On the window sill in my office there is an ever growing collection of rocks. Most of them I've found around the grounds of Christensen's, some more exotic ones arrived in tree balls or were given to me by customers. Rocks have interested me since I was a kid. I had 'em stashed everywhere - dirty rocks in my sock drawer, jars and buckets full of rocks all over the yard, and a couple cool polished specimens were displayed on my dresser.

As I got older I wanted to know the stories behind the rocks, what they are made of, and how they came to be where I found them.

Michigan is a fantastic place for a rock-lover to reside due to an amalgamation of geological events.

400 million years ago this area was a briny tropical sea just north of the equator. As the landmass drifted northward jungles full of displaced plants and animals left behind rich soils and minerals, whilst retreating seas precipitated vast deposits of salt and sand. The ancient sea life produced fossils like Petoskey Stones and Crinoids in abundance that we find on our beaches today.

Michigan has something else going for it when it comes to cool rocks. Volcanos!! During the mid-continental rift fiery lava gurgled up great amounts of minerals from the molten belly of our planet. When liquid magma solidifies underground it becomes igneous rocks like granite and obsidian. Granite countertops are made of magma that has slowly cooled under pressure, allowing time for crystallization. A lot of the granite you'll find in Michigan has red in it. The red color comes from the iron oxide that’s mixed in with the feldspar and quartz. When lava cools above ground it hardens into extrusive types of igneous rocks like basalt and pumice. One of my favorite rocks is called pudding stone. It's a colorful conglomerate of red jasper, quartz, and other pebbles that have been metamorphosed into quartzite.

North America was once home to towering ice sheets over a mile thick. The Earth's crust was actually deformed under the weight of these ice age giants. As they slowly scraped their way down the continent countless tons of material were picked up along way (including my pudding stones). The massive ice sheets eventually settled in our Great Lakes Basin and melted, releasing rocks and debris that span both geography and time.

The combination of glacial transportation, continental drift, and volcanic upheaval have led to perhaps the most splendid mixes of rocks of anywhere in the world.

There are so many options when adding lighting to your jobs - wash a wall with bullets, illuminate a path with tall hats, put ledge lights under the steps… but don't forget to look UP. Lighting draws one’s interest to noticing foliage, angles, and shadows. Fountains shimmer, boulders come alive, then one becomes entranced following the craggy trunk of a tree up into the branches.

Anyone can install outdoor lighting, but a truly captivating design that incorporates three dimensions is what's going to sell the project and have the neighbors asking for business cards.

Here’s how: Step back and look at the entire project area. Stand at the road or across it and observe the features of the home and landscape. You may want to note a few lines of sight to areas of focus such as porch pillars, dark corners, or structural trees. Also note the impact of existing light sources on the property and from neighboring homes or street lights. I like to take a screen shot from the satellite map on my phone to draw sight lines, then use the highlighter tool for light coverage areas, using different colors for existing and prospective.

After you have your general ideas plotted, move in closer. Where does the dog run and kids play? Where will people be sitting or cars be parked? Ask the customer how they plan to use the space. The more you are able to plan ahead, as with any job, the greater efficiency you'll have.

For seating areas, as fun as shadow charades may be, you don't want people irritated by a light in their eyes or to have a flood light-washed façade disrupted by a car parked close to the house. Most light fixtures stick up out of the ground, so placement is critical to avoid trip hazards. To highlight a tree trunk select a tight 10-15° beam spread. For more branches use a wider, more flood-like 30-40° pattern.

Bullet fixtures can target a specific object or be used farther away to illuminate a broader area. To really flood an area with light, a Sollos FRF058 or Alliance BL300 will do the trick. Pillars can have wall sconces like the WS200, and those confident to stray off of the instruction sheet can even mount a fixture up in a tree! Ask someone in our Hardscape building how to put a "tree loop" in your wiring so the installation will last as the tree grows.

Other options include lower profile well lights and in-ground fixtures, hanging fixtures, even rolls of tape lights. Check out Alliance's new line of color changing bluetooth fixtures for a customizable show-stopping display! With these new lights, a homeowner can change color for each season and show off to their friends as they slid their thumb around on their phone, changing the lights on a whim.

The possibilities are as endless as your imagination. Search online for inspirational photos and videos or ask the sales team at Christensen's, "What can I do that's different?" In landscaping, our projects can keep us looking down at our work, but please, don't lose sight of what's UP!

As the cooling weather encourages me to change over from iced tea in the afternoon to hot tea in the morning and the blazing summer sun relaxes into a lower place in the sky, our landscape is changing too. Don't think that just because summer is over the yard must be dull and boring. In Michigan we are blessed with four seasons, each of them delightfully distinct.

When planning a landscape I love to focus on a few plants for each season so there is something to look at every month of the year. In the spring, trees are flowering and bulbs are popping up. Summer brings on bolder, more vibrant colors from blooming perennials, contrasted by thick, dark green leaves. From late summer into autumn there is an interesting transition period where some of the summer perennials are still showing off, whilst the cooler weather plants begin to display their offerings, like bright fruit and glowing fall foliage. Finally, the days become shorter and our warming sun cannot keep up with Old Man Winter. Branches turn bare, perennials retreat underground, and evergreens take prominence.

Use forethought when designing the landscape. Plant diversely and consider what each of our splendid seasons has to offer and how your plant choices will display during each. Hiding in plain sight during warmer months are the showstoppers of colder months. Leafy bushes shape the structural backdrop, whilst other plants offer contrasting foliage to your summer flowering showcase. In the fall, these ignored plants begin to get some attention. You may hardly notice a crabapple after it’s week of spring flowers, but then in the fall it begins to display shiny red apples. A juniper can get lost in the scene until it’s steel blue needle tips poke through the windblown leaves and snow.

When those first chilly end-of-summer mornings surprise you, look around and you’ll notice the Great Lakes native Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum) standing tall. Another striking perennial is Helenium, with it’s daisy-like flowers in deep oranges and reds, blooming late summer into early fall. 

Ninebark is a fantastic three-season shrub that offers spring and summer foliage interest, late summer flowers, and has cool weather hangtime with colorful seed capsules and handsome, peeling bark. Consider Diabolo® for it’s stunning dark foliage, or Summer Wine® for a more compact version.

When snow has covered the ground, don’t fret! There are plenty of plants in our landscape to keep the winter doldrums away. The red chokeberry, for example, is a great choice for those lower damp corners that you don’t know what to do with. Aronia arbutifolia  ‘Brilliantissima’ should make your shortlist as it offers something in every season. White flowers, red fall color, glossy red berries, with dark woody twigs for the snow to settle on. Remember the clumping grasses you planted in the spring? What about the hydrangea you added soil amendments to? Standing clumps of dormant brown grasses and sturdy dried flower heads can present an engaging contrast to the white winter snow that sits atop of them.

Another aspect of our Michigan winters is the colorful population of birds. Wherever there are berries and seeds you will also find birds. Picture a tufted titmouse in a crabapple, hopping from branch to branch. For persistent fruit, Malus ‘Adams’ is still a popular choice. For a darker, almost red flower check out ‘Prairiefire’ and Royal Raindrops­®.

Color in the garden is important, but don’t forget texture. Seven-Son Flower (Heptacodium miconioides) is a plant that I recently noticed while meeting with a customer on their jobsite. It’s a small tree (or large shrub) with white flowers in late summer or early fall immediately followed by showy, red-pink calyces, and a peeling brown bark that reveals lighter tan beneath for winter interest. This is one of those plants that few people know about and they can be hard to find. We get a few in now and then and can also special order for you, so please inquire.