A MESSAGE FROM TOM
Wow, Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I always have my head down working and seem to dump it on this holiday. Everybody thinks this is the end of our season but it's not. In fact, the week after is always the hardest because there is still a bunch of stuff to do before the snow flies: one more clean-up, gutters, the last design/install details, holiday lights, winter mulching, and preparing for snow removal. But, Thanksgiving is always my mental finish line.

I compare the landscaping season with the baseball season The fall is the playoffs and the week after Thanksgiving is the World Series. We don't wind down; we wind up into a frenzy of trying to get everything finished. Then it snows and we're done. There's no champagne at the end of our season, but we have a Mexican Bar-B-Que with some Coronas at the shop. It's a grand old time.

This has been a good year with Gretchen coming on board. She really helped with the client communication and ran the office better than I ever could. I'd like to publicly thank her and let you all know how much I appreciate her. Thanks Honey.

With each passing year, the relationships I've made grow stronger so to both friends and customers: thank you.

- TOM

THINGS LEFT TO DO
We will be back out one more time for the leaves and any last clean-up work that still needs to be done. The gutter list is open but times running out. We're doing lights again this year but for first timers we're booked until the week of the 5th. We install sod until the ground freezes. Bulbs can also be planted and dormant pruning starts up in January. We're always working so call if you need anything.

DORMANT PRUNING
This the most important job we can do for the health and appearance of the plant yet it's one of the least ordered service. Lilacs getting too big? Viburnums not blooming? The Crabapple tree unruly? That hedgerow getting scraggly? There's not much we can do about these problems during the growing season but we can rectify them all with dormant pruning. And, it's billed out at only $40 a man hour. It also reduces the cost of your weekly maintenance by reducing the amount of pruning needed during the growing season.

PLANT UPDATE
It was a good growing season for the plants. The winter snow cover, spring rains, and cool summer were nice but those storms were something else. And it all started with the blizzard: remember that? Crazy year!

SNOW PLOWING
We have become quite efficient with our plowing services: the commercials get done by 7:00am and the residentials by 11:00am Call to get on the list.