SUMMER 2016

With temperatures rising, it is time to fire up the barbecues and enjoy our pools. Large shade trees and privacy hedges are great at providing relief from the intense sunshine. Our nursery has the largest and best selection of shade trees and hedges. Our experts can assist you in finding the best tree or hedge for you; we can also save you the hassle and plant them for you.

JULY GARDEN TIPS

Junipers Silk Floss Trees - Chorisia speciosa
Daylilies - HemerocallisDurantaPink Thrift - Armeria maritima

On June 29th, I became a dad, and I could not be happier! Raising a new born baby is quite the task, but all those sleepless nights are totally worth the trouble when I get to come home to my little boy at the end of the day. Going from being just a plant dad, to a real dad, I must say, baby people are infinitely harder to take care of than baby trees. Nonetheless, I think there is an important similarity between caring for children and caring for trees. In the end, they will eventually grow up. Over the years my son will need less and less care and attention, and eventually he will be able to take care of himself. A tree will also grow up and take care of itself, except much faster and without nearly as much effort. At first, you should probably water your new trees with a deep soak 2 times a week, maybe 3 times a week if we are over 100 degrees. This is a general guide line. It is smart to check moisture in the soil and keep a close eye on your tree. As the tree grows it will become more and more drought tolerant. After a year or so, your tree will need a deep watering about once a week. After 5 years most trees can survive with little to no supplemental watering, however, this greatly depends on yearly rainfall amounts and plant type. Adding organic fertilizers, worm castings, and other soil amendments are a huge benefit for new trees. But as trees mature their deep roots will be taping into resources deep in the ground. Adding new compost and fertilizers will become less and less necessary, until eventually not necessary at all. During your tree's first and second years, you should really be keeping a close eye on you trees. Check them two times a week their first summer to ensure the soil doesn't become too dry. Fertilize 2 to 4 times the first year, but the need for these nutrients will be lessen every year. By the time year 3 comes around you can consider most trees to be equivalent to an 18-year old, ready to stand on its own. Though your tree may not need much more care when it reaches adulthood, it will still benefit from an occasional deep soak and fertilization, just like my newborn-son will likely appreciate that when he also becomes an adult, that extra spending cash on his birthday.

I just found out last week, the nickname a couple of crews have for me is "The Flamingo." I figured, oh sure that's natural that dance is just like me sexy, romantic and focused! But no, that's the Flamenco, they were referring to the animal. Really tall, pink (from a sunburn) and just standing around all day.

Now, something I have experienced in my life as a Flamingo is that early in the summer it doesn't take too much time on a bright day to make me regret being in the landscape biz. But, by the end of summer the burns have turned to ridiculous farmers tans and it takes much longer and hotter exposure to set me back. The plant world is not entirely different, and the ugly heat wave we had around the peak date of June 20th really exemplifies this. Many of our properties, and just about everywhere I look, is a massive amount of leaf burn and plant stress. Not only have we been in a drought pattern for several years, but 110 degree heat out of nowhere when plants have been acclimated to 70s and 80s can be very traumatic. The recent drought years make it that much worse because we are barely giving our plants enough water to survive. They have no reserves in the ground and in many cases their roots (the plants natural storage tanks) have shrunk or are relatively dry. Even in ideal and gradual weather conditions irrigation is limited to the brink of stress. As a matter of fact, if you do not see some stress during the hot summer it is an indication that the landscape is using more water than the drought czars say we should.

This doesn't go for every type of plant material out there but those that are susceptible (Ivy, Agapanthus, Aspidistra- to name a few) are having a particularly rough go of it. At our accounts we are leaving as much of the burned leaf material as can be stomached to prevent further stress and to allow them to shade the rest of the living plant. It's us Flamingos, Lobsters, and Pink Panthers of the plant world that are hurting, but don't worry, we will recover; we are just going to look rough for a little while.

Blake Meahl - Operations Manager for Landscape Maintenance Division