True North Landscaping, LLC., Water Features, Water Gardens, Ponds, Landscaping

Aquascape 300watt Pond De-Icer

Cory Gliege — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:11:04 +0000

Check out this Aquascape 300watt Pond De-Icer video, courtesy of Aquascape:

True North Times – August 2011 – The Too Darn Hot Issue

Cory Gliege — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:42:24 +0000

From the Landscaper - Hello everyone. It’s been a pretty ‘unmotivating’ stretch we’ve been through with the weather, REALLY hot & even dangerous to be in. Personally, I’ve had I think 3 full weekends off since the ice-storm in February (we still shudder around here when we think back to that ‘experience’!). I’m off to Canada for 2 weeks to try getting my accent back, then it will be into the September-November ‘home stretch’ of landscaping, aerations, & cleanup work… Fortunately we’ve had some relief lately, but we thought this would be a good opportunity to share some information & recap on what lawns & plant materials have been experiencing since 2010. We had 2 excessively wet springs, followed by 2 excessively hot/dry summers. We are still seeing stressed and/or dying plant material from the 2010 drought! Lawns have faired terribly. Wet conditions in spring caused very hit & miss results on pre-emergent control for crabgrass, followed by high humidity, which caused many fungal issues, then hot & bone dry!!! This has been a ‘worst case’ scenario, a ’1-2 punch’ if you will on landscapes throughout Marion County. Watering has become an issue; we ask that you do what you can to protect your plants and turf! If you are on a turf fert/herbicide program, it is very important to continue to fertilize & feed your lawn. Our product is a dry granular slow release fertilizer that will not burn or hurt your lawn in these stressed conditions. It is beneficial for that fertilizer to be available for the turf upon receiving any rain to help the lawn recover. Weed control is another problem when it becomes hot & dry, the weeds defense mechanism is to seal up any moisture that it has & does not allow our herbicide to be as effective. Weeds need to be actively growing for the herbicide to be taken into the plant. We continue to spot spray as needed to help prevent weeds, but they have definitely been difficult to keep at bay on any non irrigated lawns this year. Aeration/Overseeding is again going to be critical, fortunately we’ve seen some moisture & cooler temps the past couple weeks to assist in ‘waking up’ dormant lawns & aiding in recovery. September/early October is THE window for this service. Please contact us if you’d like to be scheduled for aeration/overseeding.

Product of the Month – Bubblers!!!

Bubblers are the most economical way of still having the sight & soothing sound of water, w/out the cost or maintenance of an all out pond & waterfall. Bubblers are simple to install & easy to maintain, & they come in a WIDE variety of sizes & styles. Whether it’s something small or large, natural or formal, drilled stone, basalt columns, or even mushrooms, there’s a bubbler for everyone’s space & everyone’s budget! Click here to watch a 3 minute video on how simple & beautiful they are, & enjoy some of the pictures of bubblers we have installed. ALSO -we have a very LARGE drilled piece of Greene County Indiana Sandstone/Moss rock as well as a set of BEAUTIFUL fiberglass composite mushrooms that are leftovers from trade shows, let us know if you’re interested, we’ll make you a deal. Enjoy!

True North Times – July 2011 – The EXTREME Heat Issue

Cory Gliege — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:22:04 +0000

From The Landscaper

Howdy folks! It’s been a long time since our last issue, & has really felt ‘non stop’ around here since the ice storm in February. Can someone tell me what’s with this ‘all or nothing’ weather pattern? It’s eerily reminiscent of what we experienced last year, excessively wet spring, extremely hot/dry summer. In this issue, I want to share some information with what’s been happening in our company, with the weather, & things you can do to care for your lawn and landscaping! But first, allow us to brag a little about our…

Project of the Month

Back in March we were contacted by a company called US Water Services out of Minnesota. They had an Ethanol Convention coming up at the end of June in Indianapolis, & they wanted to attract people to their display & ‘blow the doors off’ the competition. All they knew is they wanted corn, water, & a rural Indiana look. Oh yeah, you only have 1 weekend to build it as well. Please see pictures below. We incorporated a 2 dimensional barn structure (kudos to McGuire Scenic), a bunch of corn (kudos to Dave Maroney of Ladoga, IN), a stream, pond, lots of stone & plants. Long story short, we built it, they won ‘Best of Show’, then we tore it all down in 1 long Wednesday night! KUDOS to the True North Team for pulling this off in 1 long Saturday & Sunday of extreme building effort!!!

Re-Cap

We’ve discussed this in past issues, but it’s worth mentioning again as it’s still an issue and a challenge. Last year we experienced what many considered to be a 100 year drought. The faucet went off in early July & didn’t get opened back up until Thanksgiving. We then essentially went straight into a long, hard winter. Plants & turf that went into winter was for the most part either stressed, or in many cases, dead.

This March -May, as weather would allow, we were renovating a lot of turf (aerating/overseeding/slit-seeding), and pulling out/replacing dead trees and shrubs, evergreens in particular. But we are still not out of the woods! We have been receiving many calls from people saying that trees that were looking good this spring have now lost or are losing leaves. In many cases, this is still a symptom of the stress from LAST year, not necessarily from the heat & dry as of late, although this latest spell may be accentuating the issue. Now unfortunately, our poor lawns just can’t get a break. Many non-irrigated properties are going dormant already, & our mowing crews are having to skip many properties. So all in all, it’s been a very difficult pattern to adapt to for working, and very difficult on plant material.

TURF

As mentioned above, turf is stressed! The excessively wet spring followed by hot humid weather is a perfect recipe for a wide array of fungus in turf (brown, patchy, rusty & even sometimes grey looking spots & areas). Now of course, we’re being faced with the issue once again of not enough (ie. no) rain! Turf is really an amazing plant & can go a long time without significant water. If you are able, watering long & deeply 2-3X per week in the mornings will go a long way in keeping your lawn somewhat green & alive looking. Also, you may want to be thinking already about the importance of heavy aeration/overseeding in September/early October.

Plants

We’re talking trees, shrubs, & perennials here now, not corn or soybeans! I’m sorry for a lot of the farmers out there that had to re-seed 2-3x due to the wet weather just to get their crops in. We sold & installed A LOT of the above mentioned from May on, & continue to do so. I recently heard a great saying from a Client of ours, which does a good job of summing up in laymans terms what plants do… ‘SLEEP, CREEP, LEAP’. The 1st season in the ground, plantsSLEEP. They’re shocked either from the dig (in the case of field dug balled & burlapped plants) or from being pulled from the pots they’ve grown up in, having their roots pulled & slashed, & being put in a new home (your yard!). This is a critical year for adequate watering. You don’t want bone dry, & you don’t want sloppy, muddy wet. Cool, moist conditions are what most plants are looking for & needing. The 2^nd season, they begin to CREEP as they put out their horizontal roots & begin establishing themselves, this is still a critical year for watering & attention to them! Miracle Grow in the feeder packets from Lowes that you can simply thread on to your garden hose is a GREAT & simple thing you can do a few times/season to help your plants out. By season 3, they should be well established & will begin to LEAP. This is often the year you will see amazing growth on trees in particular. So remember, don’t neglect your plants, they need your help! Just like an infant, baby them along, & by year 3 they’ll be just like teenagers that act like they don’t need you anymore!

Hope you are having a great summer, stay cool if you can, be safe, and talk to you soon!!!

US Water Services Trade Show 2011

Cory Gliege — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:51:59 +0000

We have a few photos from our water garden build at the US Water Services Trade Show 2011, including an awesome before/after shot. Check out the before/after shot, and a few other pictures of our team after the build was complete (click the images for a larger view):

Here’s the before/after shot:

Here’s a shot of our build team:

And here’s a shot of Cory!

Aquascapes EcoBlast™ Granular

Cory Gliege — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:17:22 +0000

Check out this video about Aquascapes EcoBlast™ Granular, courtesy of Aquascape:

Rain Barrel Installation

Cory Gliege — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:57:44 +0000

Ever wondered what all the talk of rain barrels is all about? Well, check out this picture of a rain barrel and see for yourself how beautiful and functional they can be! (click to expand)

True North Times – Mother’s Day Sale – 30% Off Everything!

Cory Gliege — Sun, 08 May 2011 19:33:58 +0000

As you all know Mother’s Day is this Sunday! We all know that Mom’s LOVE flowers, plants, and anything that is going to make life more BEAUTIFUL. So why not give her a gift that will keep on giving year after year? This is the last Saturday that our nursery will be open to the public, and since it is Mother’s Day Weekend EVERYTHING is 30% OFF!!!

So PLEASE come visit us this Saturday starting at 8:30 am till 2:00 pm, and get your mother something that she will be able to enjoy year after year!

True North Times – April 2011 (part 3)

Cory Gliege — Mon, 02 May 2011 16:38:50 +0000

From the Landscaper – Greetings all! Yesterday was a great day, saw a bald eagle soaring over my neighborhood on the SW side, and ended it with a nice rainbow over the display our Team built at Holiday Park for Orchard in Bloom…

Well, we’ve only had rain 13 of the last 15 days… so, let’s see…the bright side would be… we don’t have to water! By my best estimations, we’re around 500 production man hours behind schedule on mulching and landscape installation work from all the April precipitation. Mowing has been a real challenge also to try establishing any resemblance of ‘routes’ or order. I beg your patience, we will get to you! This has been our most challenging spring by far in terms of logistics and scheduling. On a bright note, we have more work then we’ve ever had. I won’t even complain about $4+/gallon fuel, it is what it is, and let’s be thankful we didn’t get devastated by any flooding or tornados, as so many have been suffering with. Our hearts go out to our neighbors to the south who’ve suffered damaged and have lost loved ones…

Thanks for your business, we appreciate it, please hang in there with us!

Orchard in Bloom – If you’ve never been to this festival, you should come. Holliday Park is an amazing 100 acre facility that’s beautiful and has a lot of history. We were honored last night at the pre-judging to receive runner up for Best of Show, and runner up for American Horticultural Society Award. Congratulations to Litchfield Landscaping for winning both of these categories this year! Come check out our booth plus all the other great booths and displays, today-Sunday at Holliday Park, go to www.orchardinbloom.org for more information. (before/during/after photos).

True North Open House – Thanks to many of you for coming out last Saturday. Come see us this Saturday while we still have a decent selection of great flowers, baskets, loads of new perennials, trees, shrubs, & more. Tomorrow’s looking great, hope you can make it, 8:30AM-2PM. (picture of some plants).

Spring 2011 Open House Price List

Cory Gliege — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:06:16 +0000

PLEASE COME SEE US AT OUR OPEN HOUSES ON 4/23, 4/30, and 5/7 from 8am to 2pm!!! We have loads of new baskets, flowers, ferns, a huge variety of trees, shrubs, perennials & more at TREE-MENDOUS prices.

Here is our price list (click image for full version):

True North Times – April 2011 – UPDATE!

Cory Gliege — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:46:52 +0000

Due to the potential of extreme weather, our True North Open House will be cancelled for this Saturday. PLEASE COME SEE US NEXT SATURDAY!!! We have loads of new baskets, flowers, ferns, and a huge variety of trees, shrubs, perennials & more at TREEMENDOUS prices. Thank you!

April Fools! It is actually April of 2011, not November 2010. We were just testing you to make sure you were reading. Thanks to the diligence of many of you that pointed out our blunder, here is the fully revised (and up to date!) True North Times.

From The Landscaper

How does every spring newsletter start? ‘Well, Spring’s finally here!!!’ Is it? I sure hope so, winter was a real ‘butt kicker’ this year? What is ‘normal weather’ anymore? We’ve been swamped already this year renovating lawns from last years drought & tearing out dead evergreens. Have you noticed those all over the city??? Well, let’s be positive here. I’ll keep it short & sweet, got work to do & jobs to sell! Thanks to so many of you for coming out & seeing us at the Lucas Oil show & then the Flower & Patio. We will also have a pondless waterfall set up at the Orchard in Bloom Festival, which is at Holiday Park April 29-May1. This is a really fun festival/show in a beautiful setting, come be a part of it if you can! Please visit our website at www.truenorthlandscaping.com to see a full range of our services, & let us know if we can assist you with any of your landscaping or maintenance needs. Now for the BIG news…

True North ‘TREE-MENDOUS’ Saturdays!!!

Do you need GREAT deals on large or small trees, shrubs, flowers, hanging baskets, & more? Well look no further! We’ll be open every Saturday beginning this Saturday through May 7 at our location just East of downtown Indianapolis, 8:30AM-2PM! Check out the attached price/product list to see our selection. Come purchase & take with you, or have us deliver & plant for you. We also accept Visa/Mastercard now, & we appreciate your business. YAY SPRING!!!

True North Landscaping Open House 2011 Pricelist

We appreciate your business. If something’s not right, please let us know. If things are well, please tell others, & forward our newsletter along to those you think would benefit from or appreciate it!