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Extras, extras

I love how gigs have a tendency to grow in my side-hustle operation. Just consider a simple $50 lawn cut: it’s a quick job, done every two weeks. I increase my revenue and the owner doesn’t have to stress about her lawn. A nice looking lawn also means that her neighbors can stop whispering.

Then come the extras, like weeding a vegetable patch before visitors arrived from out of province. More easy revenue but in this blog post we first have to backtrack to spring 2025.

Sad, sad, sad

I love the first lawn cuts of the season because winter is over and my revenue is about to go up. When I arrived at this house and started cutting the grass, it was the lady of the house who brought out the green bin for me. It was weird but I kept cutting. Then, when I finished the lady came over and gave me the bad news. He husband passed away just weeks ago after a fall. I was stunned because the old man was super friendly. He’d ask about my business and my family; and when I knocked down the back lane he’d tip me nicely. Now he was gone.

The poor guy tripped over the curb and broke his hips and back. He died three days later.

Vegetable patch

This brings us to her vegetable patch which was obviously full of weeds because her late husband used to take care of it. I did the weeding based on a two-hour quote. That’s the only way to make good cash: create a quote and then do the work quickly. I wouldn’t want to sit there weeding for exactly two hours.

You will notice in the after picture that I left two plants alone. One is a Hellebore which has been in the family for decades, allegedly. The owner staked it off for me but I know a Hellebore when I see one.

At the other we left poppies standing because the husband planted them; and who knows, he might be watching.

Conclusion

If you’re doing landscape side-hustle gigs, you can expect them to grow as clients ask you to do more tasks.

And remember to seize the day. Do something with the time you’re given.

Rest In Peace Garry!

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Vinca minor welfare check

This past week I stopped to check on a periwinkle planting I did a few seasons ago. The area is a small sloping bed and planting periwinkle (Vinca minor) was our last resort try. For whatever reason, grass wouldn’t grow on the “hump”.

It’s possible that water moves downslope and therefore leaves the bed too dry, or there is competition from the oak tree (Quercus palustris).

We top-dressed and over-seeded the spot, and we also tried hydroseeding: the grass wouldn’t survive!

Vinca minor

Since there was already a lot of periwinkle growing above the bed, under the oak tree, adding more was a no-brainer, even though many people consider periwinkle invasive. Nurseries still sell the plant and why not? It has nice purple flowers, and it grows fast like an invasive plant. If you need a groundcover plant, vinca is a good choice.

Roughly two seasons ago I planted many baby plants and wished them well. I knew they would do well. It was nice to see them spreading and filling out the open spaces. I just found one small bare spot but overall the planting was a success. Check my YouTube short below. Click like and subscribe, too!

Conclusion

It’s a lot of fun to check on your work, especially when you have success. And in this case, success was almost guaranteed because I knew that Vinca minor was a fast-growing groundcover plant. It saved us after we failed to establish grass on the “hump”. To this day I don’t know why grass wouldn’t take there.

If you need a fast-growing groundcover plant, Vinca minor is a good choice, especially if you can keep it contained. It is considered borderline invasive and some people discourage you from planting it. Personally I find its purple flowers attractive.

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Why the struggle?

It was late July and very hot when I did a welfare check on newly planted Portuguese laurels (Prunus lusitanica). One specimen showed a lot of brown foliage inside and the pregnant unit owner was rightfully worried. Hmm.

So I dropped to my knees to see what was going on. There was a lot of soil amender piled against the plants which can be a problem. When the owner waters, I’m almost sure the water barely penetrates the several inches of soil amender.

We need water in the root zone!

The fix?

Just like with tree planting, you can’t pile soil or mulch against the trunk like a volcano. I’ve written numerous posts about the many problems with mulch volcanoes. If you don’t know what I’m talkin about, please search through my YouTube shorts.

So I reached in and pulled the soil amender away from the stems until I could see the root flare. That’s the zone where stems become roots. When you do this, you create a well.

Then the next step is turning your water hose on low trickle so you can slow soak the plant for a few minutes. With the soil amender pushed out of the way, it’s almost guaranteed we’ll get water into the root zone.

I will try to check on the laurels when I’m in the area next. It would be a shame to lose them because they have beautiful glossy foliage and they’re pricey. Over time they will provide a nice screen for the owners and their kids.

Conclusion

Adding soil amender after planting gives the plants a nice kick and keeps moisture inside. But never pile the soil against the trunk: this is true for trees and shrubs. The laurels in this post probably couldn’t get water deep into the root zone because the amender absorbed whatever water the owner gave it.

In my experience, homeowners don’t slow soak their plants. Their treat them like their cars at a car wash. If you’re not sure about moisture levels, stick your finger into the planting hole to get an idea.

Over-watering can also be a problem: water displaces oxygen so too much water could suffocate your plants.

Resilient Magnolia

I have known this one Magnolia tree for ten years. I still remember seeing it for the first time because there was an obvious wound at the base from mowers. Poorly trained landscapers refused to get off the curb and mowed in a straight line, hitting the tree once a week. Now, ten years later, we have lessons to learn from this Magnolia case.

Mowers and tree bark don’t mix

Your mower doesn’t have the right of way. I train my workers to avoid tree collisions at all costs because trees are more valuable than grass.

When you hit trees you stress them out. Now instead of investing resources into new growth, they have to work on repairs. When I look at the street I can see that the other Magnolias are bigger, probably because they don’t get abused by mower decks weekly.

Weekly injuries can kill the tree.

Are we done?

A few weeks ago I shot a video of my worker mowing around the tree, never getting close enough to injure it. See the video below.

And then it hit me: if you mow straight today you will probably not touch the tree because the gap at the base is large enough ten years later to allow the mower to pass by! That’s comical.

Why isn’t the tree dead?

Trees are resilient! This particular Magnolia is smaller than its cousins nearby but it’s still standing and producing flowers and seed pods, after ten years of abuse. So why isn’t it dead? Pure luck?

Not really. Trees can build different protective walls around wounds which protect the tree from decay, diseases and insects. I suspect that’s what this Magnolia used its precious resources for: building real walls, not useless walls like Trump’s border wall.

The technical term is “compartmentalization” which refers to trees sealing off the wound. In arboriculture we use the acronym CODIT for compartmentalization of decay in trees.

Conclusion

Keep your mowers away from tree bark. Period. No excuses. Make it a habit and train your workers well.

Repeated wounding can stress and kill your tree.

Learning about a new perennial

I’ve been landscaping for twenty six seasons and there is always something new to learn. Especially plants. And recently I’ve been running into a yellow-flowered perennial which we consider a weed on our strata sites because we don’t want it.

I have a client who struggles with this unwanted plant in his front lawn. Also, my commercial sites have the plant growing through my heather plants which makes it hard to pull them out. And even worse, workers send me pictures of it and ask if they should remove it. I even photographed the plant on my sister’s ranch outside Kamloops, British Columbia.

Since I had no idea what it was called, I had to look it up.

Red Seal Vas gets schooled

So, first, we have to identify the plant. Luckily, it shows up in my copy of “Popular wildflowers of BC and Vancouver Island” by Neil L. Jennings. It’s called Lotus corniculatus or Bird’s Foot Trefoil. Jennings tells us that this was a pasture plant in Europe. It’s a low-growing, sprawling, creeping perennial.

I don’t mind the look; I like yellow flowers. But it’s the sprawling, creeping habit that’s annoying because it’s hard to pull out of heather plants. Bird’s Foot Trefoil flowers from June to September and you can expect the flowers to turn into seed pods.

So is it a weed? Technically yes, if you don’t want it. Otherwise, it’s a decent looking perennial wildflower from the pea family. I got the worker who texted me about it to pull it out because it was smothering groundcover plants. If I find growing in open spots, I will most likely leave it alone.

And the next time my workers ask me about it, I will tell them it’s Lotus corniculatus and refer them to this brilliant blog post.

Conclusion

Learning never stops! I’m used to that but I’m not used to all of a sudden seeing the same unknown plant everywhere. I had to look it up this weekend.

So keep working on your plant identification skills.

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Watch it!

Last week we covered mistimed pruning on a Hydrangea paniculata and this week we cover the same topic but with a different shrub. Now, I’ve written about Callicarpa pruning accidents before; but I have to do it again because last week I witnessed a landscaper taking liberties with the shrubs.

It started very innocently: mid-season pruning is concerned with keeping shrubs in decent shape. Roses and dogwood shrubs definitely looked out of shape by July. With limited space in multi-family complexes, shrubs are often sheared into submission. And many can take the abuse because they push out new growth right away.

But you can’t treat every shrub the same way. Remember the Hydrangea paniculata from last week?

Beautyberry

If you move very fast it’s easy to move from a dogwood shrub to a Callicarpa and start shearing. Luckily I noticed the tiny flower clusters before pruning. So I did prune the edges of the shrub because the flowert clusters aren’t terminal. You see them one or two nodes down which allows you to reduce the shrub size slightly without losing any flowers.

The landscaper I witnessed shaved off a lot of flowers.

The common name beautyberry is a tip off: we’re not really worried about flower shows because the flowers turn into beautiful purple berry clusters. And those clusters persist into winter when all of the foliage is gone. That’s when they really pop: purple berries really stand out on an otherwise bare shrub. Personally, I love the look, so I try not to shave off any flowers in mid-season.

Conclusion

Get to know your shrubs and you’ll be rewarded, especially if you time your pruning correctly. Clipping Callicarpa into shape in mid-season isn’t worth sacrificing winter berries for. I love the way the berries pop in winter on bare shrubs.

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Time your pruning correctly

It’s important to time your shrub pruning properly, especially with showy specimens like Hydrangea paniculata. When this hydrangea blooms, it’s an awesome show with white panicles covering the shrub. But you have to make sure the small, developing flowers don’t go missing when they’re still inconspicuous.

I witnessed one such accidental pruning earlier this summer. Dudes were talking and snipping shoots that looked out of shape. But they failed to notice the small developing flowers. By the time one of the owners noticed the deed, it was too late.

Oh well!

Now, luckily the lady was good about it. “It happens” attitude is nice to have but as a landscape manager I want my crews well trained. The lesson here is that Hydrangea paniculata should be pruned in fall, winter or early spring before flowers start developing. Once you see flowers, the shrub is off limits. Leave it alone and enjoy the show from mid-summer on.

When I examined the shrub, the developing flowers were still green and not easy to spot so the workers need to know the shrub and correct pruning time. That takes time and repetition.

I got to see the shrub in late July and, from a distance, it looked ok. But up close, you can see the incorrect cuts up top where the growth spikes would have attracted landscapers bent on controlling every shrub.

So, it’s not a complete disaster but the show is slightly diminished, which is unfortunate.

Conclusion

Be careful when you prune! Carefully consider your targets and ask yourself why you’re pruning. When you see a few spikes on top of your shrub, relax, and examine the shrub for flowers. This should be easy to do in your own garden because you know your shrubs well.

If you do mess up, then learn from it and do better in the following season. It probably isn’t a huge disaster.

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House for sale

As a landscaper running my own side-hustle operation, I get a lot of requests for help with houses going on the market. And very few of these houses have gardens in great shape. Usually, I see lawns that are weak and cut too short, with overgrown shrubs and trees; and you see large trophy weeds everywhere.

And after twenty-six seasons in landscape maintenance you would think that I have seen it all. Wrong! There are always surprises waiting for me.

A bamboo lawn?

It started out like a normal operation. The lawn in front of the house looked long and weedy, with sweetgum tree suckers poking out from Azaleas and the open spots had weeds. Nothing I can’t handle.

Then I dropped down a set of stairs to the back lawn and I was stunned! The lawn was covered in bamboo shoots too thick to mow over. So I had to charge the owner for removing the bamboo and then mowing.

And as I was bent over the bamboo shoots, snipping them off, I kept thinking about the poor new owners. How do you even get rid of bamboo which easily crossed over from the neighbour all the way to the patio. That’s a nightmare.

I was supposed to do bi-weekly cuts while the house was on the market. But since the bamboo grows fast, I suggested weekly mows so I could just mow down the bamboo shoots. Otherwise she’d have to pay for the extra removal.

Renters did it?

Now, it’s easy to pick on renters for failing to maintain the landscaping. However, in this case it’s the owners we have to blame. The neighbours live in Asia and rent out their house. Unfortunately, somebody planted bamboo along the fence and it obviously escaped. It crossed the lawn and reached my client’s patio. So be careful when you plant bamboo: pick varieties that don’t spread.

I have no idea what the new owners will do. They have to dig up the bamboo from their lawn and somehow block it from invading again. That doesn’t sound like fun and I won’t be doing it; even if it could put my kids through college.

Ruthless tree removal

Sadly, some poorly placed trees must be removed before they get too big. This is often the case with invaders like one alder tree I removed today. I was mowing near a patio when I noticed an alder tree growing in front of a window; it was also crowding out a hydrangea shrub. Alarm bells went off in my head.

Now, I love trees and I think we should be planting more of them but this alder didn’t have a future in its current spot. All you have to do is look into the nearby wild zone to see mature alder specimens. Left alone, this alder would eventually reach over the roof.

Knock, knock

Since you can’t eliminate the possibility of homeowner planting, I did what you should always do. I knocked on the door so I could speak to the owner. The last thing you want to do is uproot a tree donated by long-deceased grandpa.

And after a few questions it became obvious that this alder was a wild invader and it wasn’t especially loved. It was time to get a sharp hand saw.

Voted off the island

Every time I remove trees or seedlings I feel bad about it, but poorly placed trees can’t be left to mature and cause problems. So I grabbed my sharp Fiskars hand saw and I took the alder tree down.

It’s best to take it down in sections, starting at the top. Since this was a small tree, I took cut it down by half. One day we’ll go back and dig up the root base. I suspect we’ll see suckers sprouting out of the base soon. Alders are fast-growing, colonizers.

Conclusion

If you discover seedlings or small trees invading inappropriate spaces, take action. I absolutely detest removing healthy trees but in these cases there is no choice. It’s better to do it early on when there is little green waste generated and chainsaws aren’t required.

Remove the invading tree and plant something else. The bed I worked in has a hydrangea shrub which should benefit from more light. And there is plenty of space for other plants.

Whoa!

I have a residential client in New Westminster whose property borders a popular municipal park. When I blow the boulevard down slope I often nudge the debris into the park and quickly walk away. But when I did that last weekend, I was in for a shock!

Right in front of me was a new native planting complete with signs and irrigation hoses. Which means that soon the debris I blow in there from the boulevard will be less visible.

Rewilding

Now, I make good coin every year from lawn care, just like Proper Landscaping, but I don’t mind seeing a chunk of municipal lawn go missing. People generally hang out lower down in the park, not this close to the road, so it’s fine.

The City of New Westminster sign explains that the long grass you see was left like that on purpose to provide habitat for insects and birds. Plus, less mowing means less pollution and the new planting will increase biodiversity. Sounds good to me.

Test your plant identification skills

Obviously, I had to finish up my client’s place before it got dark and when I did, I took a quick walk down to see the native plants. This is a great way to test your plant identification skills and learn botanical names.

I will now show you several pictures so you can test yourself. Common names are a great start but do try to learn the botanical names as well. So scroll through the pictures and see how many you know. I will give you the list at the end.

See the natives

Meet the natives

Crataegus douglasii Hawthorn (note the stiff thorns)

Betula papyrifera Paper birch

Thuja plicata Western Red Cedar

Acer circinatum Vine maple

Acer macrophyllum Big Leaf maple

Abies grandis Grand fir

Picea sitchensis Sitka spruce

Alnus rubra Red Alder (very difficult to identify from the photo)

Well?

Well how did you do? Was it easy? I didn’t recognize the paper birch but the rest was easy. If you struggled then keep working on it. You can also volunteer to do native plantings like this which is a great way to learn plants and give back to your community.

Overall, this is a nice project. We’ll have native plants growing in a corner that wasn’t much used by park visitors anyway. I just hope the lawn care technician didn’t get fired.