We’re in for a difficult ice storm event that could be dangerous, prolonged, and potentially historic. Unless we hear otherwise from you, WE WILL be pre-treating your sidewalk/parking lot areas heavily. This may not do any good, BUT you should look at it as cheap insurance. It may make the difference between being able to scrape ice away easily once we are able to get on your properties, vs. chip it away & have to spend a lot more time. WHEN we can get to any property that is not ZERO tolerance is also questionable, other then WE WILL GET THERE. If this shows up as rain before ice, then it could wash away any ice-melt effectiveness.

I’m not telling anybody what to do, but I urge you to strongly consider, if you have the option, to not travel Tuesday or Wednesday… AT ALL. You should have a back up plan for heat and light. Just assume that we will experience power loss in Indianapolis between Tuesday-Wednesday, at least for a few hours, IF NOT DAYS. I hope and will be happy if we’re wrong, but this is looking like a difficult and dangerous event, similar if not worse then the ice storm Kentucky dealt with 2 years ago. Our snow totals will likely be minimal, but the ice/freezing rain is a big problem. Don’t hesitate to contact myself (538-1616) or Carlos (828-3435) on our cell phones if you have an emergency, we’ll help as we have guys available and are able. Safety on this event is the primary concern for us over the next several days. Thank You, BE SAFE!!!

2010. The year of extremes. We started out with one of the wettest springs I can remember. This accelerated growth in plant material, which takes energy. Then July hit, and somebody ‘turned off the water’. Most of you already know, but if you don’t, Indiana experienced the longest overall dry/heat combination that the Hoosier state has seen since they began recording weather here in the late 1800′s.

Now we have a recipe for disaster, lots of plant material that has expended energy flushing out lots of new growth, and guess what? Yup, you guessed it. In August and September, we missed some critical/crucial rains. We began seeing dead lawns, trees, and shrubs (not dormant, dead) in Carmel, Greenwood, Downtown, Avon, everywhere…

And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I predict a lot more mortality to show itself in spring, especially in older plant material that barely made it through the fall and went into the winter stressed and weak, in particular in evergreens. There are dead Arborvitae, Yews, Hemlocks, and Spruce all over the place.

Then December hit… can you say SNOW? The 3rd snowiest December for Indiana in over 100 years! Yes, we were busy doing snow removal, right into and through Christmas. Global warming? I’m not sure. Climate change? Maybe. What will 2011 bring? Well, I predict… oh, wait… there’s some more snow coming, gotta go!

Allow me to introduce the Jim and Linda Hale project. This was our big water feature project this year. Approx. 20 tons of stone, 55 total feet of stream/falls area, 2 waterfalls, 7000 GPH of water, and lots of labor in 90 degree plus weather went into this baby! Jim was paralyzed serving our country in Vietnam, but he’s been smiling ever since. You’ve never met a guy with such a great attitude. Pictured are some of the TNL guys enjoying some good food and fellowship that Jim invited us over for several weeks ago. Thanks Jim and Linda for your business (and your patience)!

This month, instead of PLANT of the month, we are showcasing the PRODUCT of the month. The Snow Caster is an engineering marvel! We have used it ‘in house’ at True North for about 7 years now, and our guys don’t leave the shop for a snow event without at least 1 or 2 on each truck. As of very recently, these are now being manufactured in Indiana, and we have been given opportunity to sell this great product that has saved us and many others so much time and effort over the years. Call or e-mail us, for only $95 we are proud and pleased to sell you a Snow Caster and will even deliver it (well, maybe not to Bloomington or Chicago, but at least inside of I-465 or thereabouts)! Once you try one you’ll say… ‘That’s so simple/cute/awesome/great! Why didn’t I think of that?’

Rain? What rain? What IS rain? That sums it up. A very wet spring, followed by the longest dry spell since weather recording began in Indiana back in the late 1800′s. What does this mean? Plant material and turf grass is amazingly resilient. Unfortunately, there is a lot of stressed or dead trees, shrubs, and lawns out there. We missed at least 4 CRITICAL rainfalls that it looked like we’d get… but didn’t. Unless people have taken an aggressive approach with watering from July through now… well, there’s going to be a lot of sad surprises come spring, as everything is going into winter weak and stressed. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!!! If you are the recipient of such bad news, we will likely be doing a lot of turf renovation in March and April, either re-sodding or slit-seeding, which is a good alternative to sod if budget is an issue.

In other news, we’re busy with final landscape projects until the ground is too frozen to work (yes, you CAN install plant material now, in fact, it’s a GREAT time), cleaning up leaves, shutting down water features (on this note, please visit our website at www.truenorthlandscaping.com, go to the Services tab, & click on Water Feature Maintenance to view several videos we recently added to assist and educate our clients), and getting ready for the snow to fly! CALL US if you have any final projects! We want and appreciate the work! Speaking of snow flying…