Ladera Working Day Number Two

The Internet connection here is shaky so I feel like I am trying to write, think, post and select photo's as fast as I can, seems I just get going and oops I've lost it. Hitting the save key a lot. There is so much to tell and show. I started this blog because I was working here in 08 having such a blast that I needed to talk about it. Two years later about 3/4 of the work I did still looks pretty good the rest was either destroyed due to new construction, neglect or is already overgrown.



I am here because hurricane Tomas smacked Ladera and much of the southern part of the island, most of the damage was from Canneries to Vieux Fort, the north was pretty much unscathed. Vieux Fort is still without water nearly 30 days after the storm, I was there today getting supplies and you would not know they had no water except for the giant government water tankers on the street. The island received 26" of rain in 30 hours, the rain caused massive mud slides which resulted in structural damage, loss of lives and nearly an entire village being wiped out.

Repairs at Ladera are being grabbed by the horns with an aggressive plan to reopen 15 units by December 15th and an additional 7 units or more by Christmas. I am currently staying in a most deluxe accommodation, one of the original new Tace Hill units I was contracted to landscape in 2008, this place is still spectacular even storm ravaged.



Of course the main concern is to make sure nothing slides down the mountain. This is being accomplished through the installation of gabions, wire baskets filled with local river stone (which is now even easier to obtain, having washed down the mountains) that are terraced into retaining walls. The first layer of gabions is buried, acting as a footer, the next ones are set back for greater stability. All this work is done by hand since no equipment can reach the slide areas. For lack of a better explanation Ladera is cantilevered on top of the mountain ridge. Over 300 hundred ton of rock has been installed and there is still much to go.



I am hopeful that I will be able to load some video at some point but with this connection I will not hold my breath, today I got some good video of the work and some excellent photo's. One of our tasks was tool shopping in Vieux Fort, we needed to buy flour for the restaurant and after much searching found it in what was basically a hardware store, you got to love that. Additionally, I went in search of grass seed and my driver Trevor took me to a garden center I never knew existed. They had seeds; watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, etc., in a glass case under lock and key. The price for a small package of most seeds was 35EC which is about two times US, so the Us price would be $ 17.00 per package, think I know what to smuggle.
It is strange, Ladera is jamming with activity from 7 am till 6 pm then it goes dead quiet. There are only three rooms occupied, me the owner and his daughter and son in law, tonight Mr. Hooper gave me a whistle in case I need assistance at night from the security guards, actually it is pretty far out. Peaceful and secure. Ladera's motto is a View with a Room and they aren't kidding. Each room has at one exterior wall facing the Caribbean, I fall asleep each night yearning for morning just to inhale the view.

Good Bye Indiana, Hello St. Lucia

Someone commented on my face book page that this blog is about to get more interesting and indeed I would have to agree. This blog began in St. Lucia, West Indies in 2008 and I am returning to work at Ladera in St. Lucia this Friday. If you follow the weather (not necessarily the news) you might know that St. Lucia was struck by hurricane Tomas Halloween week end. Much of the damage is due to horrific land slides that drug houses, buildings and jungle down the mountain sides toward valleys and the Caribbean Ocean. Lives were lost, chunks of roads dropped hundreds of feet, mud filled houses, power and water are only now being restored, things in general are a mess and over whelming.

The owner of Ladera called me last week to see if I would be interested in coming down to help. Of course my Caribbean soul answered almost immediately a resounding "yes". I am thrilled to be going back to Ladera I only wish the circumstances were different. I leave with some trepidation as I have never worked on such a large scale, as in helping to stabilize a mountain but I will give it my best.

Likely I will not be on the blog until I get organized in St. Lucia. The Internet was not exactly dependable the last time I was there and I imagine the hurricane has done little to improve that. In addition I just purchased a new laptop (I don't even have it yet) and camera so it might take me a bit to get acquainted with their operation.

I am really excited, they expect I may be needed for a couple of months. There are a few loose ends I am scrambling to wrap up in the next couple of days. Two drawings for spring work, final instructions for the two guys we still have working and winterizing my own piece of dirt, just to mention a few. My clothes and travel junk are already laid out on the pool table, I'll go through them a couple of more times to pare down the items at least by half. Some of the best packing advice I ever got was to lay everything out, get rid of half the stuff and take twice the amount of money you think you need. Just looking at my snorkel gear gets me jazzed up.

There are lots of videos and news items if you want to see what St. Lucia looks like right now. Just Google St. Lucia hurricane Tomas and you will see what awaits me. If you are following along meet me in St. Lucia in a few days and I will show you first hand how to repair a resort after a hurricane (hopefully). You can also check out the resort where I will be working (Ladera), it is magnificent with a breathtaking view of the Pitons. My blog profile picture is taken looking out from the restaurant to the Pitons. Wish me luck.

Happy Holidays

All good things must come to an end and thus is the fate of seasonal landscaping in northeast Indiana. For most of the crew this will be the last week of work. So Happy Holidays everyone, we will indeed see you in the spring. Islandscapes will keep posting and I am hoping to add some holiday adventures soon.

Millgrove's National Spokesperson

Some jobs are just flat out exciting and this one was definitely a transformation that built excitement as we worked our way up the lot from the lake. When you live on a piece of dirt for a few years you do not always see the potential that exists. But put a new house on that land and the opportunities shout out. When you couple that with a client who has clear visions, plant lists and expectations for outdoor living you begin a blueprint for beautiful gardens.

I met with Trish and Doug Miller at their new house before the siding was installed. Doug was content to let Trish and I hash out the general concept and we chatted for a couple of hours discussing her vision, goals and plans for family living at the lake. Time was not on my side when it came to drawing and putting a bid together as Doug and Trish were going on vacation soon. Their are many new rules and regulations on Clear Lake now and some of what we wanted to accomplish required hands on interpretation of the building and landscaping codes. Since Clear Lake just hired a new administrator the process was a bit slow but we managed to work things out.

The original proposal and drawing was a bit more extensive and included a second retaining wall and entertainment area that we opted not to install. Additionally we have made provisions for an outdoor kitchen on the road side patio set for spring installation. We will continue the project in Spring after the magnificent new fence is installed and the garage is rebuilt.

Trish and I sat down the other day to record this video and I figured she would be smooth since she is a high school volleyball coach and used to talking to media, kids and parents but I was not prepared for how gracious and complimentary she was toward Millgrove Landscaping and myself. I must say I a super happy with the job as a matter of fact I entered it in a trade magazine as a before/after project and it will be featured in Lawn & Turf this December. It was wonderful to work with Trish, she participated in all phases of the design and like me is an immediate gratification kind of girl so the plants and materials are big and look like they have been installed several years instead of a few weeks.

If I would have written the script myself I could not have been as articulate, compassionate or well spoken as Trish when discussing our landscaping project together. So I would like to have Trish act as the official international spokesperson for Millgrove Landscaping, thanks Trish and Doug it was a pleasant couple of months.

Block Walls, Rock Walls, Cement Walls

We do every phase of installation some customers like to get their hands dirty too and we might do just part of the install. You might recognize this house as one where we installed a paver patio with a Ohio State Logo in the pavers. We did not build the walls but I did design a plant scheme and we prepped the beds, planted the trees and larger shrubs and healed in the plants.


The home owner is planting them later in the week. Next year he will also install weed barrier and stone in the beds. These kittens kept us entertainedd, they were just days old when I drew the plan and now they are weaned and oh so cute.




The job on Coldwater Lake wrapped up last week and I am very satisfied with the results. The challenge was to update a landscape where failing concrete walls were cracked and leaning but hidden by a mostly dead euyonomus hedge. Replacing the walls was not a current option but one that will likely happen down the road. (I have before pictures in a previous post) We had an original plan just to paint and patch the walls and attach vinyl lattice to cover a pair of large steel straps that had been bolted into the wall in a attempt to hold the shifting corners of the steps.


After we had it stripped it became obvious that we needed to disguise the area where the top wall had a four inch crack and was leaning out five inches. My first thought was to run a trellis in front of the section of wall that leaned which was about 40', I would need five 4 x 8' panels. We built one test panel in our barn and took it to the site. I was never sold on a 40' trellis as it would make the already longer side of the walls appear even larger. By moving around our sample trellis it was easy to see that it would be even more effective to use the trellis's separately and spread them out along the top wall. This allowed me to hide each of the larger cracks in the wall and spread out the panels to create better balance. We put three seven gallon clematis on three panels and will be anxious to install a couple of large silver lace vines in the spring. Karl Forrester grass and large burning bush fill out these beds for easy care a lots of color.


The client had three mature trees removed so we brought in several ton of soil to even the earth before we installed a new yard. Irrigation heads were added to the system to water the new turf. Since it is late in the season and on a hill we used Futura blanket for erosion control. The home owner liked it so much that we installed it on the top side of the wall. I think erosion blankets can be seen from outer space.



These natural glacial stone walls are one of our trademarks and many people in our area are starting to copy them. This customer only wanted one side of the failing landscape timber walls replaced. Before we even finished the one side they wanted a price on the other side of the house. They decided to go ahead with the second side but are already requesting a quote to rebuilt the steps. Of course they need to do it since our straight new stone walls will result in a gap between the walls and the steps. Currently they have some fancy bagged green stone for treads I sure hope they do not keep it as I feel it is dangerous as a tread to easily sliding under your foot. They have enough timbers left over that we could rebuild the stairs and use timbers as treads.

This is one of the last jobs of the season, we are wrapping up loose ends this week and will likely be shutting down within the week as all our work will be complete.

King Willie

Clinton was in the White House, his first term when I met Bill Asher. Millgrove Landscaping was still a baby and we had just landed the biggest single landscape contract in Steuben County (still is), which was an outlet mall near I69 that had been bought out and was expanding, doubling in size. Unfortunately for them the land they chose on the north side of St. Rd. 120 was low land swamp which required lots of modification and segmented retaining walls (block) of which we installed 21 semi trucks full. Each block weighed 71 lbs, and we were often short handed to the point where we once had a one armed wheelbarrow operator. Anyway on one of those days I sent one of my three permanent employees out on a mission, "go find me some warm bodies and don't come back until you do." I kept a supply of Millgrove t-shirts at the job site and barely looked at the guy Randy had brought me as I tossed him a shirt and gave him instruction on where to start work. He was introduced to me then as King Willie at that time that was all I really wanted to know.

Now some 18 years later I often ask The King, Bill Asher if he agrees as to how I think we should begin a job. Bill is my go to guy who manages all my big projects and with whom I have a strong design/build partnership. He has developed into a good leader, efficient installer, excellent instructor and supervisor with the ability to take my blueprints and make my visions come to life. I trust his judgement, skill and common sense to deliver an outstanding project and to bring it in on time and on budget. We have an easy communication between us and he gets my visions better than almost anyone. When I ask Bill, "do you see what I see?", he often answers, "not yet but give me a couple of days on site."

Thanks Bill, I could not do it without you. I am still not sure how you got the name King Willie but you sure are King of Millgrove Landscaping but don't forget it is The Queen who rules.

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.