Blog
Discover insights for all your outdoor home improvement projects. If you have any questions about how we can help with your landscape design and installation project just reach out!
Perennial Design
Perennials have become popular in the last few years. They can be used in conjunction with shrubs and trees, or they can stand alone in a perennial garden. Perennial gardens can be island beds, fence beds, along a lot line, or around a patio. Perennials can be...
2009 Plant Injuries
Winter can be blamed for a lot of plant problems. This year we are noticing plant damage mainly with some grasses, some roses, and Clethra. This past winter we had a lot of snow cover in the Midland area. Snow cover is good for plants because it protects them from the...
Don’t Get Crabby
Just a short note to remind all my faithful readers, it is now time in Michigan to apply preventative herbicide to your lawn to prevent crabgrass for the season. For future reference, the homeowner can time this application with the blooming of the forsythia. This is...
Vegetable Gardening
I am sure everyone reading this will already be aware of the term going green. I am also sure that everyone realizes that we are in a bad economic situation in Michigan and in the country. Today I would like to discuss vegetable gardening, because it is one way to go...
European Chafer Beetles
The weather lately has been beautiful. Cool, no humidity, plenty of rain. It has been wonderful. In my opinion it could stay this way the rest of the summer. Unfortunately as we all know, it won’t last. Soon the humidity, and hot dry weather of summer will be here....
Winterizing Your Lawn
Fall is a good time of the year not only for planting, but to think about spring. Focusing on lawns for a moment, I want to highlight some things that are good to do in the fall to make your lawn look its best in the spring. Fall Fertilization. If you would like to...
Fall Planting
Most people think that the best time to plant is spring. They are right. The second best time to plant is fall. In fact, the fall is almost as good as spring in most respects and better than spring in other respects. There are a few plants that should not be planted...
Roundabouts vs. Cul-de-sacs
In June of 2000 I visited Germany on a singing tour with the Midland Music Society. You may be asking yourself, what does that have to do with plants? Well my answer would be that just because I was there to sing, doesn’t mean I wasn’t looking at plants. Many people...
Beetles R Us but they won’t beat us.
Now is the time of the season to prepare for the devastation that the Japanese Beetles will cause next spring. Look back at the article I wrote concerning grubs in the spring. There is a “beautiful” picture of the grub damage that was prevelent last spring. It may...
Phenology
Phenlogy is a study in the correlation between bloom times, degree days, and insect emergence. It is very useful in IPM. IPM is integrated pest management. Integrated pest management is the practice of using biological controls, cultural practices and chemicals to...