Pleasant Fall Days?
 October started with another hot and dry week but then went crazy. More records, but instead of heat we set new record lows for October coupled with record non-stop rains. It rained for seven days in a row, with even more scattered throughout the month! Not exactly the pleasant fall weather we were looking for. Our normal first freeze date is usually around Thanksgiving, and hopefully we can see some nice weather between now and then.
I talk about the weather a lot in these newsletters, but it is the most important factor in what we can do and what we can expect in our gardens. And although we have long considered north Texas a land of extremes, our weird weather events are becoming more extreme and more frequent.
I think a good gardening philosophy from here on out would be to hope for the best and expect the unusual.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Our offices will be closed Thursday, Nov. 22nd and Friday, Nov. 23rd for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Residential Mowing Clients- Please Read This!
With lawns growing slowly now and leaves starting to fall, we will mow most properties one—two more times in November and then stop.
Please call or email to let us know if you need leaf clean ups or additional mowing in November and December!
And with cool weather settling in earlier than normal this year, please let us know when to stop services for the fall. We maintain several hundred properties, and they all have different needs. Some folks don’t have trees or leaves. Some like to wait until most of the leaves are down before cleaning them up. And some folks prefer to have their sidewalks blown and leaves mulched up every week.
We do not let our crews decide which yards can be skipped on their list — all their work orders must come through our office.
Every year we like to remind our clients about how we handle leaf clean ups. Mulch mowing them into the lawn is the most cost effective way of dealing with them as long as they are mowed regularly and are not too deep. But when there are accumulations and we spend extra time to clean them up we bill hourly.
We appreciate your business, and we will always try to work as quickly as we can to keep the cost reasonable, but please note:
- WE BILL HOURLY FOR LEAF CLEAN-UPS
- OUR HOURLY RATE IS $38.00 PER MAN, PER HOUR
- WHEN WE HAVE TO BAG LEAVES WE ONLY USE PLASTIC BAGS
- IF YOUR CITY DOES NOT PICK UP PLASTIC BAGS THERE WILL BE AN ADDITIONAL FEE FOR HAUL OFF AND DISPOSAL
*Not applicable to properties that are on pro-rated 12 month contracts that include leaf removal
Daylight Savings Reminders- Don't Forget Your Sprinklers
After this crazy rainy spell and with cool weather moving in, turn off the sprinklers! Make sure your new shrubs, trees, rye grass, and pansies get watered in adequately, but lawns will need very little water from now until next summer. Except is the case of a dry spell and hard freezes this winter, I would not water lawns or established shrubs any more. And pansies thrive with minimal water once rooted.
 Brown patch will be occurring now after all the rain in quite a few St Augustine lawns. Watch for brown circular areas in your lawn. If wet conditions persist this fungus can spread and cause damage to your turf.
 You may also see signs of Take All root rot in St Augustine. In the fall you will see sporadic yellow patches throughout, and dead patches form from spring into summer. There is no full cure for this devastating disease, but a fungicide treatment and applications of peat moss and sulfur to increase acidity are the recommended controls.
Remember to adjust the clock on your sprinklers and replace the batteries in your smoke detectors and sprinkler controller on the weekend that we roll our clocks back for daylight savings time.
It's an easy way to remember this simple chore. Not all sprinkler controllers have a replaceable battery. If you aren’t sure whether or not yours does, call us for the answer. And if you have landscape lighting, you may need to adjust the timer on that system as well.
 Another smart thing to do this time of year is test your rain/freeze sensor. Verify after one of these rains that your red light is on and the controller is inactive. As soon as the temperature drops below 40 the light should also come on to keep the clock from running and creating an ice hazard for cars or pedestrians. This is especially important for commercial properties due to the high liability they may incur, and rain/freeze sensors are required by law for all sprinkler systems.
So if yours is not working properly or if your system is so old that it doesn’t have one call us to schedule a service call.
Unfortunately rain sensors are not always reliable, but they are still better than not having a sensor at all. And except for newly planted shrubs, flowers, or sod, you may turn your sprinklers off until summer.
Bird Feeding in the Fall
Fall is a great time in north Texas to enjoy birds at your feeders. The migrations can provide an opportunity to see unique birds that may only be here for a short time. Keeping a feeder or two stocked and a source of water can also help supply the birds with the energy they need for their long and arduous journeys. Suet is a particularly good energy source for the birds, and will keep our year-round residents coming to feed all winter too. There will probably still be hummingbirds moving through, so leave a feeder out for them as well until really cold weather moves in.
 We have a great assortment of year-round residents that appreciate the extra forage in winter— cardinals, chickadees, wrens, dove, titmice, downy woodpeckers, jays, and red bellied sapsuckers to name a few. But a bird feeder has the potential to attract numerous other species that may only be passing through. Watch for juncos, cedar waxwings, yellow rump warblers, red breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, orange crowned warblers, and more.
Be sure your feeders are located in an area convenient for viewing and pick up a good identification guide. Different seed blends can attract different species, and many of our ornamental shrubs provide forage for certain species too—cedar waxwings are famous for lighting on a mahonia in late winter and quickly removing the ripe fruits. A flurry of activity like this adds interest and excitement to any garden. And add a thistle feeder in late winter to attract goldfinches, and watch as they change to a bright yellow as spring approaches.
There are many good choices of plants for your landscape that provide forage as well, and it is important to include native plants. Studies have shown that loss of native plants due to development is adversely affecting native bird populations dependent on specific plants. A great source of information on birding can be found at your local Audubon Society, www.FWAS.org
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