Over 6,000+ square feet of sod installation proved to be an interesting challenge for us. Jobs like this can be a test of efficiency and teamwork, and for many team members, it was a brand new experience. As the owner, I'm really proud of how my team stepped up, and seized this opportunity with their ability to work together and stay organized with all its moving parts. 

Honestly, these are probably the most fun jobs that we get the privilege to do. For an elevated look we always recommend a few decorative pots to be included in the landscape. Not many are needed to jazz up any patio seating area, dock for the boat, or main entrances, you just name the place. A well designed planter will look fabulous anywhere you put it, all summer long! Then as summer rolls into fall we offer our clients an exchange to September Mums. This gives our clients a few extra months of color before the snow returns. Its a great opportunity to get creative.

We've always loved plants, and enjoyed in the care and keeping of them. Our journey with annuals has opened our eyes to another world of landscape possibilities. These plants are a residential game changer. Though they do not survive the Michigan winters, they do tend to be vigorous growers, and many will flower profusely and boldly. On this particular project, we had planted about 900 individual Sunpatiens, an impatiens hybrid, bordering the beds, at a Northern Michigan residence. It resulted in a stunning effect. Not all folks will want to go this big in their own annual plantings, but even minimal amounts in strategic areas of your gardens can result in a punch of color and interest that lasts all season long.

We would consider maintaining the landscape and regular maintenance work the most important key factor in achieving beautiful outdoor living spaces. Why pay for a quality landscape, that without regular maintenance, will look messy and overgrown within the year. (Even simple perennial gardens can turn into jungles fairly quickly.)

It took us a long time to acquire the knowledge that it takes to properly care for an entire landscape with many different plants and varieties. Everything from plant identification skills, to mulching, pruning, pest control, disease control, design adjustments, and fertilizer applications. This facet of the industry is underserved, but so integral. We are so thankful for the experiences that lead us here, and for the people who passed this knowledge down. I honer them, and my accomplishments, by passing on the knowledge to others. 

This project is a great example of the power of restorative maintenance. This particular landscape had not been maintained in years, to no fault of the home owner. (Life has a way of keeping a lot of us too busy.) We like to let people know that, even though it feels overwhelming, an over grown landscape is completely fixable, and we can help to streamline the process. This is satisfying work where the before and after transformations speak for themselves.

On this particular project, we were asked to restore an old flagstone patio. The homeowner said that the patio itself was rounding up on about 25 years old at the time. From what we can recall, a lot of the stones were sunken and  not level due to settling overtime. There was also black algae growth on the stone surfaces, and spots where water would pool. We ended up dismantling sections in order to level the stones. It looked much improved without any tripping hazards, but what do we do about the algae growth? A pressure washer solved that problem. It all looked brand new by the time we finished, and for a fraction of the cost of what installing a totally new patio would be.