Bulbs, corms and tubers…the ugly ducklings of the garden. Not pretty, mostly brown and wrinkled like someone (me) who’s spent too many years in the sun without sunblock.
When there’s a nip in the air, and frost on the pumpkin, put those ugly babies in the ground, pointy side up...and wait. Under a blanket of snow they sit, forgotten over the holidays, cold, buried...but transforming, hidden potential.
Their leaves push through the ice and snow as our first reassurance that winter will soon be over.
Then, wow. Wow! Let’s celebrate the ugly ducklings, and the transformative power of hidden potential in all of us.
You can almost feel the panic in the air. When the first frosty morning greets us, we know our brief summer season is over. This is the time when a lot of folks realize it’s getting too late to do that outdoor project they’ve been talking about. But is it?
We’re a hearty bunch. We work in summer sun and winter snow. Sure, there are things we can’t do in winter, but there's plenty that we can do. Or you can plan now for next spring. Maybe a fire feature can help prolong the time you can enjoy the great outdoors. A fire pit is a great gathering place for family and friends, smores for the kiddos and adult beverages for the rest of us. We can install all kinds of fire pits…wood burning, natural gas, and even build custom designs. Call us today!
Yes, it’s getting cold, but doesn’t this look like a fun way to warm up?
We’ve all seen homes that catch our eye...some for the wrong reasons. When designing the front yard, it works best when it works with the rest of the neighborhood. The landscape should frame and enhance the house, leading the eye to the front door. It should look good at 35 mph.
The backyard is different. That’s where you enjoy your garden at a leisurely walking pace or relaxing and going nowhere. Your backyard is the perfect place to get personal, letting your garden reflect your taste. This is the place for those flowers that deserve a closer look, a sniff, or a place for an art object. It should look good at 2 mph.
Let our designers work with you to create the perfect garden for every speed, contact us today!
The ancient Romans paved their roads with stone; some of those roads have lasted to this day. Those are pavers. In older cities in America you may find cobblestone streets. Those are pavers, too. Locally, we used Medina stone because horse hooves and carriage wheels didn’t slip on it when wet. All of these are pavers. A sidewalk made of clay bricks are also called pavers.
Pavers can be made of natural stone, clay or concrete. They can be anything that is laid on the ground in pieces to create a surface.
Here’s an example where we upcycled antique pavers to recreate a century-old trail head:
These days, the choices can be overwhelming. Our designers will work with you to choose the materials, colors and laying pattens that work best with the style of your home to create a paver patio or path that will stand the test of time. Call us today to get started!
Did someone ask for a “Red Maple”?
Which tree is that? A very large maple
with burgundy leaves like ‘Crimson King’
Norway maple?
(Acer platanoides ‘Crimson King’)
Or do they mean the kind that starts
out green, then turns bright red in fall?
(Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’)
Or do they mean the lacy leaves of a
weeping Japanese maple? (Acer
palmatum dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’)
They have all been called “Red Maples” but it makes a big difference if the botanical name is missing and you end up with the wrong tree. Our arborists and New York State Certified Nursery & Landscape professionals get specific to get you exactly the right tree for the right spot, call us today!
Ah, the good old days. You knew your neighbors. You waved at people passing by. You sat outside on the front porch at the end of the day. That’s where being neighborly happened.
You’ve got to love Gen X & Gen Y....they are trendsetters. When they buy their first home, they get right to work fixing, painting, decorating, and trying to fit into their new community. But those 60’s and 70’s colonials and split levels they bought have no front porch. No place to sit and sip. No way to watch the world go by. No way to be neighborly.
So, they come to us to build them a patio in their front yard. So friendly, so neighborly, so on trend. So much so that now Boomers are copying them, longing for the good old days when Barney, Andy and the whole Mayberry gang hung out together on the front porch. Contact us today to start designing a place where you can sit and sip just like the good old days!
They lied. Back in the 70’s, a “miracle” product was introduced as “weed mat”. Spread it out in the garden, cover it with mulch, and you’ll never have to weed again. As time went on, it turns out that is not true at all. Weeds blew in from above. Grass poked up through the mat. The mesh made it harder to remove weeds embedded in the fabric. And worse, those poor trees that had weed mat wrapped around them grew up, got bigger and then were choked to death by the fabric cutting into the bark.
Here's the truth…by the end of summer, I’m tired of weeding. The good news is we have maintenance services. Our crews swing in monthly to weed, trim, deadhead, and generally keep everything looking tip-top all year. No lie. Visit our website to learn more!
“Red or green?” asked our waitress. We were confused by her question, and it must have showed on our faces. She clarified the question for us non-locals, “Do you like red or green peppers?” Since it was our first visit to New Mexico, I assumed this was a local thing to see if we were on Team Red Peppers or Team Green Peppers. “Red” was my answer. To my surprise, our breakfast pancakes were served with red peppers mixed in the batter. Who knew? Here’s where local knowledge makes the difference between yummy pancakes as we know them, and pancakes filled with hot red peppers. They put peppers in everything. “No peppers please” seems like it’s not an option. Who knew?
When designing gardens and choosing plants, the internet is ok, but it’s no replacement for local knowledge. Our experts live and work in this town. We know the soil types, the areas with deer problems, the microclimate differences from Lake Ontario to the Finger Lakes. Take it from someone who loves a good pancake, local knowledge matters.
Leo the Late Bloomer is a favorite heart-warming children’s book.
Our gardens are like that sometimes. Early in spring they’re full of blooms…then summer comes, and they seem, well, a little disappointing and lacking color. We want something to happen, just as Leo and his parents waited for Leo to bloom.
A well-designed garden should delight you in every season. Late summer plants such as hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, and others can provide pops of color. We can design your gardens for year-round interest and always include plants for late summer color. Like the story of Leo, the story of your garden can have a happy ending. Contact us today to start designing a garden that will bring you happiness in every season!
Recently at a meeting with our attorney, I became frustrated. Every question I asked was answered by him saying, “It depends.” We’re paying him for guidance, not to hear him say “It depends.”
It must have rubbed off on me because later that day when I was asked by a homeowner about how he should water his new plants, I heard “It depends” come from my own lips. But it’s true. Has it been hot? Dry? Has it rained for days on end? What specific plant are we talking about? Is it a thirsty hydrangea or a drought-tolerant grass? It depends.
Here’s my best advice: use a trowel to brush back the mulch about a foot away from a shrub, further out for a large tree. Touch the soil. If it’s damp, you’re fine. If it’s soggy, don’t water, but if it’s dry, please water. There’s a right way and a wrong way, and a right time of day, too. If you’re not sure, give us a call.
The unexpected happened. Now what? Your neighbor has a friend, or a brother, or a cousin who knows a guy with a chain saw…or maybe you have one. Is this a DIY project? Maybe. The wood can be cut up, but then what? It’s too heavy to haul away, so then what? Maybe you don’t need a lifetime of firewood stacked all over the yard. Who Ya Gonna Call...Birchcrest Tree and Landscape!
We’ve got the tools. We’ve got the talent. Call us today!
Party on Wayne?
Red Solo Cup, we need to retire you…or at least relegate you to dorm rooms. We don’t watch Wayne’s World anymore since we’re adults, so let’s elevate our parties.
At the next gathering on the new patio, bring your fancy stuff outside. Use a tablecloth, the good china, and a centerpiece. You already own them, might as well use them, plus your guests will feel special. You'll know you’ve made an impression when they start snapping photos of your table settings.
No patio yet? It’s okay, there’s still time. Call us today to begin designing your dream outdoor area.
Is it Shaggy?
If you love reggae, it’s him.
If you watch Scooby Doo, it’s him.
In 1.4 seconds, a potential buyer has decided if they like the looks of your house. Is it Shaggy? Yes? Then it’s a quick click of the mouse and they’re on to the next house. You need to sell your home, but and also want top dollar, meaning your front façade needs to shine. So, paint the front door a color that pops, clean up the beds, and add potted flowers.
Now the buyer likes what they see and have scheduled a visit.
By the time they reach the front door, they’ve decided if the house has been lovingly maintained or neglected.…it’s called “The Money Walk”.
If your “Money Walk” looks shaggy, we can help improve the curb appeal to get you top dollar. Be sure to contact us today for a free consultation.
Happy 4th of July, everyone! We booted the monarchy years ago, and became free to watch the royals from afar…or in the pages of People Magazine.
As we reflect on our freedoms, no one’s looking forward to spending the holiday pulling weeds…we’re never free from landscape maintenance. Weeds happen, insects invade, and things need to be maintained.
To be truly free from toiling on weekends and holidays, you need to have a personal gardener, just like the royals do.
Or, you can call us. We’ll do the work and free up your weekends.
Check your magnolias. Are there fuzzy white spots on the branches or leaves? Are your trees dripping a sticky liquid? Are bees buzzing around it? Is there black, sooty mold on the tree or anything below it like your sidewalk? Chances are, it’s Magnolia Scale...It’s a pest we haven’t seen in quite a while, and it is back with a vengeance.
The white things are primitive insects that attach themselves to the tree and suck the sap. The dripping is, well, their excrement. Gross. The droppings are sweet from the sap, so the bees like it. Also, gross. The black stuff is mold that grows on the droppings. Nothing to like about this.
What to do about it:
You can call us for treatment. There is a spray we can do now. We also recommend that it should be followed up with a soil systemic and deep root fertilization next spring.
The bugs will die, but still be attached to the tree. They won’t be dripping or squishy anymore and won’t do any more harm. Eventually the dead ones disappear. Good riddance.
Or you can scrap them off with burlap. The scales are soft and die easily if you squish them. It’s super-disgusting, but effective, as long as you can reach all the branches where they’re living. And because it’s been so hot, and the bugs are sucking moisture from the tree, it would help if the tree got watered thoroughly.
You know the feeling of dread; you’re hosting a party, and your backyard isn’t Instagram-worthy. It seems everyone else is upgrading their outdoor space.
Is it too late to get a patio installed before they graduate? Sadly, yes. Before the Fourth of July? Again, sadly, yes.
Do you want it done sometime this summer? Yes. Can we do that? Yes!
Or for next year’s big event? Definitely Yes!
My big tip...plan ahead. The design process can take a few weeks. Our backlog is normally a few weeks, sometimes even months.
Contact us today to plan ahead and avoid patio envy!
Back in the day before Superhero movies took over thecinema, we loved to watch The Green Hornet on TV. I thought Britt Reid was the coolest, and mysister loved the late, great Bruce Lee as Kato. What’s not to love about two hot guys keeping us safe from bad guys?
At Birchcrest, we like to think of ourselves as keeping the world safe, not from bad guys, but from bad bugs.
The new one in town is the dreaded Box Tree Moth. It’s not a green hornet, but very destructive to boxwoods. Which, unfortunately, are everywhere. It’s the latest China import, and we’re not happy about it.
Solutions? Stop importing from China? Not a realistic plan.I love my affordable stuff from Amazon as much as the next person.
There is a solution. Reach out to your Birchcrest GreenTeam. We’re not as cool as Bruce Lee, but we’re better at killing bugs.
If mosquitoes and other flying, biting insects have made it difficult for you to enjoy your outdoor space in the evening, include attracting nature’s insect controllers in your landscape plans for 2024. Bats can eat thousands of flying insects every night, but they’re best kept at a distance from humans.
Bats are mammals whose arms have evolved into wings. They live in colonies and are nocturnal creatures. They leave their homes at dusk and catch insects in flight. These creatures get somewhat of a bum rap, however, due to the fact that they can carry diseases, including rabies. That’s why it’s best to keep your distance from them, and don’t touch them if you see any on the ground. They have teeth and will use them on humans if they feel threatened. It’s best to let them do their own thing while you watch from afar. If your deck or patio is well lighted, bats will avoid that area. As nocturnal creatures, they don’t like bright lights.
Perhaps you’ve seen on various television programs stories from San Antonio. Texas about the huge colonies of bats that live under the Camden Street bridge over the city’s famed River Walk or the even bigger colony that lives in Bracken Cave Preserve just north of the city. Each night, thousands of people gather at dusk to witness and photograph the spectacle of thousands of bats taking flight for their nightly hunt.
You certainly wouldn’t want to attract a colony of bats the size of either of the two mentioned above, which are just two of 12 bat watching sites in Texas. Bracken Cave, owned by Bat Conservation International (BCI), houses 15 million bats and it’s estimated that one bat can eat 1,000 to 1,200 insect per hour.
The bats in San Antonio are Mexican free-tail bats. The most common species in our area is the little brown bat.
You probably don’t have a cave or bridge on your property, but you do need to provide a habitat that will satisfy them. Bats like native plants. They also need a source of open water, such as a pond, because they drink on the fly.
It’s recommended that you install a bat house. That’ll discourage them from setting up housekeeping in your attic. Install the house near water and away from bright light. Bat houses in kit form or fully assembled are available online from several familiar retailers. There are also local sources, including the big box stores and The Bird House on Monroe Avenue in Brighton.
If you like the idea of putting nature’s insect controllers to work for you but you don’t know where to start, our landscape professionals would be happy to help. Our designers can plan out your bat-attracting landscape and our landscape technicians can complete the installation first thing in the spring.
Plan Now To Attract Pollinators To Your Landscape This Season
When making plans this winter for your 2024 landscape updates, consider the plight of pollinators. These hard workers include many insects, the best known of which are bees and butterflies. Birds, especially hummingbirds, are also excellent pollinators.
If you want to attract these creatures, you should know a little about their biology, especially why and how they do what they do, as well as what they need to survive and thrive. Pollinators go about this important work quite unwittingly. They don’t fly around in search of pollen to spread. They really want the sweet nectar in the flowers. While imbibing, they come in contact with the anther, which is the male part of the plant. Grains of pollen from the anther sticks to their feet, legs and, sometimes, to their whole body.
When they’ve consumed their fill of nectar, they fly off. Soon, they’re hungry again and seek out another nectar- filled plant. When they land on the new plant, the nectar they’re carrying sticks to the female part of the plant, called the stamen. This results in a fertilized flower that produces seeds.
Some pollinators have very specific needs and are very fussy, other not so much. Much has been written about the decreasing monarch butterfly population. One reason often cited is their appetite for milkweed plants. This is the only plant this finicky pollinator’s caterpillars will feed on. When it’s egg-laying time, the females will seek out milkweeds on which to lay their eggs. Planting milkweed somewhere on your property is essential to attracting monarch butterflies. Milkweed isn’t especially attractive so it’s not most people’s first choice for planting beds. However, it can be planted in a back corner of your yard and still provide monarch caterpillars with the food they need.
Honeybees are by far the most prolific pollinators. If you have the plants they will come, often from afar. Don’t worry about making special living arrangements for them unless you want to start a hive and become a beekeeper. Bees will fly great distances from established hives to your flower beds.
Pollinators are attracted to bright, fragrant, long-flowering plants. They prefer those with long throats. Hummingbirds have long beaks and most pollinating insect, including butterflies have long, sucking mouthparts (probiscis) to enable them to reach the nectar they want.
It’s hard to predict in advance what pollinators will visit you. The best way to start is to create a welcoming habitat and see who comes. As with any wildlife, pollinators need a source of food, water and shelter. Flowers are their food source and a birdbath and puddler are water sources. A puddler looks like a miniature birdbath. It’s small and shallow so a butterfly can bathe and drink without drowning.
Don’t worry about housing for hummingbirds. They don’t use birdhouses. However, some species of butterflies will use butterfly houses. These apartment-like structures have slits instead of holes for entryways.
Coordinating the needs of several different kinds of pollinators can be a daunting task. Our landscape designers would be happy to help you design your pollinator garden and habitat and our landscape technicians can install it if you want.
Happy Holidays & Holiday Gift Ideas
The winter holidays will soon be upon us, and with them comes the often stressful task of selecting just the right gift for everyone on your list. First, let me be one of the first to wish you Happy Holidays. Then let me give you some gift ideas for family and friends who take pride in their landscapes and spend time and/or money making them look spectacular.
Those on your gift list who take pride in their landscapes but prefer to hire out the heavy and technical work, a Birchcrest Tree & Landscape gift certificate would be appreciated. The certificate can be applied to any service we offer. Pruning trees while they’re dormant this winter would be a good investment. Or they may prefer a professional lawn care or Plant Health Care (PHC) program. May I also suggest giving a pruning, lawn care and/or PHC program as a gift to yourself as well.
Friends and family who enjoy gardening and working in their yards would be delighted with a gift card from their favorite garden center. It’ll help them when they go to buy spring plants, tools, containers, and all the materials they’ll need to successfully turn their landscape into a showcase. They may also want to use it for one of the new lightweight, ergonomic tools now on the market.
For more instant gratification, may I suggest a gardening book. Several good and useful books have been published recently, and then there are some classics that are still relevant. A classic that’s always a great read is Slow Gardening by Felder Rushing. Its message is that it’s OK to landscape your yard to suit your taste and personality rather than your neighbors’, and it offers advice for doing that. Another book to consider is The Nature of Oaks: The Nature of Our Most Essential Native Tree. Author Douglas W. Tallamy writes about the importance of oak trees to our environment.
Two new books that people you know may enjoy are The Urban Garden: 101Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City, by Kathy Jentz and Teri Speight and Groundcover Revolution by Kathy Jentz. The Urban Garden’s title is a bit of a misnomer. The ideas apply to small space gardens regardless of where they’re located. Ground Cover Revolution is for those who want to replace all or part of their lawns. Last but not least, consider The Geriatric Garden: Adaptive Gardening Advice For Seniors for those on your list who are feeling that the aches and pains of old age is putting a crimp on their favorite activity. Local garden writer Duane Pancoast provides tips on adapting gardens and gardening so the reader can continue doing what they love.
Google the title of the book(s) you want to order. You can order Birchcrest gift certificates by calling 585.671.5433, and for garden center gift cards, your best bet is to call or visit the garden center. Since it’s the middle of December, all the gift suggestions I’ve presented here are easy to obtain last minute. I hope you have a happy and less stressful holiday season.
Landscape Trends For 2024
The 2024 Garden Trends Report from Garden Media Group focuses on climate change and the resulting ecological changes. Ecology is not a new term. It has been around for a long time and refers to the interaction of all living organisms within a given environment.
The report is intended to help garden centers and landscape professionals like us plan for what customers will be requesting. It also gives property owners a view of what’s happening elsewhere. It may confirm or legitimize some of the ideas you may want to try in your landscape but are reluctant to because it’s not being done by your neighbors.
This year, the report is very Gen Z/Zoomer oriented. Don’t tune out if you’re older, though. It contains good ideas for every generation. For example, we all need to have more concern for the environment. One way to accomplish this is by planting more native and carbon capturing plants. There’s also more interest in pollinators, especially bees and butterflies.
You can attract pollinators to your landscape with plants that these creatures require, such as bee balm, asters, goldenrod and, of course, milkweed. Milkweed is the only food for monarch butterfly caterpillars. Butterflies have long probisci and hummingbirds’ long bills, so they like deep, bell-shaped flowers to allow them better access to the nectar that is an important source of nourishment for them. These are easy for bees to access, too. While feeding on the nectar, these pollinators emerge covered with pollen that they carry to other plants.
Due to the growth in urban (and urban style) living, container gardening increased 200 percent last year. According to the report, the United Nations projects that 89 percent of the population will live in cities by 2050. Urban landscapes are usually on small lots in cities, but they can also be small space landscapes in the suburbs. The people who design these landscapes use creative means to maximize the number of plants they can grow in the allotted space. The report predicts much of the growth in containers will be hanging containers. This is one way to conserve space. Others include vertical gardens, green walls and green fences.
Another trend is what the report refers to as dark goth gardens, interest in which is growing on social media. It’s identified by eerie plants, pottery and statuary, and by plants left in place when they whither and fade. The result is an untidy look. There’s even an increased interest in cemeteries and what’s living there (plant material). But we’ve had this interest for years at Rochester’s Mount Hope cemetery.
A new term coined in the report is Hortifuturism. It appears to be the fusing of horticulture and science-fiction. It’s identified by bright, bold, vibrant colors and sci-fi movie style. The report anticipates more terrariums, survivalist and night gardens, neon-colored plants and foliage with bright variegation.
Each year’s report announces a color of the year. In 2024 it’ll be Cyberlime. The report says this punchy, vivid, hyper-bright color forms a powerful connection between nature and technology and can be matched with many other colors.
There you have it. The reader’s digest version of the 2024 Garden Media Group trends report. If you’d like to develop any of these ideas for your landscape, our landscape designers will be happy to provide professional assistance.
As winter approaches, we tend to think of evergreen trees because they play such an important role in our upcoming holiday celebrations. A less obvious reason for evergreens, the sweethearts of the season, is the green respite that they provide from a monochromatic winter. While evergreens deserve to be recognized, it’s also important that we not forget our deciduous trees. This is the season when their lifeless skeletons need TLC.
Your leafless deciduous trees aren’t dead. They’re just dormant, and dormancy is what makes it such a good time to have maintenance service performed on them. Dormancy acts as nature’s anesthetic, and they’ll have plenty of time to “heal” (more properly “callous” but that’s another story). Lack of foliage also lets our arborist get a good view of the tree’s structure. It gives them a view of the tree that’s similar to how doctors see our bodies through x-rays but without the cost or exposure to radiation.
The most common maintenance procedure for deciduous trees is pruning. Pruning removes dead, dying, broken, crossing, rubbing and other branches that are affecting the tree’s health. Pruning lower limbs is a technique that raises the crown. We even have procedures for reducing a tree’s height without having to resort to the tree mutilating practice of topping.
Sometimes, more serious work is needed. For example, a tree whose trunk forks into two trunks may need cabling and bracing. This condition is referred to as co-dominate leaders, and the fork usually forms a tight “V” rather than a stronger “U”. Although both leaders look equal, the aren’t. One is always stronger and will win out in the competition for space at the fork.
Cabling and bracing strengthen the fork, referred to by arborists as a crotch. We drill through the leaders right at the fork. We then insert a threaded steel rod with big washers and nuts on each end. The nuts are tightened to enable both leaders to withstand strong winds. A network of cables is then installed in the tree’s crown to further reduce sway in a windstorm.
Leafless trees also allow our arborists to easily inspect for hazards, such as rot. When mushroom-like organisms appear on the outside of the tree, it’s an indication that rot’s at work inside. What you see outside is called a fruiting body. Its job is to spread spores. These aren’t necessarily a death sentence for the tree. We have instruments that let us determine the amount of rot present. We can then give you an accurate prognosis and make recommendations for dealing with the problem. Trees have lived for decades with rot.
Winter is the time you should be heaping love on your deciduous trees. Don’t worry about maintaining evergreens at this time. Evergreens only need care in case of an emergency like broken limbs. They should receive preventive maintenance in summer, specifically June or July.
Tree pruning is not a do-it-yourself job. It’s dangerous and, each year, too many DIYers get hurt or worse. All the tree maintenance services discussed here should be performed by a
professional arborist who has the specialized training, equipment and experience to perform the work safely and in compliance with industry standards.
We hope that you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now as we focus on Christmas, Christmas tree lots are popping up all around town. To help you select the freshest, most attractive tree possible, and to care for it to prolong its beauty through the season, I offer the following tips.
When shopping for your live, cut Christmas tree…
• Check the shape from all directions. Be sure there are no bare spots and that the tree is conical in shape. Flat spots indicate that they were planted too close together in the field.
• Run your hand across some of the branches. A handful of needles will indicate that the tree was cut too early and you are apt to have a Charlie Brown tree by Christmas.
• If running your hand across the needles is too rough on your skin, bend a few needles. They should bounce back. If they break, the tree was cut too early.
• Tap the base of the tree on the ground. A “puddle” of needles on the ground indicates an old tree.
When you get the perfect tree home, cut a quarter inch off the bottom and immediately put it in a bucket of water. Use a hand saw not a chain saw. The heat generated by the chain saw will “cauterize” the vessels that take up water, defeating the purpose of cutting a piece off the base.
Keep the tree in the garage at least overnight so it gets acclimated to warmer temperatures. I suggest that you not take it inside until you’re ready to put it up. It’ll do better in the cooler temperature of the garage.
When you do take the tree inside and put it up, be sure there’s always plenty of water in the stand tray. If your tree is already set up, check the water level and keep the tray full for as long as the tree is inside.
If you opt for a potted or balled and burlap tree, check for freshness by checking the color of the needles to be sure they’re dark green. Bend a few needles to make sure they bounce back and check the soil in the pot or root ball to make sure it’s moist.
Dig a hole now, before the ground freezes, if you opted for a potted tree or balled and burlap tree. You should cover the backfill with a tarp to keep it from freezing. Cover the hole with a piece of plywood or other protection to keep people from falling in the hole. Keeping a live tree in the house for more than a week isn’t advised. And, you should plant it as soon as you remove it from the house. It’s also a good idea to spray the tree with an anti-desiccant after planting.
I hope you’ll enjoy your “real” tree. Christmas tree growers are farmers who use sustainable techniques to assure that we have plenty of trees each Christmas.
Finally, recycling your tree after Christmas closes the circle of life by creating mulch to help other plants grow. Take it to one of the many recycling stations around the area to have it ground.
Give You & Your Landscape An Early Present
With the holiday season just around the corner, may we suggest an early present for your landscape? The present I’m talking about is a full growing season of professional pampering with a Birchcrest lawn care and/or Plant Health Care (PHC) program. Birchcrest lawn care and PHC programs are all inclusive.
Lawn care includes fertilization at just the right times of the year, beginning first thing in the spring and continuing all through the season to the fall. Our lawn care professionals spot treat for weeds and apply pre-emergent crabgrass and broadleaf weed killer. They also check for grubs and treat for them if they’re present.
PHC programs depend on the mix of trees and shrubs you have and their health condition. Some or all may need fertilization in the spring and fall. During each monthly visit our PHC professional checks for any diseases or insect activity and treats accordingly. Anti desiccant application can be added to protect your broadleaf evergreens and confers. The PHC professional may also recommend special treatment for any unusual conditions your plants may have.
These maintenance programs provide you with peace of mind, confident that we have visits scheduled at times when all treatments will be the most effective. You can enjoy your beautiful, healthy landscape without having to worry about making sure you have the materials on hand and can fit their applications into your busy schedule.
Renewals have been sent, or will soon be sent, to current lawn care and PHC customers. We urge you to open the big, thick envelope as soon as it arrives. Notice that there’s a discount for returning the renewal with pre-payment by the deadline. The saving can be substantial.
When we make applications, you’ll know that we’ve been there by the invoice hanging from your front doorknob and the ubiquitous yellow signs that New York State requires us to post. The good news is that, if you prepaid, the bottom line on the invoice will read, “Please Remit: None.”
You haven’t been on a lawn care or PHC program before? This would be a good year to give yourself an early holiday gift that will last the whole year. Just contact our office and one of our professionals will visit you to inspect your property, review your needs and expectations with you and prepare a proposal.
It may be strange that we’re promoting next season’s maintenance when you’re just winding down last season’s work and preparing for winter. However, we have to place orders for our fertilizer and pest control materials very soon in order to take advantage of supplier discounts, so we can pass them on to you.
Thanksgiving ushers in the season when we put aside the challenges that have beset us through the year and concentrate on all that is good in this world. It is only natural that the season should begin with a feast that gives us nourishment to sustain us through this busy time and into the new year.
Members of our Birchcrest family will be with their families on this holiday. Personally I’ll be thankful for the confidence you placed in our company this past year, and pledge to continue to give you uncompromisingly professional service that come to expect from us.
We look forward to continuing our current relationships and building new ones in the years to come.
Happy Thanksgiving!