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Should You Be Worried About Your Plants? The Weather is Warming Up Early!
As I sit at home watching snow continue to come down, I find myself asking, “When will spring finally arrive?” For those of us in the northern regions, we are ready for the snow to go away and are looking forward to seeing the spring bulbs we planted in the fall begin poking their heads up through the soil. For those of you in the south, you have experienced some great weather in the last several weeks, but the temperatures have still dropped down to the mid to low 30’s. Regardless of where you live, February always seems lik
An Arbor Vita in Distress
One of our Field Service Professionals, Trey Tefft from Huntersville, NC who recently attended one of my Professional Development seminars sent in the picture below of an arbor vita that he saw on one of his customer’s lawns. In the seminar we spent several hours discussing identifying indicator trees and the insects and diseases that affect those plants. Since our discussions covered arbor vitae he thought I could help him identify t
How to Correct Snow Plow Damage to Your Lawn.
If you live in the colder parts of the US, waiting for the snow plow to visit your street is just apart of life. Although we are way under our normal snow totals for northern Illinois, there have been a few days where the snow plows did clear the streets. Most snow plow drivers do a great job and keep damage to personal property to a minimum, but there are still times when it just happens. As you can see in the picture, the plow jumped the curb and took out a strip of sod along the edge of th
How to Avoid Green Slimy Ooze From Growing On Your Lawn.
What is this Green Slimy Ooze? During the last couple of years, I’ve received several questions about a strange green slimy ooze growing in lawns. So after doing some research, I learned that it is a type of cyanobacterium, formerly called blue-green algae. This green slimy ooze has been called many colorful names over the years, including witches, butter and star jelly, which is based on the belief that the ooze was indeed the remnants of shooting stars. Why do I have it? Nostoc Algae wil
Our People Make Spring-Green The Best Lawn Care Company
One of the highlights of my year is when I take to the road and conduct 16 Professional Development Seminars in 16 regional locations across the US. I will visit South and North Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Washington, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The best part of traveling is having the opportunity to train so many great people that work at Spring-Green. I try to vary the topics every year and start off with presentations on sales and customer service. These presentati
A Brown Lawn Is Not Always a Bad Thing
One of our Field Service Professionals, Brandon Ward, from the Opelika, AL area likes to send me pictures of great lawns and landscapes as well as those that could afford some improvements. He recently sent me an e-mail with a picture attached and wrote, “I call this a pre-emergent success. It's one of the biggest residential properties we have, and it is spotless at the moment.” I was at a loss for why he would consider this lawn a success since the entire thing was brown. Then I remembered that he was talking about a warm-season turf grass lawn in January, and that this location in the US should still be dormant. The reason he is so proud of the lawn is that it does not have any
7 Landscaping Mistakes That You Shouldn’t Fall For!
Everyone is after a more beautiful lawn each year, so why not avoid simple mistakes that many make and help your lawn to become the envy of the neighborhood. Here are 7 typical landscaping mistakes to avoid this year. Not watering plants – as winter is upon us make sure that you don’t forget to water . Depending on the region in which you live, watering cannot be completely ignor
Helpful Hints for Choosing New Plants This Spring
They’re Here! The New Plant Catalogs Are Here! When I am traveling and visiting franchise owners I tend to get a little jealous regarding the plants that are growing around the country especially those owners who live in warmer climates. I recently was in the Seattle, WA area and saw pansies for sale at a home improvement store. I wanted to buy some so I could take them back with me, but realized that the high temperature was only going to be about 4 degrees when I got home. So
Should You Be Concerned About Shot Weeds?
If there is one thing that I will never get tired of it's finding out about new weeds. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post this year, there are an estimated 8,000 species of plants that are considered weeds. The word weed is defined as a “ plant growing out of place. ” Based on that definition, just about any plant could actually be considered a weed. I recently came back from visiting our newest Franchise Owner, in
6 Helpful Do's and Don’ts for Taking Care of Your Lawn This Winter.
It’s that time of year again, time to take care of snow removal and ice coated walkways. Winter is a time that we tend to forget about our lawn, especially since the ground is usually covered in snow or frost and the temperatures are a lot colder. Unfortunately this is not a time to just sit back and forget all about lawn care, save yourself some trouble when spring returns by taking a few extra precautions. 6 do's and don’ts that will assist you and your lawn this winter season: <