Why Tarping Bulk Material Matters

Keeping your load secure isn't just about safety.

It's the law! (MCL - Section 257.720)

Can you really have too much of a good thing? Of course!  I can think of many times I’ve eaten myself sick on foods that I rarely get a chance to eat. (Most notably, crawfish in New Orleans… It just tastes better in the French Quarter)

But too many flowers?  Nah, never!  Many years ago, when I heard gardeners complaining about Reblooming Lilacs, the arguments sounded like a kitten growling at an elephant. Why would you bemoan a beloved plant blooming long past its season? A direct quote from one article is “But who wants a lilac up the nose when they’d otherwise be carving pumpkins?” The short answer is, “A lot of people!”

If your customers would love to experience lilacs all season, plant Bloomerang® Syringa.

To maximize the flourish, follow this specific pruning schedule.

• Do not prune them before the first flush in the spring.  Since they flower on old wood, they set their first buds on the previous year’s growth.
• After the spring bloom, there’s a window of about 6 weeks before the next flush.  This is the optimal time to cut back a Bloomerang bush. The trim will encourage new growth and this is where the strong re-flush comes from.

However, be sure to manage expectations.  Yes, they re-bloom, but they never reach the full spring flush.  The second flush is enhanced by pruning. But afterwards, the flowers are best described as sporadic.

What about a plant that obscures all the foliage with flowers making it look fake?

Bobo® Hydrangea…I’ve seen the marketing pictures of this plant, but I’ve also experienced it in real life. And, let me tell you, the pictures don’t show how full of color the plant is in the garden. The best description I can come up with is…Unreal. The plant looks like a vase jammed full of mophead, clean-white flowers.  Do you need to have foliage to make a plant look nice?  I know flower shop employees that create arrangements would staunchly say that adding greenery is important.

I disagree.  There’s no such thing as too many flowers.

Adding these stunners to your designs ensures that your customers feel the ‘Wow!’ factor without a lot of work or taking up a lot of space (it’s a dwarf panicle hydrangea).

Pruning Bobo® Hydrangea also encourages new blooms. Consider giving your customers’ Bobos a trim during dormancy (Late fall-winter).  I say trim because taking just 1/3 off the top and shaping up the plant is optimal.  You can prune them to the ground (like some roses) and they will come back nicely. But it is certainly not necessary, especially with such a compact plant.

As I wrote this article, the song “Too Much Fun” by Daryle Singletary kept running through my mind.  I think ole Daryle said it best with the lyrics, “Too much fun, what’s that mean? It’s like too much money, there’s no such thing… …No matter what they say, I’ve done, but I ain’t never had too much fun.” Now, replace “fun” with “bloom”.

Spring is here, and with it comes a fresh start to another busy season of designing and building beautiful outdoor spaces. As the ground thaws and job sites come back to life, let’s get back to the basics—the foundation of every great paver patio.

That foundation begins with limestone aggregate.

Limestone has been a fundamental building material for centuries, prized for its durability and versatility. The limestone we use today took hundreds of millions of years to form. Once part of an ancient tropical sea, limestone is composed largely of calcium carbonate from marine organisms like corals and shellfish. Over time, layers of these skeletal remains compacted into the dense, sedimentary rock we rely on today.

Remarkably, many limestone aggregates still bear the imprints of their ancient origins—fossilized remnants of prehistoric marine life are frequently visible within the stone, offering tangible connections to Earth's distant past long before humans first learned to craft with stone.

Thornton Quarry: A Massive Source of Limestone

Thornton Quarry, located just south of Chicago, is one of the largest limestone quarries in the world. Spanning 1.5 miles long, a half-mile wide, and reaching depths of 450 feet. The site has been in operation since the 1800s. It supplies crushed limestone for road construction, concrete production, and hardscape base material. The quarry is also notable for its role in flood control, as part of the Chicago Deep Tunnel project. The northern section of the quarry has been repurposed as a reservoir capable of holding nearly 8 billion gallons of stormwater, helping prevent urban flooding. With its vast limestone reserves and dual role in infrastructure and environmental management, Thornton Quarry is both an industrial powerhouse and a critical component of regional water management.

From Quarry to Job Site: The Journey of Limestone Aggregate

The extraction and processing of limestone is a monumental industrial endeavor that combines raw power with precision engineering. Modern quarrying operations employ specialized excavators and blasting techniques to dislodge massive sections of limestone from exposed bedrock formations. These colossal fragments—sometimes weighing several tons each—are transported via heavy-duty articulated dump trucks capable of hauling 100-400 tons per load to primary crushing facilities.

The transformation from raw stone to construction-grade aggregate involves a sophisticated multi-stage crushing process. Initial jaw crushers reduce limestone boulders to manageable sizes, followed by cone or impact crushers that further refine the material. A complex network of vibrating screens—some spanning hundreds of feet across processing facilities—carefully sorts the crushed stone into precisely-calibrated size gradations. Quality control measures throughout this meticulous journey ensure the final product has consistent compaction rates, optimal angularity for interlocking strength, and appropriate levels of limestone fines for each specific application.

Christensen’s stocks a variety of limestone aggregates tailored for hardscape applications, including:

• 21AA Limestone – A mix of fines and larger crushed stone, designed for high compaction. Ideal for structural base layers beneath pavers, driveways, and retaining walls, ensuring long-term stability and load-bearing strength.
• 6A Limestone – A clean, angular stone ideal for drainage applications, backfill behind retaining walls, and permeable base layers. Its uniform size reduces compaction, allowing for efficient water movement and preventing hydrostatic pressure buildup.
• #8 Limestone – A smaller-sized aggregate often used as a bedding layer for pavers and slabs, providing excellent leveling properties and enhanced interlock to keep installations secure. Like 6A, #8 is washed clean, and suitable for permeable applications

The Science Behind the Perfect Base

Every professional in the hardscape industry knows that a patio or retaining wall is only as good as its foundation. Compaction is key—without proper density in the base layer, settling, heaving, and shifting will occur over time, leading to costly repairs and dissatisfied clients.

When compacted correctly, 21AA limestone forms a dense, load-bearing surface capable of withstanding repeated freeze-thaw cycles and heavy use. For applications requiring superior drainage, 6A limestone prevents water from becoming trapped behind walls or under slabs, reducing the risk of erosion or frost heave. Using the right combination of materials not only extends the life of an installation but also improves overall performance, making projects more resilient to the elements.

Limestone in the Bigger Picture

Limestone isn’t just vital to hardscaping—it plays a role in nearly every aspect of construction and infrastructure. It’s a key ingredient in concrete, asphalt, and even soil stabilization. Some forms of crushed limestone are used in agricultural applications to balance soil pH, while others serve as filtration media in water treatment plants. The same stone that forms the base of your patios and walkways is also helping to build highways, airports, and bridges across the country.

As we kick off another season, let’s start from the ground up—literally!
Investing time in selecting the right base material and ensuring proper installation techniques will pay off in the long run. If you have questions about which limestone aggregate is best for your next project, stop by and let’s talk stone.

Here’s to a successful season, built on a solid foundation!

For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

                - Song of Solomon as quoted by Ernie Harwell

The older I get, the more I love this quote.  Not only for the sentiment about spring, but also the memory it sparks about my youth.

I spent every spring in my youth listening to Ernie Harwell and Al Kaline covering the Detroit Tigers baseball games on WJR.  I often fell asleep with a pair of headphones on because the game was on the west coast and went farther into the night than I could.  Those happy memories always started every spring with Ernie reciting these words.

For me it marked so many starts.  The start of the baseball season, and being able to listen to Ernie and Al call the games.  The “start” to the end of the school year, and the beginning of summer vacation.  And the start of the nursery season.  Which meant my father would be leaving early, getting home late, working weekends, all the things that we all know and live.

2025 marks my 30^th official year at Christensen’s.  And while numerous things have changed over the last 30 years, it always is so striking at how many things remain the same. (Like my quoting of Song of Solomon… bonus points if you noticed that I’ve quoted it before!)  Winter ends. The snow melts. And semi load after semi load of freshly dug shade and ornamental trees start arriving for the next landscaping season in Michigan.  Shortly after that, my friends, all of you start coming back to visit us at Christensen’s.

Welcome back my friends.  Welcome back.