What is more beautiful than Michigan in the fall? The colors around this time are brilliant! What can you do to bring that fall color home? You can consider some stunning fall-blooming perennials. One often overlooked aspect of perennial gardening is planting varieties with different bloom seasons- including fall. This is important because perennial blooms often have a short life span. Sometimes as short as two weeks! By keeping the seasons in mind when planting, you can ensure a captivating landscape with showy perennials all season long. Let me highlight my favorite fall-blooming plants and why they should be added to your next project.

Let’s start with an obvious one. An oldy but goody- the fall mum. Mums are perfect for fall because they bloom later in the season-August-October. This is usually around the time other perennials just finish their bloom cycle. Although there is debate on whether mums are perennial (best luck when insulated in the ground), they are also used in pots, or on porches for those spooky fall months. If dead-headed, you could extend the life of your mums to last the whole fall season. Available in red, orange, yellow, purple, pink, and white, fall mums will be arriving here at Christensen’s at any moment.

Another fall favorite is Anemone. Most Anemone varieties take some time in the spring to show any growth, so if you have some in the ground, do not fret if you do not see growth right away. There is an exception for the Anemone Sylvestris which is a spring blooming variety. The late bloomers don’t show color until around August and last through the fall. Varieties like ‘September Charm’, ‘Elfin Swan’, or ‘Robustissima' are a great choice. Ranging in color from white, pink to red, with adorable Daisy-like flowers, these are a perfect choice to fall.

Asters are another perfect option if you are looking for fall color. There are two different types of Aster- New York, and New England varieties. In general, New York Aster are shorter with thin  

The last plant I would like to highlight is Perovskia (Russian Sage). Perovskia comes in all shapes and sizes. Over the years, we have trialed many varieties to determine which can withstand the heat. One of the best varieties out there is the Perovskia Blue Jean Baby. Growing to 3x3 ft tall and wide, this one is great because it maintains it shape, and doesn’t get too floppy. These lavender flowers and silver foliage last all the way through fall. They also have a pleasant sage-like smell. Find varieties like Blue Jean Baby any time at the plant center.

In my job, the only thing worse than May is August. I must buy plants to sell now and next spring. It gets a little confusing sometimes (and we may end up with an extra group of plants right now or perhaps I put them on my spring order and they’re missing from the ‘now’ order!) Did I mention I also have to do my fall orders now – I kinda forgot about those!! After 29 years you would think I could handle this. I can’t (just in case you were wondering). I do, however, have a lot of backup at the nursery.

The worst part of this is; because spring is a screaming time of the year, I need to do the thinking now so later I can point and shoot on the fly! The problem is my decisions all depend on you! I must figure out what you are going to do so I can figure out what I am going to do! It is such a vicious circle! Some of you are thinking “who is this chick?” If she has been there for 29 years why haven’t I seen her?? You have. It is just that I am way older looking than you might remember! And, I am chained to my desk in deep thought (sending you a message about what you should do next year because I already had to make the decision).

It is the decisions! At this time of the year, I often come into work and announce that today is “no decision day”!! Sometimes days in a row are no decision days (I don’t think I have hit a whole week yet). I have noticed that this has become an annual (perennial?) thing! I have yet to have a day at work this year where I don’t have to make at least one decision! But I shall keep trying! Someday it will happen, I have faith.

So, I have already made a couple of decisions for you. I have a little time left to make changes – so if you have a problem with my decision, please see your nearest salesperson at Christensen’s and let them know!

Decision #1 MORE Hydrangea paniculata ‘Puffer Fish’. Wow, isn’t she awesome (It is a she because of the awesomeness!!) I was told it was a ‘BoBo’ on steroids. They weren’t kidding. The flower is far larger and more numerous than a ‘BoBo’, though the plant itself is nearly identical in size and shape. You may find these already in stock… (…if they’re not sold! They seem to sell as fast as I can order them.)

That’s probably all I have room for today. I didn’t get very far down my list. Maybe I will have a part two article coming up with more sneak peeks at my decisions!

P.S. I have been at work this am for 1 hour and have had to make 5 maybe 6 decisions already!! Tomorrow is definitely going to be a no-decision day.

Bzzzzzzwhzzzzz….SWAT!!

Another ’skeeter gets smacked, leaving your blood and her guts on your sleeve.

We all love to hate them. They’ve ruined countless outdoor summer gatherings, left me with sleepless nights whilst camping, and can make working outside a nightmare. Do these flying parasites actually do any good for this world?  Should we wish for a perfect eradication method so we never have to hear that buzzing sound again?

Mosquitoes are pollinators. Flower nectar is actually their main source of food. Many of our garden vegetables enjoy being pollinated by mosquitoes, as well as wetland and prairie plants. Are you a fan of chocolate? If so, perhaps you will look at mosquitoes a little differently, as they are the main pollinator of cacao trees!

The females only need a small amount of blood to develop the proteins casings for their eggs. The rest of their time they spend flying around your garden and surrounding areas looking for flowers.

Mosquitoes are a food source for bats, dragonflies, and several birds, such as hummingbirds

The impact of mosquito larva in aquatic environments is difficult to measure, but is significant. They spend their time eating away at detritus matter, cleaning up ponds of decaying leaves, expelling their waste for beneficial microbes to consume.  Mosquito larva biomass makes up a large portion of some fish’s diet. Backyard pond fish and all smaller wild fish eat mosquito larva, providing a strong base in the food chain that feeds larger game fish for sportsmen.

If you want to have fewer mosquitoes in your yard keep your grass well-cut and thick bushes away from your entertaining areas. (This helps with ticks, as well)  Look for places where water may collect and remain still for a period of time so they cannot breed in the puddles. Eliminate empty pots and flip wheelbarrows upside down so they cannot collect water. Childrens toys,  buckets, garbage can lids, even plastic bags that have blown into the yard may collect water.   Fix lawn drainage problems for your customers.  It only takes five days for a mosquito to develop from an egg to a biting adult, so consider any standing water a breeding ground.

... And how they might affect you.

Recently, we’ve had a little bad luck related to our Dump Truck. If you read our article in June, “Making Lemonade Out of Lemons”, you’ll know that we found ourselves in a position of learning about an unfamiliar way of delivering. The truck and dump trailer were a new experience for us, so we had to do some research to be sure we knew how to be safe and legal on the roads.

We didn’t expect to learn as much as we did and realized it might save you, our customers, a lot of stress and hassle to have a refresher on carrying bulk, plants, and hardgoods on Michigan roads.

Let’s start with the definition of a Commercial Vehicle: “…includes all motor vehicles used for the transportation of passengers, for hire, or constructed or used for the transportation of goods, wares or merchandise…” Most of our customers have vehicles that transport goods, wares, or merchandise. I haven’t met a customer yet that relies only on deliveries from us alone. So, all of you have “Commercial Vehicles”, which means you have “Commercial Motor Vehicle Drivers”. Definition, “Any person (including the owner of a company) who operates a commercial motor vehicle.” And the final definition in my list is the GVWR, Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, the value specified by the manufacturer to be the safe loaded weight of a single vehicle. These are the basics, which, likely, you already know.

Here is what you may not know…

This means that our Chevy 2500 towing our Load Trail for business purposes requires a CDL-A driver.  In researching our new dump trailer, we discovered that most of the tandem axle trailers being marketed to contractors have a gross vehicle weight rating at or just over 10,000 lbs.

So, what are the consequences if you’re caught with higher-rated vehicles driven by an under-licensed driver? You get “red-flagged”, meaning you must park your rig where it sits until you have a legal driver to move it.

The good news is that being pulled over just to check that the driver is licensed for the GVWR rarely happens. The bad news is that being pulled over for other infractions can be compounded by an under-licensed driver. One of the most common ways to attract unwanted attention is to have your load incorrectly restrained. This means that tarping and using the correct straps for tying down your load is critical. And that… is a whole other article.

There’s something to be said about impeccable customer service. If you take a “customer is always right” attitude when servicing your clients, you start from an excellent place with a servant’s attitude. Something that, frankly, in this day and age, isn’t as common as it used to be. Many of the most highly regarded business recommendation books carry some level of that advice.

"We don't want to push our ideas onto customers, we simply want to make what they want." Laura Ashley

However, there is an argument to be made that merely satisfying your customers is not the best answer for industries that rely on creativity. And even if you think landscaping isn’t a creative field, it is… or it should be. I often think of two famous quotes when I think about a customer survey or a focus group. Henry Ford supposedly said, “If I would have asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” And Steve Jobs said, “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

We often see the same version of landscaping repeated street after street, city after city. In some cases, regulations make the similarity mandatory. In other cases, efficiency of production has created matching homes, since they were all built and landscaped almost in an assembly line fashion.

There are many reasons to diversify your customers’ landscapes.

• Diversity prevents mass devastation – Think of Boxwood blight or Emerald Ash Borer
• Diversity encourages mental stimulation for everyone involved, from the designer to the homeowner, to the passing neighbor that’s sleepy on their commute.
• Diversity increases diversity. With different landscapes come different habitats and food for creatures. You can see this in the bee population… diversity gives the pollinators more food at different times of the season with more opportunities to pollinate and it can create honey variations.

Over the years, mass production has increasingly whittled away at the natural diversity of everything from grocery store selection to fashion to transportation.

Having made the case for a wilder version of landscape, I also realize that some customers will not love a creative landscape. They need uniformity and a basic level of landscape.

The difficult dilemma is finding those customers who don’t know they’re waiting to be delighted by the unexpected.

Note: I do realize the irony of quoting Henry Ford, the same man who successfully implemented the assembly line and said, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black” in an article about creativity.

A few weeks ago, I got to go out to Oregon and visit several nurseries to see their selection. It was very cool to see the variety of plants that they can grow that we can’t. Geographically, we’re almost straight across the country from each other with our southern borders hovering around the 41-42° North parallel line. We are zone 5 and they are zone 8 or 9 depending on where along the coast you are. It was amazing to hear that they can potentially gain up to 12” on a Japanese maple in one growing season or to see 4.5’ emerald green arbs that they say in a few weeks will be nice 5-6’ arbs. It was a very busy trip as I saw 10 different nurseries in 4 days, but it was totally worth it.

A lot of people are always in a hurry these days. Have you ever stopped and taken a few moments to just look around and listen to the nature around you? Well, if you know me, I will stop mid-sentence to point out any bird that I see and hear. Birds are absolutely beautiful, smart, and innovative, especially when making a nest of their own. This job has given me the opportunity to be immersed not only in plants on a daily basis, but also in wildlife, most often, birds. 

Cedar waxwings, a not-so-common bird even though they make Michigan their home all year long, also come to snack on the serviceberry trees along Gotfredson Road. These birds look like they have been painted by an amazing artist. A beautiful blend of grey, light brown, and yellow with a cool-looking black mask over their eyes make these birds a real sight to see.

One of my all-time favorite birds is the great blue heron. They come and fish out of our pond pretty much every day. They are mostly blue and grey with a bright orange and yellow bill, with long black plumes on their heads. When spotted flying you can see their long legs sticking out straight behind them, with a wide wingspan. Despite their size, they only weigh 5 to 6 pounds due to having hollow bones.

One of the rare sightings I’ve been lucky to see here is the majestic bald eagle. With a black/brown body accompanied by a white head and tail. These beauties soar through the air with wings flat (wingspan of about 7 feet), and heads extended far in front of their wings. Fun fact eagles can carry up to four times their body weight (they weigh 14 pounds).

These are just some of the birds that fly by or stop to visit us at Christensen’s. I love to be able to share these facts and pictures of some of my favorite birds with all of you. So, instead of rushing to get where you’re going, stop for a few moments and look around at the amazing wildlife that surrounds us. You just might be shocked at what you see. Nature is absolutely beautiful!

It’s that time of year again. The weather is hot, and the days are long. The plants are growing, blooming, and the season is in full swing. The last thing on your mind is spring bulbs! This time of year, bulbs are at the forefront of mine.  Updating our bulb selection and preparing for our Early Order Bulb Program can take quite a bit of time. Last year, we revamped the program. Largely due to the quantity increase from 50 tulips per box to 100 per box and the daffs from 50 to 75. Along with the increased quantities in these bulb sizes, we added an additional value to our customers by offering quantity breaks at 2 boxes for all of our Crocus and unusual varieties, including Chionodoxa, Hyacinthoides, Iris, Muscari, and Scilla.

The Early Order Bulb Program allows our customers to take advantage of some substantial savings. Although there is still a discount for the more boxes you buy, it doesn’t even compare to the savings of getting that order in quickly!

This season we have added a few more selections to choose from.

Unfortunately, every season we lose a few varieties that we have enjoyed. The good news is that there are so many fun choices it is exciting to see what each season holds in store! Be on the lookout for our bulb mailer that should land mid-July, but you can digitally check it out and print it if you click here! (The password is the same as the availability password on your e-mail) We also have the flyers at all our service counters. And don’t forget your BulbTone!!

Welcome back – I hope that everyone had a great holiday. Whew! Spring is finally over! For me, summer is a time of slight relaxation. 2023 is humming along and I have a month until I must start 2024. (Let’s not think about that!).

I wanted to check with everyone and make sure you all saw some of the new plant varieties at the nursery – if not, come on in as there are more newbies here and incoming.

There are a couple of new plants that I am excited about. Of the hundreds of new cultivars every year it is hard to know what to choose. Sometimes, I throw dice, sometimes I look at the magic 8-ball, and sometimes it has to do with a catchy name (I am a sucker for a catchy name!). Then I do some research and decide if the name is catchy enough! Check some of these out:

I have a couple of newer grasses this year, as well. My favorite is the Andropogon gerardii cultivars. Check out ‘Holy Smoke’ (Cheech and Chong movie ??), ‘Blackhawks’ (again with the movie?), and Red October (another movie!). ‘Holy Smoke’ and ‘Blackhawks’ both are going to be 4-5’ tall and ‘Red October’ is a dwarf coming in at 2-4’. All 3 are native prairie grass and rock hardy. All 3 also have purple-green leaves and get varying shades of red from mid-late summer through fall.

I also have a couple of new Hydrangeas! Please don’t tell Chris!!! They are a secret. The one I am most excited about is Hydrangea paniculata ‘Puffer Fish’, “a Bobo on steroids”! It has white flowers that age lime and pink. They will typically send another flower at this same time and rebloom over top of older blooms. It gives the effect of double flowers – very showy. It seems everyone likes the compact habit of the ‘Tuff Stuff’ so take a look at this one ‘Pop Star’ . This one is from the Endless Summer people. This is a typical blue or pink lacecap (macrophylla). However, ‘Pop Star’ is far more compact (and looks far denser) than the traditional ‘Endless Summer’. Its biggest claim to fame is that it reblooms much faster than a traditional ’Endless Summer’.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get my hands on Jeffery’s Weigela ‘Bubbly Wine’. If you were unaware, Jeff Good is now the patent holder of Proven Winners® Weigela ‘Bubbly Wine’. I will let him tell you all about it. I on the other hand will tell you about a relative of Weigela ‘Midnight Wine’ with darker, shinier burgundy leaves and a 12’ tall about 3’ wide habit. W. ‘Midnight Wine Shine’ is also much denser. Finally, W. ‘Very Fine Wine’ is a dwarf – 30x30” with better hardiness and heavier rebloom.

Before I let you go – let’s talk Ilex crenata ‘Sky Pencil’ I have not grown this personally and we have not had it at the nursery before. Everyone is yelling at me about this plant. Everyone wants it and I keep saying it is not hardy enough for us, you keep saying it is! I have special ordered this plant in the past and those that have put it in the landscape have told me they are hardy. So, this year I will stock a few. Ilex crenata ‘Sky Pencil’ is a female ilex and will need a pollinator to bloom (any ilex that blooms at this same time will work.) ‘Sky Pencils’ get to be about 6-8’ and 2’ wide – yes, with a very columnar habit. It is a very dense tightly branched shrub. Considered a solid zone 6 possibly a zone 5 – it may all depend on the winter. Berries or not, it is a good-looking plant!

Have you tried these new varieties? Let us know what you think of them! We welcome your feedback on the plants we stock.

I hope to see you around the plant center, checking out all the new stuff!

Something about the Independence Day holiday weekend feels like a signal to slow down a little bit, even if it’s just for the weekend.  It’s an apt time to think about water features. 

Fountains and water features are some of the best ways to elevate any garden, patio, or walkway.  They’re a simple, excellent add-on when selling an installation. Everyone loves the peaceful sound of flowing water while taking in the surroundings of a beautiful landscape. We offer several Easy Pro kits in our store, and many more that can easily be ordered for pickup or delivery straight to you. These kits are easy to assemble and include everything you will need to install an elegant and relaxing water feature.

While these 2 fountains are all we keep in stock, we also offer many other features. Catalogs are available here at Christensen’s as well as online through Easy Pro. These features include different pillars, bowls, vases, and sculptures. They typically arrive within a few days and can be picked up here in our store or sent directly to you. Water feature kits include the basin, pump, plumbing, and lights. All you need to do is assemble, bury the basin, fill with water, and enjoy.

From “Just-A-Falls” kits to Spillways, you can relax, Christensen’s has you covered with Easy-Pro Pond Products (and pond-less products)!