How Often and How Long to Water Your NC Lawn Key takeaways How much water does my NC lawn actually need? The working rule is about 1 inch of water per week, and that inch includes rainfall. It is a starting point, not a law. A tall fescue lawn baking through a Triangle July may…
How to Fertilize a Crepe Myrtle Tree in NC By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 Crepe myrtles are one of the toughest, lowest-maintenance trees we plant in the Triangle — and one of the easiest to hurt with a bag of fertilizer. They’re light feeders. Most established trees in our clay need one modest…
Is Professional Weed Control Worth It in NC? By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 Key Takeaways The difference isn’t the schedule — it’s the chemistry and the expert on your lawn Everyone says they put down pre-emergent and fertilizer. What they don’t say is which products, and how much. The big programs run on…
How to Identify and Kill Crabgrass and Nutsedge By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 If two grassy weeds are taking over your lawn here in the Triangle, they are almost always crabgrass and nutsedge — and the mistake I see most is treating them as the same problem. They are not. One is a…
Best Mowing Height for Tall Fescue in NC Key takeaways Is tall fescue a warm-season or cool-season grass? Tall fescue is a cool-season grass. That one fact changes everything about how you cut it. It does its best growing in the mild stretches of spring and fall, it slows down and struggles in July and…
The Cost of Lawn Care and Fertilization in the Triangle Key takeaways What does lawn care actually cost in the Triangle? Here is the straight answer. Across the Raleigh Triangle, a single professional fertilization and weed-control visit on an average suburban lawn runs about $60 to $140, and a full season of care lands somewhere…
Liriope vs. Mondo Grass: Which One for Your NC Yard? By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 If you have shopped for a border plant or edging, you have run into both of these – and probably heard both of them called monkey grass. Liriope and mondo grass look alike at a glance, but they…
Hellebores (Lenten Rose): The Winter-Blooming Shade Perennial for North Carolina By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 If you have a shady spot under trees where nothing wants to grow, and you are tired of losing plants to the deer, let me introduce you to my favorite fix. Hellebores – most people call them Lenten…
Anchor Plants: How to Give Your NC Landscape Year-Round Structure By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 Most landscapes that look unfinished are missing the same thing: structure. People fill beds with pretty seasonal color, winter comes, everything dies back, and the yard looks bare. The fix is anchor plants – the permanent, structural plants…
Japanese Maple Care in North Carolina: Siting, Leaf Scorch, and the Best Spot for Our Heat By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 A Japanese maple is the kind of tree people plan a whole bed around – the layered branches, the lacy leaves, the fall color that stops you in the driveway. They are…
Ground Covers for North Carolina: The Best Low-Maintenance Options for Sun, Shade, and Slopes By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 Ground covers are the answer to the spots where grass just will not cooperate – the bare shade under a big tree, a slope too steep to mow, or a strip you are tired…
New House, Blank Yard? Here’s the Order to Landscape It in NC By Ken Erickson · Updated August 2026 You just moved to the southern Raleigh suburbs – Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, Cary, Apex, maybe out toward Lillington. You have got a new house, and like most houses around here it was built on old farmland….
