“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
- Jane Goodall

Happy New Year and Happy Spring!

So tis the season that we all look forward to, Spring, with the days getting longer, flowers starting to bloom, birds showing some love for each other, frogs croaking, husbands buying new cars for themselves for no reason. Except this year without a winter I must say, it’s been a little maddening for Scott, the kids and I, being that we all love us some cold days and cold nights with some ice on the creeks, and some snow on the trees. I really don’t want to go on about all the serious issues that go along with this unusually warm winter, so instead, I guess, the positive side is that we were able to get a bunch of stuff done outside the house that would not have been done in a real winter, and we also had some Witchhazel trees blooming since January that have gone on forever and ever! We did get up to Lake Placid so we could get us some winter, and those single digit temps combined with that dreamy snow gave us what we were looking for! Of course we may have that snowstorm in April when no one, not even me, wants one.

Help Your Property Prosper

One of the things that I do in the off-season is to cut down evil invasives on a conservation property next to me that has been saved forever from development. Although saving land is a priority in Chester county where we live, (and so very necessary!), no land can be saved from invasives without human intervention. Their spread is too fast. They crowd out future trees, shrubs and endangered plants, swallowing the native landscape whole. And oh man, this property is getting an overwhelming dose of them. So, I find myself back in the woods fighting an uphill battle, babbling to myself all day and wondering ‘’What the hell am I doing? What difference does it make?” It's literally a David and Goliath scenario, where I’m raging against the weeds with my pruners and chainsaw bloody from the evil invasive Multiflora rose thorns, Barberry mini spikes (do not ask me to plant this, I will not be nice), and the Autumn olive swords that have pierced almost every part of my body. Well, I’ve come to realize that doing this has become part of my journey in this world, doing what I can do to stave off the crushing blow of rampant development, habitat destruction, species loss, and collapsing ecosystems. Nature is under attack, and I’m pissed off about it!! Nature has been my teacher, my religion. Nature has forced me to look at my own mortality, making me look at the big picture instead of wallowing in fear and self pity. It has shown me that beauty/ugliness, peace/unrest, love/hate, life/death are always intertwined together. Nature sustains me and gives me strength, so I sure as hell am going to be in on this fight. A couple years ago I gave up back there, overwhelmed with my ‘what's the point’ attitude. I’m going to do it anyway, because it does make a difference. Nothing is for nothing. I refuse to let the invasives crush my soul! I’ll keep cutting the strangling vines off those Oak trees because they support over 550 species of caterpillars which then supports the birds that eat them. I’m going to keep massacring all the shrubby evils because if I don’t there will be no native plants to take the place of the ones that have been already lost. I look at it as Good battling Evil, and honestly it feels really good to be battling some evil right now. To fight with the knowledge that there is no time to waste, this is my new motto. With my almost complete lack of patience and minuscule amount of self control (I know, such great personality traits), I have a need to do something NOW, DO IT NOW! What kind of difference can one person make? A big one. I have passed the point of believing otherwise. Nature is messy, but messy with purpose, and I’m in with that. Btw, don’t plant invasives. They’re bad:)

Insects are good

Which leads me to other ways in which one person, one household, one decision can make a difference. There is research that shows that half of all insects have been lost since 1970 from the destruction of nature and heavy pesticide use. 40% of the 1 million known species of insects are facing extinction. Insects are essential for ALL ecosystems, as pollinators, food for other creatures, and recyclers of nutrients. Without bugs we may all be dead, Yah! Insect collapse will result in our collapse. This is not Fake news, it’s scientific fact (ahhhh yes science). We can turn this around. NOW! I had a customer tell me recently that after spraying for mosquitos on their property they didn’t have any more lightning bugs. They stopped spraying, and the lighting bugs are coming back. They made a difference. When you kill the bad bugs, you kill the good bugs too. These pesticide/lawn companies say all is good and safe (lol), but this is not the case. Nature is not made of separate pieces. Everything links to something else. Spray pesticides, kill insects. Pollute the entire area, birds can’t find insects to eat and what they do find is poison. Gross. We are losing our birds because we are losing our insects. See all those Robins and Bluebirds dining in the grass and flower beds? They are on the front line of the toxic brew we have created on our properties. Large scale farming practices are a whole other issue, but homeowners use more insecticides per acre than farms do, and nearly all of them are unnecessary!

Mother Nature is Relentless

As humans we have been careless and thoughtless about these things. What’s needed is the knowledge and the solutions. It’s all about balance, baby!! NATURE BOUNCES BACK! Plant as many native trees, shrubs and perennials as you can, which will bring all the beneficial bees, flies, caterpillars, butterflies, etc to your property. The birds will come, have a buffet, and keep things in check. Together with the beneficial insects, they will gang up on the bad insects (only around 1 % are bad news, btw), which will maintain a healthy balance so you don’t have to spray or put down any crap. Don’t have your beds blown out (leaves as winter mulch, try it on for size), and don’t cut everything down in the fall. This is HUGE for insect survival. It makes a difference. Leave that tent caterpillar nest in the tree. Yeah, you’ll lose some leaves, but it’s bird food central (and they’re fun to play with, super soft:) Spiders are GOOD!! Boy, do they do an amazing job of keeping the bad bugs in check (Mosquito wrap anyone?) For some reason our son Quincy has an extreme and quite an irrational fear of spiders. I don’t know how, of all people, I have a child that is terrified of spiders. I don’t recall ever torturing him with a large Wolf spider when he was little because I, of course, would never do anything like that:) BUT, my memory is not so good, oh well.

Ok ok, so there are some BAD BAD BAD insects out there, and Spotted lantern fly must die! Please do not hire Frick and Frack Tree company to come out and spray willy nilly all over the d*#* place. It makes a difference. There is still a lot to learn about this heathen, and hiring a reputable tree company is the best decision we can all make right now. Oh, and NO STICKY TAPE around the tree trunks, Ugh, you want to see an insect apocalypse, just look at what gets caught on those things.

As a landscape company that prides itself on being environmentally proactive, we want our business to be part of the solutions (not the problems) to our environmental woes at present. Do we want you to sit on your new beautiful patio built by Scotty, surrounded by toxic or unnecessary substances that were put down or sprayed because someone told us that is what we’re supposed to do at a certain time of year? Who cares if your lawn has a few (or a lot, like mine) weeds in it, it’s OK!! Who says we need to sterilize our gardens for the winter, taking out every last spec of debris? Who says we need to put evergreen shrubs in front along the foundation of our house? Who says we need to torment plants and prune them in the shapes of flying saucers and human genitalia? Who invented dyed black mulch btw, and why do I let it torment me so (sorry I digress). Rethinking the norm. Doing something different than we have always done. Rethinking what our roles are as humans in this world, and how our decisions in the garden affect our surroundings as a whole. Every little bit helps!

Let us come and provide you with a beautiful, healthy, peaceful outdoor experience. Life in this world is rarely easy. Let us bring some Nature into your world.

Looking forward to seeing you all!

Kirsten and Scott

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst you can do is nothing.”
- Theodore Roosevelt