STANDARD ENHANCED SERVICES PROPOSED
Despite the abnormally cold weather, Spring is near. As we prepare for the coming season, we are beginning to plan the common enhanced services we offer as enhancements to our standard maintenance program. These services were included on our budget proposal as they always have. We have normally then proposed each around a month prior to their normally seasonal production timing. Several of our customers have asked that these be proposed all together to avoid the frequent barrage of proposals. This year we are again offering that option and have sent out a proposal for Spring Bark-dusting, Spring Moss Control, Summer Seasonal Color, Summer Turf Aeration, and Fall Seasonal Color all together next week. We encourage you to approve all at once as it will help us in our planning and will eliminate the need for you to approve each independently throughout the season.

Re-bark-dusting: 
There is no better or more impacting enhancement to a landscape than re-bark-dusting. Mulch breaks down and becomes less effective with age, causing many problems. Lack of mulch reduces weed control and increases moss build-up as well as increasing water loss through evaporation during the summer.
 
In addition, re-bark-dusting is the simplest way to make your property look fresher and brighter. We recommend re-bark-dusting every other year at the end of winter or early spring. Some of our customers have had us apply bark-dust annually to provide that fresh look every spring. If your shrub beds look like the pictures on the left and want to spruce them up like the pictures on the right, let us know. We proposed to many properties at budget time last fall and are sending out specific proposals currently.

Spring Turf Moss Control:
Winter can be a tough time for lawns. Constant rain, especially in the shade, can lead to moss growth. We fight this every year. Although it is difficult to prevent, it luckily is easy to control. Liquid iron, sprayed on a lawn quickly and effectively controls moss. It will actually kill it in hours, turning it black. Although it is easy to kill, it will regrow every year requiring annual treatment. We even have been experimenting with twice yearly treatment, December and March. Although normally considered an enhanced service, moss treatment is relatively inexpensive.

Spring Seasonal Color:
Seasonal color is one of our specialties. Not only do we produce some of the most creative flower combinations but our flowers plantings are some of the healthiest due to our carefully designed installation and maintenance programs.

We have tried to add a creative design flair to our summer color plantings. Every year we come up with new and unique combinations that break from the conventional of blocks and stripes seen on most other commercial properties. We have a test bed at our office where we try out these new varieties and combinations. We make sure they work before we will plant them on our customers properties.

Turf Core Aeration:
We recommend aeration to our customers as a standard part of our yearly turf care program. Aeration improves overall turf and is also the best method of managing thatch and soil compaction. 

Aerating during the early summer opens up the soil to allow water to enter the soil more easily, reducing run-off and improving irrigation effectiveness. We can't prove it 
quantitatively , but we believe that aeration pays for itself through water savings. 

The benefits of aeration are significant but short lived lasting only 3-4 months. This is why we propose it every spring as we enter the normal peak irrigation season. This will maximize the water saving and return on your investment. 

Fall Seasonal Color:
Rain and cooler weather signals the change of season as we enter fall. With this change comes time to pull out summer flowers and plant winter pansies. The summer flowers will be fading quickly as the weather turns in October and soon thereafter we will begin our fall pansy planting. We should be completed by the early part of November.

Although pansies are winter hardy, they can suffer from disease during our wet winter weather. This is a yearly battle and was particularly a problem last winter. To combat the potential for disease, we place fresh potting soil prior to planting and then follow up with monthly fungicide treatments. We have perfected this program over the years and believe our pansy success is the best in the local area. This program does increase the cost of pansies but is critical to their success. It is money well spent. 
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