Add Color to Your Landscape during Winter

Winter color pansies…

What a wonderful break from the grays and browns of winter. Pansies are available in a multitude of colors to brighten your landscape through the colder months. To get the most out of pansy displays, we at AA Tex Lawn take many steps that we feel help our flower beds to be their best.

1. When we prepare the beds we make sure that the soil is loose, but not too loose. Since pansies grow during the season that irrigation is typically off, loose soil helps them to retain the correct amount of moisture.
2. We also use an organic fertilizer which helps to give the plants a steady, slow feed. This encourages the plant to grow and build strength during those warm days we have here in the south.
3. We water a systemic pesticide into the beds. The plants will absorb this through the roots and take it up into the leaves and stems. The pesticide will control the aphids that show up when we have unseasonal warm spells.
4.  We also use a fungicide and liquid fertilizer in our tank mix.
5. We try and fertilize about every 10 days for the first month to 6 weeks. Our goal is to get as much growth as possible before the very cold weather sets in.

If you start with the right base, you will get the most out of your winter gardens. Here's hoping we all see the bright spots during the winter's cold!

Thank you!

The AA Tex Lawn team

Is Your Fescue Lawn Ready for Winter?

Most of us have seen pre-winter checklists for your home or auto. These are the things we need to do to make sure we don't have any unexpected surprises during the colder, potentially icy months. Did you know that fescue lawns also need attention before the cold sets in? Fescue is a cool season grass. One of the reasons it is a popular turf choice is because it maintains its green color throughout the winter. A little maintenance now will help fescue to achieve its optimal look though-out winter and into spring.

Now is the most important application of fertilizer for fescue lawns. With the cooler temperatures you can apply larger amounts of nitrogen to enhance the root system and help improve cold tolerance. A larger root system allows the plant to absorb more water and nutrients and help the plants to mature prior to next year's heat. That will increase the plants survival during periods of stress either from drought or heat.

When selecting a Winter Fertilizer you want to look for a higher first number, which indicates the amount of nitrogen. Some examples are 32-5-7 or 24-2-8. The 32-5-7 in a 50lb bag would cover 16,000 square feet at 1lb of nitrogen per 1,000 and a 50lb bag of 24-2-8 would cover 12,000 square feet at 1lb of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. You want to make sure that you put down at least 1lb of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet for ideal results.

By applying a winter application of fertilizer you will notice a greener lawn longer and also you will receive a faster green up in the spring without excessive growth. If you have a contract with us, AA Tex Lawn will take care of this fertilizer application for you, If not, make sure to add it to your winter checklist.

Thanks,

The AA Tex Lawn Team

Here Comes the Parade…

Is there anything better than a parade? The decorated floats, the marching bands, the singing groups, the horses… the excitement of the kids seeing Santa for the first time of the year! What a kickoff to the holiday season! AA Tex Lawn is very excited to have the opportunity to participate in two parades this year. We will be pulling the Union County Neighborhood Leaders Forum float for the Union County Christmas Parade and also for the Indian Trail Christmas Parade. AA Tex Lawn in a proud sponsor of the UCNLF, an organization whose goal is to share, inform, educate, and communicate with HOAs and other neighborhood leaders so that they may build and maintain thriving communities.

The annual Union County Christmas Parade is this Sunday, November 21^st, beginning at 2pm. The parade will proceed along a two mile route, running through historic downtown Monroe, down Sunset, Hayne, Franklin, Church, Jefferson, Main, Lancaster, and Washington streets. The parade is sponsored this year by Union Smart Start, a non-profit organization aimed at giving the children of Union County a brighter future. For more information, see their website at http://www.unionsmartstart.org/.

The 6^th annual Indian Trail Christmas Parade will be held on Sunday, November 28^th at 2pm in downtown Indian Trail. It is sponsored by the Union West Rotary Club. The Grand Marshal this year will be James Boyd Crump, a distinguished veteran of World War II.
Join us for the fun and look for the UCNLF float, pulled by our truck. Hope to see you there!
The AA Tex Lawn Team

Protecting the City of Trees – Canker Worms

Fall is a beautiful time of the year in the Charlotte area. Being a city of trees benefits us with an array of color, the sound of crisp leaves under foot, and of course the exercise of removing those leaves. There is also another character that loves fall in a city of trees, and that is the fall canker worm. Anyone who has lived in the area for any time has probably heard of this character. So why do they love it here? Our trees fit their lifestyle. They mate in December. The female will then crawl up our oaks and lay her eggs on the branches. In the spring as our trees start to form the beautiful canopy we so love, the eggs will hatch and the small green caterpillars will begin to feed on the leaves. They literally can defoliate a very large tree. Typically, this in itself will not kill the tree, but will weaken it and set it up for other issues such as disease and insect problems, which over time can kill the tree. So what do we do?

 Fall Canker Worm

The best solution individual properties can incorporate is banding of the affected trees. As you ride around in November and December you will begin to notice bands of assorted types around the trunks of the willow oaks, and other trees that are touching the willow oaks. What does this band do? Quite simply it catches the female as she climbs the tree and prevents her from making it up to lay her eggs. The bands will have some type of sticky substance that the canker worm will stick to, stopping it in its tracks. They will also have some type of soft foam behind them to keep the worm from sneaking around it. This method is very effective if installed correctly. All the willow oaks need to be banded. Trees touching the willow oaks also need to be banded as the worms can move from tree to tree.

Tree Banding

While this is a very simplified explanation, the idea is to stop the cankerworms from climbing. Over the next few weeks we will be sending out proposals to install this banding on properties that have willow oaks. If you receive one of these proposals please let us know as soon as possible if you would like this service. Timing is everything.

As for me, last year I did not band the 5 large willow oaks that I have in my yard. I saw the beginning of an infestation in the spring. You better believe I will be banding them this year. I love living in a city of trees.

Leaves and Your Lawn…

It is that time of year again when Fall is upon us and the leaves are changing and falling. Although Autumn brings splendor to our views, the falling leaves can be the turf owner's worst nightmare. When leaves stay on your turf for extended periods of time, they begin to rot into the lawn. This can prevent sunlight from reaching the grass and encourages disease. If not removed, leaves can make bald spots in the turf.

As a landscaper, we have to balance cost effectiveness for our clients with the necessity of keeping the leaves off the turf for extended periods of time. Here is how we, at AA Tex Lawn deal with the fallen leaves. In our service agreements we include 3 to 6 leaf vacuums annually. This is when we take a vacuum truck and physically remove the leaves from the property. From a cost effectiveness standpoint, we do not remove leaves every week. What we try to do is alternate weeks. One week we mow and hide leaves in natural areas and the next week we blow them into piles and vacuum them up and haul away. By doing this, we provide our clients the best balance by keeping expenses low while protecting the turfgrass from harm.

The types of trees dictate when they let go of their leaves and how long the leaf season will last on your property. You will see the Maples let go first and the Oaks last. The variety of trees on your property will dictate when and how we send the vacuum truck. Rest assured we do have a plan and at the end of the season we will do a final clean up of your property. As I said, leaf removal is a balancing act and can be a lot of work, but it's well worth the beauty, functionality, and vitality of a tree shaded landscape.

Happy Autumn!

The AA Tex Lawn Team