Sticks & Stones – Page 26 – News & Views from Christensen's Plant Center

New landscape plants to try

Our industry introduces new plants every year, and it's hard to keep up with them. Here are a few recent cultivars that you may want to check out for your next landscape project.

First is the Proven Winners Aronia Low Scape® Mound chokeberry. Aronia has been receiving a lot of interest lately as it is a native plant, and this one is nice because it only gets to about 24" and grows in a neat mound. Its white flowers bloom in late spring, and it also gives you a beautiful fall color. This plant is also quite deer resistant.

Second is the Golden Pacific™ juniper. This evergreen gives a bright burst of yellow throughout the year.

The texture is different from most junipers, being bold yet low-growing. It's a great plant to use for color without relying on flowering plants, and a nice change of pace from typical green ground cover.

There is also a blue-green variety called 'Blue Pacific'. Both are shore junipers, which are relatively salt tolerant, making either a candidate for planting near sidewalks and driveways.

Third is the Physocarpus Tiny Wine®. This is another Proven Winner, smaller than other varieties of ninebark commonly available. It grows to a height and width of just 3 to 4 feet. It blooms with tiny pink flowers in the spring, and keeps a nice fine-textured maroon foliage all season long.

The last recommendation I have is Physocarpus Lemon Candy™. This plant has outstanding foliage that starts out bright yellow and matures to yellow-green. It does not scorch in full sun, looking good all season. It grows to about 30" tall and makes an excellent color accent among the standard greens and purples of the common landscape.

The ninebarks are an up-and-coming group of landscape plants. They are tough yet good-looking and adaptible to many sites.

Take a look at these plants and I think you'll find they have a place in your landscape designs.

Water: too much – or too little?

WATER, WATER, EVERY WHERE
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

Some may recognize these verses from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Even if one does not, it is worth noting this work, now approaching 200 years since it was written, was one of the first works advocating a more responsible use of our natural resources. The mariner’s senseless killing of an albatross leads us to question how we use and treat the fauna of this planet. Much of what is written could be applied to the flora as well.

If we remember back to this spring, days of rain created saturated soils and standing water. This did not bode well for some plants. In Coleridge’s story the sailors had no fresh water to drink, but here our trees and evergreens had more than enough fresh water, yet still could not absorb that water. Why not?

Stranded in the equatorial waters of the Pacific all but the ancient mariner eventually die from heat and lack of water.

The overabundance of water and saturation of the soil interfered with a plant’s ability to respirate and to absorb nutrients and water through its roots. The cold, wet spring also encouraged the growth of fungi, like Phytophora, in the soils which can cause lesions on the roots, which, in turn, interferes with a plant’s ability to metabolize whatever it needs. This is called root scald. At first glance some trees looked like they were wilting, in some respect they were, their roots were unable to take in nutrient and moisture causing the plant to collapse. Usually if a plant is dry leaves will wilt, turn yellow from the inner and lower branches, and the plant will begin to drop foliage to compensate.

When a plant is too wet it will begin to wilt only to have the apical branches turn reddish -brown but not separate from the plant.

How can one prepare for weather extremes? First, there is more than one way to plant a tree. Common sense goes a long way! Planting depth, the type of planting media, and choosing plants that will tolerate different soils are basic questions any landscaper should be considering for every site. It isn’t rocket science, but there is a lot more to landscaping than digging a hole and throwing the plant in!

Does the site drain well? If not, should I elevate plants in beds that will cause excessive water to run off? Choosing plants with higher metabolisms, plants with dark, more fibrous roots that can handle periodic or ephemeral flooding and including beneficial mycorrhizae in the planting media to protect root nodes will lead to transplant successes. If your planting losses are over 10%, is it due to lack of planting experience and good practices, or is your company guilty of cutting corners and careless installations? Even if you are not warranting your work, poor workmanship will catch up with any company eventually.

If heavy plant losses are “an albatross around your neck,” be a “sadder and wiser man,” and question practices and losses. Remember “the best gardeners have killed just about everything!” Becoming a more responsible contractor and pursuing best planting practices Will reduce losses and increase the bottom line. It pays to care!

“...but this I tell to thee…
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”

Try our professional delivery service

How can we save you both TIME and MONEY?

With our delivery service! We will load it, tarp it, and bring it right to your job site. You don't need to own a fleet of trucks or pay your crew to drive around town when you let us deliver your order. We can select your material for you or you can tag your own. Either way the savings is yours. We can deliver plants, brick products or bulk goods - pretty much everything we carry.

Watch Chris's video below for more information on how we can help. Be sure to stay to the end - he's got a special offer for you good for the month of July 2017.

CLICK FOR OFFER

The Christensen’s Mobile App is here

We are pleased to announce the release of this
time-saving tool that you are going to love.

It's been months in the making, but the day has arrived for the unveiling of our new smartphone app that is designed to make your life easier.

Watch Todd's video for all the highlights, then head to either the Google Play Store or iTunes to download your FREE copy.

Want to get YOURS?
It's free - and it's easy!

Scan this QR code to go to our app in iTunes

If you're an iPhone user, simply go to iTunes and search for "Christensen's Plant Center" - or click this link.

Scan this QR code to go to our app in Google Play

If you're an Android user, go to the Google Play Store and search for "Christensen's Plant Center" - or click this link.

Questions? Give us a call at (734) 454-1400

CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION

Five steps to quality

What goes into Christensen’s Plant Center having the freshest, most viable stock?

It began years ago when Lee Christensen (and probably before him his dad Pete) sought out material from the finest growers in North America. When Lee passed on the company to Tim Joy and Frank Huber, that sourcing experience of finding nice material at a good value was part of the deal. Over the years Christensen’s has cultivated relationships with a number of top-notch vendors, and our current Investment team of me, Kim Roth and David Dermyer as well as Frank Roth at Rushton Farms are focused on nurturing and expanding those relationships.

Secondly, the material is shipped by trucking companies we broker ourselves, then unloaded by our highly trained (and sometimes overworked) receiving staff. They can unload 8-12 trucks in a day and 1000’s of boxwood and yews in a week. All plants are placed in our facility under irrigation, both in the yard or the field. Maintaining that irrigation system is a top priority for our yard manager Chris Nielson (assisted by Rigo).

Third, the material is evaluated and approved as it gets unloaded or shortly after. If we see anything wrong, it gets rejected. If I wouldn’t buy it for myself, why would I sell it to you? Sub-par material is often put right back on the truck.

We make sure that plants are viable, rooted, and healthy. Plants that don’t pass this evaluation are removed from inventory immediately. Rarely, we receive trees in the spring that are rejected for quality but are not able to be shipped back to the vendor. We put the best of them in our “2%” area, and offer them to you at shockingly low prices.

We do want to be fair to our vendors, so if material arrives early in the year, we give the plants till early June to come out of dormancy. It’s amazing how some will take that long (like trying to wake up a teenager on a Saturday morning).

Finally, the other main force for refreshing our stock is you, our customer. Quick stock turns are key. If you’re busy planting, our staff is busy doing what Lee, Tim and Frank have trained and asked us to do. We are experts at finding quality material and are ready to provide what you need for your installs.

We know your success is our success, and we are glad we can help.

Alliance Landscape Lighting

New for 2017!

We are pleased to introduce our new landscape lighting line, Alliance. This company features high quality aged brass fixtures, and a wide variety of spot, flood, path, and other fixtures that many manufacturers do not offer.

They also make sconces, oversize post fixtures designed to be placed on hardscape wall copings and caps, flush surface-mounted step lights (No more cutting into brick and deck steps! No more box!), fully integrated LED understep fixtures for walls, tape lighting strips, PAR36 spot fixtures, and my personal favorite: The TIKI path fixture!

Did you ever want to set the top of a path fixture on fire and still see it function correctly? Now you can! Perfect for those that entertain outdoors!

Not only does Alliance have brass fixtures, they also offer a different variety of well lights. I know, I know, “If you've seen one well light, you’ve seen them all”, but theirs are, indeed, different. Alliance has well fixtures that are designed to light up areas horizontally, not vertically. Need an alternative to a path fixture and don’t want to use a stem? Here’s your solution! They are available in opposite side lighting (front and back), 180 degree, and 360 degree spreads. We’ve had orders from the west side of Michigan and central Ohio for these already, and others have begun to design them into their landscape projects. Alliance also offers a variety of standard up-lighting well fixtures with various covers to fit your needs.

Finally, Alliance has a great BLUETOOTH Phone App Driven Transformer! This 300 watt timer is affordable and flexible - you can set a multitude of timers, and your customers can manually turn their system on and off from their smart phone. We have a demo set up at Christensen’s Hardscape Center, so feel free to come in and play around with it.

Alliance products hit our shelves in early April and the response has been absolutely tremendous. It’s beautiful, most items are backed with a lifetime warranty, most fixtures include a 25’ wire lead, they have fantastic customer support, and the variety of materials will help lead you to the design and final effect that you and your customer are looking for. PDF copies of the Alliance catalogs and price guides are available for emails, or you can visit www.allianceoutdoorlighting.com for further information and instructional videos.

Be safe out there, and go light up someone’s life!

Why you should tarp that load!

We hear it every day - "I don't need to tarp my load - I'm only going a short distance!". Well, there are good reasons why you should tarp every load, no matter how brief your travel time is.

Firstly, it's the law in Michigan that all loads must be secured so that debris can not fly off into the path of following vehicles or onto the roadway.

Another reason is that travel speeds expose your purchases to drying winds that WILL affect the foliage, maybe not while you are doing the planting, but the next day or week. Your customer is going to be on the phone to you wondering why his expensive landscaping is turning brown and you might be facing at the least, a counseling session - or a possible profit-killing replacement.

Don't be that guy! We are here with the know-how and the materials you need to secure and tarp your loads so that you can be on your way safely.

New Hardscape Products 2017

The outdoor living trend has continued to grow and patios are now an extension of the living room or kitchen. The heart of any outdoor kitchen is the grill, so you’re going to want a reliable, durable no-fuss grill. Introducing Summerset, a manufacturer of stainless steel grill inserts and cabinets. They have many models to choose from, suiting the occasional family cooker to the backyard BBQ king feeding the entire high school football team. Your customers will love the quality and you’ll love installing them.

We also offer ready-to-finish fireplaces and pizza ovens from Round Groove. These kits have pre-installed fire brick. They use an 18 gauge galvanized steel u-channel for framing and a fiberglass reinforced sheathing that has already been scratch-coated. With several different models and options, you simply choose what material you would like to face these products with. You get all the creativity with minimal labor concerns.

Most people I know love to sit around a fire and have a refreshing summertime beverage. But storing wood and cleaning out the fire pit are concerns for many. How does a natural gas or liquid propane fire pit sound? With the turn of a knob and a push of a button, you have made fire! We are now stocking the kits to do just that, along with some very attractive colored glass to adorn the interior. The inserts will fit most standard round or square fire pits. These are especially convenient in urban settings where neighbors may not appreciate lingering embers or sooty smoke.

When it comes to facing a project, you might hear some moans and groans. It’s not a hard process, but it can be very tricky. How many times has something shifted, to be discovered after it has set? The adhesive isn’t instant, and nobody wants to stand around holding something while you wait for it to set. The solution is SRW Vertical Instant Lock Adhesive. It sets in 5 seconds, and I’ve seen it with my own eyes!

Time, worry and… polymeric sand. Three words that seem to go hand in hand. Will it haze, did I water enough? If I overwater it, will the sand still harden properly? What will happen if my joint is larger than ¾”? The solution? EV Evolution polymeric sweeping sands. This product is haze free, all four of their colors can bind up to a 4” joint, and the watering process is simplified by only having to do it once. Better yet, the cost is low and the colors are well defined. No more worries about overwatering and hazing.

This will be a challenging year of plant and labor shortages. This can put a strain on creativity and productivity. We help you save time and money by having the products you require to be successful, and we have the answers to problems you may run in to or the tips to prevent the problems in the first place.

Three ways we can save you time

Here are three great time-saving ideas from Christensen’s Plant and Hardscape Center.

We will help in your plant selection by inspecting, and pre-tagging your material up to five days in advance of your visit. Don’t see it in stock? No problem! We can look at an estimated arrival day, and tag the material as it comes off the truck, holding it up to five days until you need it.

Hardscape staging. We will pre-pull your order and palletize it so you can get in and out quicker. We will even sell Brussels by the individual brick, also Copthorne, Town Hall, and Holland.

Deliveries. We will carefully select, pull, prep, and load your material, and send it directly to your job site or yard. $210.00 for plants, or plants, lighting and brick, all on the same truck! Brick deliveries are only $140.00 in our local area, with a three pallet minimum. Add $35.00 for our Moffett, and we’ll unload it for you. We deliver all over the State, (and other States too), but our local delivery area is HUGE! It encompasses Toledo, Adrian, Jackson, Fowlerville, Fenton, Clarkston, and St. Clair Shores.

In conclusion, you, the Contractor, often do not have enough time in the day to accomplish what is needed. We can help you save time so you can focus on what’s important. Let us partner with you to save you time!

Why plant annuals?

Annuals? Why!

I know I am the perennial lady and so bad mouthing annuals should be a full time job for me! However I am not here to bad mouth them, I am only here to find out why you would want to plant them?!? I have asked around for answers and I just don’t think the answers I have received are of much merit any more. I have heard “They flower all year”, “They have such awesome colors and patterns”, “They are easy to maintain”, and “They are bulletproof”. The first two reasons could be true, the last two are not! Even if they were all true, annuals are very expensive (even if your customer is paying the bill – no one has ever been able to retire off planting annuals alone) and very labor intensive (at a time of year when you can make a better margin off other plants).

New breeding in perennials has made many of the “annual” reasons obsolete. Why would you plant annual salvia instead of a perennial salvia? Same awesome blue color, both need deadheading to reflower after a rest period. Let’s compare Coleus to Heuchera. Both plants are grown for their foliage and both prefer a little shade. Check out Heuchera ‘Fire Alarm’, ‘Caramel’, or ‘Snow Storm’. Not only do they have spectacular foliage year after year but they also have pretty flowers to boot! Never let those Coleus flower – because that is sudden death. There are many options in the perennial department to choose from – all with lots of color that last all year long. Why not try Geranium ‘Rozanne’, G. ‘Azure Rush’ or G. ‘Blushing Turtle’, Campanula ‘Blue Waterfall’, Dianthus (any of multi-hundreds to choose from), Lavender (perfume of the Gods) or how about some of these dwarf Buddleias?

I have to be honest and tell you up front I went to a local Garden Center this weekend and bought – GASP- some annuals! I succumbed to this awesome annual Petunia called ‘Midnight Sky’. I fell in love with it because I like that speckled look. You can tell I like that look because my garden is filled with perennials like Heuchera ‘Marvelous Marble’ and ‘Midnight Rose’, Pulmonaria 'Mrs Moon’ and Brunera ‘Jack Frost’. I am going to plant it right off the deck and enjoy if for as long as possible. It will die soon, as I don’t water my plants! Perennials, they really don’t mind it too much – but annuals, well they can’t live without a constant watering. How many of you have heard from your customers that all those succulent Begonias just suddenly – out of the blue, died. All the while, they swear they watered them every day!

I want to leave you with these three thoughts: 1: Ageratum for Butterflies? You haven’t seen Butterflies until you planted Echinacea and now it comes in every color in the color wheel and, the newer ones are rock hardy, 2: Hellebores? Try and find an annual that blooms when there is still snow on the ground, 3: I am desperately looking for Petunia ‘Frills & Spills Damson Ruffle' – help!

New APP... just for you!

Looking for ways to save time and energy? You've got to see this exciting new technology - just for you!

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Want to get YOURS? It's free - and it's easy!

New APP... just for you!

Looking for ways to save time and energy? You've got to see this exciting new technology - just for you!

Want to get YOURS?
It's free - and it's easy!