2018 posts – Page 4 – Sticks & Stones

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You can drive up sales

Unilock Courtstone

Simple, large and easy. Three words that never seem to happen together. How many of your larger-scale projects end up in backyards that have little or no access? How often do you have the ability to stage your product right next to where you are working? Of course the small walkway or front porch is easy, but typically not very profitable. Wouldn’t it be great to have a large project with easy access, something with a simple design but yet with options for creativity and style? What if I told you that you could have all of this... Have you thought about a driveway?

Unilock Courtstone

Most driveways have easy access, areas nearby to store and stage the materials and typically have a simple design. You might say that’s a hard sell and that most of your customers are looking for outdoor living areas, patios with fire pits or attractive spaces for outdoor entertaining. Who would want to spend a lot of money on “just” a driveway? Consider this: I have a large patio, and if I get to use it once a week, it was a good week. How many people are on their patios every day, sitting around bonfires and entertaining?  Now, how many times in a day does a driveway get used?

UNilock Brussels Block

A backyard project may never be seen by passersby, but a professionally installed brick-paved driveway will certainly catch one’s eye and add a level of elegance and sophistication as well as an increased curb appeal and home value.  

A paver-based driveway’s durability far surpasses that of concrete or asphalt, which in Michigan is important with our freeze and thaw cycles.

Paver-based driveways require very little maintenance unlike asphalt driveways which seem to need constant sealing and repair. And driveways can be fairly large, allowing you plenty of room for creativity and customization.

Selling a driveway paver job can be difficult. For most, a driveway is a necessity like a washing machine, refrigerator or cell phone. But when you are out shopping for that “necessity”, do you go to the least expensive with no features? Or do you look at the brand new, fully loaded and really cool product? Maybe the customer who has the touch screen console on their refrigerator, or uses their state-of-the-art smartphone to control their landscape lighting or a remote controlled fire pit might be interested in a custom made driveway. Come visit us at Christensen’s Hardscape Center and let us help you drive up your success.

Bryan Pajak

Bad Karma

PBJ

It has always seemed that many things were just meant to be. Peanut butter and jelly, perhaps the greatest love affair of all time. Romeo and Juliet, Desdemona and Othello, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, Ozzie and Harriet, Mork and Mindy, Gertrude and Heathcliffe, Joe and Kirsten, Bonnie and Clyde – the list is endless! But humanity is cursed with its fatal flaws. Peanut butter and jelly – they don’t really mix and the jelly oozes out the side of the bread. Romeo and Juliet are tragic star-crossed lovers. Othello has a serious problem with jealousy. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth get past their pride issues, but eventually the book has to end. Ozzie and Harriet, as well as Mork and Mindy, get cancelled. Joe and Kirsten’s Days of Wine and Roses turns to Brandy Alexanders – not a good finish. And, a life of crime does not pay off for Bonnie and Clyde.

PBJ and R&J

Plants, or combinations of some plants, can have similar tragic results. Some planting designs look great but eventually nature unleashes it’s fatal flaw. The design of some landscapes brings out the worst in some plant varieties. A number of these ill-fated arborial marriages exist but the coexistence of pears and junipers requires our attention.

pyrus calleryana

The ubiquitous Callery Pears, strong and adaptive growers, are increasingly being bothered with Pear or Trellis Rust. To blame are junipers. And vice versa. Together they create a perfect storm scenario for the fungus, Gymnosporiangium fuscum. This is a dark, bare capsule on junipers which explodes with orange, jelly-like fingers during cold, wet springs. These galls cause dieback in junipers and rust colored spots and scabs on the leaves of pears as well as lesions on their branches. Proximate use of these plants is a marriage gone bad; under certain conditions they bring out their worst attributes.

Removal of affected plant material is part of the solution. Putting appropriate distances between host and parasite plants is another. Callery Pears are great trees for parking lots and streets where drier conditions prevent these fungal outbreaks. Systemic fungicide treatments are available. However, both groups of plants are fairly durable and recuperative. No matter how well they might look together their combination is just bad karma.

Plantings of Pears and Junipers are like the tit for tat relationship of Gertrude and Heathcliffe (if you’re not over 50 - look it up!). There is no real fatal flaw, but a lot of bumps and bruises along the way.

Please check out the linked article for more details.

Trellis Rust Management Update by Dr. David Roberts, MSU

Jeff Good

Opening Day

opening day

Those two words have lots of meaning here in Michigan.  Our very own Detroit Tigers' opening day, and the day that Christensen’s Plant Center opens for the season.  Well, guess what - they have both happened!!

Christensen’s has opened for the year, and boy are we stocking up already!  Plant material is flowing in from all over the country, and brick and mulch are here and ready to go. And, all of your favorite sales team members are back to make sure that you get taken care of in the best way possible.

In the off season we also made improvements to our already awesome lineup. Our CPC ​App has had adjustments to make sure that you have the best tool possible in your hand at all times. We have made some personnel changes to our lineup as well. Most notably we got John Mollon off waivers, so he will be in our starting lineup this spring.

Christensen’s has put together a championship team to serve you.  Make sure to come in and see what we are all about this spring. We will knock it out of the park for you.

Eric Joy