Sticks & Stones – Page 25 – News & Views from Christensen's Plant Center

Brilliant options for fall color

Fall is in the air. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Where has the year gone? It is almost time to start planting your bulbs, raking the leaves and fall cleaning the beds. Today I want to talk about plants that we don’t typically think of as being for fall.

We regularly think of mums, aster, burning bush, and trees like Sugar and Red maple as plants we like for fall interest. Lesser known options might be 'Autumn Joy' sedum, Japanese Anemone, and 'Little Henry' Itea.

But let me tell you about some others! Solidago (Goldenrod) with it's bright yellow flowers, Fothergilla with it's burnt orange, red, and yellow leaves, and Chelone (Turtlehead) with it's pink turtle-head-shaped flowers.

Don't overlook Caryopteris - it's blue flowers begin late July and continue into September. This small shrub can be treated like a semi-woody perennial and benefits from cutting back low in the spring.

My all-time fall favorite is Amsonia hubrichtii (Bluestar) - the Perennial Plant of the year in 2011. The foliage turns bright gold and at 2.5’ in the back of the border it stands out like a mini-sun. Some turn red-orange, bronze, purplish and yellow, and all are spectacular.

Another favorite of is Helenium, which grows 2-3’ tall. Also known as Sneezeweed, they bloom in a mix of delicious fall colors - yellow, browns, and red. They typically start blooming in late August and continue well into October.

Mums are great, but there are a lot of options for extending color from summer into fall.

I would feel guilty if I didn’t at least mention Viburnums. They come in so many shapes and sizes and with different colored berries in the fall, how can you go wrong? But wait, there’s more... almost all of them get great fall leaf color. This massive genus of shrubs alone would allow you to have flowers from spring to late summer and then berries and fall color until the snow flies.

Well sorry, but gotta go. This article gave me a great idea for pumpkin carving and I want to go get some cider and donuts and draw it out on paper!

Planting in heavy soils

Heavy clay soils are one of the toughest environments to plant in, but there are no hard and fast rules to follow. Whether the planting site is irrigated or not, and how much irrigation it’s receiving is crucial information. Here is an example: Concolor Firs will often decline and die in a heavily irrigated clay soil. In a lightly irrigated setting they will do fine.

Many planting guides will tell you to excavate 2-3 times the root ball diameter and amend the soil with top soil and peat moss. This is a big mistake! When you do this in a heavy clay soil you create a large “bathtub”, which can fill up with water in a heavy rain and drown your trees and shrubs. Digging a hole just large enough to hold the root ball reduces the amount of water around the plant.

Planting a little or a lot high to grade, depending on how wet the soil is, can be a good defense strategy. Just use a well-draining topsoil to feather out from the top of the ball to the top of the surrounding soil.

This columnar oak was planted at a correct depth in a raised bed. See below for a closer view.

One of the biggest mistakes I see is planting trees above grade on the top of a berm. Trees subjected to this treatment will almost surely die! Any rain (other than an all-day soaker), runs right off the berm. In this case create a shallow basin and plant below grade to capture those quarter to half inch mini rains.

Alliums – your secret weapon for all season color

It’s always hard for me to think "fall bulbs" in August. It’s 90 degrees and our perennial lot is in full bloom. The thought of bulbs pushing through the cold, wet landscape of spring is exciting, however that payoff is so long off! Hmmm, so how to wrap my mind around summer blooms, fall plantings, and springtime? I came up with a “genius” idea. Alliums! Bulb Alliums, perennial Alliums. One family blending together for a full season of color, texture, and beauty.

So here’s the plan. Starting with our “Early Order Fall Bulb Program”, choose your Alliums.

Allium 'Purple Sensation' is deep violet, 'Azureum' is blue. Both range in height from 24”-36”.

The large 'Gigantium' and 'Globemaster' are both deep purple with a height of at least 3’ and 5”-8” flowers. All four are pest resistant and bloom May-June.

Then the perennial Alliums. As those showy blooms from the fall-planted Alliums die off, the summer Alliums take charge. Allium 'Summer Beauty' blooms mid-June-July with 1 1/2” lavender flowers and shiny dark green foliage. The rosy-purple 'Millennium' kicks in July-August with an average height of 15”-18”. August and September follows up with 'Blue Eddy', which has lavender-pink flowers, it is the shortest with a height of less than a foot. Although Alliums prefer full sun they will take light shade, and they are pest and deer resistant.

There are hundreds of varieties of Alliums. I have showcased seven, ranging from deep purple to lavender to blue. All in different heights and textures. For a soft palette you can add light yellows, pinks, and whites and for a strong, vivid, more contrasting look, choose reds and brighter yellows. But whatever your color choices you can’t go wrong with a plan that lasts all season.

Don’t forget your Bulb Tone! This is a great fertilizer to include when planting any bulb. For details on our Early Order Bulb program, click on the graphic above!

Tips for keeping quality employees

Keeping an employee is much easier than finding, hiring, and training new team members. I hear stories regularly from green industry companies about problems retaining good employees. The most popular story is probably, “I had three guys quit this week and go to a competitor for $2 per hour more than I was paying them. I offered them raises but they left anyway.”

People leave jobs for many reasons, however unless the amount is significant, it is rarely for money alone.

Employees
need to feel:

· Informed

· Appreciated

· Necessary

· Challenged

Let’s look at it from the point of view of the employee; what is important to them? Fair pay and competitive benefits? Of course - it is a given that they are working to get paid and make a living. However, the way your team feels about their position can be even more important than compensation.

That’s right, I said “feel”. I know feelings aren’t always the easiest for us to deal with, but they are integral to employee retention.

Informed, appreciated, necessary, and challenged are things that team members want and need to feel from us. The key to this is clear and concise communication starting from the first day if possible.

Information is vital for people to feel good in today’s world. We all have more information at our fingertips than ever before and have grown accustomed to feeling well informed. We tend to fill in the gaps with our own “information” and, as humans, rarely is it positive. We start in the hiring process with a checklist of items that we want to both give to and get from the new team member. Giving your team the information they need is vital to keeping them engaged and positive.

Let’s consider appreciation; compensation is not appreciation. These two things get linked somehow and are truly two different subjects. Compensation is agreed to and earned. Appreciation is beyond that and not necessarily financial. Most times a thank you is sufficient, just letting them know you noticed and appreciate their efforts. Small perks and rewards can also be very effective; we have done things like popsicles on a hot day, $10 cash rewards, paid time off (even an hour), bought lunches, and prepared lunches. There are so many things we can do to show appreciation and the ones that take a little effort are much more effective than those that cost money.

We all want to feel needed. Keeping our team informed and appreciating them will go far in making them feel essential. Also, delegating responsibilities and communicating expectations gives team members a connection to the successes and shortcomings of the company. It’s not all about reward, there is also an element of accountability and solid team members are ready to accept both. This leads to challenging our team.

Challenge leads to opportunity. No one wants to feel stuck, at a dead end, nowhere else to go. People want to be challenged with more responsibility, harder and larger tasks, and to be able to expand and grow their abilities. Raise expectations, increase responsibilities, and provide the resources and conditions to succeed and you will create a challenging environment for any team member. As these increased expectations and responsibilities are achieved, compensation should be adjusted to reflect the increased workload of the team member.

Retaining quality team members is not easy. Consider things from their perspective and keep them engaged and positive through the communication of information, appreciation, and expectations.

New landscape plants to try

Our industry introduces new plants every year, and it's hard to keep up with them. Here are a few recent cultivars that you may want to check out for your next landscape project.

First is the Proven Winners Aronia Low Scape® Mound chokeberry. Aronia has been receiving a lot of interest lately as it is a native plant, and this one is nice because it only gets to about 24" and grows in a neat mound. Its white flowers bloom in late spring, and it also gives you a beautiful fall color. This plant is also quite deer resistant.

Second is the Golden Pacific™ juniper. This evergreen gives a bright burst of yellow throughout the year.

The texture is different from most junipers, being bold yet low-growing. It's a great plant to use for color without relying on flowering plants, and a nice change of pace from typical green ground cover.

There is also a blue-green variety called 'Blue Pacific'. Both are shore junipers, which are relatively salt tolerant, making either a candidate for planting near sidewalks and driveways.

Third is the Physocarpus Tiny Wine®. This is another Proven Winner, smaller than other varieties of ninebark commonly available. It grows to a height and width of just 3 to 4 feet. It blooms with tiny pink flowers in the spring, and keeps a nice fine-textured maroon foliage all season long.

The last recommendation I have is Physocarpus Lemon Candy™. This plant has outstanding foliage that starts out bright yellow and matures to yellow-green. It does not scorch in full sun, looking good all season. It grows to about 30" tall and makes an excellent color accent among the standard greens and purples of the common landscape.

The ninebarks are an up-and-coming group of landscape plants. They are tough yet good-looking and adaptible to many sites.

Take a look at these plants and I think you'll find they have a place in your landscape designs.

Water: too much – or too little?

WATER, WATER, EVERY WHERE
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

Some may recognize these verses from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Even if one does not, it is worth noting this work, now approaching 200 years since it was written, was one of the first works advocating a more responsible use of our natural resources. The mariner’s senseless killing of an albatross leads us to question how we use and treat the fauna of this planet. Much of what is written could be applied to the flora as well.

If we remember back to this spring, days of rain created saturated soils and standing water. This did not bode well for some plants. In Coleridge’s story the sailors had no fresh water to drink, but here our trees and evergreens had more than enough fresh water, yet still could not absorb that water. Why not?

Stranded in the equatorial waters of the Pacific all but the ancient mariner eventually die from heat and lack of water.

The overabundance of water and saturation of the soil interfered with a plant’s ability to respirate and to absorb nutrients and water through its roots. The cold, wet spring also encouraged the growth of fungi, like Phytophora, in the soils which can cause lesions on the roots, which, in turn, interferes with a plant’s ability to metabolize whatever it needs. This is called root scald. At first glance some trees looked like they were wilting, in some respect they were, their roots were unable to take in nutrient and moisture causing the plant to collapse. Usually if a plant is dry leaves will wilt, turn yellow from the inner and lower branches, and the plant will begin to drop foliage to compensate.

When a plant is too wet it will begin to wilt only to have the apical branches turn reddish -brown but not separate from the plant.

How can one prepare for weather extremes? First, there is more than one way to plant a tree. Common sense goes a long way! Planting depth, the type of planting media, and choosing plants that will tolerate different soils are basic questions any landscaper should be considering for every site. It isn’t rocket science, but there is a lot more to landscaping than digging a hole and throwing the plant in!

Does the site drain well? If not, should I elevate plants in beds that will cause excessive water to run off? Choosing plants with higher metabolisms, plants with dark, more fibrous roots that can handle periodic or ephemeral flooding and including beneficial mycorrhizae in the planting media to protect root nodes will lead to transplant successes. If your planting losses are over 10%, is it due to lack of planting experience and good practices, or is your company guilty of cutting corners and careless installations? Even if you are not warranting your work, poor workmanship will catch up with any company eventually.

If heavy plant losses are “an albatross around your neck,” be a “sadder and wiser man,” and question practices and losses. Remember “the best gardeners have killed just about everything!” Becoming a more responsible contractor and pursuing best planting practices Will reduce losses and increase the bottom line. It pays to care!

“...but this I tell to thee…
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”

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Watch Chris's video below for more information on how we can help. Be sure to stay to the end - he's got a special offer for you good for the month of July 2017.

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The Christensen’s Mobile App is here

We are pleased to announce the release of this
time-saving tool that you are going to love.

It's been months in the making, but the day has arrived for the unveiling of our new smartphone app that is designed to make your life easier.

Watch Todd's video for all the highlights, then head to either the Google Play Store or iTunes to download your FREE copy.

Want to get YOURS?
It's free - and it's easy!

Scan this QR code to go to our app in iTunes

If you're an iPhone user, simply go to iTunes and search for "Christensen's Plant Center" - or click this link.

Scan this QR code to go to our app in Google Play

If you're an Android user, go to the Google Play Store and search for "Christensen's Plant Center" - or click this link.

Questions? Give us a call at (734) 454-1400

CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION

Five steps to quality

What goes into Christensen’s Plant Center having the freshest, most viable stock?

It began years ago when Lee Christensen (and probably before him his dad Pete) sought out material from the finest growers in North America. When Lee passed on the company to Tim Joy and Frank Huber, that sourcing experience of finding nice material at a good value was part of the deal. Over the years Christensen’s has cultivated relationships with a number of top-notch vendors, and our current Investment team of me, Kim Roth and David Dermyer as well as Frank Roth at Rushton Farms are focused on nurturing and expanding those relationships.

Secondly, the material is shipped by trucking companies we broker ourselves, then unloaded by our highly trained (and sometimes overworked) receiving staff. They can unload 8-12 trucks in a day and 1000’s of boxwood and yews in a week. All plants are placed in our facility under irrigation, both in the yard or the field. Maintaining that irrigation system is a top priority for our yard manager Chris Nielson (assisted by Rigo).

Third, the material is evaluated and approved as it gets unloaded or shortly after. If we see anything wrong, it gets rejected. If I wouldn’t buy it for myself, why would I sell it to you? Sub-par material is often put right back on the truck.

We make sure that plants are viable, rooted, and healthy. Plants that don’t pass this evaluation are removed from inventory immediately. Rarely, we receive trees in the spring that are rejected for quality but are not able to be shipped back to the vendor. We put the best of them in our “2%” area, and offer them to you at shockingly low prices.

We do want to be fair to our vendors, so if material arrives early in the year, we give the plants till early June to come out of dormancy. It’s amazing how some will take that long (like trying to wake up a teenager on a Saturday morning).

Finally, the other main force for refreshing our stock is you, our customer. Quick stock turns are key. If you’re busy planting, our staff is busy doing what Lee, Tim and Frank have trained and asked us to do. We are experts at finding quality material and are ready to provide what you need for your installs.

We know your success is our success, and we are glad we can help.

Alliance Landscape Lighting

New for 2017!

We are pleased to introduce our new landscape lighting line, Alliance. This company features high quality aged brass fixtures, and a wide variety of spot, flood, path, and other fixtures that many manufacturers do not offer.

They also make sconces, oversize post fixtures designed to be placed on hardscape wall copings and caps, flush surface-mounted step lights (No more cutting into brick and deck steps! No more box!), fully integrated LED understep fixtures for walls, tape lighting strips, PAR36 spot fixtures, and my personal favorite: The TIKI path fixture!

Did you ever want to set the top of a path fixture on fire and still see it function correctly? Now you can! Perfect for those that entertain outdoors!

Not only does Alliance have brass fixtures, they also offer a different variety of well lights. I know, I know, “If you've seen one well light, you’ve seen them all”, but theirs are, indeed, different. Alliance has well fixtures that are designed to light up areas horizontally, not vertically. Need an alternative to a path fixture and don’t want to use a stem? Here’s your solution! They are available in opposite side lighting (front and back), 180 degree, and 360 degree spreads. We’ve had orders from the west side of Michigan and central Ohio for these already, and others have begun to design them into their landscape projects. Alliance also offers a variety of standard up-lighting well fixtures with various covers to fit your needs.

Finally, Alliance has a great BLUETOOTH Phone App Driven Transformer! This 300 watt timer is affordable and flexible - you can set a multitude of timers, and your customers can manually turn their system on and off from their smart phone. We have a demo set up at Christensen’s Hardscape Center, so feel free to come in and play around with it.

Alliance products hit our shelves in early April and the response has been absolutely tremendous. It’s beautiful, most items are backed with a lifetime warranty, most fixtures include a 25’ wire lead, they have fantastic customer support, and the variety of materials will help lead you to the design and final effect that you and your customer are looking for. PDF copies of the Alliance catalogs and price guides are available for emails, or you can visit www.allianceoutdoorlighting.com for further information and instructional videos.

Be safe out there, and go light up someone’s life!

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Want to get YOURS? It's free - and it's easy!

New APP... just for you!

Looking for ways to save time and energy? You've got to see this exciting new technology - just for you!

Want to get YOURS?
It's free - and it's easy!