Rock Stone and Sand Yard

Category: Uncategorized

Mulch Gives Arlington, VA Yards an Inexpensive Boost

Mulch in Arlington, VA, is one of the most effective and economical ways to increase the health and vitality of your landscape while giving your yard a polished look. With a wealth of positive effects, mulch is one of the best ways to nourish and protect your landscape investment.

An easily overlooked but vital soil amendment, mulch gives Arlington, VA, homeowners a simple way to revitalize their native topsoil. As mulch in Arlington, VA decomposes, it replaces essential nutrients, absorbs vital moisture, and restores a new vitality to your soil, gardens, flowers, shrubs and trees.

Mulch gives your yard a manicured finish while providing important insulation to shallow root systems and providing a resource for insects, birds, and micro-organisms. Applying a 2″-4″ layer of double shredded commercial grade hardwood mulch in Arlington, VA, twice a year conserves and enriches your soil, helping to minimize weed growth, harmful pests, and damaging plant diseases.

Most Arlington homeowners spend hundreds of dollars each year investing in their plants and outdoor landscape. Think of double shredded mulch as an inexpensive insurance policy for your beautiful landscaping. A little mulch gives Arlington, VA yards an inexpensive face-lift. And for the money, there really isn’t any other action you can take to provide such wide-ranging benefits for your Arlington yard.

When you need premium mulch to feed your gardens, flowers, shrubs and trees, find it locally at RSSY. Since 1971, the mulch and landscape experts at RSSY have advised homeowners, construction companies, landscape contractors and property managers about the benefits of proper mulch application. Let us help you feed your yard with commercial grade double shredded hardwood mulch. Your Arlington, VA landscaping will thank you.

July 14, 2014
Using Flagstone in Reston, VA – Professional Tips From RSSY
Flagstone in Reston, VA, is one of the finest materials available to create enduring patios. Flagstone is a durable and naturally slip-resistant, safer patio surface that lasts for years. Since it allows water to permeate instead of creating damaging runoff, flagstone in Reston, VA, is considered environmentally-beneficial and is highly desirable.

Flagstone patios also have a natural, organic quality in earthy shades of grays, blues, browns and reds. The most common types of flagstone in Reston, VA, used for paving and patios are sandstone, slate and limestone. The closer the quarry, the less you pay for shipping costs. So much of the flagstone in Reston, VA, is quarried in Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania.

Flagstone patio prices also depend on the method of installation. Mortaring flagstones on a concrete slab is more expensive than dry laying flagstones in Reston, VA, over a graded base of sand and gravel. Here are some additional tips about using flagstone in Reston, VA, from the landscape experts at RSSY:
- Select flagstone by color and look for a wide variety of shapes and sizes
- Curb costs by using flagstone in Reston, VA, in conjunction with alternate paving and landscape materials
- See the wide RSSY selection of fill gravel for joints between flagstone in Reston, VA,
- Include larger slabs of flagstone in Reston, VA, to create a unique walkway
- Ask the RSSY landscape professionals about dressing up mortared joints
- Create patterns with a combination of irregular and cut flagstones for Reston, VA, outdoor patios and walkways with individual style
- Grow grass or ground cover in the joints between flagstones
- Save money by avoiding unnecessary cutting of flagstones in Reston, VA, when you design your outdoor flagstone landscape features
- Create naturalistic steps visually enhanced for safety
- Creating contrast around your pool with flagstone in Reston, VA
- Construct a permeable flagstone patio that permits rain water to safely re-enter the ground
- Proper drainage design in the surrounding landscape ensures your flagstone patio in Reston, VA, has a smooth, safe, durable surface.
RSSY carries all of your landscape materials, including an amazing selection of flagstone and natural stone, plus pavers from Belgard and Nicolock. Work with the landscape experts at RSSY and get personalized service and specific landscape recommendations for your projects.

No matter what ideas, needs or questions you have about using flagstone in Reston, VA, in your outdoor landscape design, the flagstone experts at RSSY will be your project advisor every step of the way.
June 27, 2014
Patio Stone for Manassas, VA Timeless Landscapes

RSSY supplies a wide variety of patio stone for Manassas, VA landscape projects. Our products coordinate to meet all of your stone construction and landscaping needs. Carolina Rose Flagstone, Greenbriar Thick stacking stone, and timeless, elegant fieldstone are just a fraction of the stone we offer for patios, fireplaces, walkways, waterfalls, garden walls, or anything you can imagine.

Whether your landscape style is traditional, modern, or eclectic, it can reflect your personal flair. Patio stone in Manassas, VA with a simple fire pit, fireplace or water feature can provide a lasting focal point and gathering place for your outdoor living. Tailor your patio stone in Manassas, VA by including contrasting stone patterns and colors, matching walkways or a retaining wall with a seat cap for durable, permanent built-in seating convenience.

Our design expertise, attention to detail and exceptional client services are just a few of the many reasons Northern Virginia homeowners, contractors, and landscape professionals prefer doing business with RSSY. We tailor our design to fit your style and landscape, working with you to ensure that your project needs are meet and that you get the patio stone in Manassas, VA that fits your budget.

Knowing the right materials and the perfect patio stone in Manassas, VA for your job is important. At RSSY we carefully hand pick each selection for your consideration. Some of our many varieties include a selection of patio stone, Palomino flagstone, Fieldstone steppers and Maple Creek garden stone. Our products can be used for a number of practical enhancement purposes such as proper drainage and stormwater management, hard paving of pedestrian traffic ways including driveways, walkways, steps and landings, not to mention adding fabulous constructed features such as tiered terraces or a grand patio in Manassas, VA with durable stone steps, planters and garden walls, as well as fireplaces or fire pits.

Since the Civil War, blue stone walls are seen in a broken ribbon through the Northern Virginia countryside, a testament to the strength and longevity of a natural patio stone. Manassas, VA homeowners and landscapers see the investment value of a well-designed and installed stone patio in a wider hardscape design. Contact the professionals at RSSY to explore your stone patio options, and bring long-lasting outdoor elegance to your home today.

April 15, 2014
Mulch in Alexandria, VA – Inexpensive Landscape Benefits

At this time of year an application of mulch in Alexandria, VA is a simple way to gain a range of inexpensive landscape benefits. Mulch is loaded with vital nutrients your yard needs to sustain fresh, healthy plants. Mulch in Alexandria, VA amends your soil with essential ingredients – vitamins and minerals your landscaping can’t get anywhere else. In this day and age, keeping your soil nourished with rich, loamy topsoil, organic compost and high quality mulch in Alexandria, VA is a minor investment in your landscape with benefits for your soil, plants and trees.

Adding 2-4″ of high grade mulch in Alexandria, VA atop your existing plantings is a cost-effective method to encourage the health and well-being of your entire landscape. A blanket of fresh mulch in the spring acts as a spongy reservoir, absorbing and retaining water for slow release. Mulch adds a critical layer in the stormwater filtration system and aids in resisting topsoil erosion.

Properly-placed mulch in Alexandria, VA helps your landscaping achieve a more effective performance, covering delicate plant root systems with a protective barrier against scorching sun, competitive weeds and environmental dangers such as insects, drought, or microscopic predators.

Mulch is an often overlooked but vital soil amendment any Alexandria homeowner can add to their existing topsoil. As mulch in Alexandria, VA decomposes it provides food, moisture and bedding for insects, plants, and fungi – and restores vitality to the soil. After investing time and money in designing, planting and creating a beautiful, healthy landscape for your home, regular mulch applications are essential to keeping it properly maintained and looking its best.

March 31, 2014
Bluestone from Lorton, VA Constructs Virginia History

Trinity Church, Upperville, VA c1895

Bluestone in Lorton, VA is an investment in landscape timelessness. Seen throughout country estates, atop age-old city sidewalks, and on many a classic patio, bluestone, routinely confused with slate, is quarried in the New York Catskills, Pennsylvania Poconos, and in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It can still be seen in Brooklyn’s brownstone neighborhoods, sprinkled throughout the New York City boroughs, winding through the crisp countryside of New England and the Lehigh Valley, and down to the small colonial towns that dot Virginia’s horse country. Bluestone in Lorton, VA is a construction material that also tells history.

Bluestone from the Shenandoah Valley region, a sedimentary rock known as Shenandoah Valley Bluestone, is a limestone formed 450 to 500 million years ago at the bottom of a shallow ocean that covered what is now Rockingham County, Virginia. The darker blue color of Shenandoah Valley Bluestone is concentrated in one of the largest limestone deposits in the world. As bluestone weathers, it changes from a deep blue to a light grey after prolonged exposure to sun and water.

Bluestone planter and building at JMU

The colonial settlers used it for the foundations and chimneys of their houses. When James Madison University was built, native bluestone was the natural choice to construct campus buildings. The Frazier Quarry in Harrisonburg, Virginia continues to supply JMU with locally quarried bluestone for building and paving projects today.

Bluestone retaining wall, Shenandoah Valley

Bluestone in Lorton, VA, has long been popular for fireplaces and counter tops, graceful walkways and driveways, and elegant patios. Renewed demand is for a wide variety of applications, some requiring varying sizes and pieces, with some slabs weighing upwards of a ton or more. This bluestone revival has dovetailed nicely over the past twenty years with the upsurge in authentic historic renovation. If your home is sited in a historic district, your local planning department or City Council are good sources for a list of qualified contractors who do bluestone installation and construction work.

At RSSY we have the area’s largest quality selection of bluestone, rock and stone, quarried from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas. Plus, we deliver directly to your location. Whatever color, cut or quantity of stone you need – for any size job. We’ve worked with native Virginia bluestone and other quarried bluestone in Lorton, VA since 1971, and can assist you in understanding its properties, calculating quantities, and engineering bluestone landscape features that will add elegant beauty and real value to your Lorton property. Call RSSY today – we deliver beyond your expectations.

March 17, 2014
Rich, Healthy, Local Compost in Woodbridge, VA

Our unique RSSY compost blend is a rich humus designed to enhance root development for greater plant production, heartier growth and larger crop yields. While most compost in Woodbridge, VA enriches your soil and encourages healthier plant growth, only a premium compost blend in Woodbridge, VA can promote essential microbial activity in your topsoil to “pay it forward” in the plant ecosystem just outside your door.

A superior quality compost for your lawn, gardens, and edible plants, we custom-create our rich compost in Woodbridge, VA for optimum ratios of minerals, nutrients, and raw compost materials. Highly concentrated with organic matter and microorganisms, premium compost in Woodbridge, VA, rich in trace minerals, restores essential nutrients to depleted topsoil to support healthy plant growth and effective land management. Some of its many functions take place in garden beds, flower containers, lush lawns, and sustainable storm water management systems.

Adding RSSY custom blend compost in Woodbridge, VA enhances the various types of soil found in your yard, promoting essential microbial activity in your topsoil. This enhances root development and aids in the critical development of soil texture for optimal water filtration and retention. A superior quality compost supports not only the natural health of your lawn, gardens, trees, shrubs and edible plants, but supports the health of your entire ecosystem.

When you think about preparing your yard for the lush summer months to come, think about quality local compost in Woodbridge, VA from RSSY, your local landscape material supplier in Lorton, VA for over 43 years. We have everything you need to create and maintain an exceptionally beautiful landscape from pavers, to compost and mulch, to an amazing variety of natural stone. Stop by and see what RSSY can do for your landscape.

February 15, 2014
The Many Benefits of Mulch in Lorton, VA
Mulch in Lorton, VA is a landscape essential, especially during a drought. Studies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have shown striking benefits from the application of mulch. Mulch is one of a homeowner’s most valuable landscape resources and, according to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Connecticut, an essential component of low-maintenance landscapes.

The benefits of mulch in Lorton, VA are often overlooked. But the following list enumerates just how many positive functions mulch serves in your landscape.
- Mulch shields your soil from the damaging effects of the sun’s drying rays, reducing water loss through the process of evaporation.
- Mulch serves as a blanket in the cold of winter and provides shade to cool the soil in the burning heat of summer, dampening the impact of temperature fluctuations on fragile plant roots.
- Organic mulch added to your soil breaks down to improve the ability of the soil to absorb and store nutrients, retain moisture, and filter stormwater via proper drainage.
- Mulch promotes the activity of beneficial soil organisms, which in turn accelerates microbial decomposition that creates rich humus that promotes plant growth.
- Mulch acts as a suppressant for the proliferation of plant diseases and the growth of weeds.
- Land that is regularly mulched as a standard seasonal practice is less prone to erosion.
- Mulch is a beautiful, decorative finish in any landscape.
The benefits of mulch in Lorton, VA are vital for healthy plant growth and sustainable land management practices, your yard included. So stop by RSSY to learn more about the many positive functions mulch serves in your landscape, and to get the organic mulch you need to keep your yard healthy.
January 31, 2014
Protect Your Landscape Investment and Dress Up Your Yard with Mulch in Reston, VA
Buying local mulch in Reston, VA is a little like getting fresh ingredients in your diet. Instead of grabbing a box on a shelf in the freezer at a chain store, you seek out the best locally grown produce and foods with better value, taste, and nutrition. These are the natural, raw materials your body needs to keep you healthy and at your best. Well, that’s what mulch is – a natural, raw material for your plants and landscape.

Think about it; would you spend thousands of dollars on a car and not change the oil? I didn’t think so. So, why would you invest money and time designing, planning and creating a uniquely beautiful landscape for your home and not keep it properly maintained?

Applying mulch to your flower and garden beds, around the base of trees, and in areas where pets and children play means protection and safety. There are other important reasons to “dress up” your yard with mulch in Reston, VA.
- It’s healthier – packed with nutrients your plants need to thrive.
- It helps your soil perform better – soaking in moisture and helping to naturally filter rainwater.
- Mulch acts as an insulator, blanketing topsoil with a protective barrier for winter warmth.
- An application of mulch in Reston, VA can prevent soil erosion from water and wind.
- Deteriorating mulch provides food for insects, plants, and fungi – and restores vital trace minerals to the soil.
Any property can benefit from good quality mulch, so head over to RSSY in Lorton to get your local mulch today. We’ll help you protect your landscape investment and dress up your yard with mulch in Reston, VA.
December 30, 2013
Patio Pavers Springfield, VA

Hardscaping has to do with all the non-living design elements of a property. Use hardscape, such as patio pavers in Springfield, VA to improve any outdoor space. Primary functional uses include enhancing privacy, creating boundaries, leveling topography, providing a foundation for outdoor living, creating shelter and reducing yard maintenance.

Hardscaping also helps achieve a fluid transition from your home to the surrounding beauty of nature. Use natural stone, precast blocks, or interlocking patio pavers in Springfield, VA from Belgard, Techo-Bloc, Nicolock, and others, to transform your yard into a practical, even elegant, outdoor living sanctuary.

Once you analyze the habits and needs of your lifestyle, visit RSSY to start planning your hardscape today so you are ready to greet the spring. Patio pavers in Springfield, VA are a great way to improve the appearance and function of different spaces within your exterior landscape. Imagine your driveway, walkways, entryway, and outdoor recreational areas permanently manicured in a coordinated palette with your home architecture. The possibilities are only limited by your creative imagination.

Before installing patio pavers in Springfield, VA, you will examine the abundance of patio pavers. They vary in size, shape, color, texture, cost, and ease of installation. techniques for installing patio pavers of all types are quite similar. For dry-laid surfaces, that is those installed without mortar, the process involves installing a base of crushed stone and a setting bed of sand or stone dust. You may want to install your stone or brick pavers with mortar instead. First install a solid concrete slab, and fill in from there.

The beauty of precast patio pavers is they stand alone on a sand or gravel base without mortar. They are small enough to be hand-set without special equipment. Some designs are even ideal for permeable paving that complies with zero-runoff building codes. Modern interlocking pavers are set in visually stunning patterns that many homeowners opt to install these over more traditional tile or stone.

Patio pavers in Springfield, VA are a much more affordable and sustainable choice for urban streets and residential yards. Contact RSSY to start planning your patio paver design for spring.

December 15, 2013