General Blog

Our industry has some great organizations that create and help enforce standards of safety, quality workmanship, ethics and sustainability of our environment.   Those organazations Include MAGIC (Mid America Green Industry Council) and KTF (Kansas Turfgrass Foundation).  We believe that it is paramount for any landscape contractor doing work in our industry to be acting members of these organazations.  These organazations conduct training and offer excellent industry certifications to employees who work within the green industry.   Is your landscape contractor an industry certified contractor??

Good News...We got much needed rain!  Bad news...leaf debris that have been collecting in gutters for nearly a month also washed out causing buried downspouts to get clogged up.  Please locate the daylights from the downspouts, remove the tops and make sure they aren't clogged. 

Commonly seen in your perennial flower beds, Coral Bells (var. Huecheras) are a great addition to annual pots.  The colorful leaves are a great way to bring in a constant color.  Plus the bonus of them mounding up and flowing over the side of the container.  You can also transplant them into the ground late summer and use them as a perennial too!

"Significant Outbreak of Strong to Violent Tornadoes"
From NOAA's National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center Public Severe Weather Outlook on April 14, 2012: "The NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK, is forecasting the development of several strong to violent long-track tornadoes over parts of the central and southern Plains this afternoon and tonight. The areas most likely to experience this activity include:
Central and eastern Kansas
Central and Eastern Nebraska
Central and north-central Oklahoma
Elsewhere, severe storms are also possible from north Texas to Iowa and southeast South Dakota and southern Minnesota.
A warm and humid air mass will expand northward from Oklahoma to Kansas and Nebraska today in advance of a potent storm system. Multiple rounds of dangerous, severe thunderstorms are expected to impact the central and southern Plains this afternoon into tonight. Thunderstorms over parts of western Kansas into Nebraska are expected to intensify through this afternoon as they move northeastward/eastward. Additional intense storms are expected to develop near a surface low in central Nebraska this afternoon, and southward along the west edge of the humid air mass into central Kansas and western Oklahoma. Strong winds throughout the atmosphere will be very favorable for powerful supercell thunderstorms capable of producing strong to violent tornadoes as well as very large hail over long paths from this afternoon until at least midnight. Fast-moving tornadoes continuing after dark will heighten the risk to life and property. Some of the larger cities that may be affected include Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, Topeka and Wichita, Kansas, as well as Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
State and local emergency managers are monitoring this potentially very dangerous situation. Those in the threatened area are urged to review sever weather safety rules and to listen to radio, television and NOAA Weather radio for possible watches, warnings and statements throughout the day." This image was taken by GOES East at 1945Z on April 14, 2012.