Immediate Gratification

This week we began installing the low voltage lights that will adorn the big boulder job on Clear Lake. We have some fancy plans for lighting up the seawall with 35 watt floods and showing off the lakeside columns by installing lights on the second story gutters pointing into the house peak. Of course we will also install more traditional up lights on various trees and boulders and hit the sofets to bounce light off the house and illuminate the paver patio. It is intriguing to optimize reflection and shadows, adjusting the lights to achieve security, safety and beauty. Hopefully I will be able to get some good photos once the task is complete.

Last week we finished the sod, seed, erosion clothe, clean up and mechanical grading, the final loose ends that bring us that much closer to completing this job. To give the natural stone steps the appearance of age I will fill the larger crevices with mature ground cover. Some of the open joints that allow water, soil and gravel to leak will be filled with black spray on insulation foam to prevent erosion and settling. Additionally I will use gator dust (a polymer joint sealer) and moss fill other cracks. Eliminating and/or controlling water is essential for longevity and structural integrity of the steps.

The Kousa dogwood in the bed right of the entrance stairway certainly adds needed height yet will be easily pruned to remain airy and more horizontally branched. Spring bulbs, more perennials and summer annuals will fill the beds and little mulch will be visible as the flowers mature. The boxwood hedge that lines the paver walk was the homeowner Trish's idea and I think it looks terrific. I used 18" unsheared green velvet boxwood which I lightly sheared after they were planted tip to tip, by the end of next season it should be fairly tight hedge.


The installation of sod is not only instant gratification it also serves to help reduce erosion and assist in water control. The huge drain we placed earlier is now a cleverly disguised and charming stream bed. A fast and heavy downpour yesterday enabled us to observe our drainage system in action and so far I am satisfied it is well designed and functioning properly. The storm yesterday was one which fueled nine tornado sitings in a 5o mile radius of Clear Lake. Right next door to this property is the tornado siren which went off startling our lighting crew.

Nearing the end of new home construction is very rewarding and a little bit sad. We get to know the home owners, builders and sub contractors and become a bit of a family pursuing a goal, striving for excellence often working together to solve problems and create beauty. Each contractor showing pride and craftsmanship helping fulfill some ones dream is a pretty cool thing. Building a new house is definitely a team project.

Roger Waters The Wall

A second brief video from The Wall which gives you a sample of the animation and color that blew me away when I attended this concert on October 24th. The Wall is available on DVD and has been for many years but seeing it live and in concert was really great.

Roger Waters The Wall

The atmosphere at The Palace in Auburn Hills outside Detroit was charged and sparking Sunday night as we meandered through the crowd tailgating in the parking lot, The Wall blaring from an assortment of car stereos. This is the arena where the Pistons play and it is set up to party. Several full service sit down bars serving everything from beer to shots to frozen foo foo concoctions were packed with noisy customers chatting in line growing louder by the minute. Restaurants included Big Boy, Buffalo Wild Wings and a large assortment of Detroit style dogs and sausages. My choice was poor and the coney style hot dog I ate was loaded with salt, the accompanying home made chips were absolutely awful, greasy, salty and not edible but fortunately we were not there for the food or beverages.

What we were there to see was one of the best concerts of my life, Roger Waters, one of the founding members of the super band, Pink Floyd was performing The Wall an album that was first introduced some thirty years ago. Waters wrote the wall when he was 38 and it is as relevant, stirring, politically rousing, honest appraisal of war and fear as you will ever witness on stage. Sound, color, fireworks, giant marionettes, airplanes, animation and strong pulsing vocals beat and hammer at your brain. The sound pushes through your body and the assault of fast paced video keeps your eyes jumping from image to image. Talk about sensory over load, it could easily happen to those who suffer from over stimulation.

I had never seen any Pink Floyd concert but I had a pal in the late 80's who was a Floyd addict and saw numerous shows always telling me what a great concert they performed. I think if I was ever to see just one show this would be it. While The Wall is not my favorite Floyd album the theme of war and fear was accurately portrayed through the theatrical presentation. Awesome is the best word to describe the event.

While I shot a lot of video mine was recorded from the nose bleed section and is not as good as many of the videos of this tour that are on You Tube currently. Check out those videos and see if you agree it was well worth the price of admission.

Specimen Tree Shopping

Saturday Bruce and I went shopping for trees at Idriss & Company in Sturgis, MI, Ramze Idriss is the grower and while I prefer one stop shopping it is sometimes necessary to search for specific items grower by grower. Actually we could purchase plants much cheaper and in some cases at the same cost as our re-wholesalers but often such purchases are not as convenient or cost effective when you factor in going to the grower and tagging the trees then driving back with a large truck and trailer for pick up.

But it sure is a good excuse to take the dogs to the country and select the perfect specimen dogwood to finish my job on Clear Lake. I am in pursuit of one Kousa Dogwood and a Fir to replace one we planted last year that died. Bruce needs three Kousa's and a Skyline Locust.


Ramze has nearly 50 acres planted with some beautiful and extraordinary specimens if one is so inclined. I had a definite image of the dogwood I wanted and Ramze allowed me to field prune my choice, that is custom service, now I hope we can get it installed without breaking a branch.

I am standing in the hole left behind by a 50" tree spade Ramze showed me the crater left behind by a 90" tree spade but I did not jump in because it was full of mud, not that we have had much rain.

These Golden Crabapples were loaded with fruit, brilliant yellow pea sized apples left behind foliage drop. The columnar oak that Bruce is standing beside is one of the finest specimens I have seen. This tree is especially useful on the narrow lake lots we landscape since it stays under 15' in width at maturity.

Vapor Trails

Leaving Clear Lake last week the sun setting behind the island caught my attention.


As I headed west toward home and got out on the open highway an even more magnificent sky greeted me. We live in a flight path with Chicago, Detroit, Toledo and Fort Wayne airports sending passengers in jets buzzing us day and night. The resultant vapor trails and cloud formations set in motion a sunset of distinction, I could have shot a hundred pictures as the sky transformed second by second with the sinking orb. The colors were incredible with high clear pinks and penetrating yellows, truly difficult to capture but screaming out to stop a moment and look upward.

A Silk Purse

This project presented some interesting dilemmas. This is the third property we have worked on for our customer who is a second generation customer, they called for help on their new lake home. The most important part of the project was to first decide how much money to spend on the space. The retaining walls represent nearly 8' in combined height and over 160 feet in length with staircase and side returns. The staircase is 4' wide while the steps themselves are less than three feet with crumbling and separation evident. Large cracks and pushing out of the retaining walls make an excellent case for replacing and redesigning the space but would be extremely expensive no matter what hardscape you chose.


There is no way to say how long all this concrete will endure, could be five months or just as easily twenty years. This couple expects they will eventually demo the house and build a new one, again this could be five years from now or twenty. So we decided to try and make the proverbial silk purse from a sows ear. Hide the imperfections and create new focal points.


Knocking down the pump house to minimal size, power washing and painting the walls a neutral color are the first steps. Demo included loads of over anchored railroad ties and a disease ridden euyonomus hedge all jerked out from above or manhandled with a root axe. To hide the cracks I had one of the guys build a lattice panel, here we are testing out the prototype and deciding where to place additional trellis's .



We are taking things a bit out of order here because the slope is treacherous and we are concerned with maintaining footing while planting. Also all the materials must be dropped over the wall. But as you can see we are making progress and I expect to be planting on Monday and maybe finished by the end of next week.

House Causes Traffic Jam

One big obstacle lay in the path before Jane and Craig can begin building their new home and now that has been removed. The house was jacked up and moved near the other side of the lake. As part of site preparation we removed valuable plant material from the foundation planting around this house. Plans for the new house are drawn and we will begin the process of landscape development soon.

I just happened upon the house moving although I knew it was happening. The utility companies kept ahead of the house lifting power lines as the gargantuan trailer inched the house closer to its destination. Traffic became backed up as the sheriff's kept the procession moving. Most people seemed content to get out of their vehicles and enjoy watching the parade. It was pretty cool.

One of our first issues is to help the homeowners with obtaining a permit and a person to dredge the channel between their shoreline and small island they own. Likely we will get a drag line or crane to do the job. These folks are sure starting out with some heavy equipment.

Going Green

We are seven weeks into our complete landscape installation on Clear Lake, the hard scape is 95% complete we have started planting. Trish the homeowner told me now she feels like she has a home, the plant material finishes the house. I have to admit it is looking sweet. The backbone of our English cottage style garden, the anchor plants are emerald green arborvitae, boxwood and hydrangeas. Two three stem river birch help meet the requirements for lakeside tree planting and one will provide a wind break for the side garden between the fence and the house.





The current fence runs the length of the property, over 300 feet. While it is functional in providing privacy and security from the public beach and park next door its aesthetic value and poor condition make it a target for replacement. Clear Lake has recently adopted a long new set of rules governing development. Two of the rules regarding fences are; no fences on the lakeside past the house and no fences over 6' tall. The unique location of this property and the fact that the existing fence has virtually always been on this piece of land, (in one form or another) at it's current height makes us hopeful that we will be allowed a variance to replace the fence. The variance we seek is to replace the fence with a beautiful custom designed cedar fence painted white. The panel and post construction will be eight foot tall along the house and six foot tall down the remainder of the property. Our variance meeting is in a week so we will refrain from planting between the fence and the stepping stones.



The stepping stones that provide a pathway through the side garden are set to allow a variety of ground covers to be planted in between. The stones are a thinner smaller version of the stone used to create the steps. Their size and scale create an illusion making the space seem larger. The hydrangea and viburnum standards (tree forms) will give height and bloom allowing smaller plant material to be layered beneath. Green velvet boxwood are the first layer and perennials will be the next. The clethra hide most of the mechanical elements and will stop visitors with their great fragrance in mid summer.




We beefed up the boulder outcropping and made it more wall like which allowed me to gain additional height with our arborvitae planting. The addition of 10' Canadian hemlock on the end of boulders and near the grill will complete the larger plantings. Three more arborvitae will also be used to screen the grill area.

This long lot has a gentle roll from the road to the house. Channeling the rain water from the house foundation was a challenge. To contain the water we installed a eight inch drain tile which is connected to the large concrete storm drain being carried by the mini excavator. We are pitching as much of the yard as possible to the drain and have all the downspouts tiled as well. The tile pokes through the seawall and has been painted black to help conceal it.


The photograph of the road side entrance shows the septic alarm box before I had it moved to the fence. As is the case with this alarm, they are often placed in locations that are less than ideal, disguising the septic grinder lid is always a challenge. No one wants to see it but there are very specific rules as to what you can place near the tank lid.



Next week irrigation will go in and we will install the final hardscape, the first 15' of paver walk. If all goes well the job should be complete in about seven working days. Sod is the final step.

Reclaiming Lost Shoreline

Two sets of snap cut steps make access to their Lake James beach front easier for adults and the grand kids. Erosion had claimed about three feet of shore line which we rebuilt for our customer. The DNR (Department of Natural Resources) governs shoreline in the state of Indiana and permits must be obtained for most shoreline work.



DNR frowns on concrete poured seawalls which were highly sought after in the past. Now they prefer dry stacked, glacial stone with heavy weed barrier fabric behind. They feel this is more environmentally friendly allowing water penetration and providing a home for shoreline critters.




Both the morning and evening skies were spectacular panoramas of color and form yesterday. The clouds were layered in that unique fall sky that is often seen at this time of year in Indiana, looking at the sky and clouds is one of life's little pleasures.

Apple Festival of Kendallville

The Apple Festival of Kendallville celebrates its 25Th anniversary this year. A cacophony of color, aromas, music, people and entertainment it both assaults and satisfies its patrons. Cool weather thinned yesterdays crowds which despite the temperature made it more enjoyable for me. Visitors to the festival have been know to exceed 70,000 people, I was there in o5 and I think all of them were there on the same day.



Food and fall are screaming at every vendor, this is one of the better planned festivals with consistent high standards each year. Many repeat visitors have a list of what they plan to eat, with so many delicious choices planning ahead is an excellent idea. For me and it is apple dumplings, chicken noodle soup and spiced cider. I did sample Bruce's apple burger ( ground beef, ground apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and onion salt were included in the recipe) and taffy apple, we took home maple creams, walking around eating is highly underrated.


This year we enjoyed a bit more of the entertainment than usual, we caught most of the Mills Family which includes juggling, unicycles and plenty of good natured family humor. The family patriarch was miked and engaged the audience, often spouting one shameless pun after another. The show was cute and the juggling kept the children spellbound.


An old fashioned brass band walked the fairgrounds playing up tempo tunes and dancing with festival goers. Their vintage tuxes and tunes evoked Dickens . The vendors do a good job of announcing fall with their bales of straw, corn stalks, pumpkins, gourds and mums. Some of the decorated gourds especially caught my eye, they were little works of art with careful attention to detail.


A week end at the apple festival might mean an extra couple hours at the gym this week but yum........yum........it sure is worth it.





Fall is county fair time and we were lucky enough to enjoy seeing The Little River Band at the Dekalb County Free Fair last Tuesday night. I love Little River and have seen them several times. They are on my IPOD, my favorite song is Cool Change, Buffett should sing it.