As the year comes to an end, it’s a good time to break out the pruners and pole saw to prepare your landscape for the upcoming spring. Late fall/early winter can be the best time to take advantage of getting rid of any unsightly broken branches or to shape your trees and shrubs for the upcoming season and promoting fresh new growth for the spring flush. An optimal time is once the leaves drop, and you can see the branching structure and prior to snow flying. Whether the tree is young or old, it is still very beneficial to the overall health and structure.

For plants such as hydrangea, they can be a bit more challenging. Be sure to know when the best time is to cut these because they all differ. You can cut smooth hydrangea such as Annabelle to the ground in late winter or early Spring. However, some hydrangeas like to be pruned late summer prior to next year’s buds developing, so make sure to do a bit of research if you are planning on trimming any Hydrangea.

As always, we are always more than happy to answer any questions. Be sure to check out our wide variety of shears, pole saws and hand pruners available at our store.

I get it. It’s the Green Industry, and we only have so much time before Momma Nature and Old Man Winter team up to turn our green landscapes into a brownish white, salt-sprayed, rigid, unattractive frozen tundra, AKA Southeast Michigan from January thru March.

We do as much as we possibly can with the limited hours in a day to get the job done and move on to the next. For those of us experienced plantsmen, we all say that we just get used to it, which, in my opinion, is true. Sure, the first month or two is a little rough, but then we get acclimated and it doesn’t seem like a big deal anymore.

But again, with all that being said… it all involves time. The Rolling Stones had a song “Time Is On My Side”, which for some that’s great. In the past few years, I had come to relate to Australian author Steve Douglas who said: “Time is your only enemy, it disappears very quickly and never gives you a second chance.”

I don’t have facts to provide, or references to share with this article. This is based on my personal experience and my opinion. Please bear with me.

But then on Memorial Day weekend, we moved back to our hometown for a new start. At this point, we both dropped some of our jobs and things were beginning to get back on track. This is what we needed to do. Soon after the move, my mother calls me and says “Hey sweetie, I haven’t seen you in months, I know you’ve been incredibly busy, but I’d like to see you.” I said, “You know, you’re right, Mom. What day would work best for ya?”.

We spent three hours together, and I FINALLY had nothing but GOOD news to share with her for a change. My doom and gloom attitude was finally beginning to dissipate and I was proud to tell her that we are moving in the right direction at a rapid pace! Mom was glowing with happiness, and it was one of the greatest visits we’ve ever had. Now that I moved back locally, and my siblings are now within 15 minutes of us, things were going to be great.

A week and a half later, I got a call from my sister at 6 in the morning telling me that mom passed away overnight. I crumbled. I began to return to my former status of “What’s the point of trying so hard when all I’m going to experience is another loss?”. We shared the news with family, and with our close friends whom we haven’t seen in months. Everyone we knew rallied and came together. Our family, friends, coworkers, and loved ones put “time” aside out of their busy schedules and commitments to provide whatever support they could in our time of mourning. I cannot thank everyone enough.

My mother always had old sayings that she would throw at us, but the one that she had been using over the past couple of years, whether it was the end of a phone call or a visit, and it was the last words she said to me:

            “I love you, Sweetie. Take care of each other”.

I will, Mom. I love you.

Recently, my wife and I celebrated what would have been the 100th birthday of her Aunt Ruth. Every family has at least one of these relatives. You know, the ones that keep the family together and focused. It's been tough on the family cohesion since we said goodbye to her. Ruth was a product of the Great Depression - frugal, smart with her money, hard-working, yet generous. Like many of her generation, she saved and re-used to a fault - old-fashioned recycling. Most notably she never threw away a good box. Somewhere somebody or something could always use a good box. Sometimes, we would open up some of the boxes only to find inside, you guessed it, more boxes. As she neared 90 my wife said she was a very neat, organized hoarder.

Well, at Christensen's we have thousands of good ‘boxes’. But we don't hoard them, we sell the #*%@ out of them. No sooner does a new group of boxwoods arrive when you see swarming sales reps tagging off pre-sold material, often arguing over whose customer is first in line on the backorder list. It can get ugly! Stock has moved so quickly that there are usually large patches of open gravel, usually only seen in early spring or late fall.

However, Buxus is not the only game in town. Many contractors have comfort zones so they don’t necessarily look at other options. But they are missing the opportunity to diversify their selection.

The most obvious substitution for boxwood is another broadleaf, such as Ilex. Box hollies are perfect but unfortunately do not consistently perform through our desiccating winters. Ilex opaca, or Inkberry, performs well and the newer varieties, Shamrock and Gem Box, can easily be mistaken for boxwood.

Azaleas are also perfect, but many shy away from the Rhodoendron family due to a perceived difficulty in establishing these plants. Contractors who do not plant these may not realize the need for a premium (more nutrient rich) medium and plenty of fertilizer. Also, the timing of the plantings of many broadleafs can make the difference between success and failure. Getting the plants rooted early will help the growth and development of Azaleas. If you add these practices into your Azalea planting routine, they make an excellent flowering substitution.

The newest group at Christensen’s is Box Honeysuckle, Lonicera nitida 'Thunderbolt.' Yes, this honeysuckle is evergreen, and its species describes it as shining and glittering. This and more box honeysuckles seem to be making their way here by way of Europe. It is much faster growing than Buxus and can be trimmed into any imaginable shape. This lends itself to both traditional and more contemporary applications.

Our Aunt Ruth was quite the world traveler. She probably saw hedges of these Honeysuckles years before I learned of them. And, I'm sure there are many beautiful hedges at her current home.

A 50-year-old birthday is no small feat. As many of my friends, and in a few more years myself approach or crest that half-a-century milestone, I find myself reminiscing about the journey it took to get here, and the road from here on out. Looking back at having the first VCR and having to choose from VHS or BETA.  Power steering and automatic transmissions were considered options, not standard equipment. Phones had 50’ spiral cords and every gas station, convenience store, 

It all started back in 1972. That is when Ed Bryant brought the first paving stone from Europe over to North America. As one of the foremost leaders in the industry, Unilock has had many more firsts over the years including permeable pavers, facemix, and Ultima products. The technologies that produce these products have also changed dramatically. The days of measuring and leveling ingredients are now done with a computer and sensor-controlled mixers in a state-of-the-art facility. That’s a long way from the first plant in Barrie, Ontario.

They have also had their trials and tribulations with recessions, labor shortages, material shortages, and most recently the pandemic. But they have always strived with innovation to overcome adversity, creating new and unique quality products even when the times were tough. But let’s face it, you need a great team to make success grow and thrive.

Many of the sales reps, managers, and service reps that work at Unilock started out in the landscaping business in some way shape or form. I have seen everything from a lawn crew employee to a previous landscape owner working in the front or back offices. They add their knowledge and experience to a company that encourages learning and growing. It can be fast paced, intense and maybe be even hectic at times but the employees have always shown their best professionalism, patience and understanding. I have had the pleasure to see many of their employees rise throughout the ranks and take on new positions and challenges. I look forward to seeing many new faces that will become part of the Unilock family in the years to come.

What is next? What will be the next best product, idea, design, or tool? There is so much potential in what we already have that I can’t imagine what could be next. But I like to think that Unilock does. To help commemorate their fifty years of success, they are planting a tree along with a time capsule with the intention of opening it back up fifty years from now. That’s confidence, and comes with all their hard work and effort. I sure would like to be a fly on the wall to see all the new cool things they will have by then! Congratulations to 50 now, and 50 more to come!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I know, with all the pink popping up, it’s probably hard to forget. Since 1 in 8 women will be affected by this debilitating disease in their lifetime, you may even know someone diagnosed and receiving treatment. While my grandmother fought it twice and was victorious both times, my aunt passed away 12 years ago at the age of 46. As you can see, this cause is very personal to me.

There are many ways to join in the fight against breast cancer, but one of the easiest for people in the horticulture industry is to buy and install the Invincebelle® Spirit II Hydrangea arborescens.

The Invincebelle® Spirit II takes the groundbreaking breeding of the original and improves on it with brighter color, more abundant flowers and a stronger rebloom. The entire plant is more compact and bushier with stronger stems.

The Invincebelle® series is a step forward in arborescens breeding, but what makes Spirit really unique is the mission to eradicate breast cancer. Donating one dollar per plant, Spirit and, now, Spirit II have raised over one million dollars for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Myra Biblowit, BCRF President & CEO, has said, “Proven Winners has made a real and tangible impact on advancing breast cancer research—raising over $1 million since 2010 to fund more than 23,000 hours of critical research through BCRF.”

Founded by Evelyn H. Lauder in 1993, BCRF-funded investigators have been deeply involved in every major breakthrough in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. This year, BCRF will support the work of more than 275 scientists at leading medical and academic institutions across 15 countries, making BCRF the largest private funder of breast cancer research worldwide. BCRF is one of the nation’s most fiscally responsible nonprofits and is the only breast cancer organization in the U.S. with an “A+” from Charity Watch and Charity Navigator’s highest rating of four stars. Proven Winners® is very pleased to be working with the BCRF and plans to continue fighting this deadly disease.

Even if this particular cause isn’t close to your heart, it may affect your customers. I chose to plant an Invincebelle® Spirit in my aunt’s memory and have planted even more because the show of color is spectacular. Consider choosing this beautiful variety when installing Hydrangeas. It may mean only a little to you or your customer, but it might mean the world to women affected by breast cancer.

So, by now most people know that I am a hobbyist. I have everything from R/C cars, planes, helicopters, drones, and even an r/c boat. That’s all great stuff for the outdoors, but when winter comes, I am a solid inside guy. I don’t ice fish or ski; I have never even sat on a snowmobile, however, I have just as many indoor hobbies as I do outdoor. One of my favorites is working on a model train layout.

The train layout is around 120’ square feet and takes up ½ of my basement. I have modeled it after a modern-day early 2000 to 2010 era. This can make it challenging to find modern buildings, vehicles, and industrial equipment. Luckily though, the landscape materials are easy to find, and as many styles and designs have changed through the years, the core material is still the same. The species and cultivars of real plant materials may have changed, but on a 1/87 scale, a tiny green leaf is still a tiny green leaf.

The look that I am trying to recreate is loosely modeled around the Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio area. These areas are similar but also have a little variety between themselves such as the lush forests in the upper lower peninsula to the flatlands near Columbus and Fort Wayne. So, this involves me taking a variety of pictures in a variety of locations. Not all scenes that are being modeled are in a landscaped area like homes and businesses. I have more pictures of plants and scenery in their natural wild unadulterated habitats.  With as close to realism as you can get being the goal you want the landscape to not only make sense, but to be realistically possible. On my layout, I have a city scene, an industrial scene, and carnival scene and then a light-up wilderness scene underneath the layout itself. All these scenes allow me to have tremendous options and unlimited creative designs.

The scenes that I think are both the most challenging and most fun to create are the maintained scenes, a truly landscaped area. Some materials are store-bought, but many items are handcrafted, one-of-a-kind items. Adding mulch beds, manicured boxwoods or arborvitaes for rows and hedges, flowering shrubs, or perennials. Even a couple of mulch volcanos around trees; remember the idea is what you see in real life and not how it should be. Applying rust lines around a building to show that there is irrigation, lines in the lawn for mow patterns. The diligence to the details is just as prevalent in the hobby as it is in the real world with one exception, none of my stuff dies or needs water!

I have had one person ask me why there are no segmented walls or brick paver designs, since, after all, that is what I deal with every day, and not so much on the greener side of things. I explained that the scale being so small, the wall stones would be half the size of a piece of rice. Then I showed him the brick inlays in the city sidewalks around trees and sidewalk crosswalks!

I think everyone takes a piece of the work home with them, and I am no different. I am not a plant guy, but I have learned so much from being around so many creative landscapers and great employees. So, I have taken that knowledge that they shared with me and put it into my own hobby. I enjoy creating landscapes and buildings as much as just watching the layout. Watching a weathered and detailed CSX EMD go by pulling over fifty weathered, graphited, and dilapidated railcars next to a realistic backdrop is like watching fish in an aquarium, or maybe a relaxing night in your backyard on the patio next to a bonfire.

When Does Specializing Turn Into Hoarding?

I’ll just come out and say it. I am a Collector. Over the years I have built - and dispersed – so many collections, in categories such as craft supplies, books, glass paperweights, pink flamingos, Westmoreland milk glass, hardy geraniums, hosta, tools and hardware, office supplies, and for a while in the 80’s, budgerigars. At one point I had 18 of them in a giant flight cage. Good times.

It’s an all-American pastime as shown by the popularity of reality shows about hoarders and people who bid on the undisclosed contents of abandoned storage lockers. I haven’t slid so far; I prefer to do my collecting one piece at a time.

But when does “collecting” cross the line into hoarding? To me, collection is all about doing a deep dive into a particular subject and learning as much as you can about it. When I am studying a new topic, reference books get involved, and talking to experts in the subject, joining Reddits or groups, and getting as much hands-on experience as possible. For instance, I have collected figural cast iron - doorstops, bottle openers, party favors, door knockers and bookends – for years and I am pretty good at spotting reproductions and knock-offs.

When you really love something it’s easy to get caught up into accumulating, and it can be a rude surprise to look around one day and realize there is not one more square inch in your garden to wedge a single additional hosta, even though you are pretty sure you DON’T already have one virtually identical. That’s where we get to the critical difference between a “collector” and a “hoarder”. If you can’t part with your duplicates or lesser-value pieces; the books you’ve read ages ago and won’t look at again, stuff that’s broken or stuff that you MIGHT find a use for …someday… well, now you’re slipping into hoarder territory. News flash: your kids don’t want your stuff. You might want to winnow down your belongings before it gets bad.

I am not quite there yet. Yesterday I spent ten or twelve hours moving all my house plants back indoors after their summer vacation. Somehow there are more of them now than what went out this spring. I don’t know what happened! I have plants all over the house, on shelves and étagères, under lights and crammed into the windows. I am kind of proud of the fact that I also said farewell to a few of them! I am not a hoarder after all. Just don’t ask me how many house plants I have.

I like to call this time of year ‘the season of anticipation.’ Over the years, as I’ve developed my patience, I have come to enjoy the sweet ache of waiting. My son, on the other hand, is in anguish waiting for each holiday to arrive, starting with Halloween. And after each one is over in the blink of an eye, he’ll be in anguish until the next one arrives.  

Of course, I have been trying to teach him the value of waiting. We've defined "patience" as "waiting with a good attitude" in our family.  If you ask him what patience is, he'll use that exact quote with an eye-roll and sing-song voice... which is sort of the opposite of the definition. 

In true childhood fashion, the lesson didn’t really sink in until his teacher had them plant seeds and they watched them germinate in a clear cup. He dutifully informed me that, “Even though you can’t see it, the seeds are working hard underneath the ground, taking up nutrients and growing roots.” I told him that the holidays were the same thing. Even though he couldn’t see it, Mom and his family were working hard to prepare for the events. He scowled and ran off.

Nothing in horticulture elicits more anticipation than bulbs. As so many aspects of our life have sped up (I blame online shopping), nature continues to keep her own time. And, for me, there’s something reassuring in having to patiently wait for an investment into the landscape. I’m sure for you, as landscape professionals, bulbs can be a hard sell in a “Want-It-Now” culture.

But the reward of early spring blooms in multiple colors and forms is something that everyone loves. This time of year, it’s important to communicate with your customers about the benefits of planting spring bulbs now.

Come in and see the many options we offer. Take pictures to share with your customers. I love our “wall of bulbs”. It’s a wonderful way to see and choose your favorites. This beautiful and tempting full rack of color is the reason I purchased way more bulbs than I can plant by myself. Fortunately, I have a ready supply of labor because my son has become very excited about planting. Of course, once we plant our tulips, daffodils and allium, I’m sure he’ll be in anguish for spring.

Growing and caring for plants is my passion. As if growing tens of thousands of perennials a year here at Christensen’s Plant Center wasn’t enough, I have taken my love for plants home with me. I currently have 20+ houseplants that I care for. The key to success is knowledge and experience. It is important to know what to do, and what not to do. Proper plant care will ensure that your plants thrive, and do not suffer or die (my death count is quite impressive). It has taken years of trial and error to figure out what works best, but I am still learning. If you have any interest in becoming a houseplant novice, this article will provide tips, suggestions, and things to consider.

Houseplants have different demands, requiring individual watering, sunlight, and soil needs. You will want to know each plant’s distinct needs when choosing what to grow. I recommend starting with easy-to-grow houseplants and then move up in skill level from there. My favorite plants to grow are Pothos varieties. These are vining plants that can get very long. Once they get lengthy, they can be “chopped and propped” which means they can be cut into pieces for propagation. To propagate, I cut off a 3-4” piece right below a leaf node (where the leaf meets a stem), place in water, and watch them root. Once rooted, I place them in a pot of soil, fertilize, and watch as they take off. The ability to propagate is one of my favorite features of these plants. Pothos, Snake Plants, Bamboo, Peace Lily, and Spider Plants are among the easiest to grow. While Orchids, Ferns, Fiddle Leaf Fig, Succulents (like string of pearls), and air plants are among the most challenging. Consider how much time, and effort you have and are willing to give to plants at home when deciding what to plant.

Another factor to consider when growing houseplants is watering needs. Some plants can be watered once a week, while others would prefer once a month (or when soil dries out completely). I also like to water my plants on a schedule and mark it on my calendar. I always check the dampness of soil with my finger before adding more water. Overwatering is an easy way to kill houseplants, succulents especially.

Growing houseplants is beneficial to mental and physical health, air quality, productivity, connectedness to nature, and is aesthetically pleasing as home décor. For these reasons, I highly recommend growing and enjoying houseplants in your space. This hobby is something that keeps me happy and busy, and maybe you will enjoy it too.

**Authors note: Husbands/wives/partners/roommates etc. are not always as enthusiastic as you are about turning your home into a jungle. Please keep that in mind when trying to fill every space available with houseplants. Be sure to use the above benefits to try to persuade them! However, compromise might be necessary.
HAPPY PLANTING!!

As I write this article, I am looking at a 4x8 Unilock Hollandstone Premier paver on my desk. It is uniform in shape, density, and color to the rest of the pavers on the pallet it came from. The beginning of this concrete paver’s story is actually set 7000 years ago on a warm Mediterranean island. The Minoans were Europe’s first advanced civilization. Their island of Crete was a hub for trade and artisans. They built fire kilned brick structures, had methods to pump water, and created the first segmental pavement to engineer their way over loose subsoils. The Romans were next, installing 50,000 miles of paved roads. Amazingly, some of these roads are still in use today!