Last weekend, Bur Oak Designs participated in the Isthmus Green Expo with a booth and a presentation on tips for green landscapes.  The energy that day was phenomenal!   All of the vendors in the show provided a product or service that would lessen the impact on the earth.

As part of my booth, I asked children why they thought trees were important.  The children ranged in age from 5 to about 11.  Here are some of their answers:

• Trees remind us that it’s not just us in the world, but that were sharing it.
• Provide shade for plants and animals.
• Provide homes for birds.
• Provide oxygen for us.
• Provide fruits and nuts for humans and animals to eat.
• Provide beauty.
• Provide wood if necessary.
• Provide a privacy screen.
• Make beavers happy.
• Climb.
• Trees are good for keeping us in balance and cleaning the air we breathe.
• Shade.
• They take CO2 out of the atmosphere.  They put Oxygen into the air, and they make our planet look pretty.
• They are the lungs of the earth !!
• Trees are for birds to live in.
• Trees can make shushing noise when the wind blows.

Neat, yes?

Have you seen the magnolias blooming?  WOW!  Seems as if they waited until the sleet had finished.  I bet the flowers will hang on for about two weeks.  Enjoy these beautiful days – even the rain.

Is it spring yet? The calendar says it is. The weather hasn’t made up its mind. There is a green hue to the grass, so we’re on the right track. Spring means that it’s time for lawn care. First give your lawn a hard raking which will remove leaves and thatch.

If the thatch is really thick, or the ground is compacted, consider aerating your lawn. By next weekend we should be ready. Aeration should be done in spring just before grass begins to grow rapidly. An aerator pulls out small plugs 1 to 6 inches deep of soil and grass roots.

For detailed how to information on lawn aeration, go to http://www.bladeslawncare.com/mowers/lawnaeration.html

You can rent a power aerator from companies like A to Z Rent-all. Look for a core aerator which will give you the most benefits.

Now that you have created “plugs” and holes in the soil, use a rake to break up the pieces. Then apply a pre-emergence herbicide to prevent weeds, and especially crabgrass, from germinating. One of the best and most eco-friendly products is Corn Gluten. Corn Gluten is effective, but is not as effective/strong as herbicides for the same use. HOWEVER, it will not harm your children or pets. It acts as both a pre-emergent and a fertilizer. It is not a problem if it gets into a lake. AND it will make you feel good and green to use it.

Purchase Corn Gluten from the Monona (Wisconsin) Elementary PTO at their spring sale and fundraiser. Purchasing here is for two good causes — the children and your lawn.:
“WHAT IS CORN GLUTEN? Corn Gluten is applied to the lawn to prevent the germination of weeds. Corn Gluten is the powdery substance that is a byproduct of milling corn. It is often used as a supplement in hog feed. This natural protein is very effective for lawns and gardens as a plant food as well as a weed suppressor. Corn gluten meal products offer a non-toxic alternative to traditional, chemical based weed and feed products.
TIPS FOR USING CORN GLUTEN Corn gluten can be used twice a year for pre-emergent weeds and as a natural fertilizer.
FALL APPLICATION: It can be used as a fall fertilizer up until mid October.
SPRING APPLICATION: To minimize the appearance in your lawn of annual crabgrass and dandelions, it is best to spread corn gluten during the month of April, ideally before the Forsythia blooms.

Spreading the corn gluten is easy. You can do it by hand or use a spreader to apply it. Spread the gluten when it is dry and not raining. The gluten comes in 50 pound bags. Spread it at the rate of 20 pounds per 1000 sq.ft. The average Monona lawn front and back would use about 2 bags. One of the larger lawns on the lake may use three to four bags.”
Order, and spread, your corn gluten now. Contact Patty at patty.s@charter.net who is the contact for the Monona Elementary PTO. A 50 pound bag costs $22 dollars.
The corn gluten will be delivered there the following week. Patty will send an e-mail for the exact date and time, so please make sure to include your email address. Submit your order through her with checks made out to the “Monona Elementary PTO”.

Take a break from the pre-holiday hustle and bustle! Sit in a comfy chair with a hot drink and mull over the condition of your garden/landscape before the snow hides all your memories.

What worked? What didn’t? What will you move in the spring? Where are the holes you’ll need to fill in? How has your life changed – or the way you use your yard changed – that will result in additions and deletions to your landscape? The new catalogs begin arriving in late January and a few notes now will go a long way!

When we have a bit more snow cover, notice the paths the rabbits and squirrels take through the snow. Where are they hiding? Do you want to provide food and water for them and for the birds? At the BOD residence, we keep our waterfall running as long into the winter as we can. Rabbit (the one who lives under our deck) knows this and has been looking for the flowing water under the snow.

Write a few notes and send them to me for safekeeping, and then put your garden firmly to bed until after the holidays!

Stay warm!  Jane

We at Bur Oaks Design want to thank the brave men and women that help protect and defend our country.  Have a joyous holiday – where ever you are stationed.  We pray for your safety and hope you will be back on U.S. soil soon. 

WI Christmas Tree Growers Help Deliver Christmas Spirit to Troop Families

Trees for Troops program will deliver Real Christmas Trees for the fourth consecutive year.

Wisconsin Christmas tree farmers are donating Real Christmas Trees as part of the nationwide Trees for Troops program, sponsored by Wisconsin Christmas Tree Producers Association, the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and FedEx Corp.

This holiday season, Trees for Troops is expected to collect and deliver more than 16,000 Real Christmas Trees from 29 states to military families across the United States, as well as to soldiers serving overseas. Consumers will also have the opportunity to purchase trees to donate to the program at FedEx trailer drop locations across the nation.

The Trees for Troops program was launched in 2005, and with the help of FedEx Corp., delivered more than 4,300 Christmas Trees to five U.S. military bases, as well as an overseas shipment to the Middle East. Since 2005, the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and FedEx have delivered over 34,000 Real Trees to military families at over 40 bases in 17 countries and FedEx has driven over 90,000 over-the-road miles to deliver trees to deserving military families.

The collection and delivery of trees will take place from the end of November through December.  Consumers may make contributions to the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation at www.ChristmasSPIRITFoundation.org.  More information is also available at www.TreesforTroops.org.

A note from BOD:  The Trees for Troops weekend in WI was Dec 5-7th but there is still time to donate much needed money to get the trees to our troops.

Some of us like winter better than others.  The “others” are kids.  We’re pretty sure they invented the term “ cabin fever”.

This winter help your kids create play areas in your yard. Enjoy fun times – outdoors!

Snow Angels:  There is nothing more charming than a yard decorated with snow angels.  Creating snow angels is a great way to burn off “kid energy” prior to your holiday festivities or to build an appetite for your holiday feast!

If it’s been awhile since you created a snow angel, we have a few tips and tricks for you. 

First, find a patch of snow that is large enough for your entire body.  Carefully lay back in the snow, with your arms and legs outstretched.  Move your arms back and forth across the snow, keeping them straight.  As you are doing this, move your legs in and out. Slowly and carefully get up. It helps if you have another person near that can help you.  Stand back and admire your beautiful snow angel!  If you’re a perfectionist, you can brush out your footsteps with a small broom.

Variations: Add Santa’s sled tracks with 2×4’s.

Snow fort:
Be the envy of your neighborhood with the biggest fort on the block.  All you need is a square or rectangular Tupperware container filled with “wet” snow.  Pack the snow firmly into the container until you have a strong, sturdy snow brick.  Stack the bricks on top of each other to form walls.  Keep making them until the walls are as high as you want.  Use additional snow to fill in the cracks in between the snow blocks – a mortar of sorts.

If it’s cold enough outside, gently pour cool water onto the snow bricks.  This will help your wall to ice over and last longer.  Layer your bricks with more snow after you’ve done this.  You can even use longer branches – preferably evergreens for their insulating properties – twined together as a roof.  We guarantee that making the snow fort will be just as much fun as playing in it!

For the truly ambitious: Make a backyard skating pond
Wayne Dawe gives great instructions which we’ve excerpted here:

There are two major techniques for building a backyard ice rink, the traditional method and the high-tech method.  Both methods require you to find a relatively flat spot to place the rink and to tromp down the snow in the area where you want the rink.

In the high-tech method, you then ring the area with scrap 2×4s and use a large plastic sheet as a liner, like a tarp.  Fill the plastic sheet with an inch or two of water, and, if you have a suitably cold night, the next day you have a rink.  It’s important not to use the cheap black plastic or you’ll have no grass at all next spring.

The more traditional method requires you to spray the tromped down snow base that you prepared above with water over a few days to “seal” it.  It’s important that you also make some banks around the future ice surface and spray these with water so that you have something to hold the water in when you start adding more volume.

Important notes:  Kids are small.  The rink doesn’t need to take up your whole backyard…it can be the size of a playground sandbox.  Don’t try to make a backyard rink unless you’re sure of below-freezing weather.  And it works much better if you spray or flood your rink at night so you’re not fighting against the sun.

Last but not least – (our favorite winter memory):
Before the outdoor clothes are wet and the kids are cold and it’s time to come inside, prepare mugs of hot chocolate. We found 20 phenomenal recipes to share with you, including several that will stay warm in the slow cooker.

We hope you have a great holiday weekend and we’ll be back next week with another great tip.

As the last of the leaves are falling, don’t be so quick to grab the rake this year. (What?!)  Yes that’s right, I said, “Leave the rake, instead, grab the lawn mower.”   Studies done at Michigan State University, partnered with scientists at Scotts Miracle-Gro, have shown that turf is significantly healthier when homeowners practice “leaf mulching,” or mowing fall leaves back into the lawn instead of raking.

This new fall regimen for obtaining a healthy lawn, without the backbreaking leaf raking, has proven to save time and money, adding nutrients to your lawn.  It speeds up spring greening and reduces the growth of weeds.  A Fall 2007 leaf mulching study found that lawns that were fertilized with TurfBuilder or TurfBuilder Winter Guard after the mulching process had significantly less leaf refuse in the spring.

So say goodbye to your rake and hello to the environmental benefits of leaf mulching.  You’ll never be so happy to cross off “rake the lawn” from your fall to-do list!

Red and White

You can enjoy color and fragrance during the winter by planting amaryllis or paperwhite narcissus.   Creating a stunning holiday centerpiece is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1.  Pick your bulbs: 
Amaryllis are available in many interesting colors and forms – bright reds, to whites, lilac or peach, with single or double blossoms. These zone 8 to 9 bulbs have never known a Wisconsin winter, so they won’t need a cooling period in your refrigerator or back porch.  Plant them as soon as you get them.

Amaryllis: Blooms appear 6-8 weeks after planting and continue to bloom for several weeks.  Plant NOW and the plant should gift you with flowers for New Years.

Paperwhites: Blooms appear 3-5 weeks after planting.  Paperwhites offer beauty and a strong scent.   Buy a couple dozen of these no-chill bulbs.  If you store them in a cool, dry place you can start some every few weeks for blooms right through January.

2.  Pick your medium:
Dirt:  You can plant either of these bulbs in a pot filled with soil or grow the paperwhites in a shallow bowl, using pebbles to hold the bulbs in place.

Water:    If you’re growing your bulbs in water, it should cover no more than the bottom quarter to third of the bulb.

3.  Maintenance:
To help keep stems short and sturdy, provide indirect light and temperatures of about 50 degrees F for the first two weeks, then warmer, brighter conditions after that.  

One can also plant several different kinds of bulbs in one pot to extend the blooming time.  As this picture shows, you can have flowers from 3-6 weeks.

There are many thoughts on how to care for roses at the end of the season.  The newest shrub roses – such as the Knockout series – are really quite easy to care for.  With a little winter prep, you’ll have a plant that blooms its heart out all summer.

• At the end of the season, leave the last blossoms on the plant.  Many of them will have “hips” or seeds that are colorful and make excellent bird food.  When a plant makes seeds, it “knows” that it is time to stop producing flowers and go dormant.
• As our temperatures drop and the snow starts to fly, I recommend trimming off the last blossoms that have been hit by frost for a tidier look.

If your yard has a high population of rabbits, you’ll need to take a few more precautions to protect your roses during the winter months.

• Wrap the rose bush with hardware cloth, remembering that rabbits will be standing on top of the snow, and have a long reach when they are on their hind legs.  I don’t know why anyone would eat a rose stem, but rabbits love them.  We had rabbits living under our deck last winter and they would come out to eat the bark of the stems of the rose bush next to the deck.  It was certainly a short trip for dinner!
• After the first hard frost, mound mulch around the rose stems.  You want the ground to stay frozen through the winter, not thaw and heave.

In the spring, cut back any dead branches (brown and “dry”) to live wood (green stems).   It’s that easy!

Hardy roses and prairie rose shrubs can really “pop” your yard with color and beautiful blossoms all summer long.  It’s not too late to add them to your plans for spring.  Bur Oak Designs is offering 30% off all landscaping consultations through the end of November.  Contact Jane to make an appointment today.

Q: “How do I create a “sophisticated” holiday look that is still “green”?”

A:  Hire Bur Oak Designs to design and install a gorgeous holiday look that closely follows the three R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle.  We can create a design that will last the entire winter season.  For anyone who has the time and motivation, it is truly amazing what can be done with objects in your house, garage, and recycle bin!  

Here are a few of my favorite tips for creating a green holiday scene:

Light your path with lumieres.
Christmas lights not your thing?  We say there is nothing quite like the subtle glow of candlelight against the snow.  Set the lumieres in a row along your sidewalk, or create groupings at strategic places in the yard.   You can choose your base from objects you have in your home or in your recycle bin. 

Paper bags:  Small paper bags or translucent gift bags work best.  You can punch holes or decoratively cut the tops.  Place a soy votive candle in a recycled glass container in each bag.  Don’t forget to add sand from your sandbox or a few stones from your garden in the bottom or each glass to hold them securely in place.  

Tin cans:  Larger cans work the best.  Draw a pattern, like a star, on the can.  Slide the can over/onto something firm that can’t be damaged.  Using a pointed tool, such as an awl or a screwdriver, hit it with a hammer so that you make holes in the can.  The cans can be recycled when you are finished using your display.

Ice, Ice, Baby!  Make lumieres out of ice.  Cut the top off of gallon milk jugs.  Fill with water.  Allow them to partially freeze – they will freeze from the outside in.  Dump out the water in the center before they fully freeze.  Place candles inside.  If the weather is cold enough, you don’t have to worry about them melting.

Create a winter wonderland.   Where do those tomato cages hide during the winter?  Put them in to service as mini trees.  Turn them upside down and twine the “legs” to create a point.  Wrap lights around the frame, add a star or round ornament to the top and – viola! – you have a mini “pine” tree.  

Odd groupings (3 or 5) scattered across your lawn will have the most visual impact.  Be sure to experiment with different cage sizes!   You can also try bamboo poles used for growing beans. 

Make a bird food tree. 
Use a small tree branch in a decorative planter near your door, a small tree in the lawn or the large evergreen in your front yard.  Add lights, if you wish.  We prefer the “antique candlelight” LEDs for a soft glow that’s easy on your pocket book.  Decorate the tree with food that the birds like such as:
* Popcorn or cranberry strings
* Suet in a bag
* Peanut butter and seeds spread over a pine cone
* Cut oranges hanging from twine or other bird food

Later this week, I’ll give a few more tips for creating “interest” in your winter lawn.  Until then, keep thinking about ways you can green your scene!

Did you know that most home buyers decide whether or not to look inside a house based on its curb appeal?  The talented staff at Bur Oak Designs can help make sure that the next buyer gets a peak at your fabulous kitchen.

How?  With a little hard work and ingenuity, we’ll spiff up the exterior appearance of your home so you’ll get more buyers inside!

We know that it’s difficult to look at your own house in the same way a potential buyer will.  Our advice?  Stop thinking of the property as your home (we know this can be hard!) and start thinking of it as an investment.  You have put a lot into making your house a home and want the highest dollar return possible when it sells.

Did you know that Bur Oak Designs specializes in outdoor home staging? With so many homes on the market, it’s important that your home stands out. We’ve worked with a variety of real estate agents selling homes in and around Dane County.  We know how to make sure that your house is the one that gets a “Wow!”

Worried about incurring an additional expense when you are preparing to move?  You’ll be surprised at how a little goes a long way!  Replacing old hardware, repainting the front door or doing a mailbox makeover can make people think twice before passing up a look at the inside of your home.

Make a consultation appointment today with Bur Oak Designs and let us help you get top dollar for your home!