The mowing crew is now off of the regular weekly mowing schedule and are slowing down to do leaf clean up before they mow. This slows the crew crew done to a 2 week schedule and soon it will be down to a every 3 week schedule as the leaf drop will intensify the amount of work to be done. It's that time of the year when the lawns also start to slow down in their growth due to the cooler temps.

I had to take these 2 pictures at this property in Wellesley. The pic on the right is of the "Cinnamon Mums" that we planted in the wooden planters on the back patio. The one on the left is of the same Mum, it just has the Japanese Red Maple behind it. I envy the homeowner as she gets to look out onto this, from the picture window in her kitchen. The mums are a a hardy flower and can handle the much cooler nights. All of the annuals will freeze in these temps so they will be removed as we go to each property from now on. the perennials will be cut back almost to the ground, as their energy has gone back into the root ( bulbs) for the winter.

Overseeding and Lime and Gypsum application

Today I have to go up to the John Deere/Lesco fertilizer store in Marlboro to pick up 8, 50 pound bags of Park and Athletic grass seed to do an over seeding at the 2 soccer fields at Olin College. The seed mix is good for this area as it is for the most part in the sun all day and by over seeding it the soccer players will put i into the turf with their spikes. This should be up and growing in a few days as the turf is still warm enough for the seed to germinate. The field is a bit on the wet side so we are hoping the seed does not rot before germinating.

I also picked up 8, 50 pound bags of a Pellitized, Gypsum and Lime combo for one property in Needham. The front lawn is a tuff one, as it is on a ledge and a hill which causes the lawn to heat up during the summer hot season and it also dries out quickly, because it is on a slope. the back lawn is almost all in the shade under pine trees, so it is a bit acidic.

I used the combination before at one home in Medfield quite a few years ago and the results were just unbelievable. The lawn went from yellowish and lifeless to a deep green and then over time became very healthy and a vigorous grower. what a change, hopefully this application will have the same effect. It's late in the year so we may not see any improvement until next season.

Getting Ready Fro Fall

It appears that Fall is coming to us early this year. For the past month the trees have had a very yellow, dull, lifeless appearance and just look like they will be coming down early.

Because of the very wet spring season we had this year there is a "bumper crop" of pine cones and acorns. I have never seen acorns this large before.

Soon we will be removing the leaves from the lawn area's of most of our properties, the leaves in the beds can stay until final cleanup, if we make it that far into the season. It is important that there are no leaves on the lawn as this will kill the lawn area over the winter.

Guillerme and I will be spending a couple of days at the shop getting our dump trucks ready for the leaf vac's. We will be extending the height of the dump truck beds, in order for us to put a lot of leaves into them. It will take us about 6 hours per truck and after that we will do oil changes and tune up the 2 leaf vac's we have.
( which do not weigh that much )

Last round of Lawn Fertilizer

Today, I started the last application of lawn fertilizer, that we do in the season. The leaves are coming down and we have to get it on the lawns before all of the leaves are down and ready to be picked up.

I am using a fertilizer from LESCO, 13-0-6, which means that there is 13% Nitrogen, 6% Potash and the rest is lime. This is a fertilizer lime mix, that we have been using the last few seasons. It saves us time as we used to apply the fertilizer and then apply the lime. now it is just one application for both.

Guillerme is helping me out today and will be helping me out again when I go to Olin College to fertilize their campus and soccer fields. the rest of the time I will be going "solo" as Guillerme is needed on the other crew to help out.

Rain is forecast for tomorrow and again this weekend, with this weekend having a "Nor Easter". that is when the winds come in from the North and East over the ocean. This produces a lot of wind and chilly temps.

This time it should take me over a week to do all of the lawns and the college. Going "solo", slows the process down and this will be the last time I see some of the properties this season.

Late season Flowers

I noticed these flowers when the guys were mowing and weed whacking. Most of the flowers have faded, so it was a surprise to find these guys. The pansy is next to the driveway, and must have planted itself, the warm pavement must be keeping it warm enough to survive. the blue flower was planted in an area next to the driveway also, again it must be the warmth of the driveway pavement that is keeping it in bloom.

It seems like the season is coming to a very quick end this year. For the past month the leaves have been yellowish and faded. Now that the colors are coming out, they too are not as bright as usual. It seems to be cooling off much earlier than the past few years, when we had extended growing seasons. Oh well, it all seems to average out over the long term, maybe it was all due to the cool and wet season we had this year.

Helping out the mowing Crew

Due to some upcoming rain for the next 2 days I had to take Fabio and Guillerme out on a mowing route to help out the other crew. We had to get the complete route done for the week today so both crews were in action.

Fabio is on the Stander 52 inch mower while Guillerme is using the weed whacker to do some late season trimming. The season is winding down and there is not that much left to weed whack but we want the walks and driveways to look nice and neat.

The pictures are of a property in Southborough, that is in direct sun for most of the day and the lawn just keeps growing like crazy. Luckily Fabio gets it done with one pass of the mower, usually it takes 2 passes.

Overseeding a Soccer Field

Today, I went with Guillerme to fertilize over seed and spray broad leaf weeds at college we take care of.

Guillerme was going to go and re-visit areas that we had just sprayed for broad leaf weeds a week ago and spray again. Sometimes the broad leaf, especially the ground ivy and clover need a couple of applications to knock them out. He went around on foot with a back pack sprayer and re-sprayed. There are 2 soccer fields, covering one large playing area and while Guillerme was off doing his spraying I used the Permagreen power spreader. It is a lot easier to use the power spreader when you have a large area to cover. I have to apply 500 pounds of fertilizer to both soccer fields and after that over seed 350 pounds of Lesco "Park and Athletic" grass seed.

The year is winding down, as far as growing grass from seed and this was the last chance to get some grass up and going before the cold weather sets in. The Park and Athletic has a good mix of 33% Perennial Rye grass, 33% Kentucky Bluegrass and 33% Red Fescue. Its a little chilly for the bluegrass, so we are hoping for some warm sunny days to heat up the turf area. The Rye grass and Fescue like the cooler weather so there will be no problem with them. the blue grass will come up and the rest will be in the ground ready to go come those warm spring days next year.

Late season trim job

Guillerme and I had to return to this property in Southborough to day to trim and fluff it up for an Open house on Sunday. We had been there early in the spring for the same reason. From what I can get from Rob, is that the house was supposedly sold and then the financing fell apart, so now the home is back on the market.

For the past 6 weeks the property had no maintenance at all from us including cutting the lawn. Guillerme did the shearing with a power trimmer and I did all of the hand clipping and we both weeded as needed. you can see Guillerme in the back of the house next to the water fountain, ready to go to work.

Grubs............

The other day when I was at this property, in Wellesley I noticed a brown dead area of lawn. I went to investigate and after pulling up some of the dead turf I found the dreaded grubs. We have not seen any damage caused by grubs on our properties for many years now that we have been using a product from Bayer named Merit.

I notified Rob, who notified the head grounds keeper and it was decided that I would come back and spread Dursban over the entire back yard. Dursban is a quick kill product that needs to be watered in right after the application. We have had great success with it.

After that project I went with Guillerme to the home used by the President of Olin college. The presidents wife really enjoys her flower gardens and wanted to have us transplant and plant some new bushes she had purchased. She also wanted us to pull all of the weeds in her annual and perennial gardens. It is very enjoyable to come here and work because the owner really enjoys her gardens and it makes her happy when we show up. She knows it will look just beautiful after we leave, and that is a good thing.

Spraying Nutsedge

Guillerme and I went to a property in Needham, ( pic on bottom ) because the owner wanted us to get ride of the Nut sedge growing in his lawn. This happens every year and the owner just loves having a beautiful lawn. The week before I went over by myself to spray the broad leaf weeds. This lawn is usually the best one we take care off. It is because the owner is very much involved in the maintenance of it.

After we took care of the Nut sedge, we went over to another home in Wellesley, ( pic on top ) to finish up some work I had started a few weeks ago. Guillerme weeded a rubble rock hill and then sprayed Round Up on what was left over. I finished trimming the trees that were overgrown by the tennis court, finished trimming a weeping cherry, that I did not finish when we came to trim this year, because a mother cardinal had a nest in it. Guillerme also used the weed whacker to clear out an area that had become overgrown with weeds.

Replace Bushes - Weed & Mulch

Today I went with Guillerme to a property in Holliston to remove a Magnolia tree that had been devastated by Scale and replace it with a new yellow Cyprus.

When we got there and looked at the tree which we had sprayed in the spring, the branches were all black. The surrounding bushes, flowers and even the air conditioning unit all had the same black stuff on them. I did not even want to touch the branches with bare hands.

After we removed and planted that one we went into the back yard and removed 2 hydrangea trees that just did not fit in the small area that they were planted in. We replaced them with 2 small cone shaped Ilex.

After that Guillerme and I weeded the entire property. I went to Framingham to dump the material we had collected from the tree removal and then went back to the shop where we had enough red pine bark mulch to use around the new plantings, about one yard. We have a skid steer that we use for construction projects and it was available that day for me to load the truck.
We finished up around 5 PM and headed back to the shop.

Fluff up a home in Needham

Today I went with Guillerme to a property over in Needham, to weed, do some hand trimming and as we would find out later trim up a few Yews. This is a very large property, you can see part of the back yard in the picture on the above left. It is around 7 acres and had not had any attention to it since the spring and needed a little fluff up to look nice. This is also the home of the grandmother of the boy who is getting married that I posted about last week.

When we got there I noticed that the large yews in the front of the property for some reason had not been trimmed this year. I called Rob, who was at a property close by and he brought over the power shears for Guillerme top trim them up. I went around hand clipping the smaller bushes and continued with the weeding of all of the beds going around the house and a few more in the back yard.

We finished up a bit early and headed back to the shop. It was a good idea as now that the kids are back in school the traffic has increased dramatically, which just makes for a longer day. Oh well its the weekend.

Bluestone Stepping Stone Path

Today, I went with Guillerme, to a property in Wellesley to do a quick trim job. The owner did not want us spending a lot of time there, so along with Rob, we did what we could do in 2 hours.

Next Guilleme and I went over to a property in Wellesley and removed a dogwood tree, that was planted in the spring but had the leaves on the bottom half of the tree wilt and turn brown. This was due to a lack of water, as we dug out the tree roots, the loam was like talcum powder, very, very dry. When the upper part of the tree was cut, we could see that the branches still had life in them. After removing the tree we planted the new dogwood in the same location.

Next we had to go to the side of the house and install (20) 18 inch by 24 inch Blue Stone paver's to create a pathway from the front yard to the back. When we had finished I went and dumped all of the trimmings from the first job and the old dogwood at the re-cycling facility in Framingham and returned with 2 yards of loam to fill in the low spots around the Blue Stone. I had to then go back to the shop and get 1 1/2 yards of matching pine bark mulch to finish up the job. You can see the birthday boy, Guillerme washing down the stones, in the picture above.

Solo - Odds and Ends Work

It is the beginning of the month so it is time for me to do some "odds and ends" solo work. These are all relatively small projects that customers call and request help with. The first job I did, was to go over to a property in Framingham and re-trim the bushes because the customer wanted more of his bushes trimmed away that had been done earlier.

Next, I went to a property in Holliston to weed the beds, weed whack the front walk and back patio. I then had to spray "round up" on the patio and walkway to hopefully take care of the weeds for this year. the customer is also hoping that it is the last time we have to come over and weed his beds. We are getting close to the end of the season, in fact it looks like we are going to have an early fall. The leaves on the trees are already turning yellowish and appear to be life less.

Next, I went to a property in Sherborn to finish trimming one bush along the side of the house. We had encountered a very large hornets nest and Guillerme got stung, when we were there working on the property earlier in the season. Even after we had sprayed the nest and physically removed it, the very unhappy returning bees were not happy to find there home gone.

I ended up both Tuesday and Wednesday at a property in Wellesley, to finish up what had been requested by the owner earlier in the season. He also requested that I come over after 10 AM so as not to disturb the guys playing tennis on the courts in the back yard. The 2 pictures above, are of the gardens at the back of the house and around the indoor pool. the courts are behind the gardens.

I had to "tip back" the white pines that grow in a row, along the tennis court fence, on one side, and then remove the top spire that had some evidence of the "Pine borer" in it. I then
"up-limbed" the trees that are growing along the fence, in back of the courts. The tree branches are growing over the courts and needed to be cut back.

As I was working the owner came home and added some more work to my project list so I will not finish today and will have to return next week. More weed whacking, hand weeding and spraying Round up in those areas. Oh well back next week with some of the guys for some help.

Clean up and Mulch for a Wedding Reception

We had to go over to this home in Dover Massachusetts because one of the son's is getting married and the property needed to be cleaned up for the wedding reception that is going to be held there. the work was a lot more than Rob anticipated for some reason. He thought it could all be weeded, re-edged and mulched all in one day with a 3 man crew. I explained to Rob, that it was a 2 day job for a 3 man crew and that it was going to be about 20 yards of mulch.

It is a beautiful property, that is kinda like a peninsula and is surrounded by the infamous Charles River. (you all remember that song) It is large about 6 acres and it has some large beds that needed to be weeded before we could start mulching.

Here again, we had to dead head flowers, cut off the flower shoots on the hosta's and remove yellow leaves from the Lilly's. Guillerme and I worked on just weeding from 8 AM to 5:15 PM. Rich who came with us went and got some mulch after lunch and mulched some of the beds for the afternoon by himself. We are using a brown pine mulch and it will look very nice around all of the flowers and shrubs when we are done on Tuesday. I will have to get some better pictures to show the size of the property. I will do another post next week when we have finished this up.

What a wicked "web"

Fabio, Guillerme and I went to this home in Wellesley to continue weeding and fluffing up properties. We all were working on the rock garden in the front of the house and I noticed this beautiful, very symmetrical spiders web. I had to hide under one bush to take the picture because the sun was shinning in the wrong direction to get a head on shot.

Another sign that fall is quickly coming, was the apple tree's out back had nice red Macintosh apples ready to pick and eat. I think the guys had an apple each time they passed the tree. They left quite a few on the ground for the deer that frequent the back yard. If the guys did not eat them they would have gone to waste and that would have been a shame.

Some of the bushes that had been planted early in the spring had died and rob went to Lovell's nursery to get replacements. It appears that the irrigation system has been shut off for some reason. the owner was not home so we did not have access to the control panel for the irrigation system to check out what was going on. We finished up at 5 PM and headed back to the shop.

Fluffing up a few properties

Guillerme and I started to work on this property yesterday, but we were only there for a few hours. Today I have Guillerme and Fabio to help me out. Fabio is another guy who is turning out to be a very good "detail" worker, again they are hard to find.

As we were about 2 hours into the job of wedding and fluffing up the beds, the mowing crew showed up and mowed the property. They also mow 5 other properties that are off campus but used by Babson higher ups.

Here as in the other properties we are starting the process of dead heading the flowers and removing the yellow leaves, especially from the Lilly's and Iris's. Some of the annuals here needed to be completely removed, especially from the planters.

The Presidents wife wanted new Chrysanthemums, planted for some upcoming gatherings, that are going to be held at the property. This part of the project was handed over to Rob, who seems to be the pot planter this season.

Late Season Trim Job

The season is starting to wind down. The leaves on the Chestnut Trees are curling up, the Swamp Maples are starting to turn red and orange. I think we are in for a early fall this season.

We went to this property to trim the bushes and weed and make it look nice. The property had nothing done to it since the beginning of the season when it was cleaned up and mulched.

Guillerme helped me out on this and he is turning into a very good "detail" worker which is hard to find.

As we went along doing our work, we started the process of dead heading all of the flower blooms and removing the yellow branches from the flowers. The season is coming to an end and the flowers and tress are telling us that. Most everything, lawns, bushes, trees and flowers are starting to look lifeless and a bit yellow.

We finished this up around 2:30 PM and then headed over to to the same type of work at the property used by the President of Babson College

Mowing before storm

A hurricane named Danny is predicted to come close enough to Massachusetts that we will be experiencing heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday.
So Rob, has decided that he wants a second mowing crew to go out and finish up all of the mowing for the week by Friday.

I have not gone on a mowing route in many many years and it was like being in a time warp all day.
I used this day to train Guillerme on using both of the mowing machines we had with us. A walk behind hydro 36 inch mower and a hydro 52 inch stand on mower. Fabio, who was also with us was already familiar with both machines.

It ended up being a fun day, where I could share stories with the guys about how it was when I first started and all of the mowing machines were walk behind and were belt driven. We were finished around 4:40 and went back to the shop and the guys washed the trucks and mowers
before the rain came in.

The picture above is of what the sky looked like at 4:00 pm from the last house we mowed.

Getting Babson ready for the start of the year

We went to Babson College today to continue with the weeding of area's that had been neglected during the year so the college would look its best when the fall semester begins this weekend.

Guillerme, Fabio, Ceillo, Rob and I went from building to building weeding and cleaning up the areas close to the buildings and parking lot areas.

Some of the kids had already arrived and you could feel the buzz starting to grow on campus. It is fun being here although it is very warm and humid this week.

The picture is of the entrance with the "mums" that were planted last year. The nurseries and store's seem to get the mums in earlier and earlier every year. We remove annuals that were planted in the spring and can not tolerate the colder temperature that will be arriving soon and plant mums, which are hardier.

Back from my Vacation

I am back from a week off, which I needed. I have found that a week off during the summer refreshes my attitude, work and gets me ready for the colder part of the season. We use a large part of our energy doing our work and when it gets colder our bodies start to use more and more of that energy. So this was a very beneficial break for me.

It is hard for me to come up with current pic's to add to the post as the season is winding down and most of the flowers are no longer in full bloom and are rather dull looking.

When I came back I had to finish the feritlizer route, which Guillerme and I worked on before I left. I finished up the 4 properties on the route and then went to Babson College to meet up with Rob and the guys. The had spent the entire week while I was gone, getting the college ready for the fall semester.

Vacation.....................

This week I am on a much needed vacation. The warm summer season is almost over and the cooler fall and winter season are on the way. I just needed to recharge the old batteries. I will be back next week.

Pete

Trimming the Olin college home

We went to the home that is used by the President of Olin College today to trim and weed the property because there was going to be a party on Monday. I had Fabio and Guillerme with me.

Before we even started the guy who is in charge of the Olin College campus showed up to mow the lawn. So we had to have a small break to have a chat with him. Then he was off to mow while we started to weed the beds.

I enjoy coming to this property as well, because the lady of the house loves her flower gardens. She enjoys having us come over and always brings us coffee and homemade blueberry muffins for our 10AM break. she just came back from Paris and had a lot to tell us about her trip and even brought us out some books on Notre Dam and the Louve, great pictures and great stories.

We finished up just about 5 pm, and had to work a little bit harder and faster at the end because we knew we had to be done by the end of the day.

The Neighbors house

Today we are the property right next door to the one we were working on for 2 days that I posted about yesterday. I really enjoy both of these properties because the owners are very , very nice people, they love their yards and the nature that is found in them. they always look great when we have finished and that takes a lot of time. We will be here for a day and a half.

Before we started working I gave the neighbor some SUNJING, because the day before he told me he was having a therapist come over to help him work out some soreness he was experiencing. When I was talking to him the owner of the property we were working on came out to talk to us and she showed us how she had twisted her ankle. she had gone on a trip to Brazil and on the return flight dropped her bag on her foot, so I gave her a bottle of SUNJING to rub on the soreness.

I only had Guillerme with me tody and it was another hot one, so we worked on the rock garden out front early in the morning to avoid the mid day sum and heat. After that we stayed on the perimeter beds which for the most part are in the shade.

As I was working at hand clipping the holly bushes the homeowner drove into the driveway and rolled down the window and said "wow, what is that stuff it reeally works great", so I gave her my card with the website on it so she could buy some. It is great stuff for sore muscles.

Large Trin job in Wellesley

Today I was with Guillerme and Fabio, at a large property in Wellesley to trim up the bushes, weed every where and a few odd projects here and there. We are under pressure though to be finished up by the end of the day tomorrow. The owner is expecting some VIP's as he says, his children and grandchildren are coming for a visit. This is the same property that had the mother turkey in the springtime that I wrote a post about.

Monday we will have the front yard finished, even though this is one of the few days we are having this summer that is in the 90's and very, very humid. After we went around and weeded all of the beds both Guillerme and Fabio got the power shears and sheared up all of the bushes. This is one of the few properties around that still has a lot of yews to trim. Newer landscapes have moved away from that style of bush. We went till 5 pm and then it was time to go back to the shop, it was a hot day for the guys.

Tuesday was another hot and humid day. We were off to the back yard and the owner pointed out a mother robin that had made a nest in a bush, and told us to skip it for now. Later in the day I was trimming a tall weeping cherry and kept seeing a cardinal flying by and then I began to hear the cardinal chirping and I looked up and saw the nest. Another tree that will not be completed until after the babies have left the nest. We still have about 3/4 of a day's work to do here but it will have to be after the VIPs leave.

Southborough trim job continued.........

Guillerme and I went back to the property in Southborough, to finish up the pruning and weeding job, we had started yesterday.

Today, it is not sunny and that is a blessing as this property is out in the open sun and yesterday, it was hot and humid.

As, I have written about in earlier posts, this years lillies have really deep, rich colors and they are very large, 2-3 feet in height and very healthy. They must have enjoyed our 2 months of cool rainy weather, unlike me and the guys who had to endure working in it.

Southborough Trim Job

Guillerme and I are in Southborough today to start a 2 day weed and prune job. I have been taking care of this property for over 15 years and the owner is very, very nice. we have installed all of the plantings at this home over the many years we have been taking care of it. When I first came to the property there was not a pool in the back yard only a small swingset. The property is in the direct sun all day long and everything just loves growing and getting bigger every year.

We start off in the front yard and as we do, the owner comes out and talks to us before she goes golfing for the day. She wants to know if it is OK, to leave her dog out while she is gone and of course we agree. We enjoy having dogs around while we work, they break up the routine and are fun to be with. It is so warm and humid todat that the dog decides laying down on the cool garage floor is more enjoyable than hanging out with us.

Crabgrass spraying

Today, I went with Guillerme and Rich to spray the crabgrass at Olin College. Crabgrass loves to grow in warm sunny areas and there are plenty of those areas at the college. Along roadways, parking areas and along all of the sidewalks.

We concentrate on the "hot spots" and do a visual check of the interior areas and spot spray any crabgrass we see. I will be using the Permagreen power spreader and the guys will be using backpack tank sprayers.

This year, with all of the cool weather we are having has, reduced the amount of crabgrass and the size of the crabgrass. Usually at this time of year it is quite large, approximately 7-8 inches in diameter and requires multiple spraying to eradicate it. This year we are seeing the crabgrass to be only about 3 inches in diameter max., which is good thing, because it will require only 2 applications to kill it off.

It takes us the full day to cover the entire campus, and we will be back in a few weeks anyways with the next fertilizer application.

Walpole trim job

Today, I went with Guillerme and Wagner to the entrance to a housing development in Holliston and trimmed what was there and weeded. Just neatened it up a bit. There are a lot of dead "Blue Rug Spruce" there that have been damaged due to the winter chemicals put down. That is another job at another time, when finances are available.

Next, we went over to a property in Walpole to trim and weed. The owner was having a party on the weekend for his son who had just graduated from college. this property needed a lot of weeding before we could even get to the bushes. So we spent the rest of the day just weeding and took out about 4 yards of weeds from 2 1/2 beds. Needles to say, we will be returning to complete the job.

The pictures are of some more Lillies, I just can't get over their color this year.

We had rain on Friday morning and did not get over to finish this job until around lunch time. I had Guillerme and Fabio with me. We worked very hard to complete the front yard and side yards by 5:00 PM. We ended up taking an additional 4 yards of weeds and trimmings from the property, but the owner was very pleased and that is what it is all about.

Continue trim job and plant Stella Dora's

Tuesday it rained so I went to the shop and worked on the Permagreen power spreader, because the plan is to go to Olin college on Friday and spray the crabgrass there and also to fertilize the soccer fields. The Permagreen Spreader is the key piece of equipment for that job. It needed to be tuned up, cleaned and have the transmission and oil changed.

Today, Wednesday, I went back to the property that is used by the President of Babson College, to continue with the weeding and trimming of the property. It was decided yesterday that we would plant Stella Dora day Lillie's in the back yard. There are 3 mulch beds surrounding very large "landscape rocks" where there are tulip's in the spring and then nothing for the rest of the year. Rob, showed up with the entire back of his pickup loaded with Stella Dora's. Guillerme and Wagner spent the next 2 1/2 hours digging holes and planting them. Hopefully there will still be time for some of them to bloom this year.

As I mentioned in the last post for some reason this year the Lillie's are vibrant in their color and it seems that all of them are close to 4 feet high. I took the pictures of these 2, that are in the perennial bed in the back of the property.

We still have not finished the entire property by the end of the day, but that is alright, because Rob, wants to send another crew there to mulch the Stella Dora beds and do a severe trim job on a large Crab Apple tree across the street.

Trim Job with Bee's

I went with Guillerme and Wagner to trim the property that is used by the President of Babson College today. This is a big trim job and we will be there for 2 days plus. The property always has to look, well "presidential", no weeds in the beds, everything trimmed nicely, nice looking lawn with no weeds in it.

I have been noticing this year, that the Astillbe's in every one's yard have very strong colors and most of them are about 4 feet in height. I have never seen them this way before, maybe it is the rain and cool weather. The pictures are of the Astillbe that is in the perennial garden on this property. In the picture on the right, you can see how they are towering over the Yew Hedge.

Out by the carriage house the guys found a large bee hive the size of a small basketball and boys being boys, got out the bee spray. They each took turns going in as close as possible, spraying and then running as fast as they could. I just watched and enjoyed their activities.

Needham trim job

Today Wagner decided he would come and join us at work today and we all went to a property in Needham. The picture in the upper left is of the home. The other 2 pictures are of some blue hydrangea's, that the owner takes good care off with a application of Holly Tone every week. This year the flowers are just brilliant and very large compared to the others we see as we drive around.

This trim project takes all day even though it is a small property, which surprised Guillerme, who thought we would be done early. There is a lot of hand clipping that has to be done. The owner just loves his yard and plants ornamental bushes were ever he can, he is really "into"his landscape. He is also a very nice guy and always wants to give us water and best of all, he is always walking by complimenting the guys on the great job they are doing. He really appreciates our work.

3 Trim jobs, no Wagner

The picture on the right is the last home we worked on, This is a property were we had done the complete installation many, many years ago. Now the bushes have grown so much it is time to think about moving some around to give the others some air and room to expand. The picture on the right is of a yellow, Coreopsis Flower.

Wagner was a no show this morning, as had, had a nose bleed yesterday and when he was playing soccer last night it started to bleed again. So he decided to give it a rest for a day with some ice on it. That left Guillerme and I to work on 3 trim projects today. They are all smaller properties and they are all close to each other in Wellesley.

Guillerme and I worked until 6 PM and did manage to get them all done. I did have a CRAVE energy drink which gave me more than enough energy to finish the day. I am really enjoying having those to make it through the day, I just need that energy boost. CRAVE allows me to get a good night's sleep. I used to drink an afternoon coffee, but then I would pay for it by not being able to sleep at night.