See the planLawn care
Aeration and seeding before October 5, the winterizer feeding before December 1, weed control while the kill holds. Sold a la carte.
Lawn servicesTick and mosquito control
Barrier spray on the perimeter and shade, April through October, so the backyard is usable all summer.
DetailsMice and rodent control
Mice move in when it gets cold. Found, sealed out and dealt with. Plan members get it at a member rate.
DetailsLandscaping
Fall cleanups and leaf removal, mulch and edging, hedge trimming, weekly mowing, patios, walkways and retaining walls.
DetailsPressure washing
Siding soft washed, driveways and patios cleaned, pavers re sanded, decks washed and ready for stain.
DetailsWhere we work.
Based in Bernardsville. The Somerset Hills and the Morris County towns around it, about 20 minutes out. Close by and not on the list? Ask.
Quick answers.
Why are my boxwoods turning yellow or orange?
Usually winter burn, leafminer or a pH problem. Sometimes boxwood blight, which needs to be caught fast. Send a photo and we will tell you.
Why is my arborvitae browning on the inside?
Inner browning in fall is normal shedding. Bronzing all over in summer is spider mites, which the program treats.
When should hedges be trimmed?
Depends on the plant. Spring bloomers right after flowering, boxwood in early summer, most others in late spring. Wrong month costs you a year of growth.
Can you replace dead shrubs?
Yes, on the same quote. Planting is on the landscaping page.
Ready for a number?
Call or text, or start the quote form. We look at the property and reply the same day, most days.
(908) 210-3835