The Jandscape Contractor magazine July 2015

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July 2015

CONTENTS

Excellence In Landscape Awards Project

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FOCUS: Is New Equipment in Your Future Cantigny Park Hosts 2015 Summer Field Day 10 Cantigny offers much to see for ILCA visitors

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Collaboration and Tenacity Work for Cantigny 18 If at first you don’t succeed...

Explosive Plant Combinations 22 Some new thoughts on planting Garden Speak 32 Phlox: Get all the color, but...

Unique Tropicals, Annuals and Edibles Rule-bending plants make unique displays

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Plants edible & ILCA Business Library 50 decorative!

Do your customers suffer buyer’s remorse?

“Foodscaping”

Member Profile 56 GREEN Landscape Devolpment and Management

Plant All-Stars 62 Pinus flexilis — ‘Vanderwolf’s Pyramid’

EN ESPAÑOL

¿Está pensando en nuevos equipos?

Are You Thinking About New Equipment?

40 Image by Carl Wagner

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On the cover... Summer Field Day 2015 will be held August 5 at Cantigny Park in Wheaton. For more details, see stories beginning on page 10.

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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CONTENTS

DEPARTMENTS

ILCA Calendar From Where I Stand President’s Message Classified Ads Advertisers Index

Photo Credits ILCA Awards Program Cantigny Park Lauren Bell Greg Schaumburg Richard Hawke Ed Lyon

Calendar

4 5 7 58 61

AUGUST

Jim Matusik 1, 8-9 10-21, 36-39 16 22-30 32-35 40-49

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The official publication of the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (ILCA), The Landscape Contractor is dedicated to educating, advising and informing members of this industry and furthering the goals of the Association. The Landscape Contractor carries news and features relating to landscape contracting, maintenance, design and allied interests. Publisher is not responsible for unsolicited material and reserves the right to edit any article or advertisement submitted for publication.

Publication reserves right to refuse advertising not in keeping with goals of Association. WWW.ilca.net Volume 56, Number 7. The Landscape Contractor (ISSN # 0194-7257, USPS # 476-490) is published monthly for $75.00 per year by the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association, 2625 Butterfield Road, Ste. 104S, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Periodicals postage paid at Oak Brook, IL and additional mailing offices. Printed in USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Landscape Contractor, 2625 Butterfield Road, Ste 104S, Oak Brook, IL 60523. DISPLAY ADVERTISING SALES: Association Publishing Partners, Inc., Ph. (630) 637-8632 Fax (630) 637-8629 email: rmgi@comcast.net CLASSIFIED ADS, CIRCULATION AND SUBSCRIPTION: ILCA (630) 472-2851 Fax (630) 472-3150 PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL OFFICE: Rick Reuland, rmgi@comcast.net, Naperville, IL 60540 Ph. (630)637-8632 PRODUCT DISCLAIMER: The Illinois Landscape Contractors Association, its Board of Directors, the Magazine Committee, ILCA Staff, The Landscape Contractor and its staff, neither endorse any products nor attest to the validity of any statements made about products mentioned in this, past or subsequent issues of this publication.

ILCA Staff

Magazine Staff

Executive Director Scott Grams (630) 472-2851 sgrams@ilca.net

Rick Reuland Publisher/Advertising Sales (630) 637-8632 rmgi@comcast.net

Education Manager Julie Nicoll jnicoll@ilca.net Membership & Events Manager Terre Houte thoute@ilca.net Office Manager Alycia O’Connor aoconnor@ilca.net ILCA 2625 Butterfield Road Ste. 104S Oak Brook, IL 60523 (630) 472-2851 • Fax (630) 472-3150 www.ilca.net

Cantigny Park Wheaton, IL

Debbie Rauen Advertising Sales (817-501-2403) debbie.landscapecontractor@ yahoo.com

Contact Terre Houte thoute@ilca.net or visit ilca.net —

v Becke Davis Senior Writer treethyme@aol.com Patrice Peltier Feature Writer patpeltier@charter.net Meta Levin Feature Writer meta.levin@comcast.net Panel Chairs Jim Fizzell jjfizz@aol.com Greg Pierceall pierceal@purdue.edu

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The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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From Where I Stand...

“You wanna know how to get Capone? They

pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way! And that’s how you get Capone.”

Sean Connery as Officer Jim Malone, The Untouchables (1997) Those lines of movie dialog, delivered in an Oscar winning performance by Sean Connery, still give me goosebumps. They are so plain and direct. They ask the moral how far they are willing to go to stop the immoral.

They blur the line between law enforcement and revenge. They are also complete nonsense.

Violence and a street tough mentality were ultimately not how they got Al Capone.

In fact, Elliot Ness really had nothing to do with bringing Al Capone to justice. There was very little bravado. No knives or gunfights.

Just boxes and boxes of paperwork and a Treasury Agent committed to reading it.

Every Illinoisan knows Al Capone. We also have a bit of a soft spot for this hardened criminal, bootlegger, murderer, and overall thug. Capone had a 6th grade education but understood the simplicity of the cat and mouse game of law enforcement. He knew that the key to being a criminal was to not get arrested. The easiest way to get arrested was to get caught perpetrating a crime. Capone’s days of being a street enforcer were long over.

He had an army of toughs who did his bidding and kept his hands clean.

The other way to get arrested was to get caught organizing a crime. Capone did this every day of his life.

However, Capone knew that law enforcement needed evidence.

The easiest way to get rid of evidence was to never generate any in the first place. Capone didn’t have a bank account. He never signed any letters. He only signed one check in his entire life and it ultimately was used against him at his trial. Capone was very careful, other than a birth certificate and a rap sheet, he barely existed on paper.

Capone made some mistakes around the time of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. He was arrested across state lines which got the Feds involved. Once they dug in, no amount of political connections, coercion, or bribes could dissuade the US Government from taking him down.

The Feds went after Capone in two ways. Ness headed up the prohibition violations. He was the one who made the headlines raiding clubs and illegal distilleries. He was the one smashing barrels and bottles with a fireman’s axe. A lesser known Treasury agent named Frank Wilson headed up the other, less sexy investigation - tax evasion. Wilson was a bookish, quiet man with a dogged attention to detail. The Feds paid to hole him and his wife up in a Chicago hotel disguised as tourists. There, Wilson and his men perused over 2 million pieces of evidence. His wife didn’t even know he was investi-

gating Capone because they feared she would flip out.

Capone’s underlings eventually did him in. They feared being accused of skimming so many kept detailed notes and records about payouts to Capone. When Al Capone was arrested, he was charged with five counts of tax evasion and over 500 counts of violation of the Volstead Act for distributing alcohol. In the end, the 500 bootlegging counts were dropped.

Capone lived a lavish lifestyle. It was one of the reasons the people loved him in Depression-era Chicago.

Yet, he had no way of explaining how he paid for that lifestyle. In court, the Feds connected the evidence to the lifestyle. The jury believed them.

Capone was sentenced to 11 years in Federal prison - the longest sentence ever for a tax cheat.

On June 8, 2015 the ILCA Board of Directors sent a letter to Governor Bruce Rauner applauding him for taking up workers’ compensation insurance reform as a top priority of his new administration. (see letter on page 27) Now, the Governor has had a rocky start as he ingratiates himself and his policies to the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. With that said, both parties agree that the workers’ compensation reform system needs to be fixed. Costs have skyrocketed in Illinois. Even after sweeping reforms in 2011, Illinois is still 7th nationally for comp insurance rates. We used to be #2.

This is not news to landscape professionals.

Landscape companies have seen premiums rise dramatically. In fact, most landscape companies didn’t even know there were sweeping reforms in 2011 because the savings did not trickle back down in the form of reduced premiums. Construction companies have borne the brunt of comp because construction jobs generate a lot of injuries. Premiums are now in the tens of thousands of dollars for most average sized landscape companies.

Rates seem to rise without tether and if there is a claim, and there is always a claim, the rates spike even higher.

On top of that, contractors can lose coverage or find a marketplace where fewer and fewer insurance companies want to insure landscape work. Companies who lapse in payment or cannot find a carrier must enter the state’s high risk pool where rates can be double what you can find in the private marketplace. A company must remain in that pool for at least 18 months before a carrier can even consider them again for coverage.

Yet, there are many landscape companies who ignore this clear legal standard. Every company, if they have one employee, must have a workers’ compensation policy. This is not just an epidemic in landscaping. Every construction trade has illegal operators from roofing to plumbing to house painting. This is the rare issue where private business, labor unions, and the State of Illinois all agree that we have a problem. We may as well hold a parade when that happens.

Workers’ compensation insurance is overseen by a little known agency called the Illinois Workers’ Compensation

Unfair Compensation

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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From Where I Stand...

Commission. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission is the State agency that administers the judicial process that resolves disputed workers’ compensation claims between employees and employers. The Commission acts as an administrative court system for these claims. The IWCC also has a small team of auditors. Too small if you ask me. Far, far too small.

For a small agency, the IWCC maintains an impressive website. They have two resources that most businesses have zero awareness of. The first is a database of open and closed cases for every employee and employer who has had a case before the IWCC. The database can be searched by case number or even last name of the employee who made the claim.

Just be advised, this system looks like it runs on the same software as the 1983 movie “WarGames.”

The second resource, is a search for every active workers’ compensation insurance certificate in the state. You can look any employer up by name and find out if they have an active policy. When ILCA ran the ILCA member list through the database, compliance was almost at 99%. Given an acceptable margin of error, that is staggering and made me very proud.

It showed all the ILCA’s talk of professionalism is not lip service. ILCA members do hold themselves up to a higher standard even when it’s difficult and expensive.

ILCA’s letter to Governor Rauner doesn’t stop at applauding the effort to reform workers’ compensation insurance. It also urges the Governor, IDOL, and IWCC to look into stronger enforcement. Registering a business with the Secretary of State is easy. Setting up a commercial bank account is easy.

Paying employees on time and in full is easy. Swallowing a $65,000 workers’ compensation insurance policy for a midsized business is not easy. Those are real businesses expenses that put legal businesses at a competitive disadvantage. If a homeowner gets two bids, one is from the ILCA member who absorbs that $65,000 cost every year and one who does not, is it any surprise which bid will be cheaper?

The key behind comp is that ultimately the employees suffer. I hang ILCA’s comp policy in the breakroom, as is required, and I doubt any of my employees have ever stopped to look at it. Yet, my employees assume they will be protected and compensated in case of an injury. Employees go about there daily work at many companies under the impression

they are covered. Some put on uniforms, get pay checks, and drive nice trucks. Companies who shirk the State’s standard are not always the unmarked trucks mowing grass on Easter Sunday.

Some of these are seemingly legitimate businesses.

Because employees are at risk, and Illinois does not have the Association for Illegal Construction Contractors special interest group, the penalties for not having a comp certificate are severe.

They are $500 per day or $182,500 per year. Go back three years, that is half a million dollars. The State of Illinois is not kidding around when it comes to comp violators. There is too much at risk. In addition, Illinois’ comp laws have been around since 1912. No credible business can use the tired excuse of, “I didn’t know we needed coverage.”

ILCA members have identified the greatest concern for their companies are the lack of professional business practices within the industry. Labor has been a critical challenge this season and will dog the industry for the next decade. How many jobs have been lost to companies operating illegally? How many trained and skilled employees are risking their livelihoods at companies that don’t offer compensation coverage?

It took a creative legal strategy to nail Al Capone. A guy pushing a mower for $20 cash with no insurance is not Al Capone, but he is breaking the law. The guy running 4 crews, building hardscapes, and clearing $15,000 jobs with no insurance is definitely breaking the law.

There are not going to be raids. There is not going to be a chain gang of illegal landscape contractors in prison stripes. No Treasury agent is going to split open a cask of Milorganite with a fireman’s axe. Yet, the State of Illinois has the ability to enforce its own law. An army of legal contractors patrol the streets every day. For decades, ILCA members have seen the trucks and assumed something shady was happening. The IWCC offers a handy-dandy little search form to prove it. If there is a match, perhaps we need to offer that guy a break, and an ILCA member brochure. He’s part of the 99% who wants to grow his business. If there is no match, well, the choice is yours Treasury Agent Wilson.

Scott Grams June, 22 2015

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The Landscape Contractor July 2015

President’s Message Last month in our small rural hometown of Watseka, the traveling Vietnam President

Rusty Maulding Nature’s View (815) 592-7582 rusty@naturesview.info

Vice-President

Mike Schmechtig Schmechtig Landscape Company (847) 566-1233 mschmechtig@schmechtiglandscapes.com

Secretary-Treasurer

Lisa Fiore Kositzki Don Fiore Company, Inc. (847) 234-0020 lfiore@donfiore.com

Immediate Past President Kevin Vancina Vancina Landscaping, Inc. (815) 726-2300 kvancina@sbcglobal.net

Directors

Mark Breier National Seed Co. (630) 963-8787 mark.breier@natseed.com Lisa Fiore Fiore Nursery and Landscape Supply (847) 913-1414 lisa@cjfiore.com Jose Garcia Natural Creations Landscaping, Inc. (815) 724-0991 info@naturalcreationslandscaping.com Dean MacMorris Night Light, Inc. (630) 627-1111 dean@nightlightinc.net Kevin Manning K & D Entreprise Landscape Management, Inc. (815) 725-0758 kmanning@kdlandscapeinc.com Tom Lupfer Lupfer Landscaping (708) 352-2765 tom@lupferlandscaping.com Maureen Scheitz Acres Group (847) 526-4554 maureen.scheitz@acresgroup.com

Wall came for our local town celebration. It is called the Wall that Heals as it is called. Some 50,000-plus names are etched in steel of the soldiers who gave their lives in the Vietnam Conflict. They gave their lives serving.

As we celebrate our Independence Day on July 4th, let us give thanks to those that have served to protect us and our way of life as well as our nation’s ideal of freedom.

Let us also remember that our nation and society grow stronger as we continue to serve and give back.

We give back to our community regularly, and many times, unconsciously. Sometimes it is through projects like donating a landscape design for our high school and giving time to teach students how to install it. Sometimes it is through helping guide a side-swiped city council through emerald ash borer preparedness.

And sometimes it’s the more personal touche we spend developing young men and women into productive members of society.

ILCA gives back regularly. We sent members to Washington, IL to help plant trees last fall in repair of devastating tornado damage. We are sending a group this month to the annual Renewal and Remembrance organized by the National Association of Landscape Professionals (formerly PLANET). There we have the opportunity to serve at Arlington National Cemetery, a fantastic and awe inspiring experience.

As an industry, we have a tremendous and unheralded impact on our country. We improve quality of life by building and maintaining spaces that bring joy upon sight, smell and touch. We allow people to interact in inviting and comfortable ways. We support natural ecologies that attract butterflies, birds and wildlife that people enjoy engaging with.

This work is not well recognized at first blush. As we strive to find labor to complete the job at hand, it is equally important to continue to develop our industry’s value to society. Giving back to your community in a way that allows others to appreciate and value your expertise is a great way to start. And then publicize it! This is the step that I fall down on most often. I know so many of us do.

ILCA is embarking on a new chapter this year. One of promotion, creating awareness and starting to move the needle on how decision makers value the work we do.

I encourage you to engage or re-engage and we will make a difference together.

We do not need to lay down our lives in order to protect our way of life, just continue to serve and improve it. Everyone benefits. We benefit, our employees benefit, and more work will follow.

As this is my first letter, I also want to thank you, the membership for the privilege of serving as the next President of ILCA. I am humbled by your continued support and look forward to leading our organization towards continued prosperity.

Rusty Maulding June 22, 2015

Donna Vignocchi Zych ILT Vignocchi, Inc. (847) 487-5200 dvignocchi@iltvignocchi.com

www.ilca.net

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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The Brickman Group, Ltd. • Arlington Heights Residence Long Grove

From the street, this home appears as any nicely

pathway made of tumbled limestone cobbles with turf and very porous media below to handle all of the water percolation. The designed and maintained landscape, but the modest backyard circle shape of the labyrinth was repeated in pavement patterns space is an expression of our clients desire to create a spa-like on patios, water features, and in a gateway entry along with patenvironment. To accomplish this, we worked with the architect tering on the interior homes floors. The water features were to modify the home’s plans. We completely flipped the footprint designed to engage the senses with an informal Koi pond and and orientation while adding more windows to create an interior arroyo like stream fed by a stylized artesian well feature. The courtyard that was more embracing to the back yard. With that in water needed to recharge the system is also from the labyrinth mind, we stressed the important connection between the interior cistern. Plantings are designed to be multi textural, colored, and exterior spaces and with the garden and open air covered and seasonal with a tapestry that evolves throughout the year. patio with a hearth. Challenged by poor drainage throughout The property is connected by pathways to allow for meditative the site, a large expansive area was created to manage all of the strolling and materials were chosen to enhance the sensorial existing and concentrated water from roofs, basement, and the experiences. The garden has become a focal point much like an site. Instead of an unsightly detention area, our solution became important painting from all of the rooms of the house much to the focal point and driver of the concept for the entire site. What our clients’ delight. evolved was a large circular labyrinth walkway and meditative The Landscape Contractor 9 July 2015

Focus — Summer Field Day Preview

Summer Field Day 2015

By Patrice Peltier

Explore the serenity of Cantigny’s 200-acre

park. Maybe even pick up an idea or two. Enjoy the beauty of a landscape and gardens you don’t have to plan, install or maintain. These experiences—and more--await you at ILCA’s Summer Field Day at Cantigny, according to Cantigny’s Horticulture Director Joy Kaminsky.

“It will be a chance for everyone to take a break from all their hard work and just enjoy the beautiful gardens,” she says.

Cantigny (pronounced Canteeny) is a country estate that was home to the late Colonel Robert McCormick, long-time editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. McCormick lived there

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from the 1920s until his death in 1955.

From its early days, Cantigny was all about experimentation, demonstration and education. During the early 1930s, the estate was a highly successful experimental farm, trying new species of plants, testing theories of planting and har­ vesting and exploring new practices in raising farm animals.

The results were shared with family farms that populated the countryside.

When he died, McCormick left a charitable trust to maintain the property “for the education, recreation and welfare of (continued on page 12)

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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Focus — Summer Field Day Preview (continued from page 10) the people of Illinois.” Today, the gardens help carry out that mission by showcasing trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and edibles that perform well in our region.

The public gardens were designed in 1967 by renowned landscape architect Franz Lipp. Initially, the formal gardens were designed to test plant material’s performance in the Midwest climate. Later, they became well-known for stunning displays of annuals and roses. When Kaminsky joined Cantigny five growing seasons ago, she injected a theme of sustainability into the gardens.

The new emphasis on sustainability is evident as soon as you enter the property. The new entrance and water detention area were designed and planted in 2014 with that in mind.

The plant material chosen for this landscape focuses on bold color, long-blooming, drought-tolerant perennials and incorporates no-mow areas that flow seamlessly with the overall design. (For more information on this project, please see the article on page 18.)

Throughout the gardens, Kaminsky is making changes— big and small—with an eye towards sustainability. “We want to retain the colorful displays the community loves and expects, and now we’re asking how we can make them more sustainable.”

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Displays that used to be 100% annuals now include 20% perennials to help “anchor” and supplement the plantings. For a special pop of spring color, the staff experimented with growing Geum borisii ‘Queen of Orange’ in the greenhouse to get it to flower a little earlier. This perennial was combined with spring annuals for an early-color display and later transplanted into a permanent perennial display garden.

“This spring the geum started blooming before the daffodils and was still blooming after the daffodils finished,” Kaminsky reports. “It was so fun to see that deep, deep orange with the daffodils, and then, afterward the daffs were finished, the geum was still there providing color. What was even more fun is that this perennial flower wouldn’t have been added to our gardens if we had continued to focus only on annual pansies and violas.”

Similarly, Echinacea ‘PowWow Wild Berry’ was started from seed in the greenhouse then planted in the summer annual displays. In late fall, it was moved to a permanent home in the perennial gardens.

Both are examples of how the staff is re-thinking the gardens’ annual displays and re-using material that would have been thrown away in the past, according to Kaminsky.

The horticulture staff is also looking for ways to get more mileage from annuals. “Snapdragons perform well in the cooler

(continued on page 14)

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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Focus — Summer Field Day Preview (continued from page 12) seasons, so we plant them early and hold them over throughout the summer,” Kaminsky explains.

Instead of switching plants out three times a year, she also looks for spring performers she can push a little further into summer or fall. “I’m looking for annuals that will give me two seasons before re-planting,” she explains. “We’re trying to limit the amount of plant material we’re throwing away.”

Inspiring and educating professional and home gardeners is one of the missions of the gardens. The one-acre Idea Garden is one of the ways Cantigny is seeking to do that.

The garden, which changes from season to season and year to year, includes more than 300 varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers and shrubs. Displays showcase both proven and new plants, products, techniques and structures.

“We are trying to give people ideas for what you can do in small spaces. We show creative uses of containers, how to add vegetables to ornamental gardens and other ideas that people can try,” Kaminsky explains.

These change throughout the garden’s 29 “rooms”— again to spark ideas people can use. For instance, this year the Par-Terre garden’s theme is “Garden of EatiN’”. The garden demonstrates ways to make a vegetable garden both productive and aesthetically pleasing throughout the grow-

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ing season. “We experiment with different ideas and techniques here. People can see ideas they might like to try or to adapt on their own,” Kaminsky explains.

Another garden that’s new in 2015 is the Hosta Garden which, when complete, will feature more than 150 varieties of hostas along with companion plantings. Kaminsky hopes this garden, created in conjunction with the Northern Illinois Hosta Society, will become one of a handful of nationally recognized hosta display gardens in the Midwest.

Most of the gardens now incorporate perennials as well as annuals, Kaminsky says. Many also feature arboretum-like collections of woody plants. “It’s maintained as a parkland estate,” she explains.

Other areas of the garden you’ll want to visit include: • Rose Garden — more than 1,000 roses bushes representing 55 varieties and 16 rose classifications.

• Rock Garden ­— rugged trees and shrubs plus cascading, drought-tolerant perennials.

• Dryland Garden — drought-tolerant and low maintenance trees, shrubs, flowers and groundcovers from desert, seashore and mountain ecosystems.

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

•

Green Garden — many hues of green plus white flowers and red berries. Other colors need not apply.

• Octagon Garden — once the rose garden, now an eightsided, three-season showcase of annuals • North and South Shade Gardens — low-maintenance shady perennials.

• Prairie— two-plus acres of native grasses and forbs with Chicagoland genomes.

• Ornamental Specimen Tree Collection • Alder-Birch Collection • Maple-Viburnum Collection For Summer Field Day attendees, Cantigny offers a lot to see and do…or a serene and lovely spot to take a deep breath and relax. Either way, it’s an experience you won’t want to miss.

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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Focus — Summer Field Day Preview

What’s in a name?

Robert McCormick named his estate Cantigny (pronounced Canteeny) after a small village in France where the Battle of Cantigny was fought in May, 1918. The battle was America’s first victory in World War I. McCormick commanded an artillery battalion there as a member of the US Army’s First Division, also know as the Big Red One.

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The Landscape Contractor July 2015

Celebrating 60 Years You’ll be visiting Cantigny while it’s celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. The foundation, a charitable trust, was established in 1955 with Colonel Robert R. McCormick died. The foundation oversees Cantigny Park, which was opened to the public in 1958. In addition, the non-profit charity is involved in early childhood education, journalism, civics, communities and veterans with the goal of fostering communities of educated, informed and engaged citizens. To date, the foundation has awarded more than $1.4 billion in grants.

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Focus — Summer Field Day Preview

Collaboration and Tenacity Work for Cantigny Project

By Patrice Peltier

If at first you don’t succeed

…well, you know the story.

When a two-fold increase in visitors over the last 10 years prompted Cantigny Park to expand the traffic lanes at its entrance in 2013-14, all kinds of changes had to be made. The driveway increased from two lanes to five. This, of course, meant new landscaping for the entrance. The increase in nonpermeable surface also meant a new detention area must be created to hold runoff and protect water quality.

As Cantigny Director of Horticulture Joy Kaminsky began planning for the $2 million project, she envisioned a welcoming landscape that would be bold in color, absorb heat from paved surfaces and reflect an emphasis on biodiversity and sustainability. She also wanted a detention area that would complement the adjacent, manicured Parade Field yet be easy to maintain.

The detention basin proved to be the tricky part.

“For the detention basin, we envisioned a sedge field — something that would look like a golf course rough — a low profile of green,” Kaminsky recalls.

Planning was already underway when author, lecturer, landscape consultant and Know Maintenance Guru Roy Diblik stopped in to see Kaminsky one day. She already had a basic concept and plant list for the detention basin. She asked Diblik to review the plant list and provide feedback. Diblik agreed, and soon he was an integral part of the project.

Kaminsky appreciates Diblik’s willingness to lend his expertise at any point in a project. “He doesn’t insist on having everything his way and can assist in any stage of the project,” she says. “He’s a really gifted man in the way he works with the landscape and people.”

Diblik agreed with many of the plants already on the list, but he tinkered with the total numbers and the percentages. He envisioned drifts of accent plants that would provide contrasts in foliage color, form or texture woven together by a matrix of primary plants that varied according to the elevation of the basin.

“Too many detention basins don’t have any character,” Diblik says. “The plants aren’t put in in a social way. There’s 18

not that much difference in the way they look, or the percentages of each species aren’t high enough to show off the differences in color and texture.”

Diblik also encouraged planting more closely. The original plans called for 1,200 to 1,500 carex, Diblik recalls. The final planting included more than 11,000 plants. “If you put plants in too far apart, it leaves too much room for weeds to enter,” Diblik explains.

At Cantigny, Kaminsky worked closely with Horticulture Manager Craig Kruckenberg and Forestry Manager Todd Henderson. “Cantigny led the whole process. We brought in contractors for their expertise,” Kaminsky explains. “We searched for the best people we could find.”

The team eventually included Sigalos & Associates, Engineering Resource Associates, Stokes Excavating, and Pederson Company for the installation, planting and first-year maintenance of the detention basin. One aspect of the project that particularly pleased Kaminsky was how well the players worked together. “Everybody collaborated, communicated and problem-solved,” she recalls. “It made the project a success and the whole process a lot more fun.”

Excavation for the detention basin began in January 2014.

The goal was to have the project planted by early spring… before the staff got busy with its regular growing season tasks and before visitors began arriving in earnest, Forestry Manager Henderson explained during a presentation at iLandscape.

The detention basin was dug and geotextile was put down followed by gravel. Then, the project was put on hold until spring thaw. When that happened, water pooled in the basin.

April 13 came and went. So did April 23. The basin still hadn’t drained. The team began considering options. Pumping the water was suggested, but was ruled out because it was not a long-term solution.

The team dug a temporary trench to an existing four-inch perforated pipe, but that solution failed due to the lack of elevation.

The willows had fully leafed out and the team was still waiting for the water to drain, Henderson recalled. Eventually

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

the team decided the only long-term solution was to run a pipe 680 feet across the manicured Parade Field to connect to a drain on the golf course. In the process, the irrigation lines for the Parade Field had to be fixed twice. Expletive deleted!

By June, the crew began preparing the soil for planting. The blend was 50% sand, 30% soil and 20% hardwood mulch. “We mixed it in the parking lot then spread it over the bioswale,” Henderson recalls. The mix was placed at the bottom first, working towards the top of the basin. The crew avoided moving over the planting mix to prevent compaction.

By the time planting began, the project was a month behind schedule and planting was taking place along with the park’s regular planting.

The one-third acre detention area was planted with 10,400 carex and grasses plus 552 forbs, all 2.5” plugs spaced approximately 14” on center. The bottom of the basin included Carex stricta accented with C. bebbii, C. stipata, C. pellita, C. hystericina, and C. comosa. Calamagrostis canadensis was also used as an accent.

Higher up, C. stricta and C. pellita were repeated, complemented by C. muskingumensis, C. molesta, C. tenera with touches of C. grisea. At the top, 60% of the planting included Sporobolus heterolepis. C. tenera was carried through from the mid level with a sprinkling of C. grisea. (continued on page 18)

Carex pellita

Carex grisea

Carex bebbii

Carex molesta

Carex stricta

Carex tenera

Carex stipata

Carex hystericina

Carex muskingumensis

Carex comosa

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

19

Focus — Summer Field Day Preview (continued from page 19) Kruckenberg suggested a hint of color in the flowing sedge meadow, so the team included drifts of Lobelia cardinalis, Iris virginica, Mimulus ringens and Silphium terebinthinaceum throughout the basin.

The carex were all cut back in preparation for planting. On June 18, Kruckenberg and Diblik spent the day placing plants in the basin…and then it rained. The basin filled, and the plants floated out of position. Kruckenberg and Diblik spent the next day sorting through thousands of carex plugs trying to figure out which were which.

Diblik was philosophical. “The fun comes from chaos,” he says. “The engineers can only tell us so much.”

Finally, the Pederson crew was able to plant. They weeded weekly, and the plugs were watered as needed to help them get established in the summer heat.

It was a bumpy start to be sure, but in May, 2015, the project looked great, according to Kaminsky. The plants made it through the winter with great success. “We had excellent success. All the carex are coming back strong and healthy. It looks beautiful,” Kaminsky reported in late May. Diblik, too, was impressed. “The plants are very large.

Craig has been a good father,” Diblik says.

One change the team is making is to plant more Carex tenera at the top of the basin. Kaminsky theorizes that because this area is drier, the plants haven’t filled in as much as elsewhere. Her solution is to add more of the same plants. “We’re very happy with the plant material that was selected,” she says.

Kaminsky anticipates both the entrance and the detention area will need regular watering for three to five years. After

Construction begins winter 2013

Spring thaw 2014

Excavation begins

Placing drainage layer

20

Waiting for the basin to drain

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

that, she expects the plantings to survive on rainfall — except during extremely dry periods.

She’s also keeping an eye on some of the carex species that are more vigorous than others. For instance, this spring, Kruckenberg hand cut the seedheads from Carex comosa, a plant that can be a bit of a bully. By preventing it from reseeding, Kaminsky hopes to give the other carex a chance to get established and hold their own.

This season, Cantigny is using help from Pizzo & Associates to carefully monitor the basin for invasive species.

At least plant ID isn’t generally a problem, Kaminsky says.

“It’s 90% carex, so if it’s not a carex, it’s not supposed to be there,” she explains. “That makes it easy to manage weeds.”

The final maintenance task will be mowing the area with a mulching mower each spring.

So far, Kaminsky is pleased with plant selection and performance, but there is still one little glitch.

That 680-foot pipe that drains the basin has to be opened manually. In May, the team experimented with opening and closing the drain so they can maintain plant health. After heavy rains, they open the drain enough to allow a slow flow of water to exit, keeping the plants from being submerged too long.

Abundant rain — especially at the end of the month — kept them continually tweaking the system. Cantigny staff anticipates that once the sedge meadow is established the carex will absorb much of the water flowing through the detention basin.

That’s the kind of team work and problem solving that makes Kaminsky proud of this project. The team has collaborated to try, try again. That, in itself, is success.

Planting time—June 26, 2014

Plants floated away

Maintenance mode

Roy goes fishing

September 10, 2014

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

21

It Happened at iLandscape

Explosive Plant Combinations

By Patrice Peltier

When designing with perennials, you’ve

Greg Schaumburg

Don’t limit your perennial garden designs to perennials, Bertog Landscape Company Designer Greg Schaumburg advised the audience.

“Many successful garden borders—the ones many of us are drawn to—commonly intersperse bulbs, woodies, perennials and annuals within their composition,” Schaumburg noted.

Rather than creating landscape plans that simply designate a perennial bed, he suggested designers take the time to think through a plan that integrates many kinds of plants that offer color, form and texture throughout the seasons.

“Bulbs, shrubs and perennials can share the same space in a mixed border,” he explains. In his home landscape, bulb accents Schaumburg and his wife, Janie, a landscape designer at groundcovers and evergreens Wright Landscaping, combine Allium christophii, hemerocallis, nepeta, and Zagreb coreopsis with Annabelle hydrangea for a long season of blooms plus enough winter interest to keep the landscape from looking empty later in the season.

Bulbs are a great way to add early season impact, according to Schaumburg. Some bulbs, such as globemaster allium, provide long-lasting architectural interest while the flower is blooming and as the seedhead dries, he pointed out.

“I love the impact of shrubs within a perennial bed,” Schaumburg says. A single shrub—such as a rose or a hydrangea—provides structure, a contrast in leaf shape and texture, and a longer bloom period than most perennials, he added. A grouping of shrubs like Sem falsespirea or boxwood can provide a textured, green backdrop for other plants. When using a single specimen, Schaumburg recommends repeating the shrub throughout the landscape to create consistency and flow.

When combining plants, be sure they have the same cultural requirements, Schaumburg notes. He points to a planting at his home that includes Sem falsespirea as a backdrop, Summer Beauty allium, nepeta, and alyssum edged with Sedum kamptschaticum as an example of plants whose lowwater needs help them grow well together.

“Flowers are fast; leaves are longer,” Schaumburg reminded his audience, urging them to make foliage an important consideration in plant selection. To reinforce his point, he unnecessary limitation asked people to compare Caramel coralbells, “a plant with late and early seasons amazing foliage and a horrible flower that many gardeners cut off” to turtlehead, “an amazing late flower with okay foliage”.

22 The Landscape Contractor July 2015 got to know the rules. Once you do, you can intelligently, thoughtfully break them. That was part of the message panelists Greg Schaumburg, Ryan Kettelkamp and Christine Nye shared with their audience at their iLandscape presentation: “Discover explosive plant combinations that please both your palate and your palette.”

It Happened at iLandscape “Which has the bigger impact,” he asked. “The bloom for most plants is quick and over, but the foliage is around for a long time.”

In fact, Schaumburg is a fan of the villosa strains of corabells such as Caramel and Amethyst Myst.

He likes using their contrasting colors together or combined with shade-tolerant plants like vinca and hosta. He is such a fan of Caramel, in fact, that he often recommends it as a substitute for annuals as a way of providing season-long color.

To extend the season, Schaumburg urged the audience to think about other aspects of plants such as architectural interest, fall foliage color and seedheads.

Amsonia hubrichtii, for instance, provides nice, golden fall foliage color in addition to its early spring blossoms, Schaumburg noted.

Similarly, milkweed is a tall, architectural plant with flowers that mature to distinctive pods. “They are a tactile reminder of being a kid and splitting the pods open to release the silky seeds inside,” he said.

“Think about the dormant state as much as the growing state,” Schaumburg said. “If a plant is cut back when dormant, it will leave a void, so use and select perennials with their dormant state in mind.”

A final consideration in designing plant combinations is who will be maintaining them, according to Schaumburg. “Will it be a homeowner or a professional? What is the skill level of the person you’re turning over these living things to,” he asks. “My rule of thumb is if I can’t keep it alive in my own landscape, I’m not going to waste time trying to plant it at a client’s house and then replace it under warranty. You can’t forget the business aspects of plant selection just because something looks nice in a container.”

24

bulb, shrub, and perennial interplay

Busy composition contained Full season interest Sharing same space

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

Ryan Kettelkamp

shrub accents “similar cultural needs”

Sedum, allium, nepeta Similar water and light Seed-grown Alyssum

As Ryan Kettelkamp, co-owner of Kettelkamp & Kettelkamp Landscape Architecture, listened to Schaumburg’s presentation, he said he was struck by the similarity of their approaches. Both favor mixed borders that combine trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals and bulbs with an eye not only toward flower color, but for form, texture, foliage color and seasonal interest.

Kettelkamp used his company’s work on the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago to illustrate both his design process and the way he creates “perennial partnerships” in the mixed borders he designs.

Despite perennials’ prominent place in his designs, Kettelkamp doesn’t start by specifying plants. First, he shows clients an overview sketch so that everyone agrees on the concept. For the Regenstein Library project, Kettelkamp’s concept was based on eight “mini borders” each anchored by what he called “a collectors’ garden” of evergreens.

Next he shows the client drawings that indicate the colors, textures and heights of the plants, still without specifying particular plants.

Finally, Kettelkamp puts together “plant partnerships”, pairings of plants that complement each other in their bloom times as well as their size, form, texture and foliage color. For instance, in the library project, he paired moor grass (Seslaria heufleriana) with Emerald Blue creeping phlox (Phlox subulata ‘Emerald Blue’). Both flower in spring, and the rest of the season, the phlox’s creeping, fine-textured foliage contrasts with the upright foliage of the grass.

“The plants support each other and help fill each other’s gaps,” Kettelkamp explains. Often, Kettelkamp positions a three-plant pairing next to a two-plant pairing and encourages one of the plants in the trio to weave into the neighboring pairing. In nature, plants don’t exist (continued on page 26)

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

25

It Happened at iLandscape QUARRIER OF NATURAL STONE SINCE 1964

FIRE PITS FLAGSTONE WALLSTONE COPING/CAPS OUTCROPPING OUTDOOR KITCHENS

(continued from page 25) in clumps of three or five, he notes, so he encourages his plantings to weave together in a more naturalistic way.

The Regenstein Library project had a rather unusual objective. The client wanted the gardens to look their best in spring when the students graduate and in early fall when students return. Unlike many gardens, the goal was not to have maximum color at the height of summer.

One of Kettelkamp’s favorite combinations includes geum, creeping phlox and Purple Sensation allium. Kettelkamp is a big fan of the boldly colorful geums being introduced by Brent Horvath of Intrinsic Perennial Gardens. “We’re really excited about geums. They bloom at a time when most of the plant palette is sweet pinks and whites. Brent’s geums bloom in really intense, reach-out-andgrab-you colors,” Kettelkamp says.

Next to this pairing, Kettelkamp planted the black-stemmed Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’. He likes the way the black stems play off the dark tones in

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The Landscape Contractor July 2015

the nearby Heuchera micrantha ‘Palace Purple’. “We use color echoing a lot,” he says. “That’s the fun stuff you can play with.”

Kettelkamp likes to include plants that make people say, “Hey, what is that?” At the Regenstein Library garden, that role is filled by donkey tail spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites). He paired it with Dianthus ‘Frosty Fire’, partly because they have the same, bluish foliage and also because the euphorbia foliage continues to look great as the dianthus foliage declines in fall. This pairing is planted next to a weeping hemlock and Molinia caerulea ‘Moorflamme’.

Kettelkamp has encouraged the spurge to weave into this planting for a new color, form and texture.

As an example of his residential work, Kettelkamp discussed a mixed border with bluestone edging, a project installed by Rocco Fiore & Sons. The border includes roses, perennials and annuals such as mini cleome, which (continued on page 28)

The Honorable Bruce Rauner Governor of Illinois Office of the Governor 207 State House Springfield, IL 62706 2625 Butterfield Road Suite 104S Oak Brook IL 60523-1257 630-472-2851 – fax 630-472-3150 www.ilca.net / information@ilca.net Serving Landscape Contractors Since 1959 President Kevin Vancina, CLT Vancina Landscaping, Inc. (815) 726-2300 Vice President Rusty Maulding, CLT Nature’s View (815) 515-0244 Secretary/Treasurer Michael Schmechtig Schmechtig Landscape Co. (847) 566-1233 Immediate Past President Charlie Keppel The Care of Trees (847) 382-4120 Directors Mark Breier National Seed (630) 963-8787 Lisa Fiore Fiore Nursery and Landscape Supply (847) 913-1414 Jose Garcia Natural Creations Landscaping (815) 724-0991 Lisa Fiore Kositzki Don Fiore Company, Inc. (847) 234-0020 Tom Lupfer Lupfer Landscaping (708) 352-2765 Dean MacMorris Night Light, Inc. (630) 627-1111 Maureen Scheitz Acres Group (847) 526-4554 Donna Vignocchi Zych ILT Vignocchi, Inc. (847) 487-5200 Executive Director Scott Grams

June 8, 2015

Dear Governor Rauner: The Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (ILCA) supports the Governor in identifying worker's compensation reform as a top priority of the Illinois Turnaround Plan. Worker's compensation in Illinois has become a treacherous road for many small construction companies. The costs of providing worker’s compensation insurance have increased dramatically and without tether.

Many landscape companies saw their worker's compensation costs rise steadily even after the reforms of 2011. The combination of the landscape industry's classification code, mod rates, and fewer providers who cover landscape work has led to skyrocketing premiums. Our industry has been enticed by reform attempts in the past but did not see that savings trickle back down in the form of reduced premiums.

Insurers often deny coverage to landscape companies, even companies with strong safety records. Further, if a company cannot find coverage or sees their coverage lapse, the company must enter the high risk pool. The costs within the high risk pool are so exorbitant they diminish any hope for investment and expansion. In our current regulatory environment, too many businesses are doing the unthinkable and not electing coverage.

These companies ignore the State's clear standard and risk their employees’ well-being every day with no safety net. Some of these are cash-based businesses but many are not.

Many of these are legal businesses who ignore the requirement because they know the state is not enforcing the standard and the client base does not check or care.

Therefore, on top of necessary reforms, enforcement must be part of any effort to improve the State’s worker's compensation system. The Illinois Worker's Compensation Commission (IWCC) has been underfunded and underutilized by Springfield for too long. The IWCC maintains an impressive website of active insurance certificate holders. Yet its auditing and enforcement powers seem non-existent.

Worker's compensation audits more than pay for themselves. The penalties are $500 per day or over $180,000 per year for violations. Worker's compensation insurance is a clear standard. No credible business can use the tired excuse of, "I didn't know we needed coverage." No special interest group will rally to defend illegally operating companies.

We commend your interest in reforming the broken worker's compensation system in Illinois. We urge that enforcement be considered alongside lasting reform. We trust you will ensure the next round of reforms lead to reduced premiums for Illinois businesses and not greater financial margins for insurance providers.

Regards, Kevin Vancina, President, Illinois Landscape Contractors Association

ILCA’s Mission…to enhance the professionalism and capabilities of members by providing leadership, education and valued services while promoting environmental awareness within the landscape industry.

It Happened at iLandscape (continued from page 26) Kettelkamp says has “a perennial-like quality.” This annual’s smaller stature and flower heads don’t dominate the garden while filling in and extending the bloom season.

“We use roses in almost every border,” Kettelkamp says. He likes to use shrub roses for their long period of bloom and for their nostalgic quality.

“Roses remind us of growing up and of grandma’s garden,” he says.

Like Schaumburg, Kettelkamp and his wife and business partner, Claire, also use their home garden as a “test kitchen.” This is where they learn which combinations work. “There’s not a lot of repetition because we’re playing with different compositions along the border,” he explains. (continued on page 30)

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Same leaf, different color H. villosa varieties 28

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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It Happened at iLandscape (continued from page 28)

Christine Nye

Christine Nye, horticulturist at The Shedd Aquarium, is all about ecosystems. She doesn’t advocate using only native species. What she does advocate is creating beautiful landscapes that also provide food and shelter for wildlife as well as species diversity, without requiring chemicals, ongoing irrigation or lots of money for maintenance.

“Let’s add some dimension for the wildlife and save resources by using plants that maintain themselves,” Nye says.

This is an approach Nye came to over time. When she started at The Shedd nearly 20 years ago, she planted more traditional landscapes. “Along the way, I realized there was a component

alternating colors

Alternating variety Annual substitute

30

to my gardens that was missing—any kind of relevancy to the ecosystem,” she recalls.

Her first step in this new direction was to create a migratory bird garden to provide food and shelter for all the birds passing through on the Mississippi flyway. “We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of birds,” she reports. In fact, about 15 years ago, Nye recalls The Shedd had a single redwing blackbird one spring. It was such a rare occurrence that she put up signs to educate visitors and protect the nesting site.

“Now, they’re everywhere. We’ve got hundreds of them dive-bombing us every day,” she reports with obvious pleasure.

What are some of Nye’s favorite wildlife-friendly, low-maintenance plant combinations? Here are a few: • One of the plant combinations in the Migratory Bird Garden is Sporobolus heterolepis, Amsonia tabernaemontana, Achillea millefolium and Hypericum kalmianum.

“It’s pretty; it’s clean, and there’s zero maintenance,” she says.Birds also love her pairing of Allium angulosum ‘Summer Beauty’, Baptisia australis, Coreopsis palmata and Sporobolus heterolepis.

“I’ve seen little birds hanging on the Sporobolus,” she says. The pairing has even attracted Rubycrowned Kinglets and Goldencrowned Kinglets, much to Nye’s delight. These tiny birds normally spend their time high in a forest canopy. To attract and support butterflies, Nye has planted Asclepias syrica and Liatris pycnostachya as vertical accents among the nonnative Carex flacca. “I just love Carex flacca,” she says. “It’s so tough, has great color and such a sculptural quality. I like this combination because you’ve got these tall, spiky plants among the beautiful blue mounds of grass.”

• Visitors are often amazed to see cactus growing along the lakefront, Nye says of her use of Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa).She combined it with

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

Asclepias tuberosa, Panicum virgatum, Penstemon calycosus and Penstemon ‘Schoenholzeri.’

This combination thrives in the dry, often rocky soil of the Dune Garden. “It’s floriferous, colorful and fun,” Nye says.

• Another combination Nye likes for its contrasting textures and colors is Echinacea pallida, Monarda punctata and Schizachyrium scoparium. ”This combo is seasonally beautiful and provides late-season nourishment for the birds,” she explains.

• For shade, Nye likes to use Carex pennsylvanica as a groundcover around trees and to weave together other shade-tolerant plants. “It’s a great plant that you can tuck in everywhere,” she says. She likes to add spring ephemerals such as Mertensia virginica as well as perennials such as Chelone glabra and Eurybia macrophylla for color later in the season.

• In her home garden, Nye capitalizes on ground-covering hostas in her shade garden, adding natives such as Geranium maculatum and Podophyllum peltatum for diversity. Last year, she planted the native bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) among the hostas. “It came right up through the hostas and bloomed its little head off,” she reports.

Nye encourages people to experiment and to find pleasing ways to add diversity while using plants that support a healthy eco-system. “I don’t have rules.

I just do what I want, and you should, too,” Nye tells her audiences.

She does add one important caveat: “Just remember. You can’t have everything you want,” she cautions. “Your plant selection has to be site appropriate, or you’ll be fighting it all the time.”

Garden Speak — Practical Plant Evaluations

Phlox: Get all the color

(without the powdery mildew...)

by Patirce Peltier

Gardeners have flocked to

phlox for more than a century. We prize its luxurious, eye-popping, mid-summer blooms so much that we tolerate its less attractive qualities, namely its proclivity for powdery mildew. Although Phlox paniculata is a North American native, it was the Europeans who began developing cultivars as early as the 1880s.

Since then, plant breeders have been busily expanding its range of colors,

both increasing and decreasing its stature, and trying to do something about that powdery mildew.

Today there are so many choices of phlox, how are we to make sense of the selection? Let the Chicago Botanic Garden do it! The garden has done two comparative studies of phlox—a 1993-1996 study that included 10 Phlox paniculata cultivars and a 2001-2009 study that evaluated 78 Phlox taxa. In

P. paniculata ‘Flower Power’ 32

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

the later study, only one phlox—P. paniculata ‘Shortwood’—received an ‘Excellent’ rating for its exceptional overall performance and superior resistance to powdery mildew and spider mites. Nonetheless, 27 others received high marks for their resistance to mildew and mites as well as their excellent flower production and overall vigor. Here are some of Plant Evaluation Manager Richard Hawke’s favorites.

P. paniculata ‘Peppermint Twist’

P. paniculata ‘Shortwood’ is definitely not short; it grows 50 inches tall! Found growing in a Pennsylvania planting of the popular, white-flowered ‘David’, ‘Shortwood’ has heavy production of rosy-pink flowers.

Its stature is matched by its mildew resistance according to Hawke. “Growing among dozens of susceptible cultivars, it was astonishing that we never found a spot of mildew on its leaves,” he reports. (continued on page 34) The Landscape Contractor July 2015

33

Garden Speak — Practical Plant Evaluations (continued from page 33) P. paniculata ‘Katherine’ was a mildew-resistant beauty before it became all the rage. Introduced in the 1920s, ‘Katherine’ was the most mildew resistant phlox in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s first trial and a strong performer in the second. “‘Katherine’ has pretty lavender blossoms with a white eye, a combination that gives it a calming quality in a sea of rowdier colors,” Hawke says. He’s hoping Katherine’s strong performance in the second trial will help introduce her to a whole new generation of gardeners.

Speaking of rowdy, ‘Peppermint Twist’ is a flashy phlox featuring alternating pink and white petals that remind Hawke of starlight mints. He recommends planting this phlox where its unique flowers can be enjoyed up close, especially when paired with solid pink flowering phlox. Although ‘Peppermint Twist’ was introduced as a compact plant that was only supposed to grow 12-16 inches tall, Hawke reports the plants in his trial grew to be twice that tall in four years.

As its name suggests, ‘Orange Perfection’ is very, very orange. “The intensity of the sultry orange flowers with

magenta eyes was a bit shocking, but delightful, nonetheless,” says Hawke, an avowed fan of orange in the garden.

He suggests combining ‘Orange Perfection’ with purple or blue-flowered plants for those who feel a need to tone this one down a bit.

Phlox x arendsii ‘Miss Mary’ was one of several arendsii crosses that performed well in the trial. Its cherry red flowers add their vibrant color to the garden from midJuly through mid-September. If you’re looking for a violet purple flower, a cousin, Phlox x arendsii ‘Miss Margie’ also sailed through the trial with good mildew resistance, low mite infestation and 80-100% flower coverage.

Another top performer was Phlox maculata ‘Flower Power.’ P. maculata, known as meadow phlox, is often confused with P. paniculata. Its cylindrical clusters of flowers bloom a bit earlier than P. paniculata. Plus, it is unaffected by powdery mildew. ‘Flower Power’ was a favorite of Hawke’s. “I like the crazy amount of sweetly scented flowers, its handsome dark purple stems and its robust, bushy habit,” Hawke reports. “Every summer, it lived up to its name with tall clusters of white flowers delicately blushed with soft pink.”

‘Orange Perfection’ 34

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

‘Shortwood’

‘Katherine’

If you’re curious about how other phlox performed, there’s plenty of data available at the Chicago Botanic Garden website: http://www.chicagobotanic.org/research/ornamental_plant_research/plant_evaluation

Rating

Name

Height

Width

Good

P. x arendsii ‘Miss Margie’ P. x arendsii ‘Miss Mary’ P. maculata ‘Flower Power’ P. paniculata ‘Katherine’

35”

26”

38”

34”

49”

40”

38”

36”

P. paniculata ‘Orange Perfection’ P. paniculata ‘Shortwood’

36”

24”

50”

34”

Good Good Good Good Excellent

Flower Color Violet purple Cherry red White, pink blush Lavender, white eye Orange, magenta eye Rosy pink

Bloom Period Early summer to early fall Midsummer to early fall Early summer to early fall Early summer to early fall Early summer to midfall Early summer to late fall

Flower Production Heavy

Mildew Resistance Good

Mite Infestation Low

Heavy

Good

Low

Heavy

Excellent

None

Heavy

Good

Low

Heavy

Good

Low

Heavy

Excellent

None

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

35

Enfoque: Sección en Español

Sede del Día de Campo de Verano 2015 Por Patrice Peltier

Explore la serenidad

de los 200 acres del parque de Cantigny.

Quizá se llevará una idea o dos. Disfrute de la belleza de un paisaje con jardines que no tiene que planificar, instalar o mantener. Según Joy Kaminsky, Directora de Horticultura de Cantigny, estas experiencias —y más— lo esperan el Día de Campo de Verano de ILCA en Cantigny.

“Será una oportunidad para todos de tomar un descanso fuera de la rutina diaria, disfrutando plenamente de estos bellos jardines”, dice Joy.

Cantigny (se pronuncia Can-ti-ni) es una propiedad rural donde residía el Coronel Robert McCormick, que fue durante muchos años, director y editor del Chicago Tribune. McCormick residió en esa propiedad desde finales de la década de1920 hasta su muerte en 1955.

Desde sus primeros años, Cantigny fue utilizada para experimentación, educación y demostraciones. A comienzos de la década de 1930, la propiedad fue usada con mucho éxito como granja experimental, sometiendo a prueba nuevas especies de plantas y

teorías de plantación y cultivo y explorando nuevas prácticas para la cría de animales de granja. Los resultados fueron compartidos con muchas granjas familiares de las zonas rurales circundantes.

Al morir, McCormick dejó un fideicomiso benéfico con el propósito de mantener la propiedad “para la educación, recreación y bienestar de los residentes de Illinois”. Actualmente, los jardines ayudan a continuar la misión mostrando árboles, arbustos, plantas perennes, anuales y comestibles que

rinden bien en nuestra región.

Los jardines públicos fueron diseñados en 1967 por el renombrado arquitecto paisajista, Franz Lipp.

Inicialmente, los jardines formales fueron diseñados para probar el rendimiento de materiales de plantas en el clima del Medio Oeste.

Posteriormente, alcanzaron renombre por sus impresionantes exhibiciones de plantas anuales y rosas. Cuando Kaminsky se incorporó a Cantigny hace cinco estaciones de cultivo, inyectó el tema de la sostenibilidad en los jardines.

El nuevo énfasis en la sostenibilidad es evidente desde que se entra en la propiedad. La nueva entrada y el área de detención de aguas fueron diseñadas y plantadas en 2014, con esto en mente.

El material de plantas seleccionado para estos jardines se concentra en plantas perennes de colores atrevidos, floración prolongada y tolerancia a la sequía e incorpora zonas de no cortar el pasto que se adaptan fluidamente al diseño global.

(Para más información sobre este proyecto, por favor ver el artículo en la página 18.)

Kaminsky está haciendo cambios —grandes y pequeños— en todos los jardines pensando en la sostenibilidad.

“Deseamos conservar los despliegues de colores que la comunidad aprecia y espera; y ahora nos preguntamos cómo podemos hacerlos más sostenibles”.

Las exhibiciones que incluían plantas anuales en un 100%, incluyen ahora un 20% de plantas perennes para ayudar a “anclar” y complementar estas plantaciones. Para lograr un brote especial de colores primaverales, el personal experimentó cultivando ‘reinas anaranjadas’ (Geum ‘Borisii’) en el invernadero para que florecieran un poco antes. Estas plantas perennes fueron combinadas con plantas anuales primaverales para obtener primero un despliegue de colores y posteriormente fueron trasplantadas a un jardín permanente de exhibición de plantas

perennes.

“Esta primavera las geum comenzaron a florecer antes que los narcisos y seguían floreciendo después de que se marchitaron los narcisos”, informa Kaminsky. “Fue tan divertido ver aquel color anaranjado subido con los narcisos y luego, cuando los narcisos se marchitaron, las geum permanecían ahí ofreciendo sus colores.

Más divertido fue que esta flor perenne no habría sido incorporada a nuestros jardines si hubiésemos continuado enfocados en pensamientos y violas anuales”.

De forma similar, se cultivaron semillas de ‘bayas salvajes PowWos’ (Echinacea) en el invernadero y posteriormente las plantas fueron incluidas en las exhibiciones anuales del verano. A finales del otoño, fueron trasladadas a un hogar permanente en jardines perennes.

Ambas son ejemplos de cómo el personal está repensando las

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

37

Enfoque: Sección en Español exhibiciones anuales de los jardines y reutilizando materiales que habrían sido desechados en el pasado, explica Kaminsky.

El personal de horticultura está también buscando maneras de sacarle más millaje a las anuales.

“Las dragonarias rinden bien en las temporadas más frías, por lo que las plantamos temprano y las conservamos durante todo el verano”, explica Kaminsky.

En lugar de cambiar plantas tres veces al año, Kaminsky busca también plantas que rindan bien en la primavera y que puede mantener un poco más en el verano. “Estoy buscando plantas anuales que rindan en dos temporadas antes de volver a plantar” explica. “Estamos tratando de limitar la cantidad de material de plantas que desechamos”.

Inspirar y educar a jardineros profesionales y aficionados es una de las misiones de los jardines. El Idea Garden (Jardín Idea), de un acre, es

38

una de las maneras en que Cantigny está cumpliendo esta misión. El jardín, que cambia de temporada a temporada y de un año a otro, incluye más de 300 variedades de vegetales, hierbas, flores y arbustos. Las exhibiciones muestran plantas, productos, técnicas y estructuras tanto probadas como nuevas.

“Estamos tratando de dar ideas a las personas sobre lo que se puede hacer en lugares pequeños. Mostramos usos creativos de las macetas, cómo incorporar vegetales en los jardines ornamentales y otras ideas que las personas pueden poner en práctica”, explica Kaminsky.

Esto cambia a lo largo de las 29 “habitaciones” del jardín —para inspirar ideas que la gente puede utilizar. Por ejemplo, este año el tema del jardín Par-Terre es el “Jardín del EatiN”. El jardín muestra maneras de hacer un jardín de vegetales tanto productivo como estéticamente agradable durante toda la temporada de crecimiento.

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

“Experimentamos con diferentes ideas y técnicas. Las personas pueden ver ideas que les gustaría probar o adaptar a sus necesidades”, explica Kaminsky.

Otro jardín nuevo en 2015 es el Hosta Garden (Jardín de hostas), el cual, cuando haya sido completado, tendrá más de 150 variedades de hostas, junto con plantas acompañantes. Kaminsky espera que este jardín, creado junto con la Northern Illinois Hosta Society, se convierta en uno de los pocos jardines de hostas en el Medio Oeste reconocidos a escala nacional.

La mayoría de los jardines incorporan ahora plantas perennes y anuales, afirma Kaminsky. Muchos incluyen también colecciones tipo arboreto de plantas leñosas. “Se mantiene como una propiedad de áreas verdes”, explica.

Otras áreas del jardín que le recomendamos visitar: • Rose Garden (Jardín de rosas) — más de 1,000

•

•

•

•

rosales que representan 55 variedades y 16 clasificaciones de rosas.

Rock Garden (Jardín en rocas) — árboles robustos y arbustos, además de plantas perennes tolerantes a la sequía, que caen en cascada.

Dryland Garden (Jardín de secano) — árboles, arbustos, flores tolerantes a la sequía y de poco mantenimiento y cubiertas vegetales de ecosistemas de desiertos, playas y montañas.

Green Garden (Jardín verde) — muchas tonalidades de verde más flores blancas y bayas rojas. No se aceptan otros colores.

Octagon Garden (Jardín octagonal) — en un tiempo, el jardín de rosas, ahora un espacio plantado de ocho lados para exhibición

de plantas anuales de tres estaciones • Jardines de sombra del Norte y del Sur — plantas perennes de sombra de poco mantenimiento.

• Pradera— más de dos acres de hierbas y plantas herbáceas nativas con genomas de Chicagoland.

• Colección de ejemplares de árboles ornamentales • Colección de alisos y abedules • Colección de arces-viburnos Para las personas que asistan al Día de Campo de Verano, Cantigny ofrece mucho que ver y hacer…o un lugar sereno y encantador para respirar profundamente y relajarse. De cualquier manera, es una experiencia que usted no deberá perderse.

Usted visitará Cantigny durante la celebración del 60 aniversario del establecimiento de la Fundación Robert

R. McCormick. La fundación, un fideicomiso benéfico, fue establecida en 1955 cuando falleció el Coronel Robert R. McCormick. La fundación supervisa el Parque Cantigny, que abrió sus puertas al público en 1958. Además, la fundación benéfica sin fines de lucro está involucrada en la educación de niños pequeños, periodismo, civismo y con las comunidades y los veteranos, con el objetivo de promover comunidades de ciudadanos educados, informados y comprometidos. A la fecha, la fundación ha otorgado más de $1.400 millones en subvenciones.

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

39

It Happened at iLandscape

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“You can still use familiar plant varieties, such as petunias, coleus and zinnias but think about how you use them,” says Lyon, the new director of Iowa State University’s Reiman Gardens and formerly director of Allen Centennial Gardens at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s all about the combinations.”

It’s also all about looking at what is happening in other parts of the country and assessing whether or not they can be adapted to the Midwest. In fact, it’s keeping your eyes open to all of the possibilities.

Lyon realizes that this is difficult. Most landscape contractors, landscape architects and designers are more focused on (continued on page 42)

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(continued from page 40) the day to day. Few have the luxury that he does to explore everything that is new. “The folks in the field don’t have the same opportunities that I do,” he says. “I’m always surprised when I talk to an audience of professionals at how much of this is new to them.”

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An avid photographer, Lyon used his own pictures, garnered from not only the work done where he works, but also taken in public and private gardens he visits when traveling.

Although Lyon covered his intended subjects, some topics, like container gardening and succulents, elicited more questions and interest than others. “I was surprised,” he says. “I thought ornamental edibles would be one of the most popular subjects, but it came in third.”

Many landscape contractors do talk about using them in landscapes, especially as a way to entice the 30 to 40-yearold demographic into gardening. Lyon thinks “too much hope has been placed on edible plants as the industry ‘savior.’

Not everyone is going to jump into it just because it is a trend. We need to be looking at a larger variety of new gardening options to attract the widest new audience possible.”

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It Happened at iLandscape (continued from page 42) He discussed the issues of design and maintenance, noting “The only true measure of a container plant combination’s success is looking at it in August.”

For that reason he is critical of design contests that demonstrate containers just planted early in the season. Lyon also is an advocate of using fewer plants and more containers, as opposed to cramming lots of plants into a couple of large ones. “If something starts to fail, it is easier to replace” when using a number of smaller containers, he says. “It also tends to be a cleaner and more visibly appealing look.”

Many landscape contractors use several of the same or similar size containers arranged all in a row, planted alike. Instead, Lyon recommends mixing things up, varying sizes, heights and plantings to make more interesting displays. “Think about how you can differ the height and placement,” he says.

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It Happened at iLandscape (continued from page 44) Succulents Although popular for some time on the East and West coasts, exotic, nonwinter hardy succulents still aren’t at that stage in the Midwest for a number of reasons, says Lyon. They tend to be expensive, difficult to obtain and not nearly as well known.

They require little care, which is inclined to make clients happy. “I did my first succulent display at Allen (Centennial Gardens) and people asked where they could find them, but there was no place in town that sold succulents,” he says. “It captured people’s imaginations, but the big question is finding them.” As demand grows, however, he is confident that will be less of a problem.Lyon has seen this sort of thing before. Succulents, he says, are in the same place tropicals were eight to 10 years ago. At that time people in the Midwest were not using them, they were difficult to find and expensive. Only

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recently have they come down in price. Now designers are using them and they are a big hit in the Midwest market. “It takes time for it all to come together and for suppliers to build up inventory.”It’s not as if succulents are completely foreign to the Midwest. Lyon invites you to take a moment to remember your grandmother’s yard. He bets there were “hens and chicks” (Sempervivum) as part of the landscape. These succulents are not only cold hardy, but back in style. Grandma probably got hers from a neighbor, who offered some “chicks,” and she probably repaid the favor by propagating them throughout the neighborhood. They now are available in multiple, often colorful varieties.

Most grow well in full sun with little water. As an example of the resurging popularity, Lyon notes that last spring a wholesaler friend in Michigan sold 160,000 of them within two months. “They are appealing to a new generation,” he says.

90

Water Water already is a problem in California and other areas out west, but Lyon predicts that it will become one in other parts of the United States, as well, including the Midwest. “In the future, there is not an area in the country that is not going to have to worry about clean, potable water,” says Lyon. “Even in the Chicago area, water is going to become an issue. We need to think about future generations.” For that reason succulents and other low water options will be even more popular.

Already he is seeing xeriscape gardens or xeriscapes, starting to appear in areas traditionally flush with water, such as Philadelphia and Wisconsin. These already are popular in the Southwest and often feature a gravel substrate. (continued on page 48) The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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(continued from page 47) “Many people think that these gardens need to be planted with desert type plants, such as agave, cacti and yucca, but in the Midwest these gardens can use many of the ornamental plants that don’t survive well here, because they need sharp drainage,” he says. “That includes Penstemon (beardtongue), Coreopsis (calliopsis or tickseed) and Gaillardia (blanket flowers). They produce just as beautiful landscapes as traditional perennial borders.”

Lyon is planning a xeriscape style hillside garden at Reiman Gardens, using this option. “We can have gravel placed and can use wonderful plants that are as beautiful as anything in other landscapes,” he says. “We have to

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The bottom line is that it is important to keep an eye on the research that is going on, as well as what is happening in the industry. That, emphasizes Lyon, is going to help a landscape contractor, architect or designer’s business. “Things are constantly changing in this industry,” he says. “It’s important to keep learning.

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ILCA Business Library

Do Your Customers Suffer from Buyer’s Remorse?

Everyone knows that

buyer’s remorse is bad news for your company’s profits, customer retention, and reputation — but you may not know how to effectively combat it.

Here, Jeff Sauro shares six tactics that will help you turn the tide.

We’ve all bought a product in-store, only to return it after learning that it was available for a much lower price elsewhere. Or ordered an article of clothing online, only to be disappointed by the quality or fit once it was delivered. Or bought an exciting new gadget, only to find ourselves making frequent (and frustrating) calls to the support hotline in order to operate it.

All these scenarios are manifestations of buyer’s remorse, says Jeff Sauro. While we typically think of this phenomenon as occurring with big-ticket items like a

50

home or a car, almost any purchase can lead to regret or concern on the part of the customer. And no company wants those bad feelings associated with them.

“Buyer’s remorse is a form of cognitive dissonance in which a customer’s initial expectations about a product or service don’t align with their actual experience,” says Sauro, author of Customer Analytics For Dummies® (Wiley, 2015, ).

“This cognitive dissonance can be sparked by a perceived lack of value, lower-thanexpected quality, or the presence of better alternatives.”

Whatever its cause, it’s critical that you take actions to reduce any buyer’s remorse your customers might be experiencing.

Left to their own devices, disappointed and dissatisfied customers might return the product (possibly resulting in a financial loss for your company), choose to do busi-

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

ness elsewhere, and/or spread negative reviews about your product or organization. Obviously, none of these outcomes are good news for your organization.

In Customer Analytics For Dummies, Sauro shows you how to measure each stage of the customer journey, use the right analytics to understand customer behavior, and make key business decisions. Here, he explains what to do if, despite your initial best efforts, your customers suffer from buyer’s remorse:

Offer a return guarantee and collect data about how often and why returns are made

Offering a return guarantee is key to alleviating buyer’s remorse for individual customers (so make sure you have one in place!)—but this tactic is sufficient only (continued on page 52)

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ILCA Business Library (continued from page 50) if you’re experiencing sporadic returns. If your return rate is more of a steady stream (or a raging torrent), you need to find the source (or sources) of this buyer’s remorse so that you can take steps to prevent future returns. Specifically: • •

Collect return rates, dates, and details Look to other clues that can predict the root cause of returns.

Predict the return rates based on patterns in the root causes.

•

“Here’s an example of what this type of data collection and analysis look like in action,” Sauro shares. “I worked with a U.S.-based cellular service provider that carried a number of phones from different manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung, and Motorola. The cellular service provider collected the return rates for each type of phone and then looked into the causes of the returns. One reason for the returns was that customers found certain phones harder to use. The company started collecting usability data on all its phones, then associated that with the return rates.

Based on the data, the company stopped selling the phones that lacked a decent usability score.”

Rethink your product or service based on what your customers collectively say they want

When was the last time you directly asked your customers what they thought about your product or service? Do they really believe it provides a good value? (Or do you simply assume this is the case?) Might it be overpriced, have quality concerns, perform poorly, need more features, etc.?

Be sure to keep your finger on the pulse of what your customers want by asking them a mix of open- and close-ended questions.

Sauro suggests keeping surveys short and including: • •

An overall measure of satisfaction about the product or experience, using a rating scale Questions about future intent, such as likelihood to recommend or likelihood to repurchase The Landscape Contractor July 2015

•

Open-ended questions for customers to describe in their own words their feelings (both positive and negative) about the experience and specifically how they’d improve the product “Learning that you need to offer a better value to your customers probably won’t be a comfortable realization for you to make, but the good news is, these kinds of changes are like low-hanging fruit when it comes to combating buyer’s remorse,” says Sauro. “Making one change, like increasing offerings for the same price or fine-tuning a feature, can drastically improve satisfaction for a lot of customers.”

Confirm the initial choice

Sometimes, simply validating a customer’s choice to purchase your product or use your service is enough to stave off buyer’s remorse. (After all, it’s human nature to want to be reassured that we’ve made the correct decision!) Messaging (in email newsletters, ads, social media, etc.) and follow-up calls reassure customers that they’ve made a wise choice and that their purchase is in line with their values.

“For example, you might post a positive testimony from a satisfied customer on your company’s Facebook page or publish a newsletter article suggesting additional uses for your product,” Sauro shares.

Examine customer experience at different touchpoints

Buyer’s remorse can develop at many different points post-purchase and for many different reasons. It may not even be sparked by the product itself, but by a poor service experience, for instance. That’s why Sauro says it’s important to collect data not only about the product itself, but about several post-purchase touchpoints: • •

Shipping and delivery: Is the item in stock and delivered quickly?

Unboxing (opening the product): Do the quality and style of the packaging reinforce positive brand attributes?

• (continued pn page 54)

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ILCA Business Library • (continued pn page 52) • Installation and setup: Is this process lengthy, confusing, or overly complex?

• Customer support: Are questions and concerns addressed in a timely and satisfactory manner? Is support staff knowledgeable and friendly?

• Feature usage: Are there features that customers don’t use? Are any desired features missing?

“It’s often most efficient, and less of a burden on the customer, if you ask customers to complete only one survey at a key point in the post-purchase process— say, after the customer has used the product for some time,” Sauro notes. “Keep an open mind when analyzing the results, because you may be surprised by where opportunities for improvement lie.”

Establish a feedback loop so “remorse” data gets back to decision-makers.

It doesn’t matter how much useful data you collect if it isn’t passed on to people within your organization who can use it to reduce buyer’s remorse, reminds Sauro.

“If one doesn’t already exist, establish a feedback loop to make sure that problems, frustrations, and suggested improvements are properly channeled back to product development, marketing, customer service, etc.,” he comments. “You’d be surprised by how much data stays buried in internal reports where it doesn’t do anyone any good.”

Don’t rely on just one remorse-removing tactic

If your company is very fortunate, you may make a significant dent in buyer’s remorse after implementing only one of the previous tactics. But much more often, Sauro says, organizations experience success only when they thoughtfully blend some or all of these strategies. He points to Zappos.com as an example. Buying shoes online comes with some risk, since customers can’t try them on and may have to deal with the hassle of returning a purchase. So first, Zappos minimizes the risk to the customer by offering fast, free shipping; free returns; and free return shipping.

“What’s more, Zappos provides one of the best customer service experiences,” he adds. “The company’s reps are known for staying on calls for as long as it takes to resolve a customer’s problems. (The longest call on record lasted seven hours!)

The company’s even been known to

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refund money, let customers keep the shoes, and even send a new pair, all to exceed expectations.”

“The bottom line is, the more you know about your customers and their needs, expectations, and post-purchase experiences, the better your odds will be of turning remorse into lasting satisfaction,” Sauro concludes.

“Remember that your company’s ‘job’ doesn’t end with making the sale, so don’t rest until cognitive dissonance about your product or service has been transformed into delight.”

About the Author: Jeff Sauro is a Six Sigma-trained statistical analyst and pioneer in quantifying the customer experience. He specializes in making statistical concepts understandable and actionable.

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Member Profile GREEN Landscape Development & Management 681 Page Avenue Elgin, IL 60120 (847) 951-9699 www.greenldm.com

By Meta Levin

GREEN Landscape Development

& Management is an anomaly. It has one employee: Greg Frick, who also is its owner and founder. He has no trucks and equipment. It’s entirely a sales and services company, says Frick.

Frick has contacts. Some focus on lawn maintenance; some on hardscape construction and others on landscape installation. “The client hires GREEN and I hire the subcontractors,” he says.

“We break up the project by experience and preference of the contractors.” Most of his customers are residential, with only 10 percent commercial.

Frick also has a sister company that provides landscape design for GREEN or other landscape contractors who have no designers on staff. He has about two dozen regulars for whom he provides design work.

With his multiple industry contacts, as well as varied design work, Frick is in a good spot to watch industry trends.

“People want outdoor rooms,” he says.

“They are trying to make more of the space that they have to use.”

During the recession new construction slowed, paring needed projects down to the bare bones or postponing them. Now, however, there seems to be more money to spend and clients are asking for extras. They don’t mind paying more for the right trees, which is good, because the availability of popular trees, especially, has gone down and the prices have increased.

Frick’s grandfather and parents first introduced him to gardening. “My grandfather was a big gardener,” he says.

56

“My parents had a vegetable garden, but that was not my favorite place to work.”

Still, he worked for a landscape contractor one summer during college.

He graduated with a degree in economics and spent “a difficult year under the fluorescent lights,” he says. The outdoors beckoned. So, in 1990 he headed back to the industry. “As a landscape contractor, you can make something; you have something tangible.”

Although Frick has known about ILCA for years, he didn’t join until spring 2015. He had, however, taken advantage of classes and, for a while, was a regular at the old design seminar.

“It was fantastic,” he says. He loved talking with people from the larger companies.

There also are the networking opportunities that ILCA provides. “I can compare notes with other landscape contractors,” he says. “When contractors get the opportunity to compare notes, we can learn from each other.”

He has attended iLandscape during the last two years and Mid-Am before that. “iLandscape was wonderful,” he says. “Having it in Schaumberg has been wonderful for me.”

Frick is proud of the relationships he has developed with others in the industry. “That has allowed me to provide services to my customers,” he says. “Each and every one has his own business.

Without the support and good customer service, I couldn’t do what I want to do.”

He admits that his business model is somewhat unique in the landscape industry, but he thinks that it works well The Landscape Contractor July 2015

for his customers and him. “I do things differently,” he says. “But I am still providing landscape services to homeowners and businesses.”

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***ACRES GROUP CAREER OPPORTUNITIES*** Join our industry leading team!

Acres Group, one of the top 20 landscape contractors in the nation, has the following open positions.

Residential Maintenance Account Rep

Commercial Operations Mgr

Rosborough Partners, Inc. is accepting resumes for an experienced Residential Maintenance Account Representative to manage portfolio of residential maintenance clients.

Responsibilities include preparing proposals, contract renewals, identifying and selling new sales leads and ensuring quality control is followed on client sites. Revenue and profitability goals will be set each year and accomplished by analyzing, planning, organizing, and adjusting schedules to achieve efficient use of resources and people.

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Landscape industry experience and/or a horticultural degree is required. English & Spanish fluency is a plus.

We offer competitive wages and benefits.

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Rosborough Partners, Inc. is accepting resumes

ACCOUNT MGMT/SALES: *ACCOUNT MANAGER/CSS-Roselle: Manage a portfolio of accounts in lawn and snow providing high levels of customer service, make horticultural recommendations & sell property enhancements in lawn season and ice melt in snow season* ESTIMATING: *ESTIMATOR-Plainfield, Roselle or Wauconda: Partner with Account Managers with handling job estimating and proposals for landscape maintenance and snow* ADMINISTRATION: *OFFICE SPECIALIST-Wauconda: Provide operations support to the maintenance sales team with bids, proposals, work order entry and billing* To view full job descriptions and apply online, visit us at www.acresgroup.com or contact Amy@ 847-487-5071.

GREENHAVEN LANDSCAPES We are looking for quality-oriented people who take pride in their work to join the Greenhaven Team! Positions available are: • Construction Supervisor • Landscape Designer Learn more about these opportunities at: www.mygreenhaven.com/employment

for an experienced Commercial Operations Mgr to coordinate & schedule operations within the

Commercial Dept. Analyzing, planning, organizing & adjusting schedules to achieve the most efficient use of resources & people are responsibilities of

this position. Managing & coordinating the winter snow-plowing schedule & execution of activities

during snow events are also part of this position’s responsibilities.

Excellent communication skills are key to being a

successful Commercial Operations Mgr. Landscape industry experience and/or a horticultural degree

are required. English & Spanish fluency is required.

We offer competitive wages & benefits. Please

email resume to: mary@rosboroughpartners.com Landscape Account Manager Damgaard Landscape Management is seeking

an individual to manage challenging maintenance accounts in the city and suburbs.

Strong communication skills with clients, field personnel, and company associates is essential.

Spanish speaking a plus. 5+ years experience in

this field is required as well as a current IL Dept of Agriculture Pest Control Applicator

license. We offer full benefits including a vehicle.

E-mail resume to: applytolandscape@gmail.com

Generous Time Off… Professional Development…

Great Work-Life Balance… Sound too good to be true?

James Martin Associates, Inc. is a leader in the Landscape and Snow Management industry.

We have locations in Vernon Hills, IL and in Boulder, CO We are seeking candidates for the following positions:

 Superintendents

Vernon Hills, IL



Designer/SalesPerson Both Locations

 Irrigation Technician

Boulder, CO

Apply now —We’re looking forward to reading your resume! b.mcelroy@jamesmartinassociates.com or call Beth at 847-876-8052.

Landscape Architecture • Construction • Maintenance • Snow Management

www.jamesmartinassociates.com 58

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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Beary Landscaping Inc. & Beary Landscape Management Inc. Is growing again, and looking for qualified employees for the following positions:

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LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR We are seeking an experienced maintenance supervisor. Minimum of 3 yrs. Experience. Must possess strong communication skills written/verbal. Responsible to communicate with Crews & Customers. Responsible for supervising up to 6 crews possibly more during peak months. Must be very detail orientated, and have a great work ethic. Bi-Lingual & CDL License a +, but not required. We offer an excellent salary, company vehicle, cell phone, 401k, and vacation. Full time year round position.

COMMERCIAL MAINTENANCE & SNOW REMOVAL SALES REPRESENTATIVE We are seeking an experienced commercial sales representative. Duties will include prospecting, estimating, and account management. . Minimum of 3 yrs. Experience. Must possess strong communication skills written/verbal. We offer an excellent salary, company vehicle, cell phone, 401k, and vacation.

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Please email resume to: pirish@bearylandscaping.com *7 Account Managers* Candidate is the primary customer contact and company liaison for contracted accounts. Individual is responsible for necessary follow-up and followthrough to maintain positive customer relations, to insure complete customer satisfaction and contract renewals, suggest and sell non-contracted landscape enhancements.

Submit resume to: lorena@sebert.com McADAM LANDSCAPING, INC. Maintenance Production Supervisor: We are seeking a full-time experienced Maintenance Production Supervisor to directly facilitate maintenance work and manage crews on a daily basis.

Interacting with and preparing estimates for clients; and reviewing crew performance regularly.

Position will have winter responsibilities with our snow operations.

Individual should have good organizational, computer and leadership skills. Bilingual in English and Spanish is a plus. Please email resume to Rob at rob@mcadamlandscape.com

Arctic Snow & Ice Control, Inc. is known as the premier snow and ice removal contractor in the Mid-West. Our 37 year reputation has been built on a solid commitment to our clients through service, dedication and innovation. Currently we are seeking a full time Sales /Account Manager with a strong history in the landscaping or snow removal industry.

Arctic Snow & Ice Control is seeking a true professional to add to our existing staff to assist in client relations and new growth.

Candidate must be strong on the phone, enjoy canvasing and can interact with Class A propertymanagers. Please keep in mind, our only business is Commercial/Industrial snow removal. We do not offer any other products or services so you must be able to focus on snow 365 days a year.

If you’re serious about a career change with the leader in the industry, please email your full resume to Patrick@arcticsnowandice.com.

Arctic Snow and Ice Control, Inc. offers a handsome salary, plus commission, Insurance, 401K, company vehicle, fuel and much more.

Email Patrick@arcticsnowandice.com with your full resume if you’re ready to join our team.

Christy Webber & Company Now Hiring • Account Managers/Sales • Field Supervisors • Contract Administrators • Estimator • Drivers with a Class C and CDL’s • Foreman with a Class C Competitive Pay with Benefits Walk Ins Welcomed or forward resumes to: jobs@christywebber.com 2900 W Ferdinand Chicago, IL 60612 773-533-0477 Ext. 2066 EEO Beverly Environmental is a South Chicago based landscaping company. We are seeking an experienced landscape manager. This position will focus on landscape maintenance and snow removal as well as pursuing new business opportunities. This is a salaried position with benefits. Please email resume to astraughn@beverlyenvironmental.com Landscape Maint. Client Rep (F/T) Landscape Co. in Libertyville, seeks individual possessing strong background in project & client mgmt., cust. service, est. & sales, as well as in all phases of Hort., turf mgmt., proper maint. techniques, leadership & communication skills. Min. 3-5 Yrs. Exp.; SP speaking a plus. Exc. Comp. & Benefits pkg.

Email resume: (mailbox@roccofiore.com) or fax to 847-680-6084

RYCO Landscaping With a focus on prospecting, business development, account management, and building long term business relationships, we are seeking a highly motivated, creative, professional who can “sell sustainable, profitable work” and to “completely satisfy our customers”.

If you have 3-5+ years successful landscape sales experience, are proficient with basic MS software, have industry credentials, and have the confidence to cold call potential customers, we want to talk to you. This full time position offers a company vehicle, competitive salary with a production bonus structure, vacation, retirement, and health benefits.

Please email your resume to Debbie Bartsch: DBartsch@rycolandscaping.com

REAL ESTATE FOR LEASE: 5 ACRES Algonquin Illinois • • • • • • • • •

Landscape Headquarters or Satellite Site Farm house office Three acre gravel parking area 60 x 120 Small engine repair w/storage lockers 60 x 60 Truck mechanic bay with 14 foot doors 60 x 60 Warehouse 60 x 60 Fertilizer and Chemical Warehouse 15 x 15 Tool Shed with lockers Three Hoop Houses *All buildings have concrete floors Contact: Richard Lamkey 847-878-8228 FOR SALE - Asking $700,000 New Lenox, IL.

Contractors or Hobby Enthusiasts - Have you always wanted to work from home? Consider this 4200 sq.ft home on five acres of heavily wooded property.

Split zoning. 4 acres/residential; 1/acre Industrial with 32 x 50 POLE BUILDING. Private road located off Rt. 30 in New Lenox at full lighted intersection. Ten minutes to I-80 and/or I-355. The house is completely updated with gourmet kitchen/ stainless appliances and quartz counters; hardwood floors throughout open-space family room with brick fireplace, wet bar area and living room; 4 bedrooms, each with walk-out deck; 3 1/2 baths, dormer and walk-out basement. Private entrance for the office. Live and work in paradise! One-of-a-kind! Realtor owned.

Cell 815-347-2850

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

59

Premier Sponsor SPONSORS

Atlas Bobcat Belgard Cassidy Tire & Service Kankakee Nursery Lafarge Fox River Stone Midwest Groundcovers Midwest Trading Nels J. Johnson Tree Experts, Inc. Platinum Poolcare Rental Max SavATree & SavALawn Unilock Chicago, Inc. West Side Tractor Sales Zeiler Insurance

To sponsor contact— Terre Houte at thoute@ilca.net

Advertisers A Block Marketing .................................................31 Agrecol..............................................................48 Alliance Design Products .......................................29 Bartlett Tree Experts .............................................49 Beaver Creek Nursery ..........................................17 Carlin Sales...............................................................6 Certification Test ...................................................53 Chicago Gas Lines ..................................................54

Attention Landscape Contractors: Remember to Support ILCA Supporters!

These include:

• Members & Advertisers who supply goods and services • Members who sponsor ILCA programs and events

Chicagoland Gardening .........................................61 Clesen Wholesale ....................................................42 Dayton Bag & Burlap ..............................................55 DeVroomen Garden Products .................................47 DitchWitch ...........................................................57 Doty Nurseries LLC ..................................................4 Green Glen Nursery ...............................................63 B. Haney & Sons, Inc. ............................................26 Hinsdale Nurseries, Inc. ......................................44 ILCA Golf Outing ...................................................60

Where will you find them?

• ILCA Membership Directory & Buyer’s Guide • The Landscape Contractor magazine advertising • The Landscape Contractor magazine reports of events with sponsor acknowledgments • www.ilca.net member lists – Finding a Landscape Contractor & Suppliers to the Trade

James Martin Associates .........................................58 JKS Ventures .........................................................49 Ken Burns Inc. .........................................................55 Lafarge Fox River Stone .........................................50 Lemke Stone ...........................................................26 Longshadow Planters ..........................................13 McGinty Bros. ........................................................28 Midwest Groundcovers ............................................2 Midwest Trading .....................................................46 Mobile Fleet Xpress ...............................................48 OGA .......................................................................43 ProGreen Plus ..........................................................6 Rentalmax ..............................................................45 Rugzoom ................................................................52 RWC Insurance ......................................................55 Summer Field Day 2015 ........................................51 Stockyards Brick ....................................................23 The Care of Trees .....................................................6 The Mulch Center ...................................................17 Timber Industries ...................................................48 Unilock Chicago ...................................................64 Vermeer Midwest ................................................41 Xylem, Inc. .........................................................12

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

61

By Patrice Peltier

Pinus flexilis ‘Vanderwolf’s Pyramid’

Some plants

— just like All-Star athletes — make everyone around them look better. What’s a plant you can use— and recommend-- with confidence? We’ve asked ILCA members to share their thoughts on proven performers.

Some plants are hard to grow but make it into the landscape because of their unusual characteristics or stunning beauty. Despite the chance that they won’t survive, we grow them anyway, and they become conversation pieces or failed experiments. Other plants are chosen because they are easy to grow and are generally foolproof in most environments. No matter how tough the soil conditions might be or harsh the winters, they just seem to thrive.

Those plants appear to make up most landscapes because who has the time or money to babysit marginal plants? Every once in a while, a plant comes along that is both easy to grow and has outstanding beauty. We can these plants “all stars.”

Pinus flexilis ‘Vanderwolf’s Pyramid’ is one of those all star plants that have become increasingly popular for both its unique beauty and its hardiness. It features distinctive needles that are green on one side and blue to silver on the other. Soft to the touch, these needles are clustered in groups of five and give the plant a beautiful, multicolored look that is striking throughout the year.

Depending on how it is trimmed, it can have an open, airy look or a tight, pyramidal form when it is young. As the tree matures, it forms a graceful, rounded shape.

‘Vanderwolf’s Pyramid’ works well in the landscape as a single specimen in a front yard, in city parks and as a windbreak or visual barrier along property lines. Be sure to give it plenty of space as it will grow 20-30 feet tall with a spread up to 20 feet.

Beauty is not the only characteristic that draws us to a plant, however. We also want plants that are tough and able to survive in less-than-ideal environments. With the parent species having a wide range of habitats from Canada clear south to Mexico and thriving in elevations from 5000 to 12,000 feet, this is one adaptable tree. It likes full sun but can handle some shade and is quite drought tolerant once it becomes established.

Hardy from zones 3-7, this tree shrugs off tough winters and warm summers. It likes soil that is well drained but can survive in rocky soils or even some clay. Like many trees that come from alpine settings, it will not survive in waterlogged areas. Its unusually bendable branches make it an excellent conifer for areas with high winds and heavy snow loads.

Vanderwolf’s Pyramid has everything we look for in a plant — stunning beauty, low maintenance, easy to grow, and elegance that works well almost anywhere we choose to plant it.

Pinus flexilis ‘Vanderwolf’s Pyramid’ facts— Size:

Foliage:

20-30’ tall with spread up to 20’ Culture

3.5” long, soft, twisted blue-green needle in bundles of 5

Full sun in well-drained soils, although adaptable to some shade as well as a variety of soils. Does not tolerate wet soils. Drought tolerant once established.

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Jim Matusik The Tree Connection Jim Matusik has worked in many aspects of the green industry. He started in lawn maintenance and installation, eventually moving into sales. Jim began forging solid relationships with his customers, which, in 2003, led to the creation of The Tree Connection, a wholesale nursery stock distribution company. With his wife, Diana, Jim works with growers on both coasts, North Carolina and Michigan (where The Tree Connection is located) to provide quality nursery stock to customers throughout the Midwest.

The Landscape Contractor July 2015

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