Right on cue, the beginning of the month ushered in winter, and snow blanketed the Southeastern Minnesota landscape.
Yay for all the plants! The layer of sparkly whiteness does more than ensure Christmas shoppers feel more festive and, therefore, feel more like opening their wallets. It insulates plants and “tucks them in” for winter, so to [...]

Download the Tree Owner’s Manual (PDF).

Finally someone has put together a comprehensive yet entirely readable tree care manual!  We have had various attempts over the years, as have others, but this is clearly superior… thanks, USDA Forest Service!

Did you know that tree branches conduct electricity?
Did you know that first tree roots (those first found under the surface and are [...]

Always looking to pick up a new idea or two, Bonnie again headed up to the Cities in July to scout out the MNLA Landscape Tour. Although not quite on par with last year’s, she still thought it was worthwhile.  Some of her observations are as follows:
Native and oldie-but-goodie plants (read: dependable!) seem to keep [...]

***UPDATE 10/5/09: Who knew that a post about the lack of rain would, in fact, be a rainmaker?? Last week we were in trouble; this afternoon, we are awaiting the latest bout of rain coming over from the Dakotas. Checking the Drought Index (see link below), you can see that we are beginning to get [...]

There’s something special about August, when all the fall bloomers start taking the stage.  And of these later-flowering plants, it’s hard to beat the hydrangea.
There are big ones, little ones (relatively speaking), tree ones, blue ones, pink ones, etc, but they all have one thing in common: BIG, show-stopping blooms that easily mix with other [...]

We know our landscape crews work hard and well.  But this past weekend, we got to set landscaping aside for a while and see another hard working bunch–the 4-H kids of the Winona County Fair.  They really are what makes the fair tick, and this year was no exception.  They get the grounds and facilities [...]

Surely no one’s e-e-ever used that pun when typing a landscape post, but I couldn’t resist.  Yes, I’m referring to our annual community tree planting; this year we got to spread the shade to not one, but two worthy organizations!  The two chosen for tree donations were Sauer Memorial Home on Hwy 61 and Ridgeway Community [...]

SERVICE RATES FOR THE 2009 SEASON ARE AS FOLLOWS:
*/**Spring Start-Up Services:  Activate system, check  and adjust Arc/Radius of Heads, clean nozzles, re-set controller.
$9.50 / zone; systems 7 zones or less = $60
$52 / hr for large commercial systems
*/**Fall Winterization Services:  Deactivate system, provide complete drainage of system and backflow preventer.
$9.75 / zone; systems 7 zones [...]

We’ve heard the pet name some people have for irrigation systems–”irritation” systems.
But c’mon, it doesn’t have to be that way!   Irrigation, or underground sprinkler systems, TAKE AWAY irritation from your daily life, not add it.  How much would you miss:

lugging hoses around this summer?
hunting for sprinklers to hook up to those hoses because the dog/ your kids/ [...]