Can you really have too much of a good thing? Of course!  I can think of many times I’ve eaten myself sick on foods that I rarely get a chance to eat. (Most notably, crawfish in New Orleans… It just tastes better in the French Quarter)

But too many flowers?  Nah, never!  Many years ago, when I heard gardeners complaining about Reblooming Lilacs, the arguments sounded like a kitten growling at an elephant. Why would you bemoan a beloved plant blooming long past its season? A direct quote from one article is “But who wants a lilac up the nose when they’d otherwise be carving pumpkins?” The short answer is, “A lot of people!”

If your customers would love to experience lilacs all season, plant Bloomerang® Syringa.

To maximize the flourish, follow this specific pruning schedule.

• Do not prune them before the first flush in the spring.  Since they flower on old wood, they set their first buds on the previous year’s growth.
• After the spring bloom, there’s a window of about 6 weeks before the next flush.  This is the optimal time to cut back a Bloomerang bush. The trim will encourage new growth and this is where the strong re-flush comes from.

However, be sure to manage expectations.  Yes, they re-bloom, but they never reach the full spring flush.  The second flush is enhanced by pruning. But afterwards, the flowers are best described as sporadic.

What about a plant that obscures all the foliage with flowers making it look fake?

Bobo® Hydrangea…I’ve seen the marketing pictures of this plant, but I’ve also experienced it in real life. And, let me tell you, the pictures don’t show how full of color the plant is in the garden. The best description I can come up with is…Unreal. The plant looks like a vase jammed full of mophead, clean-white flowers.  Do you need to have foliage to make a plant look nice?  I know flower shop employees that create arrangements would staunchly say that adding greenery is important.

I disagree.  There’s no such thing as too many flowers.

Adding these stunners to your designs ensures that your customers feel the ‘Wow!’ factor without a lot of work or taking up a lot of space (it’s a dwarf panicle hydrangea).

Pruning Bobo® Hydrangea also encourages new blooms. Consider giving your customers’ Bobos a trim during dormancy (Late fall-winter).  I say trim because taking just 1/3 off the top and shaping up the plant is optimal.  You can prune them to the ground (like some roses) and they will come back nicely. But it is certainly not necessary, especially with such a compact plant.

As I wrote this article, the song “Too Much Fun” by Daryle Singletary kept running through my mind.  I think ole Daryle said it best with the lyrics, “Too much fun, what’s that mean? It’s like too much money, there’s no such thing… …No matter what they say, I’ve done, but I ain’t never had too much fun.” Now, replace “fun” with “bloom”.

Spring is here, and with it comes a fresh start to another busy season of designing and building beautiful outdoor spaces. As the ground thaws and job sites come back to life, let’s get back to the basics—the foundation of every great paver patio.

That foundation begins with limestone aggregate.

Limestone has been a fundamental building material for centuries, prized for its durability and versatility. The limestone we use today took hundreds of millions of years to form. Once part of an ancient tropical sea, limestone is composed largely of calcium carbonate from marine organisms like corals and shellfish. Over time, layers of these skeletal remains compacted into the dense, sedimentary rock we rely on today.

Remarkably, many limestone aggregates still bear the imprints of their ancient origins—fossilized remnants of prehistoric marine life are frequently visible within the stone, offering tangible connections to Earth's distant past long before humans first learned to craft with stone.

Thornton Quarry: A Massive Source of Limestone

Thornton Quarry, located just south of Chicago, is one of the largest limestone quarries in the world. Spanning 1.5 miles long, a half-mile wide, and reaching depths of 450 feet. The site has been in operation since the 1800s. It supplies crushed limestone for road construction, concrete production, and hardscape base material. The quarry is also notable for its role in flood control, as part of the Chicago Deep Tunnel project. The northern section of the quarry has been repurposed as a reservoir capable of holding nearly 8 billion gallons of stormwater, helping prevent urban flooding. With its vast limestone reserves and dual role in infrastructure and environmental management, Thornton Quarry is both an industrial powerhouse and a critical component of regional water management.

From Quarry to Job Site: The Journey of Limestone Aggregate

The extraction and processing of limestone is a monumental industrial endeavor that combines raw power with precision engineering. Modern quarrying operations employ specialized excavators and blasting techniques to dislodge massive sections of limestone from exposed bedrock formations. These colossal fragments—sometimes weighing several tons each—are transported via heavy-duty articulated dump trucks capable of hauling 100-400 tons per load to primary crushing facilities.

The transformation from raw stone to construction-grade aggregate involves a sophisticated multi-stage crushing process. Initial jaw crushers reduce limestone boulders to manageable sizes, followed by cone or impact crushers that further refine the material. A complex network of vibrating screens—some spanning hundreds of feet across processing facilities—carefully sorts the crushed stone into precisely-calibrated size gradations. Quality control measures throughout this meticulous journey ensure the final product has consistent compaction rates, optimal angularity for interlocking strength, and appropriate levels of limestone fines for each specific application.

Christensen’s stocks a variety of limestone aggregates tailored for hardscape applications, including:

• 21AA Limestone – A mix of fines and larger crushed stone, designed for high compaction. Ideal for structural base layers beneath pavers, driveways, and retaining walls, ensuring long-term stability and load-bearing strength.
• 6A Limestone – A clean, angular stone ideal for drainage applications, backfill behind retaining walls, and permeable base layers. Its uniform size reduces compaction, allowing for efficient water movement and preventing hydrostatic pressure buildup.
• #8 Limestone – A smaller-sized aggregate often used as a bedding layer for pavers and slabs, providing excellent leveling properties and enhanced interlock to keep installations secure. Like 6A, #8 is washed clean, and suitable for permeable applications

The Science Behind the Perfect Base

Every professional in the hardscape industry knows that a patio or retaining wall is only as good as its foundation. Compaction is key—without proper density in the base layer, settling, heaving, and shifting will occur over time, leading to costly repairs and dissatisfied clients.

When compacted correctly, 21AA limestone forms a dense, load-bearing surface capable of withstanding repeated freeze-thaw cycles and heavy use. For applications requiring superior drainage, 6A limestone prevents water from becoming trapped behind walls or under slabs, reducing the risk of erosion or frost heave. Using the right combination of materials not only extends the life of an installation but also improves overall performance, making projects more resilient to the elements.

Limestone in the Bigger Picture

Limestone isn’t just vital to hardscaping—it plays a role in nearly every aspect of construction and infrastructure. It’s a key ingredient in concrete, asphalt, and even soil stabilization. Some forms of crushed limestone are used in agricultural applications to balance soil pH, while others serve as filtration media in water treatment plants. The same stone that forms the base of your patios and walkways is also helping to build highways, airports, and bridges across the country.

As we kick off another season, let’s start from the ground up—literally!
Investing time in selecting the right base material and ensuring proper installation techniques will pay off in the long run. If you have questions about which limestone aggregate is best for your next project, stop by and let’s talk stone.

Here’s to a successful season, built on a solid foundation!

For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

                - Song of Solomon as quoted by Ernie Harwell

The older I get, the more I love this quote.  Not only for the sentiment about spring, but also the memory it sparks about my youth.

I spent every spring in my youth listening to Ernie Harwell and Al Kaline covering the Detroit Tigers baseball games on WJR.  I often fell asleep with a pair of headphones on because the game was on the west coast and went farther into the night than I could.  Those happy memories always started every spring with Ernie reciting these words.

For me it marked so many starts.  The start of the baseball season, and being able to listen to Ernie and Al call the games.  The “start” to the end of the school year, and the beginning of summer vacation.  And the start of the nursery season.  Which meant my father would be leaving early, getting home late, working weekends, all the things that we all know and live.

2025 marks my 30^th official year at Christensen’s.  And while numerous things have changed over the last 30 years, it always is so striking at how many things remain the same. (Like my quoting of Song of Solomon… bonus points if you noticed that I’ve quoted it before!)  Winter ends. The snow melts. And semi load after semi load of freshly dug shade and ornamental trees start arriving for the next landscaping season in Michigan.  Shortly after that, my friends, all of you start coming back to visit us at Christensen’s.

Welcome back my friends.  Welcome back.

For the last several years, I have written the end-of-the-year article for our newsletter.  And every year I have the usual struggle of writing about something different, trying not to say the same things that I said last year. 

But this year it feels a bit different.  This year I write this as I close out my first full year as President of our company.  For the past thirty-nine years, my father, Tim Joy, has been at the helm of Christensen’s Plant Center.  Taking over ownership with Frank Huber in 1984…  Surviving the economy of the 1980’s…  Which to hear my father and others of his generation of ownership, was really something. (Don’t complain about your 7% mortgage.  Rates peaked around 15% in the 80’s.  And did not go below 10% for the decade.)  Moving our business from Livonia to its current location in Salem Township in 1989...  Then the boom of the 90’s, when housing soared in metro Detroit.  And the new facility they built and expected not to outgrow in their careers was outgrown in five years.  So, they expanded it again, and again.  The market then completed its cycle with the housing crash in 2006-2008.  Our business constricted, as did the entire landscape market... And I watched my father drink Maalox every night, straight from the bottle that lived on the top shelf of our refrigerator.  To the post-crash boom…  As landscape projects soared, and inventories bottomed out.  Thirty-nine years to come full circle.

I am forever grateful for the lessons of the last 4 decades. Now. 39 years later, I have the lead.  I am grateful that my dad is still around for me to access that wealth of knowledge.  I am grateful for the relationships that I have made over my first years and for the counsel from a great many of them.  But it definitely feels a bit different. 

To the staff of Christensen’s Plant Center, my most profound thanks. This team is the reason that Christensen’s is what it is today.

To our wonderful customers. Thank you for your continued business. I look forward to seeing each of you next year. We have some cool things coming in the future. We all hope you'll be with us for the next 39 years!

May you all have a safe and blessed holiday season.

There are many things that remind us of the holiday season. Hot cocoa, snowmen, Christmas Trees, and falling snow. But when you picture your decorated holiday table, there is usually a festive plant as well- the Poinsettia. This holiday classic is the Christmas gift that keeps on giving. Each year, over 70 million Poinsettias are sold in the United States during a 6-week period, making them a staple of the Christmas season- but how? And why? I decided to do some digging into this yule tide annual, to understand where it came from, and how it became so popular.

Poinsettias are famous for their bright red leaves- or bracts. These bracts are often mistaken as the flower, which is a small, not so radiant cluster, found in the center of the leaves. The bright red foliage is the most common color found during the holidays, but Poinsettias also come in over 100 colors including pink, green, orange, and white. Interestingly, the color of the bracts is determined by a process called Photoperiodism. This means the amount of sunlight vs. darkness, which changes with the seasons. Longer darkness periods (14 hours of darkness for 6-8 weeks) result in the bright red hue that the Poinsettia is famous for.

Contrary to popular belief, the Poinsettia plant is nontoxic to humans and animals. This urban legend began, after 2 children who were said to have ingested the leaves passed away. In truth, it never even happened. Despite being untrue, the FDA released a statement that “even one Poinsettia leaf can be deadly”. This caused people to turn their back on the scarlet beauty, even becoming prohibited in certain places. Studies on rats proved that the plant is not lethal, although if ingested could cause an upset stomach.

Poinsettias are indigenous to Mexico, and Central America and were introduced to the US by Joel Roberts Poinsett in the 1820s. Its popularity can be attributed to the Ecke family, who started by selling them at street stands in 1909. After realizing their natural floppy, weed-like look could be improved, the family came up with a new grafting method- cross breeding 2 varieties, to make the plant more desirable. This enhanced their fullness and made them more compact. After perfecting their habit, they began pushing the holiday favorite, and even took the plant to late night talk shows in the 1960s to help promote them. Soon the Eckes family had controlled the market on Poinsettia, at one point contributing to 70% of the domestic market. Eventually, their grafting process was published, allowing other growers to follow in their footsteps. Today, the Ecke family is out of the Poinsettia business, but growers in California continue to produce Poinsettia today, capitalizing on the Holiday cash crop.

The Poinsettia is a Christmas staple that lives on beyond just the winter season. By keeping up with water, fertilizer, and trimming schedule, you can keep them happy all year long. With the added bonus of being nontoxic, there is no need to worry about you or your animals falling ill. Although there is no true reason for these plants to be associated with the holidays- other than excellent marketing, they do not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Fall and winter months are arguably the most difficult times of the year to identify plants. All the leaves are gone, and there are no flowers left. It may just look like there’s a random cluster of sticks in the ground, and each one looks like the other. However, have no fear, there are still plenty of ways to still accurately identify these plants! Here are some things to look at that might make this an easier process.

Size and growth habit are the easiest characteristics of a plant to pinpoint first. Whether it is columnar and upright, has a mounded shape or if it is lower to the ground and has more of a spreading habit. Sometimes this may not be enough to identify the plant, but it can point you in the right direction.

Buds can be an easy giveaway of what the mystery plant may be. Many plants have unique bud shape, size and color. The placement of buds on a stem can vary as well, helping to narrow down the investigation. For example, the buds on a Viburnum trilobum will be smooth and with two distinct outer scales, while Viburnum carlesii will have buds that will be more vegetative and almost resemble the start of a leaf.

The stems and bark of a plant can also hold many unique characteristics of a plant. A lot of which can be hidden by the foliage during the summer. For example, Weigela has relatively coarse or rough bark which is not very noticeable until it loses its leaves. Or a more easily identifiable plant, red Dogwood varieties will have their signature bright red stem color in the winter.

In most cases it will take a combination of these factors to properly identify a plant, but by recognizing these characteristics you will be successful. As the planting season comes to an end, it is a great time to take advantage of learning what these plants look like without their foliage. Well, that is until spring!

P.S. If you want to get deeper into identifying in the offseason, check out this book. 

Christensen’s wants to support you, our customers, in every way we can.  With that goal in mind, we have brought on a new supplier to offer bagged deicing products for this winter.

While the weather has been rather mild this autumn, we all know that the snowy, icy cold conditions are just around the corner. We have brought in the first two pallets (one each in the Plant and Hardscape Centers) of the Green Earth Safety Salt for you to pick up with your other fall landscape supplies. 

All of the deicing products come in 50 lb bags, 50 bags to a pallet. Pricing varies across the several mixes available, but all of them enjoy a quantity break price when purchased by the pallet. If you’re looking for 16 pallets (800 bags) or more, we’re happy to quote higher quantity breaks, just get in touch with your customer service rep.

We are offering 4 different deicer mixes:

• Green Earth Safety Salt (AKA Icinator Premium) – Pure sodium chloride infused with calcium chloride for effective snow and ice melting at -24°F. This mix is 18% more effective than its competitor at 14°F ($8.25/bag)
• Green Earth Pet Friendly – Designed to be safe for pets and the environment alike. Improved deicing with less overall environmental damage that will not dry out pets paws. ($9.75/bag)
• Icinator – Pure sodium chloride with calcium chloride that melts ice and snow at 5°F effectively ($8.25/bag)
• Northern MH Rock Salt+ - 98% Sodium Chloride that contains Calcium Chloride to enhance melting. ($7.00/bag)

All of these products are eco-friendly and contain upcycled sodium chloride while still meeting de-icing goals.

Delivery is available for orders over 4 pallets in full pallet increments within the delivery zone for $150.  The delivery zone takes in I-94 north to 1-96/696 and US-23 east to US-24 (Telegraph). (Outside of the delivery zone will need to be quoted based on location) We can deliver to yards or jobsites and to multiple locations for an additional fee.  Talk to your customer service rep about your options for delivery.

As always, we’re happy to work with you and quote on special projects, just give us a call!

What do Jaws, Jimmy Hendrix and emergency sirens have in common? They all include the ‘Devil’s Trill’! “What is this?” you may ask. Well, it is ‘Satan in music’ and was once banned by the Catholic Church for being a “demonic combo”! The Violin Sonata in G minor by Tartini or the Devil’s Trill Sonata is the notes F & B played together and they clash so much it gives us an unnatural feeling of foreboding. Some people twitch when they hear these keys played together.

Police sirens are a perfect example. They are typically the notes C and G flat – can you hear them in your head? They clash – trouble is coming. You will find the ‘Devil’s Trill’ in movies like The Exorcist, The Shining and of course Jaws (da-dum… da-dum; Can you see the shark coming? The music gets faster as the shark gets closer… da-dum. P.S. Did you know that it’s a Tuba in Jaws?). Or maybe you are into the Rolling Stones (“Sympathy for the Devil”), Metallica ,(“Enter the Sandman” Fun note: this is my cup of tea!) Led Zepplin, (“The Rover”, “Since I’ve Been Loving You”) or, of course, “Purple Haze” (Jimmy plays the B-flat while bass man Redding plays an E, da-dant… da-dant, in the opening riffs) These groups use the demonic combo!

You get the idea but what has this to do with plants – nothing. What does this have to do with Kim – lots! We receive a lot of trucks from growers. Some are small – some are large. I try my hardest to get out and look at every truck and the material. But I must admit there are some nurseries that as I am about to look into the back of the truck and *wham*, a “Devils Trill”!! I also hear it when we open the houses up in the spring and, of course, when someone walks into my office and says, “I need a favor!” It is usually Jaws that plays in my head at work, but, nevertheless, it is in my head as a sign of foreboding! (Usually, I internally yell at myself for thinking that way – especially when the load is beautiful or the favor is easy!)

The ‘Devil’s Trill’ itself was composed by Giuseppe Tartini. An Austrian dude from the late 1600’s. He has two claims to fame – He was the first ever owner of a Stradivarius Violin and his Sonata in G Minor or “The Devils Trill”. The Sonata was basically the first “Devil Went Down to Georgia” style song (and story).

I will admit I also get it in my head before I step into the doctor’s office, dentist, and even sometimes as I about to put on the news. Funny thing is that in those moments the trill I hear is ‘Purple Haze’, I didn’t know it had a name, but it does and a cool one at that. (Not really sure where I learned the name or why.)

A couple of last Devils Trill footnotes.

• Did you watch the Sopranos? The season finale? Because they purposefully used Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and purposefully ended it at the ‘Devil’s Trill’ just to make it even more irksome.
• It is the hardest piece of music to play on a violin.
• If Giuseppe lived in our age, he would have been in a major Heavy Metal Band. 

Every year as we start to bring in fresh trees in the fall we hear requests for any and every kind of tree. Unfortunately for us, the cold winters here don’t allow for just any tree to be dug and replanted in the fall. It is a great time to plant trees that have previously been dug and given time to recover in our yard. However, it can be dangerous to dig certain trees late in the year depending on the growth habits of the species and other environmental factors. There are many trees we try our best to avoid digging in the fall to protect ourselves and our customers from finding dead trees in the spring when everything else is nice and green.

Most trees go into dormancy in the fall, entering a state where metabolic processes slow down so they can survive the winter. Digging trees in early spring while they are still dormant minimizes the stress caused by cutting its roots and transplanting it. The root system is preserved more effectively, allowing the tree to recover quickly once replanted. As it warms up in spring, they break dormancy and start putting on new growth which is ideal timing for reestablishing the root system after being dug. Trees dug in spring also have the advantage of cooler but warming temperatures and higher moisture. This combination reduces how much water the tree is losing and provides ideal conditions for recovery. Most species acclimate to their new surroundings better when dug in the spring. This is why we bring in thousands of trees in the spring and hold them year-round. It gives the trees a chance to recover until you need them and minimizes the risk of transplant shock or failure to make sure your newly installed landscape looks good and will last.

Some trees are better suited for fall digging and can reestablish roots before winter. Most species of Amelanchier, Crabapple, Ginkgo, Linden, Lilac, and Maple do well with fall digging and some even seem to do better, avoiding transplant shock. These trees will still develop roots in the cooler months after being dug. With the ground still warm but air temperatures cooling, growth can continue even as the tree's leaves drop. This late growth enables the tree to adjust and recover before winter, preparing the tree to absorb moisture and nutrients from the soil as soon as the weather warms up in spring. During spring, the tree’s energy is directed towards new growth and root development, instead of recovery, which can result in stronger and more vigorous plants. This can enhance the overall health of the tree, making it more resilient to inclement weather, diseases, and pests. In contrast, spring digging can lead to transplant shock, as trees may struggle to adjust and recover while also trying to grow new leaves.

In conclusion, digging and replanting trees is a practice grounded in ecological and botanical science. The combination of biological factors such as dormancy cycles and growth rates with environmental factors like soil conditions and moisture determine the optimal time for digging. By timing the transplanting process correctly, one can set the stage for healthy, vibrant trees that will thrive in their new environments for years to come. So, if you see a tree with some old deteriorating burlap in the fall don’t be too quick to write it off. That tree is not “old”, it was intentionally dug in the spring according to the best botanical practices and held all year just waiting to be planted. It has survived the stress of digging and is primed for replanting, more resilient and ready to thrive in its new environment.

Every time I call a market “mature” someone surprises me with a new product. Recently, I mentioned to a friend that Oreos have done just about everything you can do with such a simple cookie sandwich. Change a couple of flavors, add some food dye…what else is there? Then, what appears this summer? Pop Rocks Oreos! Okay, they got me, never saw that coming.

Another surprise to hit the market this year is Alliance Outdoor Lighting’s latest innovation, BT Ally Bluetooth Lamps! Designed with installation contractors in mind, these cutting-edge lamps are set to revolutionize the way you approach outdoor lighting projects. BT Ally have all the tech built right in to the lamp, there is no longer a need for installing entirely new fixtures to enjoy wireless, color-changing functionality.

Let’s dive into the details of the four new types of BT Ally lamps, their impressive features, and how they can seamlessly upgrade older fixtures.

1. BT Ally for Bullets (Spotlights): Perfect for highlighting architectural features and garden elements, these spotlights offer precise control of your light, allowing you to focus attention at areas of interest. With Bluetooth connectivity, you can easily adjust settings from your smartphone, ensuring the perfect ambiance for any occasion.
2. BT Ally for Path Lights: Illuminate walkways and garden paths with style, keeping the light directed downward and out of your guests eyes. The Bluetooth functionality allows for effortless color changes and dimming, providing both safety and aesthetic appeal.
3. BT Ally for Flood Lights: Ideal for larger areas, these flood lights deliver powerful illumination with the added benefit of Bluetooth control. Whether you’re lighting up a driveway or a backyard, you can customize the lighting to suit your needs.
4. BT Ally A19 Lamps: These versatile lamps can be installed into existing porch lights and other traditional fixtures. The A19 lamps are a game-changer for retrofitting older 120v setups with modern, smart lighting solutions.

Features That Shine

• Color Changing: The BT Ally lamps offer a full spectrum of colors, allowing you to create dynamic lighting scenes. Whether it’s a warm white for a cozy evening or vibrant colors for a festive gathering, the possibilities are endless.