It's hard to think about spring during fall planting. But some of Mother Nature's first, and arguably most beautiful, specimens require us to think ahead. Somewhere between fall cleanup and putting the blade on the snow truck, our focus turns to these tiny miracles: BULBS.

Where do you come in? So glad you asked! There are some tips, tricks and helpful products when it comes to installing bulbs and boosting your yield. But, without human hands and a mindful eye on timing, these little guys would wither in their boxes or rot underground before ever getting the chance to bloom. The planting window matters: get them in the ground once nighttime temps settle into the 40s, roughly six weeks before the soil freezes. Bulbs need a snooze called cold stratification to bloom in the spring. And some varieties like longer naps than others. Daffodils like to get a head start, so tuck them in first. Tulips prefer to bed down a bit later in the fall.

What's next? It may sound obvious, but picking the right spot is key. After you determine your area has enough sun and good drainage for the soil, you'll want to dig a hole about 3x as deep as the bulb is tall. If you are planting in mass, an automatic auger is a lifesaver. For the love of God, do not forget the Bulb-Tone®! Place the bulbs with the whiskers down and the point up. Cover with soil and pat down gently. After you water it well, simply let them nap until spring does its thing.

The supplies you need for planting bulbs are available at Christensen's

Now that you have the basics, let's talk pro tips.

• Plant in odd numbers or in clusters, rather than in rows. It will look more organic and impactful when they bloom.
• Add a layer of mulch after planting to help regulate the soil temps and deter squirrels from digging up the bulbs.
• If there is a known varmint issue, mix in a bit of chicken grit or gravel to keep them from digging without harming the plants. You can also grate Irish Spring soap or spray diluted Downy in the areas to keep critters from munching on the leaves.
• We want to keep that foliage long after it blooms, until it turns yellow and dies back naturally. That's how the bulb recharges for next year.
• Bigger bulbs generally mean bigger blooms, so they are worth a little more money.
• Label where you planted so they aren't accidentally dug up in the spring before the flowers emerge.

Where do we go from here? Straight to Christensens to pick out your bulbs, of course! Our knowledgeable staff can help you choose varieties and products to turn these tiny miracles into a full-on magic show come spring.

Mid-September is almost upon us, and it is a busy time of year. Now until early November could almost be considered the best time to plant, allowing your plants to "root out" and get comfy before the first freeze.

The graphic below shows some quick statistics and typical weather behavior. 

So, can you plant after that November freeze? Yes, but...

Be a little more careful with your plant choices. The later in the season you plant, the shorter your list of options gets.

Perennials

Shrubs

Trees

Most are a yes. However, there are some trees that are considered a fall hazard for digging and planting. Oaks, Redbuds, Dogwood and Amelanchier are considered fall hazard. A full list of fall hazard trees is available on our website under the Resources tab. If a customer chooses one of these trees in the fall, Christensen's requires a waiver to be signed.

If you do plant...

When planting late in the fall to early winter, remember to mulch and use anti-desiccates (on all evergreens). Also keep watering – Shrubs and Trees will continue to take up water until full dormancy. If you plant something on the "no" list just know it is risky. But If you are careful with the plants and add a little help, they stand a good chance of winter survival.

Christensen's will be here for you well into November and the sales staff available to answer all of your fall planting questions. Stop in, give us a call (1-888-454-8733) or email (sales@christensensplantcenter.com).

It's Sunday morning and stores aren't open yet. You're still in your pajamas anyway. So you go online to shop for a new piece of furniture. But it's so difficult to visualize that new chair, couch or side table in your living room. Wait, there's a button that says "Show Me" or "Try It In Your Space". Suddenly, a picture of that sofa appears on your screen with the instructions to point your device where you want to "place" it. 

Augmented reality is a fun tool. It allows you to "try before you buy", saving money and hassle.

It's also an opportunity for you, as a business owner or project manager/sales person. But who has the resources to develop that kind of technology? The hardscape vendors you buy from through Christensen's have done the work for you. They've developed everything from project galleries to augmented reality. What have you used from this list?

Oaks Landscape Products provides several inspirational opportunities. The Oaks Landscape Project Gallery includes 5 pages of image projects. Their website also has an extensive list of technical information and guides in their Resource Center. You can find it on their website on the top ribbon. Find the Landscape Project Gallery and more under the Inspiration drop-down menu on the top ribbon.

High Format offers over a dozen Inspiration Galleries on their website, each with detailed pictures and specs of the products used in the project. Downloads are also available, providing project details as well as links to an Outcropping Layout App and Outcropping Height Guide Tool.

Christensen's offers a full selection of fertilizers for landscape professionals. With so many options available, choosing the right product can sometimes feel overwhelming. Here's a quick guide to help you match common landscape applications with the fertilizer best suited for the job.

Quick Fertilizer Guide

1. New planting Trees and Shrubs → Bio-Tone Starter Plus + Root Stimulator
2. Long-term feeding → Osmocote
3. Acid-loving shrubs → Holly-Tone
4. Established Trees and Shrubs → Plant-Tone
5. Flowers → Flower-Tone
6. Roses → Rose-Tone
7. Bulbs → Bulb-Tone
8. Turf → Milorganite

If you'd like a little more detail, here's a closer look at each fertilizer and where it fits best in the landscape.

Application Tips

• Bio-Tone: Mix into the backfill during planting.
• Root Stimulator: Water in at planting.
• Plant-Tone, Holly-Tone, Rose-Tone, and Flower-Tone: Mix into planting beds during installation or apply to the soil surface around established plants and water in.
• Osmocote: Apply to the soil surface under mulch or lightly incorporate into the root zone.
• Milorganite: Broadcast over turf and water in.

Christensen's prides itself on partnering with landscape professionals to help them install and maintain beautiful, successful landscapes.

While fertilizer can help plants establish and thrive, more is not always better. Fertilizer is most effective when plants are healthy and actively growing. Avoid fertilizing plants that are drought-stressed or experiencing significant transplant shock. Sites amended with quality compost may also require less fertilizer than expected. In most cases, proper watering, soil preparation, and planting practices will have a greater impact on long-term plant success than fertilizer alone.

As we enter the summer months, and even into fall, why not think of adding something out of the ordinary into the landscape by using a fountain pond? Christensen’s has long been a distributor for EasyPro, based out of Grant, Michigan. This year, we've added products from another Michigan based company, Blue Thumb.

Blue Thumb offers something a little different with their fountains, ranging from vase fountains, to real stone fountains and even metal fountains.

While planning for later this year, or even next, keep in mind the option of adding a small, relaxing element into the plan. If I was redoing my patio, I would surely add in a fountain set to relax with after being at work. 

Next time you're at Christensen's, please ask any of us about the fountain pond options from EasyPro and Blue Thumb and we will get you all the information.

Installing joint sand on paver projects is crucial for both the structural longevity and lasting aesthetics of the installation. All joint sand fills the gaps between concrete pavers to lock them together, creating a rigid yet flexible surface. It evenly distributes weight, stops pavers from shifting, prevents weed growth and keeps out insects.

Today though, we're tip-toeing into air-cured, resin paver joint sands.

If you’ve been installing pavers for a while, you already know joint sand can make or break a job. It’s the last stage of the project and often the final step before you collect your check.
With polymeric sand, installers must keep a close eye on the weather, temperature, and even ground moisture levels that may keep your concrete pavers too moist on a shady day.

That’s where air-cured resin sands have been gaining traction. From our side of the counter at Christensen’s, we’re seeing more contractors make the switch simply because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of the process. Site prep and scheduling are more straight-forward. Yes, it’s initially more expensive than traditional polymeric. But it’s also more forgiving and less weather-dependent. With resin sand, you’re not racing the clock or watching the weather the same way you are with polymeric. There’s also no chance of polyhaze showing up after the pavers have dried and your crew has left the site.

The installation is straightforward. 

1. Clean the compacted pavers surface, leaving it slightly damp (not flooded)
2. Sweep or squeegee the sand into the joints with the help of a garden hose.
3. Sweep off the excess
4. Lightly mist to settle everything in.

After that, it cures from the top down as the resin becomes exposed to air. No mixing, no polyhaze, and no stressing about a surprise rain shower rolling through right after you leave.

Gator Nitro Joint Sand (stocked at Christensen’s) brings something extra to the table with its semi-permeable setup. It firms up hard and allows water to pass through. This can help with jobs where drainage matters or where permeable specs come into play.

Gator Nitro-X Fine Joint Sand installs the same way as the original Gator Nitro, but features a finer grain, making it a better fit for tighter joints and more refined surfaces. This tighter joint surface encourages water to sheet from your paved area. This may be especially useful near pools where you may grade towards a drain channel.

At the end of the day, resin joint sand isn’t necessarily about replacing every bag of polymeric sand you use. It’s about having another tool that’s a little more foolproof when conditions aren’t perfect or timelines are tight. Resin sand may offer a smoother day on site, and fewer return trips just to deal with joints.

First the trees bud and then bloom. Then shrubs start to wake up. But, when perennials emerge from the ground, it says SPRING!!

Hellebore are some of the first flowers to bloom. They can even be seen blooming out of the snow! Bloom time often coincides with Tulips and Daffodils, and can add more color to the garden. Hellebore tend to produce single, cup shaped flowers in a large variety of colors ranging from white, pink, red, purple and yellow. The foliage is evergreen - dark green and glossy.

Phlox subulata is another great spring bloomer beginning in early April-May. They come in lots of cultivars: pink, blue, white, purple, and even candy striped.

Featuring a dense, mat-forming habit, these guys make a great groundcover! Creeping Phlox flower best in full sun, but do prefer some dappled shade once the heat really sets in. Known for being drought and deer tolerant, this would be an excellent choice if water or deer are a problem in your landscape.

Phlox divericata 'Blue Moon' is a stunning spring bloomer. They bloom along with the late-blooming tulips in late spring. This impressive native is perfect for a woodland garden, rock garden, border fronts or native plant gardens. With overlapping fragrant flowerheads, this violet-blue perennial really stands out. Phlox 'Blue Moon' is also a pollinator plant, so if you are looking to attract bees and butterflies, this would be a great choice. 

Looking for a fragrant, early bloomer? Check out Anemone sylvestris. Dainty, yellow-centered, white flowers flow up to 18” above soft textured foliage. This plant prefers shade and is ideal for woodland borders under large trees. Anemone sylvestris are known to spread in loose soils, and can be considered a groundcover in the right spot.

Professional landscapers spend much of their time beautifying peoples' homes and commercial properties. A critical part of maintaining these spaces is the removal of natural debris.

Every spring, we get several frustrated calls about brown stains on concrete paver patios. These almost always turn out to be tannin stains. Over the winter, it's very common for leaves, bark and other debris to pile up in corners and around furniture. This wet debris sits for long periods, allowing the tannins to leach, leaving dark stains on porous material, such as concrete.

Different stains require different solutions. Christensen's stocks several types of concrete cleaners. Contact the Hardscape Center to discuss which will address your specific issue.

The Pro's Secret:  Pool Shock (Yes, Really!)

For organic stains, such as tannins and mildew, your best bet is bleach - specifically sodium hypochlorite.  The easiest way to obtain that is pool shock.  You can find it at most hardware stores. It's cheap, strong and works fast. Many homeowners will already have the product, and you may be able to walk them through cleaning the patio themselves.

Why Tarping Bulk Material Matters

Keeping your load secure isn't just about safety.

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

As I sit here in the lull of August thinking about what to write my article on, nothing comes to mind. Usually, ideas will come to mind pretty quickly, but with 2 weeks away from getting married and all the prep and planning, topic ideas are just not flowing at the moment!

However, we had a meeting to inform our staff about an invasive pest that is making its way to Michigan, The Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). I’ve done an article about Cicadas in the past, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to share a little about what we learned in an effort to help inform you.

Spotted Lanternflies are native to China, Vietnam, and India. It was first reported in the states in 2014; believed to have come in on a shipment of landscape rocks found in Pennsylvania. Since then, they have been more detected in the eastern states such as Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and New Jersey, slowly moving closer to Michigan over the past few years. Just this month, a small batch was found in Pontiac, MI, and were likely brought in on a shipment of plant material or even on the truck itself. Think of all the stinkbugs you see in the spring. Those also came from China to Pennsylvania and have now spread across the U.S in a matter of 25 years. Sound Familiar?

The problem with these pests is that they can wreak havoc on farms, forests, grape vineyards, and orchards. They do not necessarily kill the plant but instead contribute to the plant’s mortality. They first weaken the plant by sucking sap from the hardwood areas and restricting photosynthesis. Doing so results in well… A LOT of pooping called ‘Honeydew’. This attracts insects, disease, and sooty mold, aiding in the possible fatality of the crop. Host plants for Spotted Lanternflies to feed on include but are not limited to species such as maples, walnut, willows, apple, and grape. Their primary choice is a tree native to China called Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus Altissima) which looks like a large Sumac that can reach 60’ in height. It is a very invasive tree that forms thickets all over the U.S. and Canada.

After this, they reach their adult phase and will grow wings and reach up to an inch in length. The body becomes black in color. The red that made them highly visible before is now only on their hind wings which are now covered by their forewings that are grey with black spots. They complete their cycle by laying eggs in September-November and eventually dying come first frost.

Where they are native, they have a ton of predators to help with infestation. Unfortunately, they do not have many predators here. The main ones being Praying Mantis, and Spiders. Experts believe, we cannot stop the spread, but we can slow the spread. If you see one, have no mercy and smash them and report the areas in which it was found to your state department of Agriculture. In this way, we can all help protect each other’s crops.

For more information, visit the USDA website.